I Miss This #2

I Miss This

Stars Aligning

Next week I will be on the road for work. First stop is Hartford for work training. Not looking forward to 8 hours a day of class time about insurance, but there is an added benefit. Since I'll be on the East Coast and had plans to spend the weekend in NYC, I got my boss to approve of me working from NYC after my class is over and now, instead of having to pay for my trip to NYC, work is footing the bill.

Add on to that the following:

-Kee Won got me a free ticket to the Sneaker Pimps show featuring Big Boi, Cam'ron, Clipse, The Cool Kids, Wale and DJ Clark Kent; Kee Won's working the concert

-Kee Won's job is footing the bill for his hotel and I'm crashing there

-Arnaub and Wen are coming in from Boston for the weekend for the concert; Korey and Margo are also coming to the concert

-Anna is coming back from Mexico for 3 days and it happens to be when I'm in NYC!

-Karen is coming back from DC for Maria's bday party!

-Phil is back in town for the summer and is having his housewarming when I'm back

-School ends for Dani that week so I know she'll be down for getting drunky

The only thing that would make this trip better is if the weather holds out.

Invasion of The Rubik Cubes

TOP 10
by extermitent

Wow. Might try and go see this exhibition next week when I'm in NYC.

Upcoming Travel Plans

June 23-24: Hartford, CT

June 24-28: NYC

July 25-28: San Francisco

*edited

NYC

God I miss this city, especially the friends here. So glad I came back here this weekend, even if just for a day.

Maybe Yoko Isn't So Bad

Dinner on Sunday was like admitting that the band had broken up...for real. I think it felt even weirder since we were eating at our old stomping grounds, which too had undergone a little bit of change. But change is good and we had a nice dinner. I hope things work out for them since she seems pretty happy and I like this new guy. Maybe it won't be so weird in time.

After dinner, we got one last drink at The Whiskey Ward. The place was pretty much empty besides us and a couple of regulars. We chatted up the bartender and questioned him about all the specials he had. One special, the Knockout Drop, sounded terrible. The shot was half Jose Cuervo and half Wild Turkey. According to the bartender, back in the day, knockout drops were shots that bartenders gave people to knock them out so they could be shanghaied to work on ships. Sounds great right? Well, we did a round with him and it actually wasn't half bad. None of the bite that you would get if you took a shot of Cuervo or Wild Turkey alone and just the nice little burn you get when you breath out after you take a shot of bourbon. I explained the shot to my coworkers this morning and suggested we use that as our new shot since our resident Tequila expert retired. No one thought that was a good idea.

NYC Marathon

Today was the NYC Marathon. Last year, I was in the city for the marathon, but only watched it on TV. I could have walked over to 1st Ave. to watch, but I didn't think it would be that much fun just standing around waiting for runners. Watching it on TV, however, was pretty exciting and got me really interested in marathons.

The first-place male runner as he came by on 5th Ave.

This year I opted to watch the marathon live. I went over to Dani's apartment, which is actually a perfect location to watch the marathon. Her apartment is right along the route and her fire escape looks right down on the route.

The second-place male, coming right behind

It was actually a lot of fun to stand on the street and cheer on all the runners. There is some downtime while you wait for the first runners to come by, but once they start coming, it's just a steady stream of runners. It's a grab bag of people who run marathons, everything from professional runners to people running for charity to people just trying to achieve a personal goal.

A runner being taken away by ambulance

At one point, one of Dani's friends who was running the marathon ran by. Dani and some of her co-workers jumped into the race to support her and ran the next mile with her which was pretty cool.

Dani and her co-workers running in the marathon

Dani and I had actually signed up for the marathon, but did not get a spot in the lottery. Hopefully next year I'll actually win in the lottery and get a chance to run.

The aftermath

A little kid cleaning up the mess

Mixing It Up

After last night’s debacle, I was in no shape to go to work today. Luckily for me, I didn’t have to go to work; I was supposed to go on a fishing trip with some reinsurers. Okay…actually, I would rather go to work than spend the day, hungover, on a boat that is rocking back and forth, and smelling fish and the polluted waters of NYC. So, with little hesitation, I decided to skip both work and the fishing trip and just stay home. I agonized at first over whether or not I should go into the office, but I was still pissed from last night that I really didn’t care.

