[ audio selection | the beach boys – california dreamin’ ]

the week before the holidays…poot. for some reason, the mouse feels heavier than usual. refuses…to…move. bleh. so right then, the week leading up to both christmas and my london vacation is probably going to fly by pretty fast. id better find time to squeeze in laundry between now and then.

I AM IMPORTANT
i met up with m and crew at nyonya friday nite. m and her bf were off to mexico monday, so a nice din before then was in order. after din, we trotted over to this exclusive carbon party being thrown just to show off the party space. it was nice, dont get me wrong…paintings adorning the walls, plush seating, and two drummers synching pretty nicely with the dj. i just got this feeling that everybody there were or were with self-important people. especially that girl wearing the metallic pants that seemed to reflect the entire room. those were wrong in an infinite amount of ways.

SORRY AMES
satty was supposed to be a number of events, all of which got changed…so i feel a bit bad. a friend had her birthday party satty nite, which i ended up skipping out on partly because of the aforementioned planning shifts, but really because i held a long-standing grudge against the club it was being held at, eugene (suck!).

ANNAS BDAY
sunday morning was dim sum with m and crew at dim sum a-go go, which was ridiculously packed. ordering was a bit of a mess too, but ill leave it at that. m3ntal note, why not just have den-mother alice (who…um, you know, is fluent in mandarin) order for us from now on. just a thought. i walked around the east village a bit afterwards, since i took the B train mistakenly to lafayette. later at nite, a group of us met at the bowery bar to celebrate annas (belated) birthday. it was sleeting out (first of the season) as i walked there, so that was fun. foodage, drinky drinks, then caught a ride home with sally, who was driving. driving! sweetness…

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FRIDAY
friday nite was a long-overdue din with sally, anna, sean, and alice. i almost feel like i hadnt seen them in forever. we noshed at menkui-tei around the corner from st. marks. a change of pace, but still nice. the place was pretty quiet and chill compared to our usual eats on st. marks, and they had a coo selection of ramen dishes. the portions were also stupidly big…like ridiculous-size. we couldnt really decide what to do after din, so we split up. i went home. hmm…thats it for friday.

SATURDAY
i woke up early satty morning to meet tien in williamsburg for a brooklyn bike tour. after a quick bike tweak (his front brakes were a bit weird) we started our trek southwards. tien was giving me a bit of a historical tour of some of the buildings we passed by. so not only was it fun, but it was also educational…word. we eventually hit dumbo, where i made it a point to (finally) check out the hot chocolate from jacques torres, which was pretty good. both of us were a bit starved, so we grabbed a bit of brunch from bubby’s before continuing south along the waterside. tien kind of had an idea where we were going, but we were basically just ducking into whatever waterside street looked interesting. we continued south into red hook (id never been before) and checked out some of the coo piers, including some bwac art show, the sunken piers and a sunken ship the next pier over, and even the abode of steves authentic key lime pie. mmm…key lime pie. shouldve gotten some. after that, more south…of the southerly direction. southwards i say! after hitting the gowanus canal, the scenery got decidedly less interesting. so we turned towards the city and i caught the train from union st. ill post pics tomorrow or something.

satty nite was marisol and minks guest bartending gig at black finn. so a few of us braved midtown east to go and harass them as surly bar-people. black finn turned out to be a sports bar…a nice one at that with plasma screens everywhere, and even little tvs in each booth. craziness. the cardinals/red sox game was on, so the place was packed with crazy people hollering things about who rocks and who does not. i love sports. my first round of drinks was the obligatory gimlet, which m made pretty well. i then got her to make me my weapon of choice…the infamous william tell, which was a propietary drink only stellas (at cornell) served. and it tasted pretty good til i realized later that when i told her the ingredients, i kind of left out citron. damnit, no wonder it tasted like non-alcoholic candy. the drinks for the rest of the nite were basically me trying to get the william tell perfected (fyi, its supposed to taste like apple sidra)…4 drinks later. bah, what a motherfucking particular drink. anyhoo, stumbled home around 3:30ish…super.

