on my drive yesterday, i had time to reflect on the past year and all the changes in my life and what may come in the year ahead. in an effort towards self improvement, i came up with a list of goals for myself for 2006. here it goes:
1. learn (begin to, at least) a new language
2. learn how to salsa
3. learn how to swim properly
4. run another marathon
5. travel to someplace new (S. America, Spain, Vietnam?)
on my drive yesterday, i had time to reflect on the past year and all the changes in my life and what may come in the year ahead. in an effort towards self improvement, i came up with a list of goals for myself for 2006. here it goes:
1. learn (begin to, at least) a new language
2. learn how to salsa
3. learn how to swim properly
4. run another marathon
5. travel to someplace new (S. America, Spain, Vietnam?)
it's been a long day and i'm about ready to crash. stayed up last last night chatting with the brother-in-law and sis. didn't go to bed until around 2 am and woke up around 7 am.
i hit the road a little after 9am and met cassanova at a cool art museum on the harbor in baltimore around 1 pm. after a nice lunch, but not nearly enough time to catch up, i was back on the road. stopped in newtown to pick up the roommie and rest up for a bit. had a nice home cooked chinese dinner and it was back on the road again. there was a major bottleneck between jersey and n.y. and we spent what felt like eternity waiting to get through the holland tunnel. actually just to get up to it. 
we got to new york before 10 pm and i just finished putting everything away. it's funny how i had four days off of work but feel more exhausted than before i left! sorry for the unexciting
post, i'm simply too tired to come up with something more witty. at least i included cool pictures- V-POWER!!!
sat night i was up until 4 a.m. finishing the scarf i was knitting for my mom and packing my things. my flight was at 8 a.m. at laguardia and i called a car service to pick me up at 6. i decided to take a "nap" for an hour and get up around 5 and finish getting ready. of course i passed out and woke up to hear my phone vibrating on the floor. somehow i managed to turn off or not hear my alarm.
i got dressed and ready in 15 mintues and was out of the apartment by 6:05. i got to laguardia in about 15-20 minutes and was able to check in fairly quickly. just as i was starting to relax and feel i had plenty of time to buy some magazines and a i heart NY shirt for my niece, i saw the line to go through security to get to the gates. it snaked all around the entrance waiting area and outside.
luckily i had over an hour before my flight and got through with twenty minutes to spare. a little after 8, i boarded the plane only to end up sitting on the runway for two hours. the time passed by quickly as i slept straight through the waiting period and the flight.
the rest of the evening was typical for any holiday. lazying around, eating too much, and watching t.v. ahhh, bliss. . .
in the middle of last minute packing. mariah carey's "all i want for christmas is you" playing the background.
i'm exhausted but the idea of seeing my precious nephew and niece, the rest of the clan, and a couple old friends is keeping me going. need to finish my mom's christmas present, wrap it, put together a little presentation, and maybe get a few hours of sleep. . i'm going to be plum worn out tomorrow.
last night Q2 and i took jpan out to dinner at the spice market and out dancing at b.o.b. afterwards. it's been a long time since i've enjoyed a girls night out but we had much to celebrate- namely, jpan's engagement. dinner was delicious (although i'm not sure if it lives up to the hype). we shared spicy chicken samosas (yum), a crab noodle salad (so-so), very spicey (read: lots of kim chi) striped sea bass, the most tender spareribs, coconut sticky rice and a very good pinot noir. the restaurant's decor was amazing, very south-east asian.
b.o.b. was great as usual. fabulous music and low-key. it wasn't too busy so we were able to sit and to dance without fighting for elbow room. we all got hit on. . i guess that's what happens when girls go out by themselves. Q2 by a vegan personal trainer. me by an electrician that lives in brooklyn and is from st.croix. jpan by his cousin. . . luckily they weren't pushy, just friendly and making conversation.
