Busy Farewell

Lots of things have happened, but I don't have the time or patience to discuss it in depth right now.
Guru is a good movie about Indian capitalism and corruption.
Idlewild is strictly on LSD.
I went out with Alex all Friday night/Saturday afternoon in Boston. Met a lot of HMS kids. Alex's bed is super comfy (and platonic). Tea with HLS kids at Algiers was fun, too. I love David a lot.
I also love my Harvard u-grads, Jeff and Chris. Dinner and drinks was awesome.

I'm leaving for Paris in less than 24 hours. So, farewell to Kim is Domestic!!!!

If you want my detailed life while I'm away for the semester, please go to my International Blog: Kim is Foreign.

Have fun in America while I go party it up at Sciences Po!

A Weekend in NYC (again)

Right after work on Friday I FLEW over to South Station with Mucks to catch a train to NYC for the weekend. The trip down was fairly uneventful...Mucks and I napped and talked and make fun of each other.

Once I stepped foot off of that train, though? All bets were off. I was in complete SPRINTING mode. For the whole weekend.

And, we're off!

I first start off by meeting up with Neil to get dinner at Indian Row. I ate lots, and he ate lots. Good conversations helped me encourage him to perhaps visit me while I'm in Paris. And he has created an adjective/noun out of one of my life experiences! The word: Idoian. I believe those who know me well will be able to understand what that means.

After a 2-hour rendezvous, I haul over to the Chelsea Piers to meet up with Rob for a hockey game. I didn't even know that NYU had a hockey team! I don't care for the sport very much, if at all, but it was an interesting experience nevertheless. At first he started telling people that I was his wife/fiancée, which flustered me about what I was doing there for a bit, but then he ended up confiding in me and asking for love advice. Seeing as I'm almost the equivalent to Dr.Phil (if not better), I tried my best to advice him in his worries.

Craig picked me up from the rink to walk around (in the cold) and get a cup o' tea with me. A brief goodbye, but it's okay because it's Craig and we are like siblings. He has to love me and stay in touch.

I finally took a cab to Andy's apartment to crash on his floor around 1am. James started texting (and calling) me while I tried getting ready for bed because he was at a pub in Buffalo and found it boring. He's not the social type, anyways, so after a failed attempt at scolding him, I talked to him until I was ready to sleep.

I woke up a bit early to calm myself down for the day with some yoga.

And then I ran downtown to see Karan for an hour. We babbled a bit incoherently, and chuckled at our silly selves. I missed him....And then he walked me over to Aaron's dorm so I could meet up with him in time.

Aaron brought me all the way up to Columbia University. Seeing as I had only 2 hours with him, the trip was pushing it a bit. We tried to get into a few of the campus buildings, but we were typically thrown out. The walk was entertaining, though. My London flatmate Erin called me to make unexpected drink plans for the evening, which slightly stressed me out.

I love hanging out with Aaron, and I'm going to be missing all of our adventures when I'm gone.

BUT he made me late for my next date. Well, him and my running into Clarence for about 5 minutes (cue blast from past).

I ran into the restaurant where Chambers was, and I was on the verge of tears (and shaking). There were so many deadlines to make, so many people to see, so many goodbyes to make. It was overwhelming. But they welcomed me warmly and calmed me down in a few minutes, and I spent a magnificent timed slot with them at dinner. I went around the table, and I realized there how much I loved all of them. What a wonderful group to be a part of! We parted ways and some of us walked over to Think so I could meet up with Deejay.

And Deejay came, and it was good. I ran over to him and jumped on him, and I almost took down a few coffee drinkers while doing so. Sorry about that. I LOVE THAT BOY!!! I missed him way too much! And the best part was that when we got back together, it was as if we had been through a mere time warp and we had never left each other, truly.

Some more goodbyes came with Chambers kids, and Deejay and I (the dynamic duo) got lost via subway in Brooklyn to get to the South Street Seaport. Feel free to laugh. We met up with Erin and a few of her friends. Having not eaten much for the day, my one drink got me a little silly, so Deejay and I left early to meet up with Danielle for dinner at RED. Lots of talking, fun, laughter, pictures. I brought up a BAD conversation starter and made it awkward for a few minutes, but we prevailed!