SUNDAY
…was made super-fun by the 10am wake-up call for dim sum from alice. being slightly hungover in bed, i never picked it up…or the two other calls that followed afterwards. frickin’ alice. after getting up groggy and disheveled and figuring out what the dilly was, i made my way down to chinatown to join the crew at dim sum-a-go-go. a bit of shopping afterwards, wandering soho and east village, etc…then home and worked out in the gym til my chest and biceps ripped thru my shirt. jk.

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look, i did things thursday! no shitting, i actually went out. there was a preview show for the dumbo arts festival thursday evening at a friends studio nearby, so we headed over after work to check it out. the newly finished (90% anyway) studio was really nice, with rockin’ panoramas of dumbo and the east river. the artwork featured was um…interesting too. but whatever, the food being served totally rocked. whoever the caterers were, you rock. the asian-style chicken wings…fatty thumbs up.

i met up with tien there also, and we headed out to an evite/rock the vote party at studio 450 on the west side. the party was…interesting. swishy pad, black t-shirt clad waiters and waitresses, what we assumed were pr and media people. and free liquor too, thats all that really matters. and we totally rocked the vote…hardcore too. jk, what does that mean? nice views tho. they were also having silent auctions to benefit some foundations, and there was one particular item tien was eyeing…the 14 knicks tickets with a private luxury box at madison square garden. except he couldnt make the date listed…or could he? after checking his phone calendar, he noticed that the listed date was incorrect. january 14th was a friday, not a tuesday as they had dated. after mentioning it to the girl taking the auctions, and then double-checking with my phone calendar, and then tiens checkbook, she goes, “uh oh.” either way tien still didnt bid…too bad. we rocked the vote tho…yo.

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i didnt have much planned for friday nite, but it turned out coo anyway. the studio crew went drinking at 68 (?) jay st. after work. well, mebbe not “after work” since drinking had actually begun during lunchtime. but a few of us had gone back up to the office to work, and rejoined the drinking crew at 6ish. after most people had left or disappeared, the three of us who were left had the munchies and decided to grab din at miso, where we had a plate of sashimi, two rolls, and some sake. very yum. afterwards, we chilled out at the cafe bar, where we liquored up and the two of them gave me pointers on life, love, and relationships. i need all the help i can get.

fridays highlight
(in elevator on the top floor as girl walks in) “is this going up?“
*thinking in head* “yes, this is willy wonkas magical glass elevator.“

OPENHOUSE NY
tien reminded me that this weekend was the 2nd annual openhouse ny, so i joined marisol and chris for some brunch in chinatown first, then began our trek around the manhattan sites. even tho we started a little later than we had wanted to, we still hit the center for architecture, the lot-ek designed bohen foundation, v studios, and even swung by the vitra showroom…since we were in the area. too many places and only one weekend, blah.

OZ
satty nite was mins bday/going-away din at friend of a farmer on irving. mins decided to pack up and leave for aussie-land for a year or so, so we all met to send her off. and when i say “we”, i mean a bunch of people i dont know plus mindy and one other friend of hers that i actually do know. we ordered homestyle country food and stuffed ourselves stupid on turkey, tuna, cobbler pie, and other various fill-you-stupid food. so good. we hit up punch afterwards, since everybody seemed to want to get jiggy to r+b and hip-hop (??). right then. while min was making her rounds, me and toshiko (the only other person i knew and fellow e.vil-er) made do with looking uncomfortable and wondering why there were so many asians there. i ordered a flute of champagne to try to blend better, but it didnt seem to work. we left the crew a little later to make our way back to the east village…ah well.

SUNDAY
sunday was pointless shopping around soho and west village. why cant i find shit i like?? gah!

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[ audio selection | greenday – pulling teeth ]

so i havent posted since thursday…oops. its not from a lack of fun shit or anything…just really havent had the time to. which is good, right? whatev. backtracking to thursday, which was the spiewak and resfest party at the lansky lounge in les. it was a bit sucky tho, considering that when i met ___ to head into the party, there was a line outside that wrapped around to delancey. bugger that. dora and company showed up too, and we waited in line a bit before deciding to head off to pianos instead. pianos was pretty chill, if not a little loud. other party people showed up too to join us, tho after an hour or so most of the group headed back to check out the lansky lounge again. me and ___ decided to skip out for crepes on ludlow instead, where we snacked on a nutella and strawberries crepe, then a spinach and feta one as a follow-up…yum.

