Grades Begin...

Media Planning - A-
Global Entertainment Industries - B+

I really have no idea where those grades came from... I thought I did a lot better. Oh well... 5 more to go

Done For a Month

WOW, I really have sucked about keeping this updated....
Let me try to recap the last month! It was busy, apparently...

I had 7 classes-worth of reports, presentations, and finals to make and finish. Luckily, it turned out that my teachers were taking it easy on us for most of it, and I had about 4 or 5 take-homes. I wasn't nearly as stressed out about finals as I usually am.

Hmm, I had an interview for an internship with the MS Society. Didn't get it. Pity.
I ate a lot of free food at Stern. Which is really normal, only more excessively. I was feeling weird the past month, I think.

I went Christmas shopping with my friend Matt (from the film shoot) in BROOKLYN?!?! He picked me up in his car and we drove over to Carroll Gardens and shopped. It was actually a really nice area of BK, and I wouldn't mind looking over there. But the shops were still expensive! We finally ended up buying a bottle of wine and talking for a few hours over dinner at this great Middle Eastern restaurant over there.

And then there was the week of Hell...I had a Market Research final on Monday, another class's take home final due the next day, and then there was Wednesday. I woke up and did my normal routine, and then I went downtown to take the Foreign Service Officer Test.
A 3-hour exam, where I was by far the youngest person taking this exam to be a US diplomat. 4-parts: writing an essay, biographical info (like how well you can deal with stress WITH examples), english grammar, and knowledge testing. The knowledge testing was the scariest part of the test; it asked everything from global geography to the king of Bebop to this and that treaty. I could feel my brain working on hyper-drive. I finished with some time to spare (not necessarily a good thing), and I was like gelatin the rest of the day.
I could barely function by the end of my meetings and practices. Because it would had been a catastrophe to take it easy afterwards. Nay, I worked on a group project (5 people, ran by me and my friend Claire because 2 were not capable of doing the work and one being missing), and then had dinner with a friend who couldn't have been more negative and contrary at a time I needed support.
And then I had a Chambers practice to run, where we realized 2 days before the concert that the tenors didn't know what they were doing. So I had to learn 5 songs to sing and LEAD the tenor section for the concert. I basically said, "If you can't sing it, don't. I will." It sucked, overall.
Thursday I had to go to the Health Center to get my final HPV shot, which I went in, waited an hour, and was finally told to come back 3 hours later to get it. And it hurt. Thanks, NYU.
The next day was chaos! Well, I had a lovely lunch with Rob where we bickered and he made me laugh for a good 2 hours.
But then, it was prepping for Chambers' concert. So, I'm running around trying to get the place organized. Thank goodness my entire family had come in to see the concert, so I put them to work helping us while we practiced. But of course, that'd be too easy, so 2 other music groups came over to argue with us about who really could use the space. Apparently the chapel overbooked the spaces, and we were now dealing with it. I put on my best business face and told them both that, though it sucks and they were behaving so considerately (lies), we were not moving from our space until our allotted time, but thank you for asking. So we had our concert, where we did alright (not amazing, but we survived), and had a good after-party.
The lovely part was that my parents put on the after party in Dad's place on the Island. They prepped it all, too! I just had to go and enjoy my group's company! That was fun, I enjoyed myself a lot more.
The next morning (Sat), I got really sick. I was all hyped up and ready to get sick all over Lincoln Center, where my family was for the family opera, "Amahl and the Night Visitors". It was cute, and I lived. But I napped the rest of the day.
I went out with Eugene from SciPo and his sister to get hot cocoa and hang out in Midtown, until my sister came over to join me for dinner. It was a very interesting night. My chorus buddy Nick joined us, too, so I bonded really well with him during that whole ordeal.
OH! And Kendra from SciPo called me!!! I was still sad and feeling ill, and she called me late at night and she totally brightened my life up! In fact, I was bubbly for about a day afterwards because I miss her so much and loved talking to her on the phone!

The next week was swept by presentations, final reviews, and free food.
I interviewed for a marketing internship with a legal pro-bono firm, and I start in about 2 weeks! I'm so excited about this job, though it's really daunting....and far away from me.
I had lunch on a FRIGID day with a Liz, where I prepped her for her studying abroad in Paris. Gosh, do I miss it.
That night was so cold that I ended up walking all of 2 blocks to Lauren's, where we ended up spooning a pint each of Ben&Jerry's and crying about lots of heavy things.
The next day I had lunch with Anita and talked her ear off about loads of stuff, and tried to prep her for a semester in London. I sure can pick them....
And then there was my little SoSauce party. First of all, I was in this part of Brooklyn that I swear I've dreamed of before! Second, I only knew Sean, SoSauce man guy thing, and so my conversations were limited. Until I met his sister, who's fabulous! I stole about 7 shirts from him and a glass of wine, while his sister and I ate another party's food.
Saturday I had a 30 minute walk with Neil and a 3 hour talk at Think with Brandon about a lot of things, where we ran into Darrell and Tara and we all babbled aimlessly for a few minutes before parting ways, again.
Nate made me go out in the cold to hang out with him by campus for all of an hour, and then I skidded back home to work on my law final and project. The next day I didn't leave Deej's futon for the whole day working on those blasted papers....

Now, we're at this week. Monday was the Chambers meeting at my place where I ended up making brownies and dinner for about 14 kids. I swear, sometimes I feel like I'm baby sitting that group of kids...
The yesterday was my last final, which I'm pretty sure I didn't do well on AT ALL! So much for studying, right? It's ok, afterwards Danie Cassie and I went out and had a hay day. We got spicy hot cocoa at Moxa, then went to Barnes & Nobles, then to Astor Wine to get some wine for dinner, traveled up to Empanada Mamas (which is heaven), and indulged in some simply amazing food! We brought home the meal part (we had tapas there) to my place and we talked with our food and wine for hours in my kitchen. We made a bet: whoever gets married first has to pay for the other twos' tickets to the wedding. I'm sooo gonna win this one.
Today Deej left for Cali, leaving me sad and alone. But no fears, I had a mission: to thaw the frozen fridge. And all day I was hair drying, hacking away at, and simply ATTACKING the fridge. I won. The door closes now, and it's like new, with no food casualties (I set them outside in the cold). I am awesome.
I went to get essential things for the apt, and a new calendar (it's stick figures), and I managed to have a joyous AUTHENTIC belgian waffle from a miraculous waffle truck!
I also wrapped and made the rest of my Xmas gifts, and even found time to talk to Lauren on the phone for about an hour and get dinner with (and counsel) Bhinish at Quantum Leap (which is a super little vegetarian place!).

There are gypsies in front of my apartment....

I'm So Excited...

Some Fast Ones

1) Winter has dropped onto us like a ton of bricks. It's been so cold today that people have lost their potential of friendliness.

2) I want a rabbit. A lot. Lionhead, Holland lop, American fuzzy lop, or an Angora? I'm still pondering it...

3) I've been having long, long days. I've been studying a lot. I've been not home for 12-16 hours a day, on average. I'm getting tired.

4) Finals are here. I'm about halfway through it all.

I Had A Dream Last Night

It was a really strange dream, too...
There was a lot of different things that happened that had no relation with each other.
I do know that I was trying to light something, like a candle or something, and ended up lighting myself on fire. I dove for the ground, and it wasn't a problem after that.
My cousin-in-law apparently befriended an alligator in London, in my dream. But somehow he ended up getting knocked unconscious, in a sewer. The alligator tied itself to him and pulled him out of the sewer, only ended up in Paris. So my whole family and I were all worried sick about this cousin and where he was, and we kept calling his cellphone, but he didn't pick it up. So I drove to Paris with my mom, and we kept finding then losing him and the alligator. We ended up at Hotel de Ville (which was a pink depot...very pretty...), and losing him again, and I started ranting in French. My army of former roommates all of a sudden were there, and throwing a party, so I left.
I thought I had found him, but instead I ran into my friend Billy (now we're in London again). So I talked to him for a second before his wife (that he doesn't really have) came over.
Then somehow I went into some random famous woman's house, where someone brought us to their secret basement, where there was a tiger and a warehouse of read books, fashion-designed articles of clothing, and....lots of other things. I think I was hiding, but I'm not quite sure. By this time in the dream, I had no idea what was going on...

Holiday Weekend

So for Thanksgiving weekend so far, I haven't done much.
I came back to Mass.
I ran a 5 mile race (Feaster Five, Matt Damon ran in it.) with my dad and sister. Dad and I ran together. It was a lot of the time uphill, which really pissed me off. But we did pretty well. 10 minutes per mile, really. It was actually quite a bit of fun! At the end, we got a medal, some water, bagels, fruit, and an.....apple pie. Each. They're outrageously bad for you, too! But it was fun enough for me to want to do it again. Aimee came in after us, but still did really well.
Afterwards, I helped Mom cook. And I napped.
We ate the normal meal. Of course, we ate a bit too much. Aimee and I shared a bottle of Merlot. It was a good meal. I won't have to eat ever again.
Watched Legally Blonde the Musical online, and was quite pleasantly surprised.
And I wrote a paper. And cleaned the kitchen/dishes.