the girls crashed at my place and we didn't go to sleep until around 2am. then i woke up around 6:30 to go to work since i had to take public transport (the roomie took the car back to philly). worked from 9:30-2:30. got home and took a short nap and got cleaned up and met R & Q2 for a hearty korean dinner at hanbat. excellent pajun despite having a different consistency/texture than what i'm used to.
anyways, i hope everyone is spending the holidays with loved ones and getting some much needed R&R!
this morning i was prepared to walk in the bitter cold, over the williamsburg bridge, and attempt to grab a cab once i got to manhattan in order to come into work. i bundled up in layers of clothes and with ipod and new camera in hand, i was out the door.
as i was walking along bedford ave, a woman in a SUV called out to me:
Woman 1: Are you going to Manhattan?
V: Yes
Woman 1: Do you want a ride?
V: Yes!! Thanks so much.
There were two other women in the backseat so I got into the passenger's seat in the front. They all introduced themselves. At first I thought they all knew one another, but after a few minutes of comfortable but superficial conversation I realized we were all strangers. We made small talk about the strike, when it would end, what we all did yesterday in terms of work, etc.
The driver was going to the upper east side, Park and the 50's. The other girls were dropped off on the other side of the Williamsburg bridge and around E 14th & 1st Ave. I was the last drop off and got off at 33rd and walked a few blocks over to Park. So, what I expected to be an hour and a half commute turned into a 45 minute commute.
I was lucky. Another girl that works in the office who lives in Long Island said that it took her over three hours to get home. She was waiting outside Penn Station for an hour and a half just fighting the crowds to get to the LIRR. Guess it's the whole survival instinct surfacing.
Now, I just need to figure out how I'm going to get home. . .
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/20/nyregion/nyregionspecial3/20cnd-strike.html?hp&ex=1135141200&en=76117d48a59c9e0c&ei=5094&partner=homepage
i guess it's strategic on behalf of the union to strike one week before christmas when everyone would be doing their last minute holiday shopping.
personally i'm not pro- or anti-union but in this case (not because i'm feeling incovenienced) i feel that the union's demands are quite unreasonable. essentially it seems as they want a cut of the momentary surplus that the MTA finds itself with. what they are asking are for permanent increases in wages and improvements in their health care. commonsense will tell you that this will leave the MTA in serious future debt as this year's surplus is transient and is most likely not recurring.
ironically, i think everyone will lose out with the strike. the loss of tax revenue, cost of increased police patrol, loss revenue to businesses, etc will surely outweigh the MTA's surplus. happy holidays, huh?
the guy that stole money from D's parents was arrested. the kid was 20 something years old and within a very short amount of time spent 10 G. turns out he had overheard the parents talking about the money that was in the moving truck. luckily or unluckily for the family, by starting the fire to cover his tracks, the kid left enough evidence to lead to his arrest.
the insurance company will cover up to 100G in damages. sadly, there's no way of recovering what was lost- D's mom's wedding dress, photo albums, etc.
saturday night i found myself waiting for the 1 bronx bound train to go to riverdale. yes, the bronx. over an hour commute from my place. however, it was my turn to visit my middle school friend MF since he's come to williamsburg or met up with me halfway every time we've hung out. plus, he was cooking dinner for me.
i came prepared for the long commute and had my ipod blaring and knitting needles and yarn. before i could knit my first stich, i hear a deep voice yell/ask "V"? i looked up and saw a familiar, slightly aged face that i haven't seen in 6-7 years.
"W?"- i respond. we hugged and spent the trainride catching up on gossip and our lives. we had met in beijing when i was studying abroad there. he had dated a friend of mind and i had dated someone from his school. half british/half american- he ended up back in new york where his mom's side of the family lived. since beijing, he had completed a masters in england and worked at columbia for a while and is now looking for work and planning on pursuing a law degree in the states. he had just moved to riverdale and is living with his girlfriend. i gave him a very shortened version of my saga. it would be nice to expand my social circle and make new friends so i hope we do actually hang out in the future and it's not just one of those polite these you say to someone that you haven't seen in a long time.
