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.