After dinner we walked to Mariam's apartment for her Toga Party. Upon arrival I could tell we wouldn't stay long. I love Mariam. I love music and dancing. I don't love Stern children who won't dance to DANCE music and only talk about classes. Some of the people were nice and cool, but the conversation still lacked in comparison to our 3 personalities. A few dances and a drink later, we cruised out of that port.

Deej and I talked in his room until 4am. I got back late, but Andy and his roommates got home later.

Sunday started rough. I had to cancel a coffee date with Michelle so I could make my job interview at MDPPublicity. The woman was great, her apartment was impressive, and I think after an hour or so of conversation, I've landed myself at least one PT summer job. GO ME!

Darrell and I got together for an hour to chit chat, though we didn't get to talk about everything I wanted to talk about, so we'll be calling him soon.

I had an hour to myself to sit and deflate.

Cassie came over and ran me to the bus station, where I got onto the bus and didn't move for 4 hours straight.

OIE VAY!

Another Fun-filled Weekend

Andy came to visit this weekend. At first, I was worried about it all because not only was Mom's car in the shop from her little "accident", but Buck had recently died in my office's parking lot. No worries! One car left! Only issue was the whole sharing with 3 other people thing....thankfully, we got the other two cars while Andy was over (but that comes up later).

I met Andy at the Pru , where I had parked (after a few frustrating wrong turns). It was my goal for him to have a bowl of Seafood Chowder at Legal SeaFoods . And it was done.
Evan met us at the restaurant, while we stayed around for a drink. Evan and Andy got along swimmingly, which was comforting, and our conversations were full of laughter and learning (thanks, Andy). Evan brought us up to his apartment for a few hours, where Andy and I left tired and ready to sleep.

On Friday after work, I brought Andy to the gym. I'm not used to being with people at the gym at all, so it was peculiar to have someone to noticed and talk to. And I ran into a couple of people I haven't seen in years or have been avoiding. Fun for everyone!
We proceeded the gym fun with a quick carride around my area, and we swiftly drove back down to Cambridge so we could meet up with one of his friends from Hawaii who happen to be at Harvard. At the restaurant where his friend was, we met about 4 other HLS kids. The more the merrier, I say. We ate some sushi (and moshi) with all of them, and had some eyebrow-raising conversations.
We split up for a few hours. Andy and I walked around Cambridge and met up with Jeff & his new girlfriend for a few minutes. At first Jeff put on his serious face, but he quickly came back to life and we danced and sang with each other like we always do. I'm not sure his girlfriend was OK with our fun, though....
The real reason why we went into Harvard (much to my chagrin) was to see the semi-annual Primal Scream . This event occurs during Harvard reading/final days; where the undergraduates get together on Harvard Yard and run around completely naked, screaming all the way. There was a marching band playing. Pictures were taking. Genitalia was flying every which way. I was scarred, as were some of Andy's friends...but Andy loved every minute of it. He was one of the photographers.
Afterwhich we went out, as a group, to Boston Tea Stop to get some bubble tea . I invented my own drink: Strawberry Almond. IT WAS SO GOOD! I got a mug there, too.
I met a lot of great people that night.

When we got home around 3am, I realized that I had to register for classes at Sciences Po right then (the whole time difference thing...). It was 2 hours of complete confusion and chaos had by all of us International Students, who happened to all be talking to each other and freaking out at the same time on MSN. I ended up getting my classes (despite the terrible schedule), but I didn't get to bed until 5am.

Saturday started late. We got around finally around 3/4, where we met up with Shivangi and got some lunch at Panerra's. We then drove for a bit to conclude the night at her house so she could go out with her mom before her morning flight.
Andy and I went into Boston (yet again) to see Alex for the night. We got some dinner at this place called the Squealing Pig (enchantee...), which was actually surprisingly good, and ended up going back to Alex's place and playing cards with a friend of his. The conversation was fun, pleasant, constant, and casual. Then, I was deemed Alex's ragdoll as he proceeded to show all how he does reflex examations with the blunt of some scissors, and other medical examinations I am certain orthodonists don't EVER need to do. After feeling quite violated, confused, and exhausted, Andy and I left around 3am and fell into bed around 4.

I've been quite a dolt since.

Cleaning Up Shop

So, I should probably fill people in on what current events befell me over the past few days. As briefly as possible.

