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!

Fast Break

Just a few notes I would like to make before I leave for NYC this weekend....

• "Happily N'Ever After": Watch this movie ONLY if you have very young children. Otherwise, you might feel like God is punishing you for something you've done in the past.


• "My Boys": My life. In a nutshell. Basically, that's me in, say, 7 years from now, or so...


• "Dreamgirls "Soundtrack: I've been howling to that CD for roughly a week now.


• This job: Needs to end soon...


• Preparing for France: I have to translate my birth certificate into french. Feel free to laugh along with me.


• The Beach: I thoroughly enjoyed the scene where Leonardo DiCaprio has started to go crazy (from lack of human contact) and imagines himself in a video game. It might very well be one of my ultime favorite scenes in any movie. I have felt like that before, too...


• This weekend: Is FREAKING me out because I have it booked by the hour. Literally.


• The cold: Is slowing my metabolism down, and making me sluggish, and thus making me pack on some hibernation pounds. WHICH I'M NOT OK WITH!


• Crèpes: Are a lot harder to make than you'd think. The batter kind of lumps together in places on the pan. Instead of being a super smooth, flat piece, it is more pancakey and, well, ugly.


• Phone calls: EVERYONE calls me on the same days. It's like there's some kind of subconscious message being emitted from my mind and reaching all of my friends to call me within a very small time frame.


• At home: Everyone else is at school, or in school, and I'm getting rather lonely. Or, as Kim Jung Il might say, "I'm so ronery...."

Boo, Boston, Bridesmaid

Bad: B- in Business Law, blech. Hard work unrewarded.

Good: I had a great day today with Brandon, a Bass from Chambers. We met at Rockingham, went for a bit of a gander, drove down to my house and looked around my town, went to the Loop to get dinner, and just talked all the time. Good conversation, good friends.
I also had a splendid night with Penny and Jaynie. More to come on that later...

Better: I got my French visa. I DON"T HAVE TO WORRY ANY LONGER!!!

Best: Penny just got engaged!!!! Her wedding is June 2008... And what's better is, I'm one of FOUR BRIDESMAIDS!!!!!! Are you as happy as I am???

DC

Thursday, Aaron and I ate some Korean Food and watched 2 movies: "Babel" and "Running with Scissors". The former was excellent, I liked it. The latter was, well, disappointing (to say the least).
I finished "The Secret Life of Bees". It was a good book. Cute, and a little overly-sappy for my own liking.

I went to DC this weekend to visit Aimee. The trip was nice. I got in around 7pm because of a slightly-delayed flight. Laguardia isn't the best airport in the world, that's for sure. We went to an Epuricurean and ate LOTS of sushi. Lots. And then we spent an easy night in her apartment discussing the future of the world.
Saturday I made my sister play tourist with me. We walked from the Potomac River to the Smithsonian Mall area. Aimee complained about her shoes a lot of the way. It was a lovely day, though, so I made her suck it up. We heard Madame Butterfly playing in the park, and we mosied from place to place. Took pictures. We strolled into the Air & Space Museum, which wasn't nearly as interesting as I anticipated it to be. We made fun of the spaceships being made out of the astronauts' wive's aluminum foil rolls, and we mourned the death of Pluto's status.
We ate at Macaroni Grille before spending another lowkey night at her place. We watched "Pride and Prejudice"...and Degrassi.

Sunday we got breakfast at the Reef with Erin, and we talked about boys and boobs and other girly flares. I almost missed my flight check-in (basically, had to beg my way on), but it was 2 hours late, so no matter.

Aaron swung over after I got home to look at my music and be completely distracting.

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.

Find a Mattress

Friday night, my sister concluded that it was obligatory to go to the movies. So, we went to go see Little Miss Sunshine. Everyone should go see that movie. I haven't laughed that well in a theatre since...I can't remember when. It was an excellently good time, and Jesse cackled the entire time. And it ended in a good way; nothing too Hollywoodesque, nothing too Goethe. My favorite character in the movie was Dwayne, who looked JUST LIKE my friend Aaron. Except this kid was with black hair, and a bit shorter, and skinnier, and emo.

Saturday I went out to lunch with Steve and Eliot, my high school boys from PA. We concluded to go to a mall and eat at the Cheesecake Factory. Steve's deathly allergic to nuts, though, and I'm lactose intollerant...so we actually didn't eat any cheesecake...but we had good food! I will fully admitt I have a strange addiction to salmon. We had a lovely time talking, joking, catching up. I gave them some guidance on applying to college. We joked a lot. I proposed to Eliot. Those boys are wonderful, and so old for their ages! Who would think that they're only seniors in high school!?!
Morgan the Mormon swung by at nighttime to say hi/bye. She just returned from working all summer in upstate NY at GE, and was on her way out back to WPI. It's funny because we've known each other since we were 8 or so, and now it's the kind of friendship where we don't really have that much we need to say, but we just want to see each other. We watched a movie with my family.

Sunday was the big day of going to visit Scott at Lake Compounce with Jesse and Jeff (who just returned from a summer in Ecuador). 2 hours of boy-talk, and Jeff telling us his hilarious mishaps while in South America (the key stories: almost being kidnapped in Colombia & dancing with 13 year-olds).
We finally got to the park, which is located in the middle of nowhere. If we weren't making a real effort to find this park, I'm sure we would have never found it. It's in the middle of a forest, tucked between some mountains. And man, it's an old-school park. It reminds me of Canobie Lake park, only more IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE, and smaller, and older. We roamed around for a while, lost in the park. Jesse and I are both wimps and refuse to go on rollercoasters, so Jeff had to exercise patience with us and our wimpyness. Scott finally found us, and it was like having the 4 Musketeers back together. Reminisced, caught up, and walked. it was HOT outside, so we were slow, and we sweated a lot, but we still had a good time. We went on a ski lift ride, and Jesse nearly passed out (and hyperventilated, at the same time) from the height.
We experimented with Fried Oreos, which are about as disturbing as the name, if not moreso.
Scott introduced us to his co-workers/roommates. It's really weird when people you don't know at all, or haven't heard of, come up to you and say, "It's so good to FINALLY meet you! We've heard so much about you!" Thanks. Nice to meet you, too?
We 3 sat in the front row and watched Scott's 2 shows for the day: Country Unleashed & Rockin' Radio Replay. The first one was hilarious, because it was all country music, and we danced with the performers. By the second performance, Scott and his partners integrated us into the show, which made it all the better. Scott had to wear a mullet wig that made him look like a caveman. He dances the robot well.
It was a short day, but one thing is for sure: I love those boys.


