Maturity

November 24, 2011
Jon’s back for the week and we meet up with everyone at BHT the night before. It’s interesting to see people that I never get to see these days Erdem, Evan, Avi, and Doug. Today, I was planning on baking pies, but for some reason, my mom forces me to go to a family friend’s house at 1:00PM to Bayonne. Traffic is great and it only takes an hour. However, eating doesn’t start until 5:00 and we don’t leave until 9:30. Long fucking day and I didn’t get any work done. However, I did help cooking a sautéed broccoli, string beans, and the gravy. I’m the gravy guy apparently because I’m the shit.
At night, a few of the guys come over for a few beers.

November 26, 2011
I’ve been sitting in my house for the past two days doing this legal research project that I should’ve started tackling two weeks ago, but instead left it for this break. It’s due Wednesday, so I have more than enough time, but I want to get it done this weekend and then focus on outlining for my finals. It is stupidly laborious despite being done online. I couldn’t imagine how time consuming it would be if we were required to use the library book resources. It’s just a lot of stupid questions and routes of research instead of letting the student decide how to research the matter, explaining why, and then writing about it.
Either way, bitch bitch moan moan, I’ve been watching documentaries. I saw one on Barcelona that was not quite focused, but it did cover the intriguing culture of bull fighting and the 21st century fighting to get rid of the old cultural staple. It also deals with the gorgeous Sagrada Familia, which I can’t wait to visit.
I also watch a “Stephen Hawking” segment on advances in healthcare. Very cool stuff. I’m now watching “The Finland Phenomenon.” It’s about the Finnish education system and how they lead the world education. It focuses on how America can learn from this small Scandinavian country.
I pretty much spend the entire day working on the project. I’m actually pretty good about locking down and don’t let distractions like Facebook bother me too much. Hopefully I can hold this kind of attention when finals come along.
At night, Alon drives Kenny and I into the city. We go to Atron’s apartment and have a few drinks, CNF and Scott come along. I tell the guys about Luna and show her on Facebook. They bitch at me that I should’ve made moves when she stayed at my place. Agreed agreed. I immediately was in touch with her that night and made sure things were flowin’.
We meet with Bolanos and we go to Jake’s Dilemma. I spend the time mostly mentoring Alon. Good shit. We eventually decide to call it an early night and I’m home by 2:00.

November 27, 2011
I wake up by 11:00 with a bit of a dry mouth, but that’s it. I’ve recently been taking aspirin before I go to sleep and fuck me is there a change. I probably had 5+ drinks last night and at times, that would be the equivalent of 10 in how I felt the next day. I would sleep all day, have a headache, have the worst dry mouth, nothing would fix it, food or water. Today, I have a bit of a parched tongue, but that’s about it! I’m super glad I’ve figured something out to deal with my huge issue.
Graned, this isn’t carte blanche for me to go crazy. I can’t have those ridiculous nights where I have 10 or so drinks. Even last night, I had to tell my tipsy sell that maybe one less drink would be a good idea. Just keep everything under control, but still enjoy yourself. I’m just glad I can kick back a few now without drastic consequences the next day.
I end up going into the city, despite the fear of Thanksgiving traffic, which wasn’t bad at all. I go to the Union Square Holiday Market, which I’ve never been do and it fucking blows my mind. It has so many amazing things that I can’t even list. A lot of it is stuff I would like to get, art, but that’s just really expensive, even the prints. I guess that’s the cost of art, artists gotta get paid. There’s lots of jewelry and scarve things, but I’m not willing to go into that. I’m not sure how my tastes are.
I end up getting a “film” wallet for my brother, cause he’s into film. I get a few of these really cool recycled paper, wood and string lock booklets. Three for $10. I’ll throw them into some gifts. I get Ela some Japanese Kanji decoration and piggy bank. I also have to go into Facebook and message everyone I want to send Christmas cards.
I’m getting old. I listen to Xmas songs in my car all day. I’m loving Xmas more and more and just can’t wait to go all out on crafts for my cards and gifts this year.