We had our Chamber Choir concert last Friday. And the parents stayed in the city to see it.
It went really well! We sang a handful of chamber music, and some not-so-chamber music (i.e. The Beach Boys). I had to conduct the Jabberwocky song because Noah was playing the piano for us all. But we had a pretty good show up, and we sang well. We recorded it, and Darrell's making us all CDs (to be sold online sometime?) of the show. It's all very exciting.
I am so glad I'm in chamber singers right now. This semester has been wonderful, and with our newer members, we have a really powerful connection between all of us. The very first practice this semester proved that not only were we good singers, but we had some really strong bond/love for each other. I love them all.

Saturday, Mom&Dad brought Aaron, Neil, and I out to dinner at this really nice place called Pietro's. I got the swordfish, and the boys got steaks. It was a good time, and my parents approve of my choice in friends. The boys seemed to enjoy the time, too. And we ate too much. We slowly walked back to the subway.
I got home 10 minutes before I started hosting my Chambers after-party. Darrell came over early to help me get ready for it. Unfortunately, only half of us were over, but we still had a blast of a time together. As always. Twister, Photobooth, politics, and SINGING! Lots of singing. My lord......we made a bit of a mess, so Darrell stayed over to help me clean up in the wee hours of the morning.

Sunday, the parents offed back home, while I went to work on homework with my class groups. And, though I had had 2 hours of sleep, I went with Dad's assistant Robin to a concert of the "U2 of Pakistan/India", Ali Azmat. We enjoyed it, he was REALLY GOOD! But we both were so tired that we agreed to go home early.

Tuesday, I had 2 final tests, 1 final paper, and a final presentation. It was a long day. I aced French, did either alright or failed Business Law (I doubt the latter), and my paper/presentation group did really well (above average) on both the paper and powerpoints. Good job, us!
Danie came over for dinner, where we feasted on pasta with Tequilla/lime-sauce. It was delicious.

Wednesday was crazy. I ran uptown to do a focus group with this start-up SoSauce. It is a really cool group of NYU-grads who are making a new blogging site (sorry, Blogger). I think they've got some good ideas, and the guy that I talked with was really great. We had a good conversation for about an hour.
I then grabbed tea with Emily from Chambers. We talked about boys, and England, pre-biz minors, and other assorted joys. Good times, I'll miss her a lot.
Then, I quickly ran up to meet Liz from french class for tea at Think. We also talked about boys, and school, and we just chatted. She's a darling girl.
THEN, I ran into Dan right before going home. We ended up getting coffee, too. And we talked about stuff. He called me a player, and I resented it. It was a busy day.

Thursday we had a Chambers E-board meeting. There's a lot of things we have to do before I leave for Paris. Oie vay.
I then studied my brains out with Jean-Claude and Mariam (at different times) for global econ. Long, long day. Mariam and I ended up at her apartment, eating Chocolate Sorbet, talking about what we need to do when I come back. She gave me a holiday gift, and I love her for it. I have come to realize I know wonderful people.

Friday was my global econ final. It was a decent final. I think I did my best on it. My phone rang off the hook (vibrate, ahem) during the whole final. The last call was my friend Rob who was sitting next to me during the final but left early. He was just calling to make me more embarassed during the test. Nice guy.
I grabbed dinner with Neil and Dan. They always have an interesting debate with each other, but this time I just wasn't into it, so I just enjoyed their company while spacing out.
Darrell came over afterwards and we made mac 'n cheese. It was REALLY GOOD, but way too rich. Heart-attack quality. Oie, my arteries. Emily kept on calling me for fashion help during our cooking, so really Darrell cooked it all. Good job to him, he's got me impressed. The rest of the night we talked about it all. It was a good night, and morning.

The Yesterday, Aaron and I ended up in Brooklyn at Grand Army Plaza, and walked around the park, relishing in the green open space. We headed back after a while and went to Lemongrass for dinner. I made him go see 2 movies later; The Holiday, and The Departed (which I'd already seen). The first one was the perfect chick flick for me right then and there, and the latter? Well, it's still good.

Today (Sunday), I walked around for a while. I talked on the phone with some people. I grabbed coffee with Matt Dell, and it was great to see him and hear what he's up to right now. He's got quite the interesting life, I must say.
Craig and Alex H. came over for dinner, to help me finish the mac 'n cheese. They joked around with me, Craig left early, and Alex & I watched Y Tu Maman Tambien. Once again, a good movie. He just left after a raher large talk, and I'm tired and ready to go to bed. NIGHT!