Finding a mattress & bed frame for my NYC apartment is nearly impossible.
I finished "Breaking the Spell." I think I'll try on "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood for size.

Quasi-Reunions

Friday night after the gym (and after finishing "The Pirates!") I went to Dany's house for a little party. I haven't seen Dany, nor our group of friends (be it churchies or the Fellowship), for probably a year straight. I love that I've known these kids for so long, and so well, that I can see them after a year and it's almost like we've never missed each other. I saw a bunch of old faces, and a few surprise-faces. It was a nice night with them.
Dany's younger sister was also participating in party-ing with her friends. Because they were all high schoolers, though, and Dany & us were all college kids or already out of college, the groups segregated themselves...the high schoolers fooled around downstairs, while us older kids (and the parents) talked upstairs.
I've never realized the true value of the game Apples to Apples until that night. Roughly 20 of us older kids huddled together on the couch and played it for at LEAST a good hour and a half or so. After we finished the game, we just chilled out in the kitchen and talked. Like old people. Reminisced about when we were younger; filling in each other about our current status and plans; updating people on others who weren't there. And I felt slightly out of the loop because I hadn't seen them in so long, and I'm awkward anyways...but they (for the most part) kept me included, like always. I love them.

Saturday, I impulsively drove up to Maine to visit Jessica over in Ocean Park. The town is adorably miniscule...and looks like something straight out of a 1930's picture from the Saturday Evening Post. You can only drive at a slow crawl through the town. They've got all of 3 shops down there, a shuffleball court, and one is an ice cream shop called the Soda Fountain. The houses are all small, and the ones in the center of town are all white. And it's right on the beach, which is the highlight of it all.
After 2-hour traffic, I joined Jess on the beach for a few hours. We lazed and soaked in some sun. We talked a bit, caught up, girl talked, talked about books. Tyler (her brother) and a bunch of their friends joined us behind their house. They're funny kids. A lot of them were Canadian. Scott called, and I put him on speakerphone so Jess and I could both talk to him for a while.
We went out to grab some dinner at a local diner, and grabbed some DVDs at some local video shop. We also stopped by the Soda Fountain (with the entire town in line before us) and grabbed ice cream (frozen yogurt for us lactose intolerants). I didn't watch the movies with them because I had to drive home.

Sunday was low-key. I think I bruised the bone in my left foot, which is sad. I grilled some steaks (which the grill decided to engulf in a sea of flames...charbroiled it is) and we had a summery dinner. Jaynie and Giard stopped by for a while and we chilled outside. We concluded that I talk too much.

Michigan

This weekend was full of tripping over to Ann Arbor, Michigan to see my family. My grandfather has been in and out of the hospital for the last few months, and we went to go see him in a kind of "just in case" mentality. He looked alright, considering the amount of surgeries and close calls he's been having. My poor grandmother is holding up, too, considering. They both are tired, though. That was quite obvious.

Mom booked our flight for 6am, meaning we had to wake up at 3am and get there by 4.30am. Really, it was fabulous. Northwest is the way to go. Sarcastically speaking.
Anyways, we got our rental car, and went to Meijer's for some breakfast. Meijer's is much like Wegman's...it offers everything, it's midwestern, and it's open all of the time. I love those stores.
We went down an isle that had 2 signs: "International Foods" and "Mexican & Chinese Foods". I had to think about this for a while. Anyways, we hit jackpot over in the British & German section of that aisle, and I pranced out of the store happily with my booty of Hob Nobs, Fig Rolls, Cadburys, and Ritter Sports.
Hit up Aunt Mary Jo's (yes, that is her name), and I hung out with my cousin Joe while my mom and Aunt Mary Jo went to a funeral for some relative. I have so many relatives I don't know that "Do I Know Them?" has become quite an interesting constant game with my family. Joe and I goofed off on the computer for a while (we goofed off all weekend, but anyways), until I went to the basement and used their in-home gym to get some blood pumping. The machine of the day was the Nordictrack-like thing, where your legs literally swing back and forth at full speed while your arms attempt to keep up with your legs on the bars. It was an interesting machine that freaked me out a lot, and made me feel like a prancing gazelle. I made Joe do abs with me, which he was less than excited about.
After checking into our hotel room, we finally ended up at The Farm (my grandparents' home) where I took inspiration from my grandfather and took a 2-hour nap. I woke up to find much of our family in the family room, and dogs everywhere.

Welcome to my mom's family. Veteran farmers with a tiny (and ooolllddd) farm house that consists of a single room extension that is of equivalent size of the rest of the house. The decor of the house consists of holiday gifts and family presents (mostly unused or overused) dating back from pre-Vietnamian times, save a stash of doggy treats that somehow finds itself in every nook of the place. At any given moment, an estimated 2.5 dogs can be found running frantically around the 2 rooms and 1 kitchen, begging for food from the "Food Lady", my grandmother. If for some unknown reason there aren't at least 2 or 3 other family members in the house (who, mind you, have western accents), you can find grandparents sleeping on reclining chairs or working on 1000+ piece puzzles.

Anyways, after dinner with some family, Mom and I drove back to the airport to pick up Aimee. When back at The Farm, my cousin Jodie came over with her boyfriend/fiancé?, Nick. Nick's from Liverpool, England. His accent was not very thick since he's been living in Michigan, but I could definitely hear his Northern Britain accent. It was WONDERFUL to talk to a Brit again. Apparently Jodie and Nick are moving to Liverpool in February for a year or so....which means I get to visit. Excitement, commence!
Jodie, being a physical therapist, tried to help me with my tendonitis problem. It's still bruised, and it hurts to move it....but it may all be for the best.