FRIDAY
friday was me-day yo. i stayed in.

SATURDAY
den mother alice woke my ass up satty morning for dim sum at grand harmony with the crew. her mandarin wasnt getting thru to some of the cantonese wait staff…but jj was with us, so we were rockin’ the cantonese too. i walked around soho after dim sum with sally, and actually ran into a large contingent of high school friends roaming broadway. i was like…shit, that girl over there looks like suzie…and christine too…and jaime…and amy…and irene. small world yo. they were actually in the city to take a friend around for her bachelorette weekend.

“who?“
“maureen.“
“shit, really?“
“yea, shes right here…“
“….eh? holy shit!“

i hadnt seen maureen since high school…and didnt even recognize her. it was def coo to see them all again, but i still couldnt wrap my head around the fact that maureen was getting married…eek!

bo-ras about to leave our sorry asses for korea, so m planned a coo surprise drinky drink for her satty nite. she took her to din at highline thai with her bro and another friend, while the rest of us waited downstairs in the bar. so when they finished din, m shuttled her downstairs to the bar.

“lemme just grab a smoke outside…“
“no, no smoke. lets go drink downstairs.”
“just a smoke yo.”
“downstairs bizatch!“

so when she came downstairs, she coincidentally ran into our big crew of bo-ra lovers. holy shit, word! the whole crew turned out, and we drank and took rounds of pics with betty. after an hour or so, we headed out and over to west for more drinks. the place was a little weird (it was the ground floor of a modern apartment building), but chill. after having more drinks, a few of us were craving sul long tang from gam mee ok. like harold and kumar and white castle, except korean style. actually, i guess harold was korean, so that was already “korean style”…whatev. we headed over to the west side highway to grab a taxi. jjs going, “dont grab a taxi from the west side yo…” and we’re like whatev. so betty waves one down, it pulls up, and 5 seconds later (important detail, so pay attention) we hear “THUNK THUNK!“. fucking two cars simultaneously rear-ended the taxi and the car that rear-ended the taxi. holy shit…we turned tail and walked the other direction really really fast. yea we felt bad for the taxi driver, but we just wanted foodage and it was late and half of us were near trashed. we waved down another set of taxis and headed over to k-town…this time with no unexpected collisions. we just ate our sul long tang and were happy.

SUNDAY
anna organized a little dessert thang at her apartment for betty sundy nite. so we all showed up with mad desserts in hand. there were brownies, cupcakes, two panya cakes (including a green tea tiramisu i brought), and various other munchies. we drank sangria, ate, and chilled out on the fire escape overlooking st. marks. bettys fucking leaving us yo…i think im gonna cry.

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i met up with ___ last nite for din at oh! taisho, which was a little more chill than last friday. the din was an appetizer of sorts for the spiewak party at the frying pan later that nite, but ___ had to opt out at the last sec. so after i saw her off, i taxi’d over to the chelsea piers to look for the party, which was tucked just a little north of the basketball complex. i swear all the times i biked up and down the west side highway, id never even noticed that place before. i actually had to call m a few times just to get my bearings.

the party was pretty coo. not many people, but the dj was rockin’ it with his dual powerbooks and trippy visuals. and the place itself…word, so coo yet creepy. the spiewak party was being held on the docks, but the other half of the frying pan was actually an old docked ship which you could head into. the ship had supposedly sunk, and was eventually raised…so the interiors were all decayed and rusted. with the ship rocking in the water, and the hanging lights casting shadows as they swung back and forth, it could get pretty creepy at times.

the party never really picked up, but we lounged around anyway.