Fast Break

I've been in the Stern computer lab for roughly 8 hours now.

I've been working on my Brooks Brothers presentation all day. And my presentation on Chile and China's Free Trade Agreement.

I just finished this week my french presentation on Burundi, Africa (THANKS JEAN-CLAUDE!!!). Without that guy, I would have actually had to have researched for my french project. But, his brain was the Wikipedia of my project.

So many powerpoints.

Aaron and I went to see "Flannel Pajamas" last night. It was alright, very much "day in the life"-type movie. I don't know why, but it ended making me overwhelmingly sad. Aaron had to walk with me afterward and talk me into a happy state.

I had an IBEX luncheon this week, where the advisors told us all that, essentially: "You all have A LOT of work ahead of you."

My phone broke. I was at Think Coffee, and all of a sudden it stopped working. I had to spend 2 hours (I walked in-and-out 3 times straigh) at the Cingular store to get a new FUNCTIONING phone. I hate RAZRs.

I'm keeping this short and sweet today, people. I'm far too busy to indulge in good storytelling. My profound apologies.

This week, otherwise, has been work, work, aaaand....work.

Buffalo, NY

I went to Buffalo, NY this weekend to visit James (who's recently transfered to SUNY Buffalo) and see my old hometown.
Initially, it was stressful. I had to wait 2 bloody hours for my flight to take off! I read 200 pages waiting for takeoff, while poor James had to wait in the airport to pick me up. I finally got in around 1am, so we cabbed it to his studio.

Before I describe the weekend, I have to make a few key points:
1) He has a massive studio. I daresay it's as big as our convertible 1 BR apartment. The kitchen was cute, and James is such a minimalist, it seemed as if it was too big.
2) James doesn't buy much food, so we ate oatmeal, rice, challah bread, and sponge candy all the time. We drank lots of green tea. I took him out for the first time, to an Indian restaurant. And he made me salmon one night. But it was quite amusing to me how James went from eating more than a bear before hibernation to complete bird-style.
3) We didn't have a car, so we did a lot of hanging out in his apartment. I think he has acquired ADD by living alone and not venturing out too often with comarades. He was all over the place in his studio! Bouncing back and forth, it was quite humurous.
4) I'm so glad I got to see him. I miss him a lot, especially since he's one of my personal therapists. We talked a lot about some really interesting things: religion, spirituality, humanity, our relationships with people, personal issues, and so so much more. We did argue a lot, but it was always about silly things: "Kim, don't do the dishes!" "James, don't sleep on the floor!" "Kim, don't pay for that!" "James, don't wait for me so long at the airport!"
5) Keep in mind I was born in Buffalo, and lived there until I was about 4 years old. We have one family of friends (the K's) there still, who my mom still keeps correspondences with (I haven't seen them in over a decade, though). They have 3 kids that were Aimee and my playmates (there was a girl a year younger than Aimee, and 2 boys one and two years older than me). The youngest boy, John, and I were "married". I left John an email (though I haven't seen him in FOREVER) about visiting a month before, and I called the mom to see if I could visit the neighborhood. John hadn't gotten back to me, and the mom didn't think they had time during the weekend to see me.

Friday he had class, so I woke up late and went for a jog around his area. It was alarmingly cold, and in the middle of my jog it started to rain a bit. Cold, cold runs are a lot more exhilirating than I remembered! I enjoyed it quite a bit, though I lost $2 on my excursion. And the last snow storm took down a LOT of trees, so I had a lot of obstacles to run around during my run.
After my jog, I got back to find out I had a voicemail. At first I thought it was Mr.K because the voice was so low. Then I realize it's John! He wanted to meet up with me since I was in town. I called him back, and we talked on the phone for 45 minutes (as I was trying to wait for a bus to get to the campus and meet up with James). It was as if we talked the day before! Not awkward at all! After realizing I was waiting for the wrong bus all along, he decided to drive over and bring me to campus himself.
We met in Starbucks. At first I was nervous, since I haven't seen this person in such a long while. I was afraid that it was going to be one of those situations where you haven't seen someone you were close with in a long while, and they change so much (and so drastcially) that you become disheartened because you can't see your old friendship working out. But as soon as he waltzed into the place, it was just like meeting up with a friend I see hanging around school every week. It rekindled my faith in friendships and people! He turned into such a great guy!
We had a great time catching up, just talking and joking around. Before we picked up James on campus (and they hit it off, too!), we went for a carride around. Poor John was my chauffeur for 2 days straight.
That night, James and I gorged ourselves on Indian food. I haven't felt that overfull in a long time. We veged out in his studio all night. Well, I veged out. James bounced here and there....