November 30, 2011
I’m getting a bit paranoid because I haven’t been studying for my finals next week. They barely give us anytime and the by far hardest, criminal law, is the first one. It literally is three finals worth of work compared to the others. I guess it’ll be a load off and it’ll feel like barely studying when I have to study for the other two.
There’s a macaron crawl in the city and I’ve been wanting to go to these. They seem to have huge turn outs and go to awesome food places every month. I wanted to go get out and do something. I get to the train station, buy a ticket, and realize that I’ll be stuck cold and by myself walking a lot. And fuck, I hate walking out in the cold. Pussy me just gives up the plan and goes home.

December 1, 2011
It’s pretty cool that my professor brought champagne this morning for our small class (20ish). This one guy knows how to drink and gets a real drunk on. He looks all woozy and red. I get my own share of 3 of those teeny plastic fake champagne glasses. Pretty sick.
Other than that, I just plan on working my butt off and studying well. Getting shit done.

December 14, 2011
Well it’s my last final today. Grandmother came back from China yesterday, it’s gonna be weird having someone back in the house. Brother is back tomorrow. My final schedule turned out okay because it was from hardest to easiest. The stress slowly went away and by the time of my last final, Constitutional Law, it was pretty easy peasy.
After the final, it turns out everyone plans on going to the local bar. I head over there with a few people from my seminar, turns out it’s a blast. Basically every 1L is there. And boy, is this bar a local towny bar. They know people are coming, so they have food ready with Shepherd’s Pie and Meatballs. We have an excuse to be drinking at 1PM on a Wednesday, I’m not sure that they do. Also, why do all townies have gaps in their teeth. And they’re old, dress bad, and probably were just hit with an ugly stick at birth. Though in all seriousness, the bartenders were very nice and it’s a homely feeling they offer. It’s very sweet.
I have a few beers because I’m driving, but then I also partake in some joint act because someone in the back is smoking and they’re passing it around. It’s pretty awesome that people are cool like that. I’m still a lightweight from that shit and it hits me a bit, which is weird because I don’t know how I’m acting. I’m being a bit quite, my eyes probably look funny, and worst, I probably just reek of weed. Fuck it though, do it live.
It’s really a great experience though. I finally get to see everyone outside of law school when they get to be free and fun. The people are just awesome. It’s also nice to sort of leak out of the bubble because we have two sections of the entire class, then each section is split into 4-5 groups where we have a smaller seminar class. The rest of our classes are taught with the huge sections. So there’s a little bubble of the seminar, where you know people the best because you speak to them on almost a daily basis. Then there’s the section, of the people you recognize in the large auditorium class. Then there’s finally the other section, which is basically people you might recognize from the hall or from the Facebook group for the law school, but just don’t know otherwise. It’s really important to get that intermingling stuff in.
So I started at 1PM, by 5PM, I’m good to go after a couple beers and it’s been an hour or so since that puff, puff, pass. On the way home, I had to get myself some Wendy’s, cause that’s what a sobering man wants. After that, a nap. What gluttony.
I can’t wait for the party that one of my seminar mates is throwing on Friday in Brooklyn. A lot of the people from the 1L class are going and it’s another opportunity to see people outside of the zoo that is law school. The people are just fun, nice, and awesome. New connections, new people, I’m about that.

December 15, 2011
Bowen’s home today along with grandma, so the house is no longer to myself, which feels a bit strange. I end up going with grandma to the new Fairway and doing some shopping. I later go with Bowen to BHT to meet up with Reigler, Bolanos, and Evan. It’s probably a bit weird for him at times because we always somehow get into stupid heated conversations about dumb things.