After some much needed rest, I met up with Lillian on the West Side to go rock climbing. Lillian and I have been talking about doing this for sometime and finally got our act together. We went to a climbing wall that is rune by the NYC Parks Department. It’s not the best climbing wall I’ve ever seen, but it was cheap and had enough climbs to keep things interesting.

The last time I went climbing was back in high school. It didn’t take very long for everything to come back to me. Soon I was scrambling up the walls. It was really exhilarating; I had forgotten how much fun it was. Both Lillian and I had a great time and are hoping to make this a regular thing.

After climbing, we wandered around the Upper West Side and found a dinner to grab a quick dinner. As we were eating, a bunch of Williams people (Julia Rosen, Sabrina Wirth, Adriel Cepeda, and Steve Mosley) passed by on the street. It was really good to see Steve since I haven’t seen him since graduation. Although the encounter was brief, it reminded me how small the city can be.

After dinner, I had some time to kill so Lillian let me finally see her apartment. I would tell you about it, but I’ve been sworn to secrecy about it. I’m not allowed to tell anyone about the apartment itself or where it is located. Why? Don’t ask.

Leaving Lil’s apartment, I headed over to the East Side to meet up with Korey and Margo at the 5^th Ave Apple Store. We were going to see Diplo spin at 12 AM, part of Apple’s Summer DJ Series. I was pretty excited since I’ve never seen Diplo live before and the idea of a dance party in the Apple Store, with it being underground and having a glass ceiling/cube above it, sounded like a cool idea.

At first, the music was pretty good and the crowd was bearable, but the three of us soon found that this really wasn’t our scene. It was too much hipster-ism for my taste and way too much high school kids/hip-flask drinking/stupid stunner shade crap. We decided to get out of there and find a bar.

After wandering around aimlessly in Midtown (there are really no good bars in Midtown at 1 AM), we found a decent Irish pub and planted our asses into some bar stools. We spent the rest of the night drinking beers and watching a classic boxing match on ESPN Classic. It was actually kind of fun.

More pics (courtesy of i guess i'm floating):

Mark Ronson @ The Highline Ballroom

Last night I went to the Highline Ballroom (a place that is quickly becoming one of my favorite concert venues) to see Mark Ronson perform. The concert was also doubling as the record release party for his new album, Versions. The original plan was to go with Kerel, but last minute, Vero asked if I could get her a ticket. Unfortunately the concert had sold out, but the venue was going to release a few extra tickets at the door.

Since I get out of work really early in relation to everyone I know, I went down to the Highline early to wait in line to get Vero a ticket. Right before I headed downtown, it started to pour, like torrential downpour. Having some time to kill, I decided to go running at the Reservoir. This might not have been the brightest idea, but I love running in the rain. Once I got to the Reservoir, I started doubting my decision. There were a handful of people running still, but most had better sense to seek shelter. As I ran beside the Reservoir, lightning cracked across the sky at a very consistent rate. The winds were thrashing the water in the Reservoir and painfully pelting me with rain. Even with all that, it was still a fun time. Nothing feels better than feeling like you are fighting against Mother Nature...and winning.

Anyway, after I dried off, I went to the Highline and waited in line for an hour to get Vero a ticket. To kill some time before Kerel and Vero met up with me, I went to Pizza Bar for a drink. I had never been to Pizza Bar before and may never go back.

Although Kerel, Vero, and I arrived late to the Highline, our timing was actually perfect; the show was just about to start. I had never seen Mark Ronson DJ before or play live for that matter (this was actually his first time ever playing with his live band in the US).

Mark Ronson thoroughly impressed me. I think he sometime can be brushed off as a trust fund baby DJ, but the guy is talented and respected. I think that was supported by some of the celebrities I spotted in the crowd which included: Jay-Z, Eve, Q-Tip, Jimmy Fallon, and Danny Masterson.

Ronson performed the bulk of his Versions and brought on many of the guests that appear on the album including: Daniel Merriweather, Santo Gold, Wale, Alex Greenwald (Phantom Planet), Kenna, Tawiah, and Tiggers. Sadly Robbie Williams, Lily Allen, and Amy Winehouse were nowhere to be found, but Ronson made up for it by bringing Saigon onstage. I'm a huge fan of Saigon and would not have expected him to show up, but it turns out that Saigon and Ronson are good friends. Saigon even joked that he goes over to Ronson's mother's house on Christmas morning for tea!