Today we went to see Enchanted. It was quite funny! I actually really enjoyed myself! So many jokes that anyone who knows anything about NYC would love. And it made fun of Disney a whole lot. I highly recommend it.
I talked to Scott on the phone for a little bit, and it made me really happy.
I also talked to Lorena on the phone for a while, and she kept telling me to visit her in Lima, but I just have no money for it right now.

A Night Of Stories

Last night I was working as an escort at the International Emmy Awards Gala. Last year I had fun doing it, so this year I offered my service as a "walker" for the presenters. I had a blast last night.
So, I was escorting around this entourage of French celebrities and rich people. My main guy was CEO of TF1 (like Fox in France), Patrick Le Lay. I was also taking care of Carole Bouquet, who's like the Meryl Streep of France.
I got to dress up really nicely to walk around with celebrities, eat luxury food, get free gifts, and have an open-bar after party and a very chic bar!
The agenda: Grab our talent on the red carpet and bring them over to the VIP Cocktail reception. After an hour, we had to escort them to their dinners where the meals were already set up. Our talents were all presenting, so we had to escort them from off the podium and into the Press Room, giving them at the end their gift bag for presenting.

Most of the other helpers seemed to be French! I swear, that culture is like my magnetic attraction or something! So I was talking a lot of French to some French film students. And that was really great!
I bonded a lot with the other volunteering escorts. We had a lot of fun with ourselves during the VIP Cocktail before the dinner, during dinner in the Press Room, and also while the awards ceremony continued. Jean-Claude and I were laughing loads during the press pictures. All of the winners were international, but the presenters were mostly American. That being said, the press showed to care little about the actual winners of the awards, but the presenters. We found this situation hilarious. Oh, by the way, it was a BBC sweep. Be surprised.
But us escorts were having a ball. And the French kids were having some interesting moments, which I was not surprised much, either. They were all really sweet people.

This is when I gloat. I met a lot of celebrities. Let me list: Al Gore, Robert De Niro, PeeWee Herman, Elmo (who, in fact, is a big black guy!!), Sam Waterson, and Gloria Reuben. Along with a few of my choice British actors.
Al Gore and I had two moments: once when I was taking a picture for one of the escorts, and the other one when I was walking and felt someone looking at me to find him smiling at me and saying hello (I of course smiled and replied).
PeeWee is a pretty nice guy, actually.
And Gloria is a sweetheart!

I took 2 gift bags. Al Gore left his behind, and I grabbed another one. Full of fabulous treats!
The after party was interesting. I was just there to dance, really. And dancing I did. But I faced problems quickly
with older (german?) men. So I grabbed Jean-Claude and a few French guys. And I met a nice girl named Jaya who I hung out with all night.
One of the guys we were hanging out with started massively hitting on me and trying to pull some extreme moves on me. So I went to the bathroom and escaped. I ended up leaving earlier than most but really late for me, and gave a few kisses to the Frenchies.

Accelerando

Ah, yet another week where I have failed to find time to write about my life for those who are actually interested in the comings of Kim's life. Perhaps this is just a little blog for me to immortalize my life in hopes that someone will someday write a book based on the events in my life. Though, this blog is lacking immensely in some of the key parts of my to-be-novel.

Monday I registered for spring classes with ease. Deej claims his was a "shit show", however I don't understand why it would have been. I got all of the classes I need, and I pleasantly discovered I only have to be part time by 10 credits, not 11.5. Hallelujah!

Tuesday I woke up early to pick up a high school senior to follow me around for some of the day. I agreed to do this "Shadow Day" for my friend Paul, who now I think seriously owes me somehow. The program was poorly administered, I feel, and the kids did not come nearly as prepared with questions as I had hoped. Or at least, mine didn't. She was a quiet bumble, really. Asked me a few questions at the beginning, then shut up. I brought her to yoga, then we lunched with Danie and Cassie. I thought that since this was a group of college girls who are friends, she would find it more appealing to discuss with us college, or at least show some hint of personality. To no avail. Nonetheless, we dragged her to our Operations class. Though, we are terrible influences, and did our assorted "other" tasks during class. She must think that all college kids are like this, which only most are.
Afterwards, I went to audition for the Vagina Monologues. It was actually quite fun. I read 2 pieces: one about how a girl found a man who loved to look at hers, and one lesbian piece. I had a good time reading them, but I don't think I got any roles for it, sadly. I met up with Deej afterwards to go to Aaron's Buddhist Club event. They had brought in a Buddhist teacher to meditate and discuss with us life and his new book. And with a lot of food (Indian, to be exact). It was actually really delightful! And overabundant. I went home late, and hoping that I would be forgiven for my gluttony.

Wednesday was a work abroad Career Fair. Too bad it did not have nearly enough places that weren't internships or volunteer work that you have to pay for. I was hoping to find something that would fund me to work abroad, not me pay for it. Though, I did find two promising prospects that I filed in the back of my files.
More meetings for projects. I read (and finished) my book, Labyrinth. Really a GREAT story! I was turning pages so fast that I didn't want to stop. And the ending was a bit of a shocker for me!!! I thought about it when I wasn't reading it. In the middle of a break from reading, I grabbed some tea with Christina from Spain, who just gawked at me while I rambled to her my current events, ending with, "Please, have a calm week!!!!" I wish she was here the whole year...

Thursday I woke up early, yet again. This was for a phone interview about an internship with the MS Society. I would be their Walk (in April) Intern that would do a lot of logistical stuff. I actually really want this job, it sounds like fun and the woman was super cheerful and friendly. I'm going to their office in a week to meet more of the people.
More meetings. More working. Chamber practice went by, and it was a pretty good time. I think we're going to make it for our concert, after all.
Another day where I had to go to bed by 10pm so I could wait up at the crack of dawn (not even!) for Lauren's film shoot.

So I woke up early and went to the shoot. Lots of hauling things around. I was running all over the place getting things and retrieving people for Lauren. We had a good time, though! The actors were all great to work with and joke around with, and the filming seemed to go rather well. The only problem I had was that Denysha and I were the "flicker lights". Meaning, Lauren needed someone to wave paper in front of her lights to give the effect of a fire burning. For about 4 hours or so, with my tendinitis wrist. No matter, it's done now.
We went back to Lauren's place to finish the shooting for the day. Her mom, lord bless her, cooked a FEAST for us! Eggplant lasagna, meetballs, chicken cutlets, pasta, rice and beans, mashed potatoes...you name it! We were fat with food by the end of the night. And having a ball. Some of my favorite ad libbing by assorted actors during the shoot were phrases like:

• Adios, witch! (We were in Medieval Scotland...)
  
• We're going to carve out your heart and feed it to the village.
• She was dancing!
• Clear! Again! Again! Again! Again!!!!.....
• You're not going to die on my watch.

I'm sure those mean little if you're not involved with the shoot, but the lines were in really fabulously ridiculous times.
After the shoot, I left early to go to my Chamber party in Brooklyn. Another time when I'm walking down the street in Brooklyn and realizing I'd been there before. My friend Dan lives only two houses away from my friends Knight and Gordon! So, we invited them over, ate some fruit, drank tea, chit chatted, and listened (and sang) to some music. When we all left the party, we had some interesting moments. Like, I forgot my black bag with gum at Dan's house, so Christina drove to meet me at a stoplight, me run to their window, grab the bag, and run.
Another funny moment was when there were only us 6 on the train. There was running around, climbing poles, and a game of Twister (mat and all).

Saturday I had the worst load for laundry ever. 3 bags by myself to the Laundrette, where everyone else was, and up and down the stairs. It took $10 to clean it all. And I was late for my meetings. Which didn't actually matter much, since we left as soon as I got there.
So, I went to the film shoot, where Lauren was slowly (but clearly) losing her cool a bit. So I stayed out of her way unless she needed me, in the kitchen, where her mom and the food was.
After the shoot, Caroline (the lead), Matt (a crew guy) and I decided to go together to a party for Caroline's friends. Which was interesting, because it was like a high school party, only in an apartment in NYC with 23+ year olds. They were playing flip cup and other assorted games. Caroline and I, not being much of drinkers, decided to play, but only with about a Tablespoon of beer in our cups. We won 3 times. Apparently I'm good at it.
The party shifted to this Beauty Bar nearby, which was unbearably full. Matt got randomly snagged by some chick in the bar, so Caroline and I opted to go back to my place and sleep early. She really is a gem of a person, I am so glad she and I got to bond a bit out of the shooting.

Sunday was more film shooting and food (which is now finally done!), a sad excuse for a Chambers practice, and homework until late at night.

Now I'm just getting back from a bunch of errands and working on projects. I have to run and get ready for the International Emmy's.