The next day I went to the hotel's gym to run on the treadmill before we enjoyed another day at the farm. It was a good jog, but I was being stared down by a few co-guests for the treadmill that I was using. I pulled my quads on the damn machine somehow, but it was good nonetheless.
We were going to have breakfast at The Farm, but their one toilet broke (and Uncle Mike had to come over to fix it), so we went to Baker's Pantry. All 8 of us. Afterward, Aimee, Mom and I went over to CostPlus World Market and splurged on more international foods (Milka, Cote D'Or, marzipan, etc). We're spoiled, I know that much.

It's funny, because there's not much to do at The Farm but relax and do nothing, so that's what we did. After calling a few friends to say "hi", I took another 2-hour nap, and woke up to find (again) more relatives. We decided to, as a family, go to Red Lobster for dinner. All 14 of us. Leave it to my family to be he huge family that ruin the waiters' days. Granted, it must be noted that 2 of the people with us were Aimee and my other 2 grandparents: the evil ones (we'll refer to them as the republicans). We tried really hard for a few hours to find reasons not to call or see them, but we were found wanting, so we obediently invited them to dinner. Now, this may sound harsh, but it's completely legit. Ask anyone who's met them. Ask my father. They aren't the best people in the world, that's for sure. We have a family rule with them: don't spend more than 24 hours with them, and if you have to see them, cap it at 2 hours. ANYWAYS...

Dinner went over rather well. I made the mistake of telling my republican grandfather that I was dating an Israeli for a while. I didn't hear the end of it....then I made the even worse mistake of bringing up computers...then my mom made the mistake of telling my republican grandmother that I was learning how to cook. Otherwise, I talked to Nick, and we reminisced about England.
After dinner, Jodie, Nick, Joe, Aimee and I went out to downtown Ann Arbor and hit up a comedy club. It was pretty funny. The first guy wasn't much, but the other guy was pretty funny. I still can't get out of my mind when one of the guy's just stood on stage and shook his fat around and said, "Look, I'm Jell-o. Eat me." I can't figure out whether it was funny or disturbing. Ah, good times with cousins.

Sunday began with a pancake breakfast that lasted for a while. Then some lowkey puzzle making. Then some throwing of dice with the cousins. Then not much. Then a drive to the airport.

On a different (and more depressing) note, Ido is going back to Tel Aviv on the 9th. I want so badly to see him, but it's simply impossible for me to do so. How much do I not want him to go back.... Also, James is transfering to SUNY Buffalo, due to money problems. So, there's 2 of the closest, best men I have, leaving me for other places. And Deejay's going to Thailand on Thursday. I'm a mess.

NYC: The Good with the Bad

Another weekend of fruitless apartment hunting. My frustration is accelerating every day I get closer to starting classes again. It's almost as if some higher being is prohibiting me to getting it for some reason unknown and uncontrollable to me. And, if that's true, please let me know.

I was supposed to drive into NYC on Friday after work. But, sadly, the rain down there was so intense that it flooded a lot of the highways and bridges, and they shut down the freeways in, trains and airports. I was stranded in North Andover until the morning. I lamented for an hour at Borders, where I splurged on a hardcover of "Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenom" and a new paperback, "The Pirates!" It's interesting, because now whenever I hit up a bookstore (which has been quite frequently), it's like a crackwhore attacking a crackhouse; I want them all, and I want them all now. Have I no shame?
I also went over to Jesse's house for a shin dig until around midnight. It was a highly entertaining place to be and watch people, and most of the people I hadn't seen in a year, so it was interesting to see them all now.

Saturday morning's drive in was full of occasional traffic, flash rain in Connecticut, and hydroplaning through the Bronx. I finally got into the city, where my father took the car at Herald Square for his own drive home. Interesting how my family works; it's almost like at least one person has to be in NYC at all times. In and out. I hit up my first apartment meeting with Innovative Apartments. As a prelim meeting, I didn't get to see any apartments, but she made me feel hopeful that I'd get someplace when I need it. Allah kareem.
I checked into the hostel, which was very close to Union Square (big plus points). It was a cute little walk up apartment-turned-hostel. It was small, sure, but it did the job. I wanted a bed, I got a bed.
After I inspected the Trader Joe's recently put under the Palladium dorms, Andy and I met up at Washington Square, where we concluded to walk. It started raining, so we took refuge over in the Virgin Cafe (appropriately? che pas...) and talked for a few hours. He kept squealing about my weight loss endeavors, which made me blush quite a bit. After the rain let up, we ran over to the Barnes & Noble across the park, where we both greedily man-handled a plethora of lusciously covered books and novels. We even took photos of books.
We met up with his roommate Natalia and their friends Dan (straight) & Kevin (gay). Finding out that I was with a group of 24-28 year olds, I felt extremely young, and tried my best to not be that awkward little kid with the big kids. I think I did alright. We went to a really nice restaurant, Havana Central. And we ate. Oh boy, did we eat. Appetizer samplers, huge entrees (and quite pricey), drinks (I took a smoothie due to my medical testing this week), and a desert sampler. And the food was amazing. Really, really, amazing. And there was so much food!!! We all overate, a lot. But the conversation was nice, we had a great time, laughed a lot, told good stories...good times. I always have fun with Andy's friends. They're always good kids, and I enjoy them immensely. Does that mean something?....(Andy, I know you read these, so I'm going to ask you: can I be you?)
After shelling out a hefty sum, we rolled out of the restaurant and agreed to meet up in about an hour to go out. It was already 10pm and I was ready to sleep, yes, but that doesn't mean anything when you're in NYC. The night starts whenever you start. And never ends, ever. Ever.
I hobbled back to the hostel to meet my "roommates". And, being more full of food than God is full of love, I was quite the sociallable talker while getting ready to go out. I first talked to 2 nice LA girls who were in for the night to read, which sounded tempting to join them. Then I noticed there was indeed a guy in our room, sleeping on the bottom bunk next to my top bunk. He was Indian-Canadian (which, as you might think, perked up my ears) , 28 years old, called himself Sunny, lives in San Fransisco, and (get this!) works for Google. Wow. Wow. Google? As in, I have a Google account and Google blog, Google? As in, I've done more case studies about Google in school than any other company in the world? Oh yes, ladies and gentlemen. That Google.
We started to talking. Unfortunately, being sociallable AND naturally flirtacious, I flirted. But, surprisingly, and almost too obviously, he flirted back. I always enjoy a good flirt, so it was fun, and I highly enjoyed the conversation. He was planning on going to Alphabet City with some people he met to a party while I planned to go...somewhere. So, we swapped numbers and agreed to text about our whereabouts for the night. Since I was going out with a bunch of 24/27 year olds, anyways, it wasn't like he'd be that guy joining a bunch of young college kids.
I met up with the group down in the Lower East Side and, after about an hour of looking for a place that had no bouncer (because I was the only under-21er in the group, they were trying to be nice and help me out.......even though I wasn't going to drink anything anyways...ironic...), we hit up a little liquor bar called Schiller's. Adorable, really nice atmosphere, I loved it. And I got a smoothie that rivalled a lot of other smoothies I've ever had. We kicked back, talked, laughed some more. Found out that the 27 year-old friend of Andy's that I was flirting with had a girlfriend and became immensely embarassed, good times. Until about 1.30am, where we were all exhausted and opted for an early night. Crashed at the hostel to sleep.