Another surprising performance came from Alex Greenwald of Phantom Planet. He was really energetic (and possibly drunk), stage diving and just really getting into the performance. He ended his set on stage with the crowd favorite, "California" (i.e. "The OC's" theme song).

Check out some reviews of the show:

NY Times

Variety

For more pictures of the show:

Caaaait's Flickr Page

Budgetary Constraints

I consider myself financially responsible. I actually have a budget and try to stick to it. I have various investments, that as of late have been doing well, and I contribute to my 401(k) and maximize my company's match. I rarely ever have any kind of debt and pay off my credit card every month. However, the last few months seem to have been a different story.

Last night, I looked back on my spending for the last 6 months and came to a startling conclusion. I am spending way over my budget...almost $500 over budget! How did this happen? To figure that out, I had to do a line by line comparison of my spending.

I'm a pretty religious user of Quicken, so tracking my spending by categories and comparing to to my budget isn't too hard. I think some of that simplicity has actually made me a little complacent in terms of being more watchful of my spending. Also, up until the last few months, I had been spending below my budget and had been building a comfortable buffer. Adding to that, I've had some expenses over the last 6 months that aren't normal expenses for me (i.e. traveling for interviews, a major computer repair, tuition and books for NYU) which made me expenses look skewed.

My breakdown of my spending revealed some very interesting things. To preface, I break out my expenses into two main categories: mandatory and discretionary. Mandatory expenses include rent, utilities, my monthly subway pass, groceries, gym membership, and household items; everything else falls in the discretionary bucket. Also, to get a better idea of my spending, I excluded a bunch of atypical expenses, like the ones I mentioned above, as well as monies spent on concerts. The latter may seem strange since I go to a lot of concerts and thus should really be including them in my analysis, but for the most part, I subsidize my concert expenses with other revenues so that, if all goes well, the expenses zero out at the end of the day.

Looking at my expenses, I was happy to see that my mandatory expenses were in line with my budget. However, this shouldn't come as too much of a shock to me as most of those do not vary much month to month. The only thing that varies really is my groceries, but for the most part, those were in line with the budget. My discretionary expenses are where I'm getting killed.

My discretionary expenses are comprised mostly of expenses for: dining out, bar/alcohol money, entertainment (movies, books, music, etc.), clothing, and Netflix. The first four are the real killers. For clothing, I've been pretty good lately on not spending too much. I really don't need more clothes, but sadly a lot my clothes are too big for me now which has required me to update the closet. The bigger problems is shoes. I got a bunch of pairs of really crazy shoes in the last 6 months and that's what has made the biggest dent in my budget.

For bar/alcohol money, I was kind of surprised. I'm actually not spending too much on that anymore and am almost in line with my budget. The thing that surprised me the most, actually, was my dining out expenses; I've just been going crazy there spending, on average, almost 300% more than I had budgeted. One of the reasons for the high number is that I haven't been as diligent lately in terms of bringing my lunch to work with me. The other thing is that I've really been trying to take advantage of the great restaurants in the city, but obviously this is getting out of hand.

The other item in my discretionary expenses that surprised me is something I had never considered in my budget and that is gifts. Being in the city, I have the opportunity to be around so many of my friends which usually leads to me giving the gifts, like taking them out to dinner or drinks, either for their birthday or to celebrate something else. I have no problem with giving gifts and like being able to provide whenever possible, but I now realize that it's something that I need to budget for and also reign in a little.

So where does this all leave me? I don't know. I have to revisit my budget in the next week to tweak it and see where I can really save some money. I think I also need to look for more income sources as my current employment really isn't meeting my current needs.

So Many Concerts, Part Deux

Some more concerts coming up in the next few months. If anyone is interested in going to any of these, let me know. I've got extra tickets.