Another Week In Review

Another busy week, only not much to be said, I don't think...

Last Sunday, after practice, Craig and I went to dinner at this random Irish-Mexican fusion bar/resto, Murphy & Gonzalez. Sounds weird, right? It was actually pretty good. And their portion size is out of control (you'll be good for days)! We had a nice time, chit chatted for a few hours about our recent events. Good times, great friend.

Monday was busy. After class, I ran to hang out (aka meet) this Costa Rican I befriended, Gabe. We grabbed a cup of tea and went for a little bit of a walk. It was pleasant, just walked and talked, until I ran home for my date with Katherin.
Katherin came over to make pumpkin brownies with Deej and me. Basically this recipe she had would make the brownies fudgey and amazing, yet not as fattening and healthier than normal brownies. What she didn't tell us was how amazingly dense they were, and how many brownies are made in 1 batch!!! Granted, we had a mess up with the oven and the brownies at first, but when they came out, it was a party. My buddy Matt talked for a bit on the phone in the middle, but mostly it was us 3 having a dance party while baking. Oh yeah, and Katherin brought over frozen yogurt AND was planning on baking apple crisp while she was over. It was madness sweets going on chez 2E! While we were waiting for the oven, we danced, talked, and took out language books in Spanish, Italian, and Latin. It was probably one of the best nights I've had this semester as of yet!

Tuesday I felt crappy.

I met up with Billy for lunch on Wednesday. He's one of my friends from FIAF. We met up there. Actually, it was crazy, I ran into one of the French girls I knew at Sciences Po while I was waiting for him! Small world... We had a good time at lunch, though. He paid (I owe him next time), we talked about a lot of things, his past, my future, and cultural differences. I really enjoyed the time with him! Afterwards, I had a bunch of meetings.

Thursday I went to Dad's office to get a box from Mom. We talked for a little bit, but mostly he showed me off to his coworkers, gave me a tour of the office, talked a bit to some people there, and then he walked me out. It was a brief encounter. It's alright, I was late for a meeting, anyways.

I had a lazy Friday, where I did mostly just studying for the GRE exam. My sister came into town late, though, so I waited up for her to join us at the apartment. She got lost before getting here.

I had to wake up really early to get to the GRE exam the next day. When I got there, they didn't put me on the list, so I had to wait for a while until they allowed me up to take the test. A 4-hour test. It was like going ot jail for 4 hours: they put you in a quite room and interrogate you for hours on end without any kind of relief. They wouldn't even let me bring in water or Kleenex to the testing room! Just my ID. I mean, people....I'm sick! So most of the test was taken in complete discomfort. I did alright on the exam overall, but I might take it again later. It just sucked.
The family was all in town this weekend, so I went to Roosevelt Island to meet up with them. After lunch, the girls (Mom, Aimee, and Andrea) and I went out to explore a bit of the city. I made them get tea and scones, of course, but they really wanted to go shopping (which I really didn't want t0). Funny, I had forgotten about the stagehands for the theatres in NYC were on strike, so EVERYONE and their mother were out shopping! Bloomingdales was a bloody nightmare (seizure-inducing), and the Disney Store (I didn't want to be there at all) made me really overwhelmed and a bit ill.
Afterwards, Aimee, Andrea, and I went to see "2 Days in Paris". Basically, it's about this American guy and a French girl (who's rather Americanized) having a relationship and seeing how the American behaves in the French culture. So, in other words, it was very familiar to me, only with the reversal of roles. And what's more, but the guy looked JUST LIKE Pierre! It was nutty!
Aimee and Andrea wanted to eat and drink after, but I didn't, so we went back to my place, did some talking (and they got freaked out with ghost stories), and went to bed. My sister, by the way, cannot sleep with other people, so after about an hour of her squirming uncomfortably next to me and waking me up each time, I went over to go sleep with my roommate in his room. All was good.

Today was today. I went to the gym, ate lunch at Roosevelt Island with the family, had choir practice, ate dinner at Rickshaw Dumpling Bar (really really good actually!), and had a project meeting. My life in a nutshell.

What The Hell?!

Kim's officially having the weirdest 2 days ever!!!
But, no...I have to start with Halloween...that far behind...

So, Halloween ended up being interesting. I was on my way to meet up with Danie and Rhea at the Parade, when Lauren called me and asked where I was. So, I grabbed Lauren, and we went out to meet the others.
By the time we got to the parade, it was absurdly crowded (surprise surprise)! We huddled in the mass of people for about 20 minutes before thinking twice and deciding we had better ways to enjoy ourselves. We went for a walk NOT on 6th Ave, instead. We still saw a LOT of interesting ensembles, so I think it was an even better choice. We checked out people, they checked us out, it was a very observational time.
We went to get some tea and chai before continuing our walk. Danie and Rhea decided to go home early, though, so Lauren and I opted to view people at Union Square. As we're walking around, I hear some people speaking good, strong French behind me. I swing around and say, "Who's speaking French?!" to find this rather good-looking guy (from Haiti) staring at me. "Tu parles francais?" He responded, "Bien sur..." And the conversation went off from there. His name's Johnsy, from Haiti/Paris/Geneva. Really, pick a place. His friend (whose name still isn't known) is also from some French place. We talked a bit in franglish before exchanging numbers and Lauren and I walking towards Whole Foods.
As we turn the street to get there, this guy comes over to inform us that he has to go to party, but has to bring to good looking women with him. We say sure, where' the place, he says Hayden Hall. An NYU freshmen dorm. Lauren wants to give it a go, so I say OK, and we tell him we'll met up with him there. We end up walking to the dorm, sitting outside realizing how much we don't want to go, and then when he gets there, we tell him sorry and scoot out. Man, that area was BUSY, too!
Lauren and I ended the night with grocery shopping at Whole Foods. Very nice. Completely empty, too!

Thursday was busy! Yoga was really cold and windy, so it was half outside, half inside. I had a midterm in OM that Danie and I studied (aka crammed) for beforehand while lunching. Took the test, and actually finished early! Then I ran home to bake Funfetti cupcakes and homemade icing for Danie's birthday dinner. I ran up and down these stairs so much that day, because we didn't have the right things to bake it, or I needed this or that...lordy! I had to run back to class, too!
So, I went to Danie's dinner party, and ate absolutely everything that came in my path! It was hors d'oeuvres, so it was easy to eat too much. I didn't know most of the people there, but I enjoyed my time with the girls I did know. We babbled, and I bonded with them all and the food. Danie pulled out the martini shaker and tried to make martinis. I only had one because they were far too strong for me to really enjoy. We also had a few hours of pure fun with Catchphrase. Most of them were a bit drunk, so it was a slow, yet hilarious, endeavor.
As I was waiting for the SafetyRide to pick me up, Matt (from the film shoot) called me up to ask me something. We ended up talking for a long while about a lot of things! It was really a great talk, I enjoy his company a lot. I went to bed late.

Yesterday I had a great run! That being said, Johnsy (yes, that guy) called me to hang out that night, and I said alright. Dates are always interesting, right? Then I basically did not much until I had to get ready to go out with him. He calls me, and I realize he's got his friend with him. Blessed be Lauren, I call her up begging to join me in making this not unusual, and she said "alright", despite being kinda tired and hungry. We got cookies beforehand at Whole Foods, anyways, so she was contented. We met up with the boys and encouraged them to get just hot cocoa, not go to a bar. They agreed, and we had an interesting conversation for a few hours about a lot of random things.
Our little café closed, so we all decided to try the hot cocoa in Max Brenner's (how COULD you go wrong?!). The guys LOVED it, and we split a chocolate waffle, too! Though, I'm not really sure how I feel about them. They're not exactly guys I'd normally hang out with, but that's what makes them interesting. One seems to have a sweet tooth for one of us, and that makes it a little more interesting, but a little more of a red flag goes up when they talk than normal.
We ended the night with an awkward end; it was Johnsy's birthday, and his friend was harassing me to give him a kiss, which I didn't want to do, so I didn't. Lauren and I stayed up talking for a few hours before I went to bed.

