Summer Break Begins

May 18, 2012
I take it easy and just stay home. I woke up super late and feel quite hungover from last night. I have GoogaMooga to go to tomorrow, which I’m unbelievably excited for. I got free tickets for both Saturday and Sunday. Tom is coming tomorrow since I offerred on Thursday.
It’s the first time they’re trying this out. It’s a food, booze, and music festival in Prospect Park. The weather is going to be amazing. Most importantly, there are dozens and dozens of food vendors from all over the city. It’s great that the tickets were free, but I would’ve paid for the tickets. I’ve tried a few of the places, but so many of them I haven’t. Also, a bunch of them are expensive restaurants that I wouldn’t visit if it weren’t for this festival. I’d rather spend money on a bunch of bites there than an expensive lunch or dinner at a really nice place. That’s just me.

May 19, 2012
I’m on a really bad sleep schedule and wake up at 6:00AM and can’t sleep for two hours while I watch some TV and eat some breakfast. I was planning to maybe getting to Brooklyn past noon. However, I end up getting there at about 3:30 after going back to sleep and finally catching up on sleep.
It’s a gorgeous day and when I get to Prospect Park, it’s a real freaking shit show. Everything is long long lines. I also realize that there’s absolutely no service. Aaron supposed to be there, but no way of contacting him. Tom is supposed to come too, but I can’t get to him. It looks really fun, there are loads of people and atmosphere, the weather is incredible, I see the vendors and I want to try everything, but the lines are too much.
I end up waiting on a line for beer because having a few beers before I wait on food lines would make things a lot easier. People on line are also by themselves because of the lack of phone service and we are all in misery. Sober, extremely hungry, and frustrated with line waiting. After an hour, I order three beers for $21 and chug them while I wait for this someone short line for a Jean Gorges chicken sandwich. Mad, I pretty shwasted considering I haven’t eaten all day.
I eventually get a text from Aaron that says the place is all lines and he leaves. I run out to get service after my sandwich and find Tom. We stand around, grab a dessert, check the place out, wait way too long for a mediocre burger, and leave. People that I know from school who went had a good idea of just leaving the placce and enjoying Park Slope. There are restaurants and bars without hour long waits.
Despite the really cool situation and the freaking unbeliveable amount of gorgeous New York women, the place was literally all lines. Even water was served on the “beverage” line, along with beer, so people probably were dehydrated on a hot summer day and had to wait an hour for anything. Good thing the porta-potties didn’t have lines, otherwise it would’ve been an actual shit show.
I was so looking forward to this, but it turned out to be the worst thing ever. Ridiculous lines because there were just too many people. I really hope next year they just sell/give out half the amount of tickets.
They were planning 40,000 people, which they knew about based on the amount of tickets they gave away. They advertised it well, they got all these great restaurants and beers to be served. They made a cool iPhone app for the event that would’ve been quite useful (if there was service…). For the specialty tickets, they got David Chang, Bourdain, and other celebrities to come to talk. They got Hall and Oates and the Roots to play. They set up these really cool looking signs, tents, and decorative pieces. However…
They did set it up for 40,000 people. Vendors quickly ran out of food. They didn’t have enough vendors/they gave away too many tickets considering the lines. They didn’t have free water or a separate line for water. They had this stupid “ticket” system like a fair. You wait an hour to buy “tickets” and then there’s no wait for specialty beer at these tents where you exchange “tickets” for beer or wine. Or wait on regular beverage lines for beer or drinks for an hour. Choose your poison. They somehow ignored the fact that people would not have service, which is absolutely atrocious. What are we, in the 80s?
Well, I guess my super exciting start to summer did not go off with a bang.
Tom and I go to Keybar and just start drinking. We had nothing to do. His friend comes, who has his birthday. The guy also comes with this really huge skeev. He’s wearing an open Hawaiian shirt with his wife beater showing, along with his gut. He has this weird cap on with little nerdy buttons. He bums a few cigarettes off of me and then starts drinking people’s drinks off of the table. He asks for free money from us because he has “no money” on him. When we’re talking about drinks, he suggests that birthday guy buys everyone a round of drinks. And the guy is like… “Why don’t you buy me drinks since it’s MY birthday….”
He eventually says he has cab money and Tom suggests he can buy his own drink and take a subway. He literally scoffs at the idea of taking a subway. It’s not even a consideration for him. The guy is a real Scumbag Steve. He also suggests that we go to a place with more girls. He already failed when he walked up to these 4 really cute blonde Scandanavian girls. Yeah, Hawaiian shirt with wife beater and gut is really going to find a lot of girls.
Kenny, Alon, Scott, and Nikki come. We hang for a bit and people end up splitting. We go to this new speakeasy beer bar. We then call it a night and I take the 1:19 home. It’s been a hella long day.