December 16, 2011
Grandma wanted to treat my brother and I to dim sum so we go into Flushing for it. Amazing place. One of my best dim sum experiences.
At night, I head into Brooklyn for a law school party. One of my seminar mates is throwing it at her apartment. I end up bringing champagne and a garlic, rosemary goat chesse spread and some home made crostini. People seemed to love it throughout the night. Good job, I must say. Better than me baking, I still can’t do that extremely well yet. I’ll learn though.
It’s really nice with a decent amount of people from our class and others. The class people also brought their significant others, which sort of shows how I’m young compared to everyone. We end up going on her roof for a bit, which is really nice.
In the end, it’s really fun again like the bar thing I went to after the final. Having a few drinks, having a few laughs, swapping stories, meeting new people, new connections. I’m all about it.

December 17, 2011
Maturity
So it’s Bolanos’ birthday tonight so I decided to make it a Facebook event because he constantly refused to do so. I told him that people are adults and they need plans. You can’t just text them on a whim and expect them to show up for things. He explains that people still ended up accepting the invite, but I tell him that he’s lucky. Sure it’s a good thing that people show up to his birthday, but I hope it smacks him in the face one day. How the fuck you going to be a lawyer without some sense of organization? You need to deal with people. People are adults, they need plans, things set, times and places. It’s a mix of laziness, incompetence, and social ineptitude. Maturity.
Part of it for me is out of selfishness though. I just finished finals and I want to go out. I’m not going to let this guy ruin his own freaking birthday out of poor planning. I must take the reigns to make sure it all works out, but also for me as well.
I end up driving into the city because there’s this Yelp event in the city. There’s a space rented out to be a market, but I unfortunately don’t make it. There was traffic along the way and I thought I’d stop at Queens Mall for a piss. Turns out that detour took an hour, yes, an hour to travel .3 miles off of the LIE for a pee break. I guess people are busy shopping, but they need to fix that area. Something is fucked the fuck up if getting simply into the area is that much of a hassle.
I end up still making it to the market in time for the Yelp event. Just the event though, the market was closed by then and I didn’t get any holiday shopping in. I meet Luna there with her friend, I think they’re going to some event or something. She’s dressed in a gown for it and he’s in a suit. We swap Christmas gifts. Her turns out to be too nice, homemade tea mix, cocoa mix, and cookies. Also personally decorated in jars, with the cookies in a tin, and her card made of felt with a Xmas tree cut out of it. So nice.
After a couple drinks at the Yelp event, I end up splitting and going to UWS to where Bolanos is hanging out with Michelle at her friend’s apartment. I make it up there, stopping on the way to get Bolanos a tart from Bouchon. We have a few drinks at her apartment and the best story comes up. Aaron apparently threatened Bolanos that he would put his balls on his coldcuts when they had their drama. Evan and I literally were crying laughing from this. Bolanos had to move his cold cuts. Atron also was adamant about it and kept threatening it. That constant threat is scary. I tell Atron that this was shared and he jokes that he also put his dong in Bolanos’ spaghetti. Great story.
We have to start worry about people showing up at 9. I arbitrarily made it at 9 on Facebook, but Bolanos was worried people were going to show up. I told him to text everyone to get their ETA. This way we knew if we needed to rush. He refused. Too much work apparently. Maturity.
We catch a cab downtown and walk into Horsebox. I ended up choosing it because Bolanos wanted TVs, despite nothing being on that night. I walk in and say Hi to Kenny, motherfucker refuses my handshake. Hey, I’m not happy he had to wait, but I’m not the one that told him to show up at 9, he maybe should’ve expected us to be late. Also, now this is my fault because I was the one that needed to event. Kenny wouldn’t have fucking known about this shindig if it weren’t for me. Then also hey, what’s an hour anyway. I would’ve went around to grab a bite, had a drink, and hell, maybe it would’ve forced me to meet some new people. Shit, waiting an hour can’t be the worst thing and how is it my fault. Maturity.