Today, now, this is the day that was pretty awesome.
So, Thomas (a Frenchy...I gotta start putting numbered tags on them or something...) was in the city today, and asked to have lunch with me. OF COURSE I would! He's darling, I love that boy! So I met him at the Met and we ended up going to this French Resto that I stumbled upon on the way to the Met. The waiters were French, the food was French, we spoke in mostly French....it was great!!! I had such a nice time talking with him, venting to him. He even told me that he thinks I'm becoming bilingual (which isn't true, but aw!).
After lunch, we went to the Met and had a LOT of fun in the Modern Art exhibit. Thank goodness for French; we were talking mostly in French about the art, not necessarily in a good way....but it was so much fun! And some of the art I actually liked!
Now, here's when it gets ridiculous...
As we're walking out...we're walking towards the exit...with hundreds of other people (seriously, everyone was there...)...and I'm talking to Thomas...I realize that there's a man whose stopped dead in his tracks and is staring right at me. I'm thinking, "Who's this guy staring at me? He's kind of cute...wait...he looks familiar........" It was, who else, but José-Louis! One of the other Frenchies in my life! He just HAPPENED to be in NYC today, in the MET of all places, at the same time as us! You can't get more movie moment than that. It was ridiculous. I was just kind of gawking for a few minutes before fully functioning. Two of my Frenchies meeting in the Met of NYC, speaking French...sooooooooo WEIRD! So, Thomas passed me off to José.
José and I walked around for about an hour in the Armory exhibit and chit chatted. A day full of French! And so he ended up coming back home with me to help me with my laundry before the Laundrette closed. We agreed to hang out for the night. So, as he was there, Aaron called and agreed to meet up with us. So, I had two tall guys who could barely communicate to each other helping me with my laundry. It was awesome.
So us 3 agreed to go out for dinner at VP2, my favorite. The funny thing was that the waitress and I were having huge communication problems. She misunderstood my appetizer request, so we ended up getting an appetizer for free, and then she got Aaron's chicken dish for beef, and I got my salad dish as a meal dish (difference - lack of veggies) instead. She must have hated us by the end of the dinner.
So, the boys and I crawled over to the L to go to Bushwick to see my dear Sam's comedy sketch. Bushwick? Sadly. As soon as we got off of the subway, though, I felt like I'd been there before....and we're walking to the place, and I'm feeling more and more aware of where I am. When we turn the street, I start laughing hysterically; this show was in the same exact building that Alex K. lived in when I was a freshman, the place I have so many traumatizing memories at! We had to go into this shady basement of the building to find out that Sam's show was over (missed it by at least an hour), and that it'd turn into this dance party of sorts. I saw Sam, exchanged love, and we scooted out before we were in Brooklyn for 30 minutes.

Bikers On Halloween

Last Saturday I had a bit to do. I woke up and met up with Andy for a lunch date. We went to the wonderful Veselka and caught up. It's so nice to see my little boy all grown up and at med school now! The talk was full, and I enjoyed it a lot, but I had to cut it short (so did he...) for a business meeting.
The business meeting was...not so fun. We have to write a 20-pager about the book industry. That my story about that.
I ran home to meet up with Aaron, who came over to make dinner with me (my concoction, as usual) and watch "À Bout de Souffle". VERY French movie. I thought it was alright, classic indeed, and I think he liked it, too. We talked a bit, but he ended up having to leave to work and I had to get ready for the night's festivities.
So, it took me about 40 minutes to get ready for the Halloween party that Mariam held. Deej was a ghetto carrot, and I was a motorcyclist (see image). A tight, spandex 1-piece, and a mask of makeup? Not my normal getup. Walking around Manhattan in that outfit was life changing, indeed.....a good group of men were eying me and occasionally made some forward comments to me. Flattering, sure, but also petrifying (if you're me). The entire way to the party, Deej was all smiles because of the outfit, and I was griping the entire time, regretting my outfit choice.
The elevator in the building, we met up with 2 other kids from our law class. Henry didn't even recognize me, and started introducing himself to me, when I said, "Henry! It's Kim! I'm the one behind you in law! You know me!" And his face slowly changed to shock, and replied, "KIM?!" This happened a lot that night, actually, mostly the guys had a problem. Apparently I was completely unrecognizable. More makeup, perhaps?
We got to Mariam's, and it was PACKED with costumed kids. Lots and lots of kids. Think a big drinking party in a frat house, only in a girls' apartment in the middle of NYC. It was really crazy! I didn't stay very long because I promised some other kids to go to a pub that night, but when I was there, it was pretty nuts. A highlight of the evening was when Deej and I started dancing to the music playing, and Henry (same guy) wound up and slapped me in the ass! In the middle of the song's lull. Really hard! Everyone in the party stopped and looked! Lots of pain. That was pretty ridiculous. I ran away quickly after.
I went to the pub to visit the music kids, and wasn't there very long. But they thoroughly enjoyed the outfit. Pictures were taken, obviously, and walking home was full of men offering to me. Fun fun fun.

Sunday was tiring. Chambers practice, dinner, called mom, and had a business meeting. Though, this was a fun meeting. We didn't end up doing any work, but we all got to hang out and get to know each other more, which was great! Really bonded with them all. And to boot, I got some Wendy's on the way home. Breaking rules left and right!
Aimee ran her first marathon and FINISHED it that day, too! I'm soooo proud of her!

Monday was fine. Just classes. That's about it.

Yesterday, I was running around a bit. Yoga was particularly hard, actually. Classes were boring like always.
I had a French Internship workshop to go and listen to. Basically, they were telling us to apply for internships in France. Not very thrilling. Afterwards, I went to the law party at Murphy's and Gonzalez (Irish-Mex restaurant and pub.....weird!) and talked with Denysha for a little bit before heading home.
Christina came over for a little bit to try on one of my costumes I had for Halloween. We had a fun time for about an hour goofing off. She's a sweetheart, and a senorita for the parade! Appropriate, since she's Spanish.

Today is Halloween; HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Stern had a party where I ate pizza and candy (healthy) for free. Neil came over for a bit so I could put some makeup on him (he's a gothy girly boy...) I am now ready to get on my outfit, again.....be prepared....

Desserts and Shoots

I've noticed that I don't write for a long time when things actually happen in my blog, so that's why my entries turn out to be so long. I'll try to be brief.

Last Wednesday night I went to an African Drums at Steinhardt for a little bit. They had some nice refreshments, but I felt like the band was really lacking. They weren't really African, except the 2 leaders of the band; it was a bunch of white guys who couldn't dance and asians who could play the keyboard. The Africans had the soul needed for the song, but the rest weighed it down with something unwanted.
On a plus note, I ran into my ex-suitemate, Izzy, at this event. It was kind of funny, and we basically just said "hey", but I haven't seen her in 2 years, so it was interesting! Oddly enough, I've ran into her 2 other times since Wednesday, and we're both wondering what the hell because it was 2 years of nothing and now we're constantly running in.
I ran into Knight that night on the way to get something at school. We chitchatted and booked Tuesday night to talk about doing an event together.

On Thursday, I helped out Lauren with casting for her final film project. The film's an experimental film, which makes it interesting to see who might fit the roles or not. There were some really good actors, but a lot of really bad ones. It was....kind of like experiencing a casting for a circus, I think. By the end of it, we were stumped for some of the roles.

Friday was a fast day. I helped Lauren with casting in the morning, again. This time, her friend Tristan came in to play the role of the brother to the main character, because he will be the brother. Let me tell you, this man was pure gorgeous. The kind that shocks you. Spartan god, perhaps? Just, unbelievably hot. Married? Still hot. It was really funny because we used him for the female auditions, and it became easier to see who to cut because the girls would just crumble as soon as he looked at them.
Afterwards, Lauren and I went to Spice to discuss who to she should cast for her film. And it was pouring out. Ran to do laundry, and started packing my bag.
I RAN to Roosevelt Island (via the F line) to meet up with Dad so we could drive back up to Boston for the weekend. We actually talked a lot during the drive! It was neat. And when I got home, I hung out a bit before sleeping.

Saturday was glorious! I went shopping with Mom and Andrea to get clothes, and i ended up successfully restocking my wardrobe that had dwindled to mere threads. We went all over the place, too!
We ended up at night in Boston to meet up with Jeff and his girlfriend, Caroline. It was hard to find a restaurant because of the Head of the Charles (everyone and their mother were out), so we had to go down the streets until we finally found a cute underground Japanese restaurant. The food was actually pretty good, too! They had Bibim bop, for some reason, so I ended up getting that and Spicy Tuna. We had a nice conversation, and afterwards, Mom and Andrea left me to go to Harvard with Jeff.
At Harvard, we met up with a bunch of people at Harvard Pub. Now, Harvard subsidizes its own beer pub, so that the drinks are all of $3.25. It could be cheaper, but then the kids would drink too much and have to go to the hospital. We met up with most of the friends of Jeff that I met and like a lot, and that was really nice. Including Chris and Jorge!! Alex actually came out for a little bit with us, too, where we talked about the differences between nights in Boston and NYC. Then he scooted out. I'm still upset that I missed David because we were planning all week to meet up, but he was out of Cambridge and I had no means to meet up with him.

Sunday I just did little chores around the house before getting in the car with Dad to drive back. I slept a little, there was a LOT of traffic, but we still managed to have some really interesting and good conversations. I'm glad to see that we're getting along better now that I'm older.
It was really upsetting, though, because we were stuck in traffic from Connecticut, and I had to start going to the bathroom then. And there was no way or exit or place to go to help me out with it. So, by the time Dad drove me into the city and to my apartment, I couldn't think straight and BOLTED to my apartment.