But you'd think the night would end there, right? Oh, no. No, no. About an hour into my tired slumber, 2 new backpackers crashed into the room, talking in full voice, and started unpacking and being "romantic." In fact, they (girl and boy) decided to go get into the shower together. Hostel, people. Paper-thin walls. The giggles started, and LA girl #1 and yelled at them that we were trying to sleep, so knock it off. The 2 newbies came out and started apologizing (I think), and I mumbled, "whatever, just go to bed." End of story, right? Nope. Never.
As soon as those 2 start getting into bed, Sunny comes back into the room. How do I know this? Because for about 5-10 minutes, while I was slipping into a twilight, I felt like someone's watching me. I open my eyes, to see Sunny looking at me. Oh boy. He comes over and puts his arm on my back, and starts asking me how my night was. "Short. What did you end up doing?" He started telling me, and I realize that he's really, really close to me. Really close. Mind you, I was half asleep, but I could still notice how close he was. Close enough to...with retainers in my mouth and everything (color me dorky, but I like keeping my teeth as straight as possible), I finally giggle and say, "and, goodnight." I know, I know...I blow it everytime. But come on! Taaaact! Oh well, next time?

I wake up after not really sleeping, completely wiped, to go to another apartment meeting. Said bye to Sunny, left him a little note in his bag, and checked out.
I get to the agent's place on the Upper East Side. I wait in their lobby for 30 minutes to get bitched out at for another 30 minutes about not being in town for more than the weekend, that I was wasting their time, and that I had the NERVE to go to them LOOKING FOR APARTMENTS! And I was "so unprepared"! Though I was fully prepared... Apparently, the plan was for me to purhase one of their places that day, no buts. Uh huh, right. Basically the guy was a complete jerk (censored, of course), and I will tell all of my friends to NEVER use Homestead Reality in NYC ever! Because they're there only to waste your time and steal your cash. That was in a nutshell.
Discouraged and raging mad, I go downtown again to get some comfort food; Challah bread. I find out then that my favorite Jewish Deli of all time, 2nd Avenue Deli, has been shut down! Closed, gone. I'm devastated.
The next meeting I had I didn't get an address for, so I had to cancel (since I didn't know where to meet them, anyways) on a dying mobile. Screw it, I decided, I'll just go back home now.
Took a Greyhound back to Boston. Was carsick for 2 hours of the trip. Cold for all 4.5 hours. I got to the South Station entrance to get haggled and harassed by a few creepy guys outside. Great day. Went home and slept off the frustration.

People, all I want is a 4 month apartment near school for less than $1500/mo! Is that too much to ask for?! I guess it is...

Summer Weekend

This weekend I actually was at home! Shocking, I know, I was surprised too. The only reason why I think I stayed around was because of Scott. Scott came home for Thursday night and most of Friday, so I made it my point to see him as much as I could before he drove back to CT. Jesse came over when Scott was at home, and we made Ghiradelli Brownies from scratch (Actually, Jesse did most of the baking....who knew he could cook?). You know, the extra gooey ones with the chocolate chips in the middle that make them ever more crunchy and good? Delicious.
So I realized I'm probably lactose intolerant. That was fun.

Saturday, I decided I really wanted to go somewhere. So, I put on a summer dress, told my mom to get in the car, and we drove up to Portsmouth, NH. Parked at Strawberry Bank, but did not actually go into the museum because it was sweltering outside. Instead, I went to the waterfront and read for a while. I got sunburned, which is both nice and bad. Afterwards, we hit up the downtown area and shopped. Bought too many CDs at Bullmoose Music(Stadium Arcadium, Ganging Up On The Sun, Senor Blue...), bought novel gnome magnets at Marco Polo, and whatnot and what have you. Splurged at lunch at some cantina place. It was a good day.
Shivangi came over later that night and we scurried off to Blockbuster to find a flick to watch. We aren't in there for 5 minutes and some employee comes over and gets ALL UP IN OUR GRILLS! I mean, this guy was just in our faces, trying to help us get a movie to watch. Nice guy, very much, and was all enthusiastic about helping us, but it really kind of freaed us out. I can't explain it well, but he was all over the place! Shivangi giggled the entire time, and we just humored him as he ranted off his favorite movies. I made the mistake of bringing up that I used to work for a New Line company, Lord help me. He finally left us to our devices, where we promptly put away all of the movies he recommended, and picked up "Sideways" in the end. They didn't have "Clockwork Orange". Shivangi is determined that the guy was hitting on me because he was so eager to help out, and basically only talked to me, but I'm pretty sure that it was just because I kept giving him responses while she giggled.
We ended up putting on the movie, but not watching it. We girl talked instead. Ah, the things we girls do.