these chance meetings with old friends/acquaintances always reminds me how small the world really is. . .
it's always tricky starting new friendships with guys, especially when you are currently unattached. . . maybe it's the prudish side of me or something. my parents' reminder for me to act dang wang or proper. this is especially true in front of people of the opposite sex. this means- no flirting, talking or laughing too loudly, touching inappropriately, and heaven forbid- drinking more than one alcoholic drink in public!
perhaps this is why i've always been a bit cautious with how i act with guy friends. at least in the beginning of a friendship and particularly if i suspect that a guy might be interested in more than friendship (and i'm not feeling the same way). so while i'm generally an affectionate person, i always try to maintain distance and minimize physical contact until i'm sure the friendship is solid.
you might think this is silly. . .but i've learned from experience. in college i made the mistake of being friendly to a guy that i thought was just a friend. then it got messy because he was interested in more and i wasn't.
so i found myself in one of these beginning stages of a new friendship with a guy and in an awkward moment. we decided to meet up for drinks. as usual, the conversation was nice and i found myself having a good time. we closed the place down and as we said goodbye, there was a slight awkward pause where had it been a date, you would hug or kiss. luckily there was enough distance between us that it would have been too obvious had he made a move.
in retrospect- i wonder if i'm being slightly paranoid/neurotic. i've been in one serious relationship after another for the past 10 years and now as a young, single woman i am finding myself in a lot of new situations. i'm comin to the realization that i am woefully inexperienced with handling weird "dating" situations, flirtatious encounters, and relationships with men. i have a feeling it's going to be an interesting 2006. . .
looks like i didn't get my day of R&R like i had hoped yesterday. under the circumstances, i hardly have reason to complain. around 11am my long island boss called to ask if i could work in the afternoon. D had taken the morning off thursday so she could help her parents move (they were moving from long island to new jersey). somehow, the moving van which contained all their possessions was burned in a fire.
it's all pretty shady. somehow the movers had packed one of the drawers up that had around 20G in it. D's mom realized it too late and mentioned this in front of the driver. coincidentally, that same drawer was not damaged in the fire and the money was missing.
of course, D couldn't work because there were fire marshals and police there investigating the scene. looks like i may be helping her sift through all the rubble and see what may be salvageable this weekend. i think her parents are in shell shock. i would be too, to lose everything. i can't imagine, things that you've had for years and with so many memories. my prayers really go out to her family at this time.
living in LA in no way prepared me for life in new york. while LA certainly qualifies as a big city, is is much more like a huge suburb than anything else. you drive everywhere- to the grocery store, to the bank, to the post office, to one end of the parking lot to the other (just kidding, sort of). because space is not at such a premium, and especially as a grad student, you stock up on things out of convenience. target & costco were king and at any given time i would have X number of paper towels, Y boxes of ziplock bags, and Z rolls of TP.
so i've adapted. (my roommate looked at me like i was crazy when i loaded up the cart with various paper products when we went to target for the first time) i only get items i need for that night or week from the grocery store, i no longer stock up on toiletries, and my fridge actually gets empty.
now with the winter settling in, running errands is unpleasant. luckily, everything in new york- and the US in general- has been evolving to deal with that. you can get groceries or any type of take out delivered to you at any time of day. there are laundromats that you can drop off and pick up your laundry. (my friend's cleaner in the bronx actually picks up his laundry and returns it to his address) it's quite amazing. . so today while i'm recovering from my cold, i will stay inside. watch "city of god" which i got in the mail via Netflix (love them!), do my christmas shopping online, and catch up on various projects i have going on the side.
my boss is a character. usually he listens as D and i chat away about boys, life, etc. occasionally, he likes to say outrageous things and waits for our response.
example 1. v will be a mean step mother.
example 2. d will become a bitter woman and be an even meaner step mother than v.
of course these statements require a lot of assumptions. namely that i will get married, have children, and my children will be married. there are generally no explanations for his predictions, just a laugh and twinkle in his eye.