Monday was fine. I met up with Shana for about an hour at Pommes Frites where we discussed our current love lives (or, for me, lack thereof), and what was going on for our futures. I left her when Alex came to get her for a concert. It's nice to be able to see my friends once in a while, even if I haven't seen them in QUITE a while.

Tuesday was an intense night with Knight. We met up at Think Coffee and ordered some desserts while we talked a bit about our causes (mostly, though, about human trafficking). By the way, their vegan brownie was AMAZING! I loved it! Anyways, we've decided the event will be in February, but we don't know how we should spearhead it. What can be done for it? We're discussing more later.
We ended up leaving Think to walk around a bit, and we planted ourselves in WSP, where the conversation became intense and we talked about really heavy matters. It was a great conversation, though, and we were both trying to feel the other one out before admitting to anything in the conversation. Don't worry, that might not have made sense in such a vague manner.

Wednesday I had a midterm in Marketing Research. I think it went pretty well, but not fabulously, probably.
After, I met up with Nate to eat lunch at his studio. I was pretty mentally fried from studying and testing, but I think we still had an alright time hanging out. I ate Chipotle for the first time ever, which was kind of exciting. And I stole a lot of great European chocolate at his studio.
I left him to run to an interview at Arnell Group. This is a funny situation; Nate's friend, Melissa, called me and asked if I wanted to apply for an internship at her company, which I didn't get the name. I said sure why not. So, I get there just assuming that it'd be this chilled out interview. Then I find out it's Arnell Group, which is actually a rather well-known branding company. Uh oh. I get into the interview, where the HR lady grills me for about an hour. I, luckily, am pretty good at stretching observations and making it look like I've researched what I'm talking about. However, this means after the HR woman is done with me, she sends in 2 other people to grill me for another 30 minutes. I think it went pretty well, considering it was so last minute, but JESUS! I really wasn't prepared for that at all...
I met up with Aaron for all of 10 minutes to say hi after my long interview. I was frayed around the edges by now.
I ended up trudging to East West Books to pick up some sage for my apartment. As soon as I walked into that place, I felt so relieved and comforted that I basically just crumbled a bit. I couldn't use my words very well, but the people there were amazingly wonderful and helpful. And they have a lot of things I want to use sometime, so I'll remain a loyal customer there.

Thursday rolls by, and I am falling asleep all day! By the time Chambers comes up, I was delirious. As soon as it was done, iran home and hopped into bed. I was asleep by 10pm.

But one of the reasons I went to bed so early was because I was waking up early to help Lauren out with her film shoot. So, I went to the gym at 5:30am.
The film shoot was really fun! Granted, it was all outside, and it was so cold my feet went numb in 20 minutes, but I still had a good time with the other people on set. Caroline, the main actress, was amazing and we joked around a lot. There was this other guy on set named Matt who was a riot, too! It was funny, because he looked really familiar the moment I met him, but I thought nothing of it. Then, a bit later, he goes, "Do I know you? I swear I have." After that, we bonded a whole lot, and the whole atmosphere was wonderful!
I got tea at the Tea Spot (amazing, highly recommended), and the rest of them all deemed me as the "Keeper of Things", which I took as a nickname for a leprechaun-type person. So it was all very joyous.
We moved into Lauren's flat, finally, where we set up some shots to film before stopping. But, a few of us weren't needed, so I started making an apple pie from scratch, where Matt and the other assistant came and helped me peel the apples in their fridge. It was hilarious because we were on a film shoot, making an apple pie. But everyone got along so well, it felt just like a bunch of friends making pies and movies! The pie ended up being in a loaf pan because they had nothing circular, and we joked about how we were making an apple loaf, but with my magical ways, it tasted really great! Even the crust!
I left for 2 hours to meet up with Sean and Deej for a pint on the West Side. We joked around for a little bit, and then all agreed to get ice cream at Mary's, next door. Sadly, it closes in 2 days! But at least that meant for us that we'd get super super cheap ice cream ($2 per bowl, any toppings free!). We decided to do beer and ice cream again sometime soon.
I went back to bond some more on set. Matt and I went to get some oatmeal stouts to make floats, and we bonded some until Lauren's roommate, Jenni, insisted that we go to a bar for her 21st birthday. I won't lie, I wasn't really feeling it, but I went anyways. This guy started to hit on me at the bar, and I decided that was my cue to scoot out and go home to sleep.

Today, I'll be busy from 2-2, so don't expect anything for a while.

You've Got To Be Kidding...

Day 3 of the Funfetti Hunt, to no avail. I have officially concluded that NYC is an uncultured village with no joy or knowledge of good cakes.
This started when I was dreaming with my native-NYC friend Josh about baked goods. Banana bread, brownies, the lot. Then I brought up my favorite type of cake: funfetti cake. He had no idea what I was talking about! What?! That vanilla cake with the colorful polka dots on the inside?! You must be joking, right?!
Well, I have hunted all of the grocery stores in my area: Food Emporium, Metro, Gristedes, Whole Foods, D'Agostinos, Trader Joes....even Space Market! Nothing. The closest thing they had was Funfetti BROWNIE mix, but not the cake! I didn't even know that brownies would exist like that! And I am not sure how much I trust it...
I guess I must request some boxes before I come home and enjoy them in a week from now.
It shall be a tedious week.

What else have I been up to...hmmm...
Friday I saw Madama Butterfly at the Met. A really great opera! I have been excited about this opera for years, and I finally got a $5 ticket through Stern to go see it! I went alone, yes, but I won't complain!
Of course, there were a few mishaps during the performance, but I'm very forgiving for slight blunders. It's an opera, for goodness sake! And the woman who played ChoCho was from near my hometown! And she was superb. It made me so proud...
The only thing that bugged me were the people I was with; Sternies. The guy next to me "joked" saying, "If I start snoring, wake me up." To which I replied, "If you start snoring, I'll be extremely offended." I was considered an ice queen, and was ignored for the rest of the performance (thankfully). Other kids were talking about how they started falling asleep during the show, and most were surprised as to the ending! She kills herself?! Really!?!?! Ahem, it's Madame Butterfly, people... The thing that bugs me is that it seems that no one there wanted to be there to actually SEE the performance, but more to rack up points with the alum there and to sound so cool because they've been to "15 broadway shows and 5 operas" blah blah blah. Anyone ever heard of art for art's sake?

I met Neil's parents for brunch on Saturday, and they were delightful people! I adore them! His mother is bubbly and talkative, and his dad (much like Neil) was very chill and calm about it all. I am so happy I met them! Neil makes a lot more sense now. And they took me to Norma's! where I got a massive omelet. Mmmm...
The parents were in town, too! To move Dad into Roosevelt Island. I went straight there. The apartment is nice and cozy. We stayed around and chatted for a while before heading back into the city to go to Alice's Tea Cup (of course!). We enjoyed that for a while, walked around the park, and then finally ended up in Union Square (they were screaming at rats running around in the park) to get dinner at Piola's with Deej. Great meal, lots of talk.
Afterwards, I met up with Aaron and we walked to the LES to Neil's place for a little get together for one of his friends. We got there first, and not many people were there when we had to leave an hour later. I hope it went alright.
Aaron walked me up to Molly's Pub and pouted most of the way up because I was abandoning him. But I tried to make him feel better before he dropped me off there.
Another night with Nate and his friends, the whole lot of them. I think there were about 12 people in our party. It was a fun night. Rob came, talked to me for a while, him and Nate bonded about their disdain for France, and then he left early to meet up with some people. I really enjoy that group of people! They're so funny and pleasant and amusing, I truly like my time with them.
A drive home in a taxi late at night to meet up with Rob for an hour to chit chat post-pub was fine. Jeff H's roommate at Harvard, Wesley, came stumbling out of my apartment building, and we shared awkward hellos while he headed back to Cambridge.

Sunday was practice. I wasn't in a super mood all day, but I would be lying if I said Chambers made it better. Darrell snapped at me in a rather offensive and condescending manner, and I'm still bruised by it. It makes for awkward practices, and I do not want to tolerate that.

Monday was Monday.

Tuesday was decent. Everyone's exhausted! I slugged through the day with everyone else, and went to an ELaw party at Apple Bar for about 30 minutes before booking it to FIAF for another Rendez-vous. Met a professor who talked to me most of the time about how much I need to learn to ride a bike. Yeah, I get it, I am missing out, thanks. Funny conversation, though. He started interrogating me with what I could and couldn't do.
Met up with the usuals there, too. They were pep-talking me about my future, and I found it slightly educating, but more humorous.

Today has gone well. I met up with a retired Foreign Services Officer in the UES (super nice area! and never been beforehand!), and we talked about her job for an hour. She was awfully pleasant, and was a GREAT help for me! Hopefully I will survive this all, though.

Lunch Break

Alright, so I have to recap since...last Wednesday? That's a lot of material to cover. I have 1.5 hours for lunch and a guy next to me who can't keep his mouth closed while eating. Shall I make it? We shall wait to see...