Sunday was supposed to be Penny and my romantic day at the beach, but she never picked up her phone, which depressed me immensely, but I carry on. I had to mow our hideous lawn, anyways. 2-hours of fun-filled grass covering every inch of my skin (and eyes), sunburning on my sunburn, and trying to push a broken, disgruntled lawn mower up a 50+ degree incline.
After the swearing and kicking inanimate objects, I showered and concluded to escape the cave which can be considered my house. I did not know where to go on a 95F Sunday afternoon, since most things were closing early, and it was too hot to commiserate outside. Thinking fast, I hit up Panera, bought an iced green tea, and read "The Kite Runner" (which, so far, is pretty awesome) for a few hours. When they closed, I transfered over to Starbucks to read for another hour.
My girlfriend Becky called me then. She is leaving for China today, so wanted to see me, and half of Andover, before she left. So I met up with her and some other kids at Bertucci's for a dinner out. Shivangi (a hostess there) sat us, and gave us a free tiramisu. I overate a lot. Rolled out of the restaurant and cooled off at Becky's house for a while, and slept.

And now boss #1 is breathing down my neck, so I'm going to leave thy vain bibble babble, bibble babble...

Montreal Jazz Festival

Friday after work, I picked up Craig & Jesse, and we started driving north. Got through New Hampshire and found ourselves in Vermont. I never realized how beautiful Vermont landscape really is. I was having trouble driving on the highway because I was so taken back by the scenery that we were going through. Hours of awe.
I felt like I could love this place.
We got off of the highway somewhere in upstate Vermont to a small town in the middle of nowhere called Jericho. We were picking up Aaron, a friend of James from NYU that I had yet to meet. His town was adorable small, and his house was delightful. Aaron is an amazing guy, so I was glad we got to pick him up for the trip. We continued north.
Crossing the border for Canada was interesting (and disturbing) because I didn't quite understand just how french the province Quebec really is. It's french. Very french. Think, the signs are all in french, and people only speak in french. That was a shocker. I was so glad I can understand french.
Aaron guided us into an interesting driving around and into Montreal. After confusedly breaking several quebecois driving laws, we finally found the hostel and a parking place on the road.
The hostel was pretty dumpy. Basically, it provided us bunk beds, and 2 mostly working bathrooms, that we shared with roughly 2o other guests. Not the cleanest place I've ever stayed at, but whatever, it wasn't a homeless shelter, so I can't complain. It wasn't terrible, and it was cheap. And the location was great.
This was my first time in Montreal, and overall I have to say I enjoy that city. It's very clean, and reminds me of Boston in atmosphere and cleanliness. I like that it's an island, and that it has several assorted cultural quarters.
We set our stuff in the hostel and went for a walk to check out what was happening at the Jazz Festival. We found ourselves in a crowd watching a band playing some swing, which was fun to listen to, but I was more compelled to go for a walk. Aaron and I walked around the Jazz Festival to see what was going on, and so I could get my barings.
The Jazz Festival overall was not what I was expecting. I thought I would find myself in club after club, listening to some smokey blues or a jazz club band, with slow crooners and cocktail dresses. However, none of the sort. It was indeed a festival, and most of the music we heard was funk, be-bop, and kind of mainstream jazz. They were obviously catering to a more mass mentality, and they had LOTS of overpriced merchandise to sell in big corporate tents. I did enjoy myself, though.
The four of us started walking more around the Latin Quarter and around some busy strips...I guess we were sight-seeing. Ended up in some trippy goth/metal bar for about 10 minutes, and quickly made a getaway out. We ended up at the water front in the Old Montreal quarter, which was breath taking. The boardwalk was lightly lighted in blues and greens, and there was a park in the middle of the water. Jesse & Craig went back to sleep, while Aaron and I just walked around the waterfront and talked. It was a lovely night, and I was with good company. A great beginning to a weekend trip, as well as a friendship.
Finding ourselves exhausted, we hobbled back to the hostel and crashed, with 10 other strangers.
After a restless night, I got up to find out that there were only 2 bathrooms for all 20+ of us in the hostel area, which was entertaining, to say the least. After a slow morning, we headed out to the festival under the bright hot sun. Needless to say, I acquired a sunburn.
Dixie jazz is fun only for some time, so Aaron and I opted to go walk around some more of the city and to visit McGill University. Closed campuses are odd to me now, being at NYU, so it was odd. Lots of green. Small campus. I liked it a lot, but I was not in love with it. I could see myself going to school there, though. Walked around and grabbed some lunch at Tim Hortons, which is an experience all unto itself.
We walked back to the festival and crashed under some shade for a while before we went to go see a jazz film.
Let me explain this film that us kids went to go see. The schedule said "Ain't Misbehaving ", which I was sure was an old film or documentary, and I knew was a show....we find out that they only wanted to show about a 5 minute 1930's clip of the song, which led into a movie called "Novecento". The film was with a home camera, 1.5 hours long, and all in french. To top it off, it consisted of 1 poor actor who talked to the camera the entire time on an obviously fake boat set, with a fake jazz band "playing" in the background. I understood bits and pieces of the storyline, but most of the time I was confused. The rest of the guys hadn't a clue what was going on. The only sentence I could fully understand was, "La terre est un grand bateau. C'est trop grand pour moi." Translation: The earth is one big boat/ship. It's too big for me. Needless to say, it was hilarious, and I fully enjoyed myself.
Grabbed a french dinner with salmon and esgargot. Went to go watch some more sets, Namori & the Electro Deluxe. They were good, long, but enjoyable. Between the shows, we stopped to watch a modern-ish interprettive-ish dance group put on some french scifi/fantastical goth show about fire, sacrifice, and other assorted splendids. It was very fun to watch, and the dance moves were often impressive.
During the Electric Shox set, Aaron and I walked again. We walked into a crowd for another set for a Mexican band, Sr.Mandril. It was a fun, clubbing-beat band. And fireworks starting lighting up the eastern sky. It was great!
We called it an early night, so we headed back to the dorms.
I felt like relaxing on a bench outside the hostel. A Japanese girl came out from the door and started talking to me. At first, I wasn't really willing to talk, but we got into a great conversation about travel and music. She was a fun person to talk to. We got approached by 2 sets of guys, both of whom tried to speak french at first, then attempted english, and failed. By 2:30, though, I had hit my dimensia mode, and headed to sleep. I was woken up by a few drunk guys from Toronto who were rooming with us. Really cool guys, we had some fun times talking to them (especially when waiting for toilets), but they drank like fish.
The next day was lowkey. We checked out of the hostel, and walked over to one of the McGill strips of shops & whatnots. We ended up shopping a bit, and found ourselves at a bistro/pub called Mars Venus. We stayed there to watch the World Cup Final (Italy vs. France). France played very well, personally I think much better than Italy. It was such a good game! After being tied from the beginning to sudden death, though (and after 2 of France's best were taken off field; Henry for tiredness, Zidane for headbutting an Italian & getting kicked out?), Italy won in penalty kicks. Montreal blew up. Half of the people were walking the streets depressed from a loss, half of the people were rioting on the street in celebration for Italy. I mean rioting. Some guy was waving an Italian flag in the middle of an intersection, intentionally hitting cars with it.
It was a quiet, tired, drive home. But a good time was had by all, methinks.