tuesday morning when we were all busy with various tasks: cleaning flowers, arranging flowers, and putting together fruit baskets, the boss actually made quite an insightful statement. my co-worker D is a wonderful girl. laid back, out-going, cute, and generous. despite her many wonderful qualities, she always ends up with guys that are jerks or don't treat her well.
for instance, D had gone out this past weekend with some guys, one of which was married. although she made it clear to him that they were only friends, the guy ended up getting angry that she wasn't giving him enough attention and winded up leaving her at some random bar in manattan during the wee hours of the morning. clearly, a d**k move.
the boss's observation was that D somehow gave men the impression that she is a casual, fun girl and that's why they don't take her seriously or treat her better. that leads me to the question, what makes one girl seem like a serious girl and another like a fun girl? is this the equivalent to guys being "just friends" material or "more than friends" material? another interesting comment raised by the boss is that women are silly by making such a clear distinction between friendship and boy/girlfriend relationships. he says that for men, those relationships are not two distinct points but lie on a continuum. hmm, still mulling over it. . .
ended up going out last night afterall. anthropology christmas party with the roomie. was fun & mellow. only bump in the evening was trying to find the place! it was in the stuversant apartments.
this morning got a late start. had brunch with the roomie at the williamsburg cafe. i've been meaning to try the place as it has good reviews on citysearch. was pleased with the brunch (esp the free bloody mary's!). i ordered cheese grits with chicken sausage, bacon, and hashbrowns. the hashbrowns were very fine but quite tasty. the bacon was perfectly cooked, packing a good crunch without being burnt! and how can cheese grits ever be bad? it was so rich i was only able to eat half, if that much!
then i was off to get my haircut in manhattan. a great place called the little hair shoppe. unfortunately it was a slightly rushed job. the earlier appointment ran over and i was supposed to meet Q2 at 4pm to see memoirs of a geisha. . only after rushing out of the salon at quarter til, i got the text from Q2 saying the 4pm showing was sold out and she got tix for the 6:40pm showing instead. . . i didn't really feel like staying out too late so i decided to go see the movie another night.
on my way to the subway, i decided to go to chinatown to do some grocery store shopping. got some baby bok choy, ginger, garlic, green onions, & asian pears. i walked into a vietnamese grocery store hoping to stock up on some frozen dumplings and canned goods but found out they only take cash and i was down to about $5. so instead i picked up a packet of chinese sausage and dried pork and headed home.
unfortunaetly, i wasn't paying attention and missed my stop a couple times. by the time i was home, i was cold, my feet hurt (breaking in my new boots), and my nose was running like crazy. . not a pretty sight. i spent the rest of the night cleaning up the apartment and knitting.
this next week promises to be busy. a close girl friend is visiting her family in long island so we're doing the sleepover thing tomorrow, wed dinner in UES, thur dinner in Willie-B or LES, sat dinner in UWS, and sunday hopefully will be dim sum. . lots of good eating. can't wait til i get over this cold, will (hopefully) start running again no matter how early i have to get up to do it or how cold it is.
brrr. it's cold out. coming down with something. thing i'll stay in tonight. again.
view outside
went to chibitini in the LES with VK last night. we made sure to get there for the happy hour- 2 for 1 cocktails. it is a tiny place, very quaint and there is a little, friendly pug-nosed dog that runs around. the entire night (we were the first and last customers to leave), there were only three parties! don't know how the place manages to stay open.
we ordered a bunch of appetizers and dumplings and had a couple cocktails each. the chibitini is suprisingly, deceptively strong. (read: i fell asleep with my light on last night and am not feeling so hot this morning) overall, the restaurant was fun and the food was good. my complaint is that we were overcharged for drinks.
towards the end of our meal- one of the other customers started talking to us. i guess he just moved to rivington from canal street. friendly guy. seems well traveled. just grabbing a quick meal before his blind date set up by a friend. the whole dating thing seems strange. especially in new york where you would expect it would be easy to meet people but it's just like any other city where everyone is doing there own thing and stuck in a the same old social circles.