Wednesday I had Senior pictures, which took all of 5 minutes to make. He just told me to move, I moved, he shot the photo, repeat 3 times, I'm out. Simple, yet pricey.
Afterwards, I ran to an audition (dinner in hand, of course) for this guy who wants to be in Chamber Singers. He was unprepared, though sight read like a champ, and was not very knowledgeable on classical music at all, it seems. He was willing to sing show tunes, but we wanted to hear America the Beautiful, which he didn't know (and yes, he was American). He is surely a project, and I vetoed him joining the group straight away. Though Christina seems to want another project...

Thursday was fine. Chambers and I had a fun "after party" of sorts at Max Brenner's. Practice was great, of course, but I really enjoyed the dessert. It was really super complicated at Max Brenner's, though...I made a reservation for 15 (the minimum there is 15 anyways), but sadly about 4 of them canceled on us last minute. I let them know that, and they said it was fine. We got there, and they start giving me crap about how we have a $300 minimum tab, now, for the inconvenience. I told them that I was not informed that it would be a problem, so they lowered it to $20 per person. Not everyone wanted that much stuff, so I went to argue with the manager for about 10 minutes. The bastard didn't budge, "No, the policy is $20 a person, we're sorry we didn't inform you, but we only keep reservations for 15+." I got it, thanks.
Thank GOD the waiter was simply wonderful, and he treated us well AND talked the manager down a bit more at the end of the night, when no one could spend anymore and we weren't at our "minimum" price yet. Let me tell you, though........to keep the resto happy, I ordered more chocolate than legally allowed imported to the states....I had a chocolate crepe, a chocolate shake, and ended with a chocolate martini. All super dark chocolate of course, too. I've never been so HIGH on chocolate in my life!!!
Lauren joined us for the night there, and afterwards I went to hang out at her place for the night. We talked a lot about spirituality, our purpose, men, cooking....all extremely girly things. But it was glorious and I really enjoyed myself until I went home late.

Friday night, I ended up hanging out with Aaron. We went for a walk around the West Side Highway, but I was starving and forced him to get Indian with me in the West Village. I was also waiting for Marion to get into the city. She met up with us at the end of dinner (of which, at the time, Aaron and I were in an argument about the presidential candidates). Walked around for a while, then ordered Insomnia Cookies for a midnight snack (menage-a-trois: Oatmeal Raisin, Chocolate Chunk & M&Ms are AMAZING). Aaron and I cuddled before he left, and us girls went to bed.

Saturday night, I hung out with Nate and his friends. We met up at midtown at this tapas bar called Divine Bar. We all ended up hanging out with 6 of his high school friends (many now think I'm a harp player and a music major....), I drank a nice fruity beer, and we left early to go to a more cozy bar nearby. It was a fun night, I love his friends (some of them are hilarious), and Nate and I split a cab back home after a long night.

I wake up Sunday morning to find many message from Nate freaking out. It so happened that the tapas bar overcharged him by $500...leaving him completely broke, and somehow missing his ID and metro card. So, the morning started with me researching how to get a hold of people to fix this mishap (which, luckily, was solved finally). I went to an intimate Chambers practice, which was followed by us all going out for Vanessa's Dumplings and some dessert at Sundaes & Cones. Both excellent choices, by the way! We had a lovely time killing some time with each other, and we had a fun little discussion in WSP. Marion came home from Philly (since she was there for a day), and we watched "Je vais bien, Ne t'en fais pas" together. Really, really sad movie!

Monday was lowkey, but Nate called and let me know that at 7:30 we were getting together for dinner, and afterwards retrieving his license. It so happened he left his license in the cab of the nicest cabby in the world, who called his mother to get his cell phone, and made plans to give him back his ID. So, we ate at Piola, grabbed some Ben&Jerry's, and waiting for about 1.5 hours for the cabby to show up with the ID. Nate hugged the guy, but the guy kind of freaked out and flew away.

Let's see....I got to go on a Norwegian cruise ship, the MS Fram, Tuesday morning! My boss was supposed to go, but she was in England, so I took her place. Most of the time I was just signing in press for the press event on the ship, but I got a tour of the GORGEOUS ship and a free lunch to boot! The guys who work in the NY office for this Norwegian company are great, and we bonded for a few hours (one of them was rather cute, though a bit out of my age range). I even got to hang out with a few Norwegian girls, which was refreshing!
Sadly, I was rejected from a Stern trip to Costa Rica (that would have worked with nonprofits there). I am pretty sad about it, but I'm thinking about spearheading my own thing, now. Who knows?
After all of my classes, I went to FIAF to watch a screening of "Reines d'un jour". It was SUCH a French movie! Really ridiculous, almost formulaic....and so silly!...but regardless I enjoyed myself, and thought in French the whole way home. It was absolutely pouring out, which made it a bit of a challenge to make it to and from the subways.

Yesterday I actually talked to a lot of my Paris friends: Liisa, Peter, and Pierre (of all people). Peter told me that he came online just for me, so I better stay online to talk to him. Pierre was on his way to go to Norway for holiday, so it was a brief chit chat with him.
Last night Aaron came over for a bit, and we hung out. Otherwise, I didn't do too much.

Today will be interesting, I'm sure. A career fair in between classes. Chamber practice. And Aaron and I are going out afterwards.

Let's See...

What have I been up to?

Doctor's appointments to fix some doctor-induced issues....
Career appointments to help me get into something I want to do after school...
I went last night to a Diversity Leadership Career Conference. Free food was great. Conversation was lacking. The companies there I barely had any interest for. But that's alright, I got fed, and got a free Nalgene Bottle!

Saturday, Nate called me and we hung out in his studio all day. He had some musical things to do, and I was writing a report, so it was pretty low key. He wanted to get me in the sound booth, but I somehow managed to delay that fateful day one more.
We ordered out dinner and ate it in the studio, had some wine, and then headed back to Bushwick. I know, I know....
When we got to his place, we watched "Event Horizon", this sci-fi thriller that I actually somewhat enjoyed. We made good hearty jokes during it, making it all the more fun to watch. Then we night-capped with South Park. I crashed at his place, seeing it was too late to leave Brooklyn.
I had a stomach ache most of the night, so the sleeping was an issue for me, but luckily he was out cold.

Chambers on Sunday was alright. We joked a bit, got through almost 2 songs....I'm starting to re-enjoy the group.

A funny story from last week: The day Obama came to WSP, CAS was throwing a little street fair/BBQ. Deej and I stumbled upon it in between classes, while it was ending and they were cleaning up. We walked around it, and found a Health Booth, loaded with condoms. Well, the girls running the booth asked us to clear them of condoms. So, I opened my schoolbag, took their try o' condoms, and wiped them into my satchel. With some lube and Jolly Ranchers, too.
Much to my dismay, I forgot that the place I put them was where I stashed my pens, cellphone, and wallet. And I had class in Stern, where the Puritans live. And I had to get my pen for class. So, I slowly unzipped my bag, stuck my arm way down deep into the bag, and searched for a pen. The crinkle-crinkle noises of the condoms were loud enough for the kids to look at me with shock and slight disdain.

NEW SITE

For those of you who actually use my website, I have moved from Angelfire to Google Pages.
It's an easier interface for me, and it looks more professional.

KIMBERLY'S NEW WEBSITE!

I Love Canada

Stephen Lewis came to speak at Stern a few days ago. He's a Canadian-born UN envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa. He came to discuss this at our school, and his experiences and opinions with the whole lot of crises in Africa (as well as what corporations are doing to help).
The man was one of the best public speakers I've ever heard! First of all, I was completely captivated by him and what he said for about 1.5 hours. His stories and viewpoints were so strong! It made you feel like it's time to fix this now, somehow, somewhere.....but he didn't give any ways to fix it. Just that it needs to be fixed.
Secondly, his words were amazingly eloquent and beautiful. He didn't speak as someone would normally do with others....it was like listening to a Shakespearian actor give a speech in prose! The format was just.....almost poetic. I felt as if I had stepped back in time to Greek or Roman times, to Socrates giving one of his philosophical speeches or something. It was amazing.

And, of course, Stern lectures would not be a real lecture without their infamous receptions afterwards. The food was glorious, and plentiful beyond belief. While Danielle, Tigist, and I excitedly babble about what we could do to help out the crises, we stuffed our faces with catered gourmet goods. It was amazingly glutenous.

Yoga is still fun. I'm still sore from it.

Lots of stuff to do this weekend....

Holy Flood!

Be surprised, yet another week of complete mayhem.
So, let's start the easy way; last Monday.