Binghamton, NY

So on Friday, I went for a jog after work, and drove 5 hours to Binhamton, NY. If you'd like to know where that is, take the map of New York state, and go to the bottom border, and then divide New York in half. The left area is about where Binghamton is.
That's where James (& the family), Ben, and Mike live.
Because Binghamton had tremendous flooding lately, I-88 was shut off partially, so I got terribly confused, and after a mild panic attack at the wheel while James & Co. tried to calm me down, I finally ended up at the local Wegman's parking lot. It's interesting, because there's so much to do inside a Wegman's, all the time, and yet there is not much to do outside of it in this area of the town.
The boys met me there, where we proceeded to Mike's to play some video games before collapsing of exhaustion. James took me back to his new house, which is completely and utterly ridiculous in both size & style. Each bedroom even has its own bath. I am in love with his new house.
I honestly went to Binghamton just to see James & the boys again. After roughly six months without them, I was feeling kind of sad. It was really nice to just be with them. I didn't even really require talking, just being with them around me was what I wanted. And needed. James tends to bring me sanity...a feeling of balance.
Also, I love James' mom. She and I have a bit in common. And we have nice conversations. She's really open & friendly. And acts like I'm just part of the family. I love that.
After waking up & eating breakfast, and after James' mom gave him a much needed haircut, we started working on cleaning out the basement and garage of items they didn't want/need & were going to give away to flood victims. James actually tried to discourage me from helping out, claiming that I was there to "relax", but I felt that it was a good idea to help out, and his mom encouraged me to join them. Sure, I like doing physical labor. No joke.
We started watching "The Last Samarai", and stopped halfway to go to his old house (that they are refurbishing before selling it) to picnic with pasta & speedies.
Off to the movies we went with the rest of the boys to see "Superman Returns". It was during that movie that I realized I hung out with mostly men. They were being such boys during the movie. James tried helping me out with the comic plot, since I'm not much of a comic strip afficianado, though sometimes he distracted me from the movie with his all too humorous remarks.
Carrides happen to the gas station (for tire air) & Ben's house. We played Apples to Apples. I won.
My role as the woman became apparent when Mike insisted that I cooked for him, and cleaned. James took over the role by cooking instead.

Sunday roled by too quickly. I read some of "Kim" before James woke up. We finished our movie, talked a bit, went to Lowes with his mom, and to a little restaurant called Little Venice. It was a sad goodbye, since James might not be returning to our college, but transfer to SUNY Buffalo. Let's hope all turns out well, though.
The drive home was pretty wretched.

Another Trip to NYC, Plus New Jersey?

I think I've come to the conclusion that my weekends will revolve in either people coming to see me from afar, or me going to see other people afar...My months are being booked as we speak!

So, I drove in on my own to NYC for Sat&Sun. It took longer than it should to drive in because drivers are idiots. And it rained.

I would just like to note that I was going to be in Connecticut for the night, but someone bailed last minute, so I called the next person I had in mind, who happens to live about an hour into New Jersey. Ah, how life leads us...

I got into the city, parked my car in a garage near school, and went downtown to see the apartment that I viewed last time. Well, I was going to meet my potential roommate. And all I have to say about that is....no thanks. The girl was not my type of person...and when she said, "I smoke lots of pot," the red stop sign hit my face. Hard. So, I am thinking that it's all for the best, though it's a shame. That place was beautiful!

I had a few hours to kill, so went to Starbucks and called up Paul to hang out with me. Paul, for those of you cocking your heads in flusteration, is my classmates from Stern who joked with me all fall about us stalking each other. All in good fun.
Anyways, he came down, and we walked around the seaport for a few hours. Talked a lot. It was nice. Good to see a friendly face. He came along with me to view the newer apartment potential on Wall Street. The girl's from NYU Gallatin, my age, oringated from Boston, wicked nice, we got along very well, her boyfriend was sweet, and the apartment was beautiful. I would like to live there. We're going to stay in touch and see how things go.

Paul went home to Long Island, and I went to campus to walk around. I called up Neil (who told me he was in the city then, too), and I met him at Amy's Bread Bakery over in the West Village while he happily ate. It was a brief visit.

Bhinish met up with me at Washington Square, and told me to take the NJ Transit to his station where he'd pick me up late. And he jetted off to pick up his grandmothers. So off I went to Risotteria (only one of my favorite eateries around school) to buy some gluten-free cookies. And that was my dinner.