Saturday, John called when he woke up. Though he had work in 2 hours, he agreed to pick us up and drive us 30 minutes to my old neighborhood. We continued the funfilled conversation as I slowly regressed to being a 4 year-old. The trees were everywhere, so it gave me a sad feeling. But overall, the neighborhood was just as I remembered it, only a bit smaller in size.
And the K's renovated the inside of their house! I remembered most of it, but the kitchen was different, and the basement was different, too! Those 2 places were our jungle gyms way back when....
Basically, John drove us to his house and back to James' place for my sake. I owe him, big time. We got pictures, and he gave me a great bear hug goodbye. Hopefully we can keep this 20-year friendship (yes, I'm calling it that, because I think it is one) going for longer.
James tried his first sponge candy (which is truly only known in the Buffalo region....no one knows about it!). He asked us if it was really sponge in the candy, and John & I laughed hard. We knew better.
James and I veged out the rest of the night after talking a walk to Tops Grocers for some food. We watched Dr.Strangelove and Motorcycle Diaries.
We talked a lot.

Sunday I had an early flight.
I took a cab to the airport.
The cabdriver assumed that James and I were boyfriend/girlfriend, and I was too tired to explain our friendship, so I just went along with him and his ideas on our "relationship". He was upset that James "left" me at NYU and didn't "help keep our relationship easy". My favorite line from Mr. Cab Driver: "If I was your boyfriend, I wouldn't have transfered away from you. I would have talked to you about the situation, how and I wanted to make it work and live with you in an apartment in the city." I got a good hearty chuckle out of it all.

I finished the book "Running with Scissors". It was alright. I want to see the movie more.

Un Vieux Ami

So, I'm diligently working on Wednesday at my desk, doing some kind of data input or mail sorting or something hideously dull, when my mobile rang. Now, normally I get upset when I hear my phone ring ("No phone, no phone, I just want to be alone today..."), but I decided to pick it up instead. To my utter surprise, it's my good old friend from Nice, Arthur! He called to tell me he was back in America for a few more days, and wanted to see me before he left! We-he-he-ll, don't I feel super special? So, we planned to met each other after I had work at Stephen's Memorial Library to go get some tea or something.
I didn't even recognize him at first.
Same height, but he looked tired. And he had hair...not to mention in an interesting hairdo. But when I got closer to him, he was same old Arthur.
I was surprised because for some reason I thought he was going to speak really broken english, which is how he was most of the time he was here. But his english was excellent, and he was TALKING! Lots! Now, for those of you who may have ever met Arthur know he's not one to talk a whole lot, but when I was hanging out with him, I let him dominate the conversation...he had a lot more to say than I did!
We went to Starbucks, grabbed some green teas, and just talked. Some of it was silly, some of it was profound, some of it was small talk. It was a wonderful time. I sometimes forget how good people can be, and how well I chose friends for the most part.
He's happy, he says. Tired, works too hard, but still content. He likes what he's doing for the most part, and he says he's calmed down quite a bit. He still helps his family out a lot. And he's going to trade school this year for carpentry. I say, bon travail!
I'm going to call him up when I am in France this year, and see if he's free when I go to Nice.

I finished "The Kite Runner" last night after my french outing. That book is excellent! I couldn't have been happier with a book, right now! I'm almost upset I finished it.
What book to read next? I'm going to try to steal "Blink" from Jesse, or the library. Peut-etre un francais roman, aussi? Who knows?! I have slews of books I want to read.

My mom's been really upset that Ido plans on moving back to Israel right now, with the whole upset over there (mostly in Lebanon, Gaza Strip, Jerusalem...). I emailed him about a week ago telling him of her concerns. He responded, tell me that he's kind of debating whether or not it'd be a good idea to go back, after all. Maybe he'll stay here!