Wednesday, July 11- Mark Ronson and Friends, Highline Ballroom, 8 PM
Thursday, July 19- Eve, Hard Rock Cafe (MTV Taping), 7 PM
Thursday, July 19- TI, Hard Rock Cafe (MTV Taping), 9:30 PM
Friday, July 20- DJ Tiesto and Blue Man Group, Hammerstein Ballroom, 11 PM
Sunday, July 22- Lil Wayne and Friends, Beacon Theatre, 7 PM
Monday, July 23- Ghostface Killah, Highline Ballroom, 11 PM
Tuesday, July 24- The White Stripes, Madison Square Garden, 8 PM
Friday, August 3- Beyonce and Robin Thicke, Continental Arena, 8 PM
Saturday, August 4- Beyonce and Robine Thicke, Madison Square Garden, 8 PM
Monday, August 6- Cold War Kids and Muse, Madison Square Garden, 8 PM
Tuesday, August 7- BB King, Etta James, and Al Green, Theatre at Madison Square Garden, 8 PM
Monday, August 13- Justin Timberlake, Continental Airlines Arena, 8 PM (General Admission Tickets)
Wednesday, August 15- Justin Timberlake, Madison Square Garden, 8 PM
Thursday, August 16- Justin Timberlake, Madison Square Garden, 8 PM
Sunday, Black August Hip Hop Project, Aug. 26, Nokia Theatre
Tuesday, September 11- Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Blender Theatre @ Gramercy
Wednesday, September 12- Amy Winehouse, Rumsey Playfield, 6 PM
Saturday, September 15- Girl Talk and Dan Deacon, Webster Hall, 8 PM
Wednesday, October 3- Bloc Party, WaMu Theatre @ MSG, 8 PM
Friday, October 5- The Roots w/ Big Daddy Kane and MC Lyte @ Nokia Theatre, 8 PM
Wednesday, October 10- Maroon 5 @ MSG, 8 PM

One Year Down

Today marks my one year anniversary for living in New York. I honestly didn't think I'd be here this long, especially with all that I struggled with in terms of finding my apartment and dealing with my job/career.

Oh What A Week!

This past week was one of the most fun times I’ve had in the city. It wasn’t because of some crazy party bender and it wasn’t because I was going to a bunch of huge events; it was because I got a chance to see so many of my friends in one weeks time and just catch up with all of them in a very relaxed way.

Sunday
On Sunday, I had brunch at Essex with one of my frosh, Devin. I haven’t seen Devin since November and I was disappointed that I was not able to make it back to Williams for graduation. However, it was good to see him and get the rundown of his senior year, how the rest of the entry was doing, and his future plans.

One thing that was kind of embarrassing was finding out that some of my freshman didn’t graduate this year. I’m not embarrassed that they didn’t graduate; I’m embarrassed because I sent them all a congratulations e-mail for graduation that basically said: sorry I can’t be there, but congratulations on graduating (I’m assuming you all graduated, right? hehehehe). Oh well, it was an innocent mistake. I do, however, feel a little bad because I think I may have contributed indirectly to my freshman not graduating. During my junior year (their freshman year), I don’t think I set a very good example in terms of completing my schoolwork and going to class. I think, to some small degree, that rubbed off on some of them. But I take solace in knowing that all of that is somewhat balanced out by the fact that my entry also produced their class’ valedictorian! Congrats Priyanka!

Another great thing about brunch was that we ran into Vero and Elena at Essex. That’s the thing I love the most about NYC: running into people you know in the most random places, in such a huge city!

Later that night, I went over to Korey and Margo’s new apartment in Brooklyn for a “family dinner.” I had not been over since they had finished renovating/fixing up the place and I was pleasantly surprised. They did a really nice job turning the place into a warm and inviting home, with nicely painted accent walls, tons of furniture, photos, new track lighting, etc. That atmosphere really helped make the “family dinner” feel like, well, a family dinner. They invited a bunch of people over, mostly Northwestern peoples who I’ve met over the years, and it was a fun time. Margo and Korey cooked a great meal which included cheese platters, fresh guacamole, potato salad, chicken satay, stuffed, vegan-friendly peppers, shrimp and crab cakes, cheesecake and a vegan-friendly chocolate cake. We ended the night by going to their roof which had a great view of downtown Brooklyn and Manhattan, similar to the view from Korey’s old place. The only sad thing about the night was seeing the kittens, Francoise (sp?) and Maxamillion, who were really drugged up and out of it since they had just been neutered earlier in the day.

Monday
Monday night was a throwback to my senior year. Evan and I went over to Dani’s apartment in Harlem to try and revive our old tradition of poker night. (Dave was supposed to come as well, but he pussied out because he was stressed about work; the NY Times so owns him right now.) Dani cooked us dinner which, as usual, was wonderful. Dinner included a refreshing salad, a pasta salad, lemon and zucchini chicken, and strawberry shortcake with homemade whip cream. One of the things I really miss about college is living with Dani. We had a lot of fun times at Susie Hopkins and cooking was a big part of that. Lately, I’ve been able to convince Dani to cook more food which has lead to me freezer being full over wonderful homemade pasta sauces. Now I just need to get her to make me some of her delicious Irish soda bread.

