Helping move again...

Sunday I woke up @ Gav's again, but this time on the floor of his room because his roommate's bro patrolled the couch that night. I actually got better sleep on the floor (for some reason I'm very comfortable on the floor w/a pillow).

I decided to follow him around for a couple hours as he ran some errands and move some things. We went to several shops and I think some chick kinda hit on me in Lenscrafters but for once I got to do the shooting down. We ran into the Gay Parade which was annoying because we had to wait to cross 6th ave. I planned to go to Daigo's to watch some of the soccer game, before going home to NJ to conduct a 3rd lesson w/customer 2.

Unfortunately when I got around to it, I left around 3 from Best Buy and it would be a long walk. I just decided to go home so I wouldn't risk any timing issues. I got home around 4 and called up my lesson around 4:15. She told me she had to do work; I had no messages nor phone calls, so I was kind of upset about this, but didn't show it. I dashed home when I could've chilled in NYC for a couple extra hours in the nice weather.

I decided to go outside to shoot some hoops before deciding to drive to St. Joes to check if there were any pickup games. There was a lax tournament that just ended there, so I drove to the Menlo Park Park behind the mall and to my delight there were games. I immediately got next and unfortuantely lost after being up 11-10 to 12 straight. I had a nice lefty jump hook as my team actually spread the ball and looked down low. I had a shorter but tough guy who was tough to post up; I tried a fake left and right hook and got blocked once. I did get a couple rebounds and played good D.

We had to wait over an hour for 2nd next which we ended up winning. I played pretty badly in the game, but people weren't lookin for me down low, and I blew one alley oop where I didn't realize how close i was to the basket and passed it out of bounds back to the passer. I also blew a reverse lay up in transition that I usually miss. Daigo correctly says I don't explode up to the basket, rather explode laterally which makes it more difficult. I did however get a couple loose balls and set some nice screens. We won that game fairly easily.

During the time there I met a kid Paul who is a rising sophomore at Liberty which is a school in VA that he plays bball for (division 1). I later realized Seth Curry (Stephen's bro) goes there which is sick! Paul looked like a good player when he walked on the court and he just had sick game. The dribbling was sick. I actually d'd him up at one point and put my hand into his chest to see where he was going without looking at him and it was a freaking ROCK. I just tried mine and it felt like a loaf of bread.

I eventually left after our game, showered and popped the blood blister that accumulated on the ball of my right foot. Terrible news for the physical inventory I'm doing on Tuesday in RI.

Martin ahad told me to hit some golf balls w/him around 7, but I had to charge my phone and unfortunately bball ran over time, so I got back at 8 and he was just finishing up.

I decided to go to A&P to try to find some women or at least buy some things to eat. I ended up getting no numbers as the only talent were teeny boppers (it seemed). I got 5-6 boxes of cheez itz which were 50% off, chocolate milk and 3 fruit punches that were only $1!!!

I then tried to go to BoA to deposit a check; with their new atm check system, you can just scan checks in. Unfortunately they don't leave pens out so you can sign your check, so I couldn't deposit yet... meatloaf.

Since then I've just been chilling, watchin tv and updating this blog to get current. I think these last 2 posts are out of order as I haven't updated for Friday yet. THat will come in a bit.

Gettin my drink on.

Saturday I woke up after only about 5 hours of sleep and felt extremely awkward as Gav's roommate was around. I'm not sure why, but I just get a sense he may be annoyed I'm around? I therefore must find other ways to survive if I'm to stay in NYC on weekends, because I just feel real awkward.

In the morning I spoke with Nancy for a while before goin over to Daigo's to get some breakfast before ball. I walked down to St. Marks and 3rd and we went to some Japanese place, Zaiya, I think. I just got 2 croissants that were very very very good and OJ to destroy any germs I got from sleeping on a couch the night before.

After a while, we discussed ball and for some reason Daigo didn't feel up to it?!?!? I was pissed!! I decided at 10:45 I wouldn't go get my stuff cuz it may rain and it'd take 2 hours to get all the way back from JC w/my stuff and it was a risk. After 5 min I realized this was horsepoop, and ran out the door saying I was gonna play no matter what cuz i freaking love ballin. It took me 20 min to get on the bus and for it to start moving. I got to my car about 50 min after I left and as I walked up South st. I saw some open spots that would save me a walk back down South, so I got to my car and parked near in what I thought was an open spot; there was a curb, but it looked like big truck tire marks on the dirt inside the curb and there was a lot of construction there; there was no "No Parking" sign, so I asked some dude walkin around who had just came out of a nearby apartment who said he sees trucks goin in and out all the time; I decided not to risk it, made the turn back around on Bleeker and to my enjoyment, the 3rd spot there was open!!!