It was sweltering in NYC the whole weekend, so I was a nice glob of liquid the whole time there.

The trainride took about an hour. I waited at the station for a while, and read some more, until Bhinish came over, grandmothers and all. So silly.
We went to his house, where we talked until late. It's funny how classically Indian families are so conservative...his grandmothers wouldn't go to bed until he left the guest room I was sleeping in! They must have known I'm a vixon. Well, they also kept insisting that I ate, and that they would make something for me. But I was just not hungry this weekend. They weren't very happy about that.
Keep in mind, I didn't actually personally talk to them, they only speak Gujarati, and I...do not. Bhinish translated everything, and I had deja vu from visiting Felix's family in Germany.
Went to bed. Slept. Woke up, woke up Bhinish. That boy does not wake up quickly! About 3 hours after we had woken up (which was full of, "no thank you, i'm not hungry"), we left the house. And he eats A LOT of sugar.
Knowing my affinity for Indian culture, he brought me to this little India-town nearby. I was in my element. Went to some music/dvd shops, listened to some music, sari shopped, and hung out at some Indian food joint, where I agreed to consume a mango lassi. We talked some more, lots of talking, and then hit the train station where I would go back to the city and drive home. He bought me some papri chaat for my travels. What a sweet boy. Literally.

Happy Birthday, Alex!

Yesterday, after work, I went into Boston to visit Harvard grad student Alex and get a calendar that I bought off him while in London. I took the T to Longwood only to find out that he wanted me to meet up with him in the North End (which, if you’re familiar with Boston, is opposite sides of the city). An hour later on the T, and I am walking into the North End to some guys’ apartment that Alex knows from school. Alex greets me in the hallway by running to me, shouting, “Pretty dirty wh***!,” and suffocating me in a hug. It was probably one of the most confusing greetings I’ve received in a while; I didn’t know what to do. Then we proceeded into the apartment.
Let me just describe this apartment, because I am in love with it. It was an open apartment with one brick wall. They had a moveable wall so that you could block off the massive bed area with the TV, and a large living room. The cute kitchen had all new steel appliances, and everything was beautiful. I gawked the entire time there.
It was a night of us bickering and making fun of each other (consider it normal), political debates, watching TV and critiquing shows, and cuddling (etc.). Alex, being the lush that he is, did his thing, and I had a glass of wine. It was nice seeing him after over a year, but I did not appreciate him astropuffing my hair.
His 2 friends were adorable! Tyler, his classmate, is from Canada and was very tidy and studiously inclined. His other friend, Cash, was laid back and funny. They are a funny couple.
I stayed until around midnight, when it officially turned into Alex’s birthday. We sang, and I started getting ready to go home. Tyler and his boyfriend told me to keep in touch and come by more often (and that they wanted me to come to Alex’s birthday fiesta tonight, which I have to decline for sleeping purposes). Alex is a great hugger, props to him. He told me that we had to get together Tuesday, before he left for Greece. So, until then….

NYC For A Day

So I drove into the city with Mom and Craig on Saturday. Mom had a wedding to go to for one of Dad’s assistants in Long Island, so she offered the free ride in for us. I went to see the apartment I’m hoping to sublet, and Craig went in because he is unbelievably bored in our little New England town. It took a few hours to get into Long Island, we got lost perhaps twice. On our way down, though, the girls I was supposed to meet up with that day for the apartment let me know that they forgot I was coming down, and that they were at one of the girl’s sister’s weddings. They would try to come back Sunday evening, but no promises. I was livid.
When we ended up at the parents’ hotel, my Dad brought us to eat at some ritzy hotel restaurant. We talked about music, business, France, my sublet….and I ate one of the magnificently tasting and ludicrously filling lunches ever; a shrimp burger. It is what it claims to be…it is a burger made out of packed shrimp. Delicious.
Craig and I waited to hit up the LIRR to get into the city finally, and we got into Penn Station probably around 4pm. We took the subway up to 50th street and walked to Molly’s apartment over in Hell’s Kitchen (I stayed at hers for the night, while Craig went to a friend’s in New Rochelle). Her apartment was absolutely adorable. She had a friend over, Mike, and we talked for a while only for the boys to conclude that they wanted to go to Guitar Center over near Union Square. Alright, we went.
As we’re in Guitar Center, my friend Rob (whom I was supposed to eat dinner with) called me to let me know that he had a few parties to go to, and he was eating dinner with his brother, but that he still planned on meeting up with me sometime. Right, sure. Frustration was quickly lurking. And Danny called to let me know that he wanted to see me as soon as possible, but he didn’t have a lot of time to kill, and that he wanted me to plan out an agenda for us. Having not been in the city for over 6 months, I insisted that we just meet up and walk around because I couldn’t remember for the life of me what there was to do specifically. After a while of bickering and lost phone connections, we concluded to meet at the cube in Astor Place.
All 4 of us met with him, and began walking around St.Mark’s Place. Molly and Mike parted with us, while us other 3 continued our path around the village. It was nice to talk to Dan. I could tell that he was a massive stress ball and a little bit on the fritzy side (hear the sarcasm….a little bit?), but he was calming down towards the end of our time together. Craig and I left him at the subway station, and got some Jamba Juice. Mmm Mmm.
We met up with Molly and Mike at a new little place over by school called Cafetasia. I got Pad Thai (of course), we split a calamari, and it was a wonderful (and cheap) meal. After that, some more loitering in stores, and then I brought Craig to Penn Station for his train to New Rochelle. We get there to find out he actually needed Grand Central, so he ran to a cab.
Andy called me and told me to meet him at Madison Square Garden (how convenient). As I walked to meet up with him, Rob called me and told me to go to a party that he was at so we could see each other. Okay, I thought, a nice little get-together should be neat. Andy and I walked and gossiped all the way to the place.
At this apartment, we could not get a hold of Rob so we did not know which apartment number to buzz. Luckily, a strand of guys our age (by our age, I mean around 20, since Andy’s an old man ;)…) came to the gates and let us in. Assuming this is the crowd we wanted, we followed them right to an apartment where the parents were greeting us at the door. It must be kosher, right?
Walk down the stairs of this NICE apartment, and we realize this shin dig is something as close to a, underage kegger in the city as possible. And it was all males (save a few females with questionable dispositions). But where, oh where, was Rob? Ah, there he is…talking to that person……. completely wasted. Wonderful.
He comes over and starts talking to us, we laugh for a second, and off he goes. Andy and I giggle about his ADD-ness, and continue to watch the awkward party around us unfold. We commented on how young the kids were (I’m so used to hanging out with people older than me that I’ve grown accustomed to thinking that anyone my age is young.), and observed some extremely amusing sights around us. Rob came back to us, slightly more sloshed, and started hitting on us. That’s odd, right? But why is he trying to rip off my shirt? And WHY ON EARTH is he all of a sudden molesting (oh, I mean hardcore full-handedly molested) Andy?! Completely confused, and partially frightened, Andy and I agreed to ditch the party if a DJ starts playing. And a DJ does start playing. We leave, laughing hysterically. *Andy, I’m keeping the conversation to us, because I think it could never be truly redeemed in writing.*
We walk around for a bit, hit up Times Square, and decided (stupidly) to go get some dessert at Maxie’s. The a la mode cheesecakes we ordered (I ordered the Triple Chocolate Brownie, Andy had the Apple something something), though glorious, were GINORMOUS!!!!!! I’ve never thought that a dessert was going to rip me apart like these did! We rolled ourselves out, and crawled back to our designated sleeping zones.
Molly had some friends over, and the room was a little smoky, so I read for a few hours until they went out for a late night walk.