After dinner, we pulled out the cards and played poker. During senior year, we were pretty consistent in getting a poker game going almost every week. We had a great group of people who would come over to play. Sadly, a lot of them are not in NYC so we are working on trying to form a new group. Playing poker with 3 people just doesn’t cut it.

At first, I was killing everyone; Evan even had to buy back in really early. However, my luck soon changed and I was struggling just to stay in the game. Before we knew it, it was already 1 AM. We were all getting pretty tired, but how can you end a poker game without at least bankrupting one person? So on what turned out to be the final hand, I went all-in having two pair, aces and kings; I thought I had it. Dani went all-in with me too. But then Dani flips her cards over…4 aces. What a way to end the night.

Tuesday
Tuesday afternoon, I got a call at work; it was Sean, one of my frosh. Like Devin, the last time I had seen him was back at Homecoming in November. Sean was going to be in the city that night and wanted to grab dinner and drinks. Before dinner, he came by my apartment to get a quick tour (which doesn’t take long since I live in a studio). Then we went to Brother Jimmy’s to grab some beers and BBQ.

I was really happy to see Sean and catch up with him. Sean was definitely one of my favorite frosh and one that I spent a lot of time with, mostly because he lived right across the hall from me and because we were always so terrible at getting our work done and as such, we were always up until 4 AM in the common room together, frantically reading and writing.

The other connection that Sean and I share is that he was my only frosh to become a JA. I think he really enjoyed that experience, just as much as I did, and I’m glad he did it. He’s just such a laid back and likeable guy, and I’m sure his frosh appreciated that.

Wednesday
Wednesday was a brutally hot and humid day in NYC. It was so bad that we even had a power outage that hit Manhattan, Queens, and the Bronx. This shut down some of the subway lines making the running subways that much more packed with sweaty, smelly people. So what do you do on a gross, hot day? Go get a big, hot bowl of Ramen!

So, probably not the best idea in the world, but I had dinner plans to meet up with Crystal and we both really wanted to try Momofuku which is a noodle shop on the Lower East Side. It’s usually pretty packed so we figured that any chance to eat there without waiting in line was worth it. Turns out, most people are smarter than us and decided that hot soup on a day like this was not a good idea. We were able to grab a spot at the counter right away.

Dinner was good, but it was less about the food, and more about catching up with Crystal. I hadn’t seen Crystal in a long time, even though we’ve both lived in NYC for the last year. In the last few months, I’ve ran into her at some parties, but this was a great chance to really talk with her and hear how things were going.

Right now, most of my friends are in a very exciting place. Most of us are 2 or 3 years out of college and have been working. This is the prime time for changing jobs or going back to school. I’m sort of in a similar boat so it’s always nice to talk to other people to get their perspective and to hear how they are planning their careers/lives.

After dinner, I had some time to kill so I went to the Barnes and Nobles in Union Square. The scene was hilarious. I went to the third floor to grab a few magazine to read. The entire floor was packed with people sitting against the walls, reading magazines, and enjoying the free air conditioning. I settled into a nice spot and before I knew it, I had passed out. The heat was just that bad today.

Once I woke up, I booked it downtown to meet Jessica. We were going to see “The Banquet” at IFC for the NY Asian Film Festival. As I was waiting in line to get into the theatre, someone came up to me and yelled my name. I turned around, and for a moment, I had no idea who this person was; then it hit me…it was Cindy Lin! I hadn’t seen Cindy in at least 4 years and then, of all places to run into her.

Cindy has been living in NYC for many years now. I knew that she lived her, but II just never got around to calling her. The funny thing is, I was going to the movie with Jessica, who also knows Cindy. Crazy Minnesota people meeting up in the West Village in NYC. Anyway, it was good to see Cindy and we all have plans to get together for dinner soon and also to get Kathy Chen to join us well. The more Minnesotans, the merrier!

Friday
On Friday night, I met up with Vero, Kerel, Victoria, and some other girls down in the East Village. We grabbed a few drinks at Swift, which was fun, but then Kerel and I split off and headed to the Highline Ballroom for the Pharoahe Monch concert. Opening for Pharoahe were The Cool Kids, Polyrhythm Addicts, and Black Milk.