I later then see that Kenny’s eating the expensive ass tart that I got Bolanos. He explains that Kenny’s angry. Yeah, screw him. Also, that’s a bit weird giving that away, though it is gift, so I guess he could do anything with it. Also, I’m more confused by Kenny. I would feel weird eating someone’s birthday gift, even if it was given to me by the birthday boy. I would make sure that Bolanos had it, because hey, it’s his birthday. Why am I eating his gift during his birthday? No, Kenny’s sense of justice involves him getting pastries during Bolanos’ birthday, just because he’s mad. Maturity.
Jess and Griff are there, really nice seeing them. Jonah and Kerri, great to see them too though didn’t get to catch up with them. Sam and her two roommates were there. It was amazing catching up with her. She was even a huge champ about going to Sophie’s afterwards when her roommates split.
I didn’t get dinner, so a bunch of us go to Zaragoza. The hot waitress isn’t there, but the awesome food still is. Bolanos complains a bit about his issues because he hooked up with Michelle’s bestfriend. I just keep telling him the seal the deal, not to worry about her being Michelle’s friend or whatever things he was floating around in his head. She ended up splitting, so we don’t know how Bolanos’ closure rate would have turned out.
I end up meeting Michelle’s boyfriend, who Griff joked was Ben Kweller. Long haired white kid dude, I think he plays the guitar too, funny nickname. He’s a really nice guy, tried to make conversation. Score one for girls choosing nice guys.
We then walk to Sophie’s. Stefan ends up sitting at this table of 3 after the 4th just left the table for a bit. I’m “winging” with him. This one girl is a huge bitch and start yapping off about how awkward it is and how he should leave. I probably could’ve tried to defuse how quickly it got to “awkward” because the other two girls didn’t really say much. However, Stefan took it like a man, sat there for a few seconds, then we walked away. No harm no foul. I like it, I need to step up and involve myself in more of this. Single and mingling. Maturity.
Luna ends up stopping by from her party. We chat for a bit. Stefan ends up chatting with this girl for the whole freaking night. I keep texting him to “Seal the deal.” Turns out, the girl’s looking at his phone when he’s trying to get her number and I almost spoiled it by texting him in the middle of that. Woops. Good thing I didn’t though.
I’m standing around with Luna and Bolanos wants a cigarette. Hey, I try not to smoke around company. I ain’t no savage. Anyway, Bolanos gives me this stupid fucking sigh and I tell him to go bum one. He scowls at that thought. Grow the fuck up man. Maturity.
Even worse, I walk over to the table and I see my pack of cigarettes out. Turns out he or whoever fucking decided to raid my private shit, go through my stuff, have the balls to grab a bunch of cigarettes, then not tell me. Firstly, this now means I have to buy a new pack and I literally just bought one yesterday. It’s a hassle and fuck, this shit is expensive and adds up. It’s not that I wouldn’t have offered, but there’s something extremely disrespectful about going against someone’s wishes and skeevily going through their private stuff. I confront Bolanos about it. He tries to play some blame misdirection shit. I go to the real issue though, why are you so incompetent that you can’t bum a cigarette or buy your own pack that you have to go so low into something like what basically equates to stealing. And yes, it counts as stealing when you were not offered, then rummage through someone’s stuff. Even a friend. That’s stealing. He avoids the issue of bumming one, which God in mighty hell, striking up a conversation with a random person!? Who could ever do that?! Then he tells me what he’s supposed to do with a pack. I tell him do what I do. If you plan on going out and drinking and having a cigarette or two, bring a pack out. What’s so hard… I’m sure part of it is that he’s a boy and probably gets his room cleaned and wouldn’t want his mum finding that he has cigarettes in his room. So yeah, a precedent has been set. He’s gotta grow up and buy his own pack now. Sorry, no more bummin’ from me. Maturity.
Shaq ends up coming. We get a ride from him to my car in Soho. I drive Evan, Michelle, Bolanos, and Doug back.
Really great night hanging people I rarely get to see. The larger picture though opens the book to a much larger issue. Some people need it. Maturity.