there are so many events that are catered to people just trying to connect with another person. speed dating, wine tasting for singles, online dating, match.com, etc etc. it just seems a bit too coerced. then again, i've been lucky and have been able to meet people in school/academic settings which is a bit easier. . you already have a lot of information about the other person and there are more opportunities to hang out. i guess this is what all my formerly single girlfriends were complaining about post-college!
last week i started working at a start-up PR firm. it's been pretty interesting although i've been mostly doing administrative stuff. there are only 3 full-time employees at the ny branch, the president of the company, the director, and a senior account exec. there is also a california and two china branches. half of the company's clients are chinese firms and the rest are american firms.
the president started the company after her previous firm got bought out. although the company is less than a year old, it seems quite promising. they have some big name clients and seem to be growing quite a bit. right now they are subleasing space in a recruiting office which makes for an interesting set-up. i share an office with the president. . which has its perks (window view, big office) and downsides (i share an office with the president and can't really take a break). thank goodness they will be moving offices in march!
there is potential for a permanent position and expanding more into managing accounts. i'm not sure if that's the path i want to go. but luckily the president is fine with giving me time to decide what i want to do and also with seeing how the company grows and their needs change.
there was a period in college when i was interested in PR jobs so it's great being able to try it out and see if i actually like it.
my posts have gotten less and less frequent. . . will make amends to be better about updating.
working 2 part-time jobs is wearing me out. . don't know how my friend/co-worker at the flower shop manages to work every day of the week!!! by the time i get home, all i have energy to do is eat and curl into bed!!
that's exactly what i did monday night. i had woken up early to move the car before street cleaning and drive to long island for work. i got up around 6:30 a.m. at work i was clumsier than usual, probably lack of coffee didn't help. i really need to get a travel mug so i can get my two doses of caffeine in! in any case, i went to bed at 10 pm. i can't remember the last time i've been to bed so early.
tuesday i was worried about the snow. so i left for work very early. too early it seems. . the snow that promised to be 6 inches and leave the roads slippery and treacherous was more like a light dusting. . in any case, i got to work an hour and a half early and used the time to make phone calls and knit.
last night i spent a good part of the evening putting up framed pictures that i got from IKEA (the frames not the pics). my room is almost complete. . i'll take photos soon and post. the roomie's room is looking much homier now too.
ok, it's 9am i should start working. post more later.
Ever since moving to New York, I had planned on starting a cooking club. After feeling a bit more settled, I decided to make a go of it and sent an email out to all my old friends and a handful of new ones that live in the New York vicinity.
The premise of the club sounded simple. Ideally, a group of 8-10 of us would meet once a month. A different host would be selected for every month and the cooking club would meet at that host’s apartment. The host is responsible for coming up with a theme, find recipes, and setting up and cleaning up after the event. Everyone else cooks and buys ingredients.
Responses trickled in slowly, but a few days before the first meeting, it seemed as though there would be a good group of 8-9 people. As host of the first cooking club meeting, I decided to go for a Latin American theme- Peruvian ceviche, Argentinian empanadas, Leche Asada, and mojitos.
As the day wore on, and battling exhaustion (my fault, I stayed out drinking with friends til 2:30 a.m.) and frustration at work, my excitement about the cooking club began to wear thin. Also, four people backed out at the last minute and there were two unexpected (but welcome) arrivals, and two unexpected (not so welcome) guests came. Of course I was panicking because there would be less food. On my way home I stopped to buy ingredients for mojitos and picked up some Mexican pastries, chips, and salsa.
Of course in the end it worked out. Somehow there was just enough food for everyone to eat. The empanadas were delicious and I plan to try some variations on it with different fillings. Everyone seemed to have a good time, but it felt much more like any other party rather than a cooking club. Guess I’ll have to re-think the design, maybe fewer people and closer friends?