Expecting the show to not start on time like pretty much every hip hop show I’ve been to, we got to the Highline a little before midnight. Unfortunately, they had already started and I missed The Cool Kids open, which I was pretty bummed about. However, we still got to see everyone else perform. The energy in the room was crazy. Pharoahe Monch is not a mainstream artist which means that if you’re going to pay to see him perform, you really want to see him perform. That’s probably the best part of going to underground/indie concerts.

Pharoahe had a live backing band which really made the difference. A lot of Pharoahe’s beats have a heavy rock influence so having a live band really suits the songs; plus the band was just having a great time with it. Pharoahe is also one of the most energetic performers I’ve seen and he quickly passes that on to the crowd. One highlight of the night was Styles P walking on stage to do his guest verse for “My Life.”

After the concert, it was close to 3 AM already, but Kerel and I still had to make it to late night so we hopped a cab downtown to Automatic Slims to meet up with Vero and everyone else. I love Automatic Slims. It’s a small bar with not a lot else around it, but it’s always good time with drinking and dancing. We stayed there for another hour or so, but then everyone started getting tired and we decided to call it a night….a very fun night.

Family Dinner

The last two nights, I've been lucky enough to enjoy some home-cooked meals. On Sunday, I went over to Korey and Margo's new place in Brooklyn for a "family dinner." I think Bifen referred to me as "Cousin Eric." True, I do hang out with Korey and Margo a lot. I guess I consider them my New York family.

Margo and Korey cooked an amazing meal which included a cheese platter, a great salad, potato salad, chicken satay, crab and shrimp cakes, stuffed peppers, cheesecake w/ freshly picked strawberries from Long Island, and a vegan chocolate cake which was surprisingly delicious. It was a really "homey" meal as it was the first time I had seen Margo and Korey's finished place and they really have done a great job at transforming their new place. The last time I was there I was helping them put up sheet rock.

Last night, I went over to Dani's apartment in Harlem for dinner and poker. It was just Dani, Evan, and me, but it was a lot of fun; it definitely reminded me of the fun times we had living together in Susie Hopkins back at Williams. I think it's been almost 2 years since the three of us had played poker together.

Dani, being the consummate hostess, made a refreshing green salad and a pasta salad. She also baked lemon chicken breasts and home-grown zucchini. To top it off, she also made strawberry short cake with fresh whip cream. Tasty!

Poker was great; I really miss our old poker nights in Susie H. At first, I was on a hot streak, but the tables soon turned and I ended the night all out of cash, losing in an all-in bet with Dani. I had kings over aces full house but was destroyed by Dani's 4 aces!

My Liver Needs A Vacation

I'm hungover right now, in a bad way. I'm hungover from drinking two days ago. I felt pretty shitty yesterday, but I made it through work and overall, I had experienced worse hangovers in college. But this morning, I woke up and my stomach was still in knots. My head is still throbbing, all from a "work dinner" on Wednesday.

As part of our marketing efforts, my office takes out teams from various insurance brokers that we work with. I've attended a couple of these events in the past, and for the most part, they are pretty tame. Obviously the level of drinking depends on the group. However, about a year ago, there was an infamous "work dinner" (I did not attend). The result was numerous rounds of tequila shots, the senior guys in my office getting yelled at by their wives, and lots of hungover people the next day. Since then, I think some of the people in my office have been trying to recreate the event. As a result, Wednesday night's dinner was at a tequila bar/restaurant.

Things started out at a slow pace. Everyone ordered a round. One of my senior marketers, whose notorious for only drinking tequila, got me to start of by just drinking tequila, neat, with a splash of lime. This continued for a few rounds. Then he suggested shots. That was fine. Everyone did the first round. Then a second round of shots and another round of drinks was ordered. Now before going forward, I need to also let you know the drinking preferences of my boss, who I happened to be sitting right next to. He's a wine drinker and rarely drinks anything else. Tonight, because we were out with clients at a tequila bar, he acquiesced and had a round of shots and tequila drinks. However, every time people ordered another round, they ordered him a tequila drink, which he "kindly gave" to me and had me drink for him. So basically, for every one drink everyone else had, I had two. I was also drinking primarily shots or tequila, neat, with a splash of lime.