May 20, 2012
Instead of going to GoogaMooga for that shit show I expected again, I went to a Yelp event. I get into Nolita after 3:00PM and go to this new restaurant/bar that’s opening up. The food is absolutely delicious, best food I’ve had at an event. Usually, it’s just finger bites, but here, they gave us plates of food, buffet style. It was straight out of the kitchen instead of sitting there randomly. Along with vodka drinks, it’s a decent time.
Towards the end of the event, I just split and go for a walk in SoHo/Nolita. Just a beautiful neighborhood and great weather again. I see this bakery that I’ve wanted to go to and never been and grab an almond croissant. Also an iced coffee because I’m thirsty as hell with all booze and walking.
I randomly run into these French people who are playing instruments. It’s sort of this Lord of the Rings kind of stuff. Old fashioned, Celtic or something style. The cool random stuff in New York. Eventually, it’s 7PM and I give up on walking around and soaking in the sites.
I’m online and find out that Sunday GoogaMooga turned out to be a lot better. I guess people found out about what a shit show Saturday was. I was even planning to maybe go both days, but after Saturday, I just gave my tickets away to Miah and Hannah. I assume I could’ve tried harder to sell them on Craigslist for $40 a pop or something, but I gave up, especially since Miah asked for them.
Stefan and Sara went too. Sucks that I didn’t go when the lines weren’t as bad, but I couldn’t have known and I wasn’t willing to take the risk. Whatever, there’s always next near.

May 21, 2012
I want to be productive week and I’m slowly working on that. I make a huge list of things I want to get done and I only really touch on it today. I clean my room, organize loads of shit, catch up on the Sunday TV shows, get some blog writing done, catch some of my YouTube subscriptions, etc.
I pick up this new show called Legend of Korra, it’s animated and nothing too amazing, but pretty good and I love the drawing.

May 22, 2012
I’m on the worst sleep schedule and sleep super late and then wake up in the afternoon. By now, I barely have any time and all I can do is plan the dinner that I’ve been planning to make for mum since Mother’s Day. She’s been busy.
Anyway, chicken liver with balsamic on sourdough bread. Thin spaghetti with a creamy leek and salmon sauce with crispy salmon skin garnish. I go easy on the dessert, caramelized bananna with toasted macadamias. I would’ve been a lot better ice cream than just by itself.
At night, Aaron wants to go out and I’m planning to do so and get all ready, but he backs out on last second because it’s late.

May 23, 2012
Same issue with my sleep again. I wake up around 10:00, but then get exhuasted again and sleep into the afternoon. I start watching F-Word while I get some writing and random things done. I love Ramsay and I’ve seen all of his series (plural?). I’m 99% sure I’ve seen this before, but I decide to watch it again, fast forward through some of it, and gather some of the recipes that I want to try out this summer.
I go to Macy’s to buy a handmixer. $30 gg. I wish I owned a professional KitchenAid stand mixer to make baking and other desserts easier, but whatever. I also have a Macy’s coupon and get this on sale V-neck in the Boys section for $7. I’ve seen them cheaper, but it’s hard to find my sizes at stores and the lady at the counter compliments my shopping prowess.
Then off to make compost cookies, which I kill this time. It’s still hard to get the baking down to a science, with the temperature and timing. However, the recipe itself is real solid.