On Sunday, I didn’t get much sleep. Dad woke me up via phone to make me call the apartment girls again, and to let me know they were going to be at the Renaissance in Time Square soon. The girl I would be subletting for told me that she’d be back at 6pm, but I couldn’t meet my potential roommate today. I got up, met up with Craig at Grand Central, walked to the Renaissance, and made Mom go out to get a wonderful 6th street Indian Lunch. I ate soooo much this weekend!
We walked around Prince Street and the West Village to kill time. James called me, which made me ecstatic.
Craig and I went to go see the sublet in Battery Park. It is exquisite! The girl was bubbly and eager to let me see the whole place and plan out our subletting. I put down first month’s rent, and I agreed to come back in the city 2 weeks later to meet the other one and finalize the deal. Craig was/is jealous.
A long drive home was accomplished by me as Craig slept and Mom talked with me.

Settling In Moreso

I finished my scrapbook on my semester abroad!

I have 2 part-time office jobs now.
The morning job is at North Andover Trust Corp, a finance firm. Finance. One of the classes I dreaded the most. And I'm working with it, now. God is funny. But I'm working on a direct marketing campaign, so it's not so bad. My boss, Michael P, is such a sweet old guy. It's just us 2 in the office, and you can tell he's never had anyone else in the office with him. He buys me water, Kleenex for when I'm sick, tries to cater to my every need. So nice.
The afternoon job is at Watts Regulator, a water supply firm. Mom got me a nice little job here at her workplace, only I'm in a completely different department. I'm working as a clerical gopher in the claims department. Yes, I get to touch defected water pipes. It's wonderful. Mind numbing work.

I am trying to continue my gymrat ways, but it's hard to do with work, chores, and people.

I've hermitted myself quite a bit more this summer. But I think a lot of it is due to the fact that, lately, I have been feeling:
1) a lack of interest in big groups of people
2) more interested in reading
3) too busy to bother other people
4) too tired to bother myself
It's ok, I like people, still. I'll hang out. It's just....I'm not making much of an effort.

Scott surprised me this week by coming into town. It made my week. I love that boy so much. He got really tan working at Lake Compounce, CT! And he's always more and more fit. That boy...my little boy's growing up!!! I'm verclempt.
We watched High School The Musical. We laughed the whole way through.

Going into NYC this weekend with Craig to look at a sublet I really want to use for fall semester. It's in Battery Park, in a high rise. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE....
While I'm there, I'll probably be staying at Molly's. I love how when I go in for less than 36 hours, everyone wants to plan something with me. I may have to say "maybe next time". How unlike me!

I have been cleaning the house like mad. I'm trying to get rid of all of the excess junk we don't really need. It's difficult to do with our house and my lack of time. But hey! Baby steps...

I've been talking to this nice Berklee alumn online. He helped save me from a hideous internship experience via Myspace, and we have hit it off afterwards, too. It's a shame he's moving 2.5 hours away.

Hobo

The flight back from London was a long 7 hours. I didn't sleep at all because the sun followed us the entire way back to Boston. I read some of "Cloud Atlas", ate too much (Virgin Atlantic food is great), and watched 2 shows. "Good Night, and Good Luck" was wonderful, I really applaud that cast. "Sex Traffic" is a 3 hour show about human trafficing in Bosnia/Sarajevo. I was really into it, super interesting. However, 20 minutes before it ended, the plane turned off the screen for landing. Damnit. I swore a bit.
I was immersed into immediate culture shock. I heard Texan accents in the customs line, the weather was hotter, and CNN was on the TV. I didn't remember American news on CNN being so sensationalized and NOT IMPORTANT! Honestly? I don't care if the Royal Family watches American Idol. I really don't.

In more recent news....
I can't believe it is so difficult to find a job here in Massachusetts.
I have put my name back in with the temp agencies, because I've applied to millions of internships and other paying jobs, and none of them have pulled through.
Luckily, Melissa at Officeteam seems hopeful. She likes me a lot, and says that she's been really pulling out the stops in trying to help me find a job. God bless.
I went to a job interview today. Much to my dismay, however, it was a company that sells Kirby vacuums door-to-door. Not OK.
On a seperate note, finding apartments in the city for fall semester is nearly impossible right now.
I have so much stuff to do this summer!!!
In other news, I am glad to be driving again. And with Buck (my car), nonetheless!