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[ audio selection | weezer – the world has turned ]

picture madness yo! but thats further down. you get to go thru this rambling text before then…fun shit! i finally met up with ____ friday nite and took her oot and aboot the town. derricks photo show, ryuichi sakamoto at the soho grand (didnt stay around), dinner at highline thai, a nice walk along the hudson river park, and drinks at angels share…quite a nice nite. ok, thats all im writing. moving on…

WRESTLEMANIA
the crump-meister came to stay with me and fonz satty, so that was coo. fonz and crump headed out to see sky captain at nite without me (i was waiting to see it with fish), so i met up with marisol for din. we wandered around greenwich before deciding on ciao stella. neither of us had been before, but the dishes we ordered were good, and the bruschetta we had as an appetizer was especially good…yum. after din we headed to baggots inn (sp?) and met up with mink and bryant to catch chris do his drum thang with…um, coppersonic was it? the speakers were conveniently aimed right at our ears, so that was nice of them. i also mistook the drink tickets chris gave us (wrestlemania stick-on tattoos) for…well…wrestlemania stick-on tattoos.

h > “dude…look at my rockin’ wrestlemania tattoo! argh!!!“
m > “you dumbass! thats a drink ticket!”
h > “eh? really?“

rock on. after chris’ set ended and the next band started blasting hipster country at us, we migrated to scratcher. more drinks, etc, etc…

SUNDY CHILLING
dude, the weather rocked on sundy. i dont know about you, but i luv this breezy weather. tho ive been told that it will slip back into summer mode next week…poo that. i chilled around my apartment most of sundy afternoon. betty rang in the evening, so i met up with her and dora at via della pace on 7th st. we shared a salami and cheese sampler, a mozzarella and tomato salad, and a risotto dish between the three of us…so good. we started talking about the master sifu dumpling maker who opened the dumpling man on st. marks, and how they had taiwanese shaved ice. so we got a bit of a craving and headed over after we finished our food. but by the time we got there and saw the picture of the ginormous bowl of shaved ice on the menu, we changed our minds and went to jenny’s cafe instead, where we chilled out on apple green tea and a lychee smoothie. so smooooth…

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[ audio selection | soundgarden – the day i tried to live ]

you dont suppose im coming down with something, do you? my whole body feels a little achey. not so much in the overworked sense, but more in the old and tired way…eek. hopefully its just the weather.

it was rockin’ outside friday afternoon, and none of us at work could really stand to be indoors. so the crew grabbed two grimaldi’s pizzas and headed to the dumbo waterside for lunch. i was a bad boy and scarfed down four slices…bad bad bad. but damnit was the pizza excellent. after work, we grabbed a few drinks at superfine, and then i headed off to meet marisol and jess for din at oh! taisho. mentai chazuke, okonomiyaki, and…a donburi was it? it was all good. we headed down to verlaine after din to meet up with anna and sean and made the most of the happy hour drinks. and when i say “made the most of it“, i mean that i spilled drink after drink on jess and got her a new one each time. yea, that was super.

GR34
after liquoring up enough, we migrated over to the gr34 party at white rabbit. the party was pretty coo, tho the venue was smaller than the past couple gr parties held at luke+leroy. and even tho white rabbit was pretty swishy, i think im gonna miss the airline stylings of idlewild. betty joined in later…and as we were chilling outside, dj girl saw me and waved hi. i introduced betty and tried to chat, but that went nowhere. “well she wasnt very nice.” “yea, thats why i still havent gotten my mix cd…“

MINEOLA
satty afternoon was sort of a client meeting out in long island. buns photography partner wanted me to take a look at their website, so i headed out to mineola along the lirr to talk with them. after talking shop for an hour or so and getting a yum lunch out of it, bun drove me back to the train station, except she didnt really know where it was. after driving around in circles (literally) for a while, we decided to hang at a mall that we passed by. we mallratted around, ate wendys, and then hopped back into her car and headed in the general direction of “west”…eventually dropping me off at a train station in queens. whew. by the time i got back to my apartment, i was feeling poo’d out, and missed a bday house party i was supposed to go to when i passed out on my bed by 11. goddamnit.

sunday was a bore, btw.

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