After a couple hours, everyone was pretty lit up and some people, including my boss, had to catch trains back to CT. As has always been the case, there is the expectation that the young guys in the office will take the other young guys out to continue drinking. To not do that would be kind of rude, especially when you are with clients. So we gathered our things and headed to a great rooftop bar nearby. Just as we were leaving the tequila bar, I ran into Molly Shannon from SNL and kindly, but drunkenly, introduced myself to her and complimented her on her work on SNL. Moron!

We started the night off early, like around 5:30. At this point, it was only a little after 8. To my best estimate, I had already had about 10 tequila drinks/shots, but I was doing alright. However, when we got to the next bar, one of the clients wanted to do Jag bombs. He had not drank a lot at the previous place and not being much of a tequila drinker himself, had drank mostly beer. Unfortunately, no one was quick to take him up on his offer for Jag bombs. Again, to leave him hanging like that would be kind of rude, as he is the client, so I said okay. I think that's where the night started to go downhill for me.

The rest of the night is very vague. I remember many more rounds of mostly Red Bull vodkas. I remember calling Evan up and having him meet us at the bar to drink on the company tab. I remember calling Dani once, though she says I called her like 15 times. I remember briefly talking to my dad on the phone. I remember some guy at the bar getting in my face, putting his hands on me and us almost getting into a fight (though Evan was able to separate us). I remember one of my co-workers standing at the bar and then 10 seconds later, seeing him fall in slow motion to the ground. Said co-worker decided it was time for him to leave, but "graciously" left me his corporate AmEx so I could continue to run up the alcohol bill. Probably not the best decision he's ever made. I remember going to Le' Express, a nice drunk hungry place where I usually end up at when I drink with Evan. And then I remember eventually getting home to bed.

Two days later and I'm still hurting.

One thing, however, kind of makes me laugh. Said co-worker who fell at the bar and gave me his AmEx...I saw him the next morning and he looked like shit. He basically blacked out and barely remembered the previous night. However, he does remember getting into a black cab to go home and not having cash on him to pay. He also, at some point, thought he was in Tribeca (we were nowhere near Tribeca all night). Turns out, what he thought was Tribeca was actually The Met. Somehow he ended up there and was wandering around drunkenly at night. How he actually got back to his apartment is still a mystery.

We have 3 more of these things planned for the next month. Until the next one, I think the liver needs some room to breath.

Earth Intruders

Last night I went to see Bjork perform at Radio City Music Hall. Wow...the show was incredible; arguably one of the best concerts I've been to. I think the best part of the show was the variety of people who showed up. It was a spectrum of people, attesting to Bjork's cross appeal. I'm also not sure if I've ever been to concert where fans went as crazy; I guess I was just surprised by some people's "enthusiasm" given that when I think of Bjork, I think of more ambient, chiller music. But yeah, some of the girls next to us were rockin' the fuck out!


I'd write more, but I really wouldn't do it much justice. Sean Fennessey has a decent write up about the show.

(photos courtesy of some wonderful people on Flickr)

Ben Gibbard Concert

Anybody want to go see Ben Gibbard (Death Cab For Cutie, The Postal Service) live in concert on Tuesday? I really want to go to this concert but don't want to go alone. If you want to go, let me know ASAP!!!

Urban Appreciation

A quote in a recent NY Times article hit home for me in regards to my relationship with NYC:

“If you live within London I think you can forget to appreciate what’s offered in the city,” said Ms. Gilmore, who graduated in 2003 with a degree in corporate communications from Richmond, the American International University in London. “But if you have to commute, you are still in awe of what the city has to offer. You have to make more of an effort to go into the city and to do things like go to a museum.”

Big City, Small City

I often get overwhelmed by the size of the city, but every now and then, there are moments that make the city seem so small. In the last week, I've run into people that I know in some of the most random places. Last weekend while I was hanging out on the Great Lawn in Central Park, I was throwing a frisbee around with friends and we accidentally threw it at a guy and it hits his back. Turns out, it was Alex, a high school buddy of one of my good friends from Williams. Who would have thought that we would run into each other in the city, let alone the mass that is the Great Lawn? And then, just on Friday, I was walking near Bryant Park and I hear my name being called. I turn around, and who should it be but Alex, again. (actually, I guess I run into Alex a lot in the city)

To top it off, on Saturday night I was down in the East Village, walking around with Lillian. We were about to call it a night, but walked by a small cafe and decided to get a drink outside. As we went inside to pay our bill, Lillian noticed someone and it turns out we ran into 3 people from Williams that we know. Small fuckin' world.