After a long, long, not-so-pleasant day of lots of school and work and whatnot, I called my mom while studying in Deej's room to talk and vent my discouraged self away. I get off the phone with her around midnight, and wait for Deej to get done with the bathroom so I can go to bed. But I hear water trickling in a peculiar way, so I go to the bathroom to hear if he was taking a shower. No...the sound sounds more like rain....in my room...
I turned on the light in my room to find the hanging lamp pouring out water all over my room. A huge pool of water has accumulated onto the floor, and my bed is gathering a good pool, too. At first, I gazed at it, thinking how interesting it looked, almost photogenic. Then reality bitch slapped me back and I got Deej to call the emergency maintenance hotline while I run upstairs to see what's going on.
My neighbors upstairs, 2 charming NYU guys (one's BRITISH! imagine that!) are frantically running around in their boxers because their toilet (located directly above my bed) has clogged and flooded all over the place. Awesome. This is when I start to laugh hysterically, and don't stop laughing for a very long time.
By the end of the night, I had two strange guys in boxers on my bed holding a bucket to the light, hoping for it to stop. It did finally, but my stuff was all wet. And the bed was a mess.
The boys were super apologetic about it all, and ended up buying me a bottle of French wine in apology. They were really sweet, I told them we should have a dinner party together sometime. They seemed up for it.

It's alright, I had to do laundry the next day anyways.
I'm still waiting for the landlord to come over to check the ceiling. And my light still doesn't work.
Tuesday I walked to school to see some airplanes in the sky writing continuously "UN For Taiwan." It was awesome!

Wednesday I had to work at the IBEX fair during lunch. It was intense! I met up with Manon and got at my table to set it up. People swarmed us for about 45 minutes, asking us what the difference between Sciences Po and Uni. Paris Dauphine was (Harvard vs. Wharton, basically). And all of the French requirement questions. Luckily Paz came over and helped us out a bit.
I got a free meal out of it, so I'm contented.
That night, I was not looking forward to it, but I told myself I would go to FIAF for their Rendez-Vous party. Basically, the institute has this big cocktail event monthly where you get together with the other patrons and speak French. I was SHOCKED at how much fun I had! And I realized how good my French actually is! I was correcting people's French a lot! I met some really great people, got some business cards from some sweet people, and looking forward to next month.
And what more! But across the street from FIAF is a French bistro, Bistro 60, that had my FAVORITE French dish, Steak Tartare!!!! I was soooo excited, and bought myself dinner to go (where I got WAY too much beef tartare, fries, and bread....soooo good!).

Thursday started off with an interview to be an escort at the International Emmy Awards Gala. They seemed to like me a lot, gave me a huge folder, and told me to call them November 1st to see what French person I could be put with.
Then I had a meeting, then classes....
Chambers started, and it didn't start on the best note. Granted, I love my Chambers group, but it was poorly ran by certain someone, especially considering that most of the group is new now. We joked and laughed a lot, and it was fun, but I was not fully comfortable.
Afterwards, Rob and I met up and got a glass of wine at WineBar. It was a FABULOUS rosado wine from Riajo, Spain. So so good.... We had a fun time talking, he's all about helping me out with life. He says that he's here to teach me about how people work, while I teach him how the world works. We are even thinking about working together to make a nonprofit trip for some vacation soon. We'll see!

Friday I had to go the Yankees Game (against the Blue Jays). I am not a huge fan of baseball what-so-ever, but it was for the sake of IBEX. Let me tell you, though......DON'T bring 30 international students to a baseball game 1 month into their stay in the US. BAD IDEA. Things were not smooth for them.
I hung out with the French kids, spoke some Franglish, tried to explain the game to them (and gave up), but in the end, I was not feeling the game. So, with a Mexican girl, I left at 5th inning...after buying a HUGE bag of Cracker Jacks. Now, I felt it necessary to buy some, but THAT MUCH? I ate 3 hand-fulls and was done.
Later, a homeless guy on the train started begging for money for food, and I handed him my (mostly full) bag of Cracker Jacks. He looked so shocked and confused, it made me chuckle.
I met up with Lauren and watched "Across the Universe". Great experimental musical with the Beatles music!!!!! But don't go see it while tripping on something, it's QUITE an acid trip without the added supplements. Man, 3 hours of thinking I was on shrooms.......Lauren proceeded to talk about it for an hour after, but I was incoherent so I couldn't indulge in the conversation.

Saturday I woke up for a Chambers meeting with Darrell and Christina, that went alright. I ran to my next school meeting that lasted me for 4 hours......and I got a text from Nate. Poor guy was bored all day, so we went out for dinner at Negrille (oh so good...) and joked around. Afterwards, we walked uptown to a bar where we met his friends and had a few drinks and joined a party of 30 kids in the back. It was a really fun night, actually. I talked with his friends a lot, and I stole a lot of cherries from the bar.
In the middle of the night, José-Louis from Paris calls me up to tell me he's in the city. Last minute, eh?
I got really tired early, though, so I left, with Nate. Nate asked to crash at my place for my night, so we had a fun ride on the train home together.

Sunday I woke up completely exhausted.
I ran up to school to meet up with José and have a walk around for a little while. I think I can safely say that only the Europeans (French, in particular) can say, "It's 2pm....I'm parched......I need a beer." Alright, alchy......But I did have a nice time with him, and we rolled in between languages.
Chambers went by a lot better than the last time, thank goodness! I was delirious the entire time, though, so I brought much entertainment for my fellow singers, I guess.

Yesterday! Was alright. Cassie bought me lunch, where I found out that she's close friends with this guy I've known since 2nd grade and who just recently transfered to our school. WEIRD!
I had a very informative and helpful advisor meeting.
And, Neil came over late at night. We wrestled for a while, but I was bruised so he had to be gentle. I am learning so much about jiu jitsu!

Today was alright. I started Yoga. It's a great class (and OUTSIDE!). But I'm shocked to realize just how much of my flexibility and strength I lost from not doing dance or yoga in France. Ouch.......
Otherwise, my day was done early. Had a presentation on Metro in Spain. Fun....
Now I'm trying to apply for a job with Eli Lilly. Just in case.

Just A Thought

I have been having a lot of really funky dreams lately.

A lot of them have to do with me making panic flights to London, or really missing the place.
A lot of them are dealing with death, bizarrely.
A lot of them have people being very personal with me, even if I haven't seen them in a while.

I really just want to go to someone who can tell me exactly what's going on. Yup, that's what I want.

To The Point

I love Marion. And Thomas, too.
Marion and Thomas from Sciences Po came into NYC to visit for the weekend.
Well, Thomas went to NJ for the weekend, but I saw him at the beginning and end of it all.
Marion and I walked A LOT. And we talked a lot. I did the tourist things all over again, but it was fine because we had fun. And I spoke in a lot of French.
We got to walk through the San Gennaro festival in Little Italy and get called at by Italian guys on the overly crowded streets. And we made a lot of friends on the street while we sang and dance all over the place. We were such goofballs!
It was Guacamole Day in Times Square and we got free guac on the street! And it was good.
We met a very kind old British guy on the Staten Island Ferry, who told me that my accent was very interesting because it was not entirely American, but just American enough that he couldn't place it.

Chambers had auditions. I'm Vice President now (be excited....), which means more responsibility, but mostly just being as influential as I've been the entire time. We had a lot of fun during the auditions, since we're all friends. We made a lot of awkward comments during auditions, and got sidetracked a lot. I think, though, that our joking around made it a lot easier for us to tell who would actually work out well with the dynamics of the group. One guy was good enough, but he did not bounce off well with us, so we aren't going to take him. Easy cuts, easy finds. And (what a miracle!) we got 3 more men! I don't think we've ever had that many men try out for us!

Otherwise, school is school. Lots of work to be done, lots of work has been done. Enjoying some of it, not enjoying some of it whatsoever.

Welcome To Seniority

I have 7 classes. All of which have a lot of homework and reading.
Some which have constant 100 pages a week.....

And I have a part-time job.

And I am in a singing group, VP type officer.
Auditions were yesterday. Some people were great. Others....not so much. It's sad that thick accents even hinder the ability to be blend-able in a group.

And I work out.
And I want to dance.
And I want to do yoga.
And I have to sleep.
And I have to eat.
And I have a social life.
Too much to talk about. Just say I've seen a lot of people lately, lots of tea talks, lots of dinners, lots of parties, lots of plans....

And I have to make a career change for my job hunt where instead of doing business things as a business major, I'm trying to look at being a diplomat or a nonprofit runner, which has absolutely nothing to do with my major and school, so I have to start thinking about how to approach this so I won't end up screwed in May!

......Life is busy. I'm alright. I just can't talk about it right now. I have to go to the gym.

Word of the Day

Lugubrious (adj) looking or sounding sad and dismal.

Not because of the meaning, but just the word itself. It sounds squishy. I think it needs to be incorporated into everyday life.

I don't like the word moist very much.

Happy Labor Day

So, tomorrow my vacation ends and I officially begin my Senior Year at NYU....also known as slavery. Before I become overwhelmed with work and work and work, I have concluded to give an overview of what has been going on this week.

I got back from Boston Wednesday night, and I went straight home. That was that.