May 25, 2012
Jenn drives Kenny and I into the city. We had a late start and there was some traffic so we’re late. I made a reservation for the Brindle Room. It’s a big group of us at the restaurant, 9 people. When I get there, I find out that because we’re 6 or over, they have to make us do a prix fixe of $40. I’m not sure if everyone wants to do it and I ask, but Aaron and Kenny are vocal about not going. I let them know that they can find somewhere else to eat if everyone is willing to stay. It’s a bit of a strange move, but it’s possibly hard to get a table for 9 without reservations anyway so we’d just be walking around the area lost if people did not split off.
However, we quickly decide to turn down the restaurant, which is a bit awkward since they kept our table open for 50 minutes. Walking away and going to this burger place, Aaron mentions that Miah and Kenny have disappeared. We have a group of 7 of us and two people are missing. Personally, I’m surprised that Miah went off without saying anything. He barely said Hi and I haven’t seen him in months. Kenny on the other hand, he’s about doing his own thing, I didn’t expect much.
Aaron mentions it multiple times to me and really, I do not care. If they want to join us, they would call us and ask where. If they had manners, they would say they were going to do “x” and join us later. If they had common sense, they would ask where we were going at least and get an idea of they could do. Nope.
I later find out that they ended going to The Brindle Room. Okay, that is enough. It’s fine if you want to do your own thing and separate from the group. If you don’t have the manners to announce it, whatever, I’m not the courtesy police. I’m not going to teach you social norms.
However, I made reservations at this restaurant. I invited people through a Facebook event to make sure things would occur. I planned it with people and texted people to alert people we were late, what time we were getting there, and confirming the plans. I chose this restaurant because I wanted to try it and it also accomodated Eric Fidel and his tastes. I was in the contact with him because it was his last night left in New york.
But them two going to the restaurant anyway, sneaking off, and ignoring us is completely unacceptable. I suggested Kenny, Aaron, and whoever else wanted to could split off and they were not having it. So instead, we, as a group, decided to go somewhere else. But, these two, behind our backs, go to the restaurant anyway. They took advantage of the fact we left with my reservation still there and now they could order A La Carte. How fucking selfish.
Despite the plans, I did not end up going to the restaurant because it could not accommodate us. I’m not going to ignore everyone and just do what I want. That’s not how people operate. The group decided to go somewhere else and that’s what happened. I have the common sense to accept that issue.
And by the way, this is all really rooted from frugality. Kenny was only going for their moderately priced burger instead of their other menu options. It really is a shame that cheapness provoke this kind of shameless action.
I am very open to people’s personal choices and how they want to operate, but I draw lines. There’s not much to say about it. I don’t really care. I will just make sure I never invite these two to plans next time. If they want to plan things and do all the work, so be it. However, if there is going to be a group of people, I assume certain individuals will follow common courtesy. If not, I don’t need to accommodate their antisocial behavior. Adios.
Anyway, that’s my rant. We go to Blackmarket for a quick burger and then we go to a new spot that I love, Double Wide, a Southern style bar. Tasty Sweet Tea drinks, a Southern menu with stuff like Frito Pie that I still have to try, a decent beer selection, and even a bar area.
We sit there chatting around, along with Fidel’s two friends. Bolanos, Kenny, and Scott join in. Sam reminds me that her birthday is soon at Bowery Electric. She also mentions that she also might eventually move to Spain and teach there! Jeez, I’m freaking jealous. That’s going to be incredible. We hang out at Sophie’s and then Double Down. We meet up with Reuben and grab him a drink.
It’s our first true night out after Aaron and my first year of law school. Bolanos accomplishing 2L as well. It’s great being out. Seeing faces I usually don’t get to see.

May 26, 2012
Bolanos drives Evan and I into Brooklyn to one of my favorite beer gardens, Radegast. Stefan and Sara are there. Aaron with his friends, Murray, his new g/f, Nicole, Glenn, his g/f. I have a fun chat with Sara about studying abroad in Florence and how I studied in Prague. Then about how I’m planning to take a trip to Budapest. Good stuff.
I then catch up with Nicole, who I apparently have met before. It turns out that I have. The next day I remember when she was dating Shaq, I met her. It was at this bar where Bolanos got kicked out. He brought in a water bottle of SoCo and was flaunting it off near the bouncer like an idiot. Great times.
We then go to the bar across the street, which is really awesome. $4 beer and shot… AND they give you a beer cozy. Sick life. I’m past stealing random things from bars (though I will take coasters for my collection, but those are free/trash anyway). I had to have me a beer cozy though. Snatched that like the skeev that I am. Done deal.

May 28, 2012
Yesterday, I missed out on going to certain fairs in the city so today I want to get out. The MET is opened for Memorial Day so I go in at around 3:00. I really wish everyday was a holiday because traffic was easy. Parking was open everywhere. It was wild. It was as if I didn’t live in New York. Imagine that!
I’ve been to the museum at least 3 times in the past year, so 2 hours was a decent amount of me. I wanted to see the new exhibits. The Stein collection of Matisse and Piccaso was quite good. What blew me away however was the New American collection that had American Impressionists. Influenced from the Parisian Salon, they brought the French techniques and applied them to the northeast landscapes and cities. I am disappointed that I never knew about this work.
It’s hot as hell. I mistakingly walk out in jeans and that was a freaking bad idea. I look like a complete pig as I sweat my balls off. I’m feeling lazy and weird and I decide not go to to the East Village and grab a bite.
However, when I get on the bridge, I change my mind and decide to go into Astoria. I want to get King Falafel, which is quite famous in the food truck/vendor world. There’s also this street fair. I get there and the street fair sucks. The usual stuff you see, especially those shitty “Mozzearepas.” Very mediocre food. Also, I don’t need to buy pashminas, jewelry, or perfume. Jeez, they really curtail to the needs of women. Then again, what do men even need to buy or even want to buy, as most hate shopping.
I walk around like an idiot for a while and just give up on looking for food. I guess it’s the heat and walking around so much that gets me exhausted from wanting to be ambitious. I hadn’t eaten anything all day, but my legs hurting from walking is more of a deciding factor. I was actually planning to grab a bite somewhere, chill out at the bar for an afternoon beer, enjoy my day, and then go home at night. However, I’m out and out as quick as possible.