Thursday, I met up with Neil, at last! We went out for a walk and for lunch. Good old rapper Chaz joined up with us to go to VP2's (which is one of our key favorite food joints on campus). It was a great few hours getting back in touch with them all and talking about old times.
The funny thing was that it really hit strongly just how much different we were from 3 years ago. I met Chaz and Neil on Goddard 4th floor our Freshman Year, and we still are good friends. Which is nice, because to me that shows that my first year in school wasn't a complete wasted. But, I mean, we're not the young ones on campus anymore; in fact, we're the oldest undergrads now! And how old do I feel hearing that. The kids coming in now are SO YOUNG, and COMPLETELY CLUELESS AND INEXPERIENCED! It was shocking to watch them all lump together in awkward, insecure, showing-off crowds and find out how lost they all were. And here Neil, Chaz, and I are, walking around, an odd group of old friends (white rapper from MN Chaz, AsianAmerican jiu jitsu folk artist Neil, and me), walking around quickly, talking while looking straight ahead, blowing off street marketers, and making it across the street before getting hit. It was kind of a movie moment for me, realizing how much we've grown and how different we are from each other but are still able to enjoy our company.
For dinner, Andy and I agreed to meet and eat at a nearby Moroccan café. Never tasted it before, but it was absolutely amazing! I loved the meal, and we overate (as always) while discussing his new boyfriend and his first year at Med School and his moving out of Manhattan. After splitting dessert, I had to be rolled out of the café.
Craig picked me up after that, and we went for a walk and chit chatted a bit. The walk helped me get over my full stomach. I noticed, though, that I sure miss a lot while I'm in Europe, huh?

Friday, I worked until 6pm at work. There are a lot of us girls working at this place, and we had some nice talks. But most of the time I was too busy to stop moving or writing. It was nice that my boss bought us all lunch, but I have to stop this pizza-eating habit.
Marion then called me and we talked about how she was doing in Boston so far. In French, of course. People in WSP kept giving me funny looks.
Afterwards, I realized just how little people I had to hang out with, so I went to campus to bother Deej at the Freshmen's Welcome Week Beach Ball. Basically, I sat around with Deej and directed all of the freshmen to where the party actually was. We also had to direct them in how to use their cards to enter the building. A lot of them tried putting up a fight about how unfair it was that they couldn't get in without a card, but we kept telling them "get used to it, that card is your life here". Which is true. I also went upstairs and made a B-line to the food table to grab some treats for us older kids working the dance. You could tell I was older because I walked in straight through the crowds, got the food, and left. I noticed people oggling at my determination and ease with my mission. Yup, I'm a bit seasoned.
At the end, us older kids decided to dance a little bit. Another distinction between us and the freshmen: they didn't carry drinks. Being more used to the city's dance and club system of constantly carrying around a drink and dancing with it on the floor naturally, we held our Pepsi's and punches and danced away. The freshmen seemed to be still stuck in Prom mode, and tried to awkwardly manage dancing with other people and not looking too awkward. They were too caught up in the cool-ness to be thirsty, I suppose. They'll learn.

Saturday, I woke up a bit early to meet up with Lauren so we could grab breakfast at this adorable place on her street, Cloister Café. It was great! The outdoor patio was simply wonderful, with grape vines as the canopy and a beautiful brick floor. And the brunch was super! My challah french toast really hit the spot! And we talked about boys. I also got to see her apartment (which is massive! especially for the price she's paying for it! a bit more than half of the rent for my place! boo) and help her with some decor decisions. This was quickly followed with a mission to help her buy essential room objects nearby.
During this, Danielle called me and met up with us at Union Square. Soon after, my dear Dante (!) met up with us and Lauren abandoned the group with her heavy load. Us 3 went for a great and picturesque walk on the East River down to my apartment. On the way there, we stopped in Alphabet City at a (quite sad looking) Latin concert. There, we saw an old plump lady dressed in bright pink spandex and leotard (with a waist belt), bright pink velvet mules, and a pink hat gyrating her hips to the music. It was by far the best thing I've seen yet in NYC.
I thought my night was over, and I was ready to settle in, when Nate called me to tell me he was at a pub nearby. So I walked over to join him 15 blocks up. He didn't know anyone at one of his friend's parties, so he wanted me to go to keep him company (story of my life, right?). We ended up talking to one of the girls all night, and having a really great time joking about life and everything in between. We had a few drinks and I managed to meet most of the party and told them all a completely made up story about myself. Now, people think my name's Teresa, I'm a classical composition music major in Gallatin who plays the harp?!!? Nate was impressed, and amazed at the huge hole I dug for myself.
Afterwards, he walked me home and we grabbed a pizza slice nearby. Which Chaz bought for me, since he was unexpectedly there. It was a fun night!

Sunday started off slowly. Very, slowly. I woke up, put on my gym clothes, went to the Container Store to buy some cubes for my wall to put things on, went to the gym around 3pm, came back around 5pm, put up the cubes, and then showered.
Somewhere in the middle of this, my BFG, AARON! came to visit. He literally had just gotten into the city, and I was flattered. He's such a great kid, and I don't feel the need to always make conversation with him. We ate dinner at Cafe Brama nearby (cheap, easy, delicious health food) and then went for a walk. The walk was actually to the movie theater, but we ended up not seeing a movie and I went to see his place instead for 10 minutes.

Today was Labor Day, of course. Deej and I started it off with a long gym workout. Then I fell asleep for an hour before heading off to Brooklyn for a BBQ hosted by Shana. Once we got to the BBQ, we found out that Shana had forgotten to get the BBQ things, so we ordered some pizzas and watched some shows. And yet, we always manage to enjoy ourselves. The pizza were especially delicious. But I really musn't eat them anymore! THE CHEESE!!!
One funny thing, the one day I decide to wear a dress out in public is the one day a dog decides to sit on me and go to the bathroom. Awesome, made me feel special. Maybe that's a sign?
I had to leave early to meet Nate up in his area of Brooklyn for another Bourne night. I got there and he noticed my uncomfortable self in my dress, so he handed over some of his PJs to wear while I was over so I could be more comfortable. Green tea, male pajamas, and Jason Bourne; what a miraculous trio! I enjoyed Matt Damon, as always, and we cracked some jokes, and I finally came home to write this very long blog.

Tomorrow, the beginning of the end commences.

Franglais

I went to Boston this weekend (until Wed) to help out Marion (from Sciences Po) get settled into Boston College.
She was so excited about being in the US, but she was having quite a bit of culture shock, and she wasn't understanding English very well. So I was talking with her in French, and everyone else in English. I had to translate everything back and forth all weekend. It became a struggle for me to manage between the two languages, and I started messing up with my English-speaking family and friends. For example, on a car ride, I was trying to tell something to Marion in French while directing my mom in English. I started giving my mom directions in French, where she had to remind me that she spoke English, not French. Oops.
Marion's friend and classmate from SciPo, Thomas, was with us a lot of the time, too. His English was really good, so he didn't need me to help him very much. But we spoke in French because we were with Marion. Let me tell you, that guy was adorable. And cute! Too bad I didn't know him in Paris. Hopefully we'll hang out next time I'm up there, or if he ever visits. Sweet guy.
They really didn't like the weather, though.
When we picked them up at the airport, we offered to bring Thomas to his temporary stay in Cambridge. It took us 2 hours (and lots of turning around) to find this little itty bitty dead end street in the middle of nowhere, Cambridge. I had to finally stop at a store and ask for directions, upon which we were forced to Googlemap it. That was exhausting.

We met up with Eugene (one of the exchange students with me in Sciences Po last spring) in Boston, and we gave the French kids a little tour around Boston. We made Marion eat chowder, and gave a grand tour from the Aquarium to Copley Square. I think they liked Brookstone the most. Eugene and I had a lot of fun because we were laughing about American customs and things that the French kids didn't understand. It was like having an inside joke, but not being able to explain it because, "You had to be there...." Sad, but they understood.
We also hauled ourselves to the BC campus. It's a really nice (and small) campus. Very beautiful. But campuses still freak me out, so I still do not regret having a campus to live and breathe on constantly. The French kids LOVED it, though. They went completely ga ga about it all. Even though we got lost quite a bit.

Saw some friends in town. Went shopping, got a haircut, ate too much food. Went to the gym and ran outside. I had one day booked back to back with doctor's appointments, where I finally came home with a bruised arm from an inoculation, sore gums from a cleaning, and a numb nasal cavity & vocal chord for 2 hours (where I couldn't swallow well for that time period).

Before I went to Boston, I saw the Shakespeare in Central Park. Midsummer Night's Dream. It was really great. And free! They made the faeries little children in slightly Gothic Victorian outfits, singing and dancing; kinda freaky, but well appreciated. A pretty good cast, and a completely coherent attempt at Shakespeare. Even if I hadn't seen or read the play a million times, I would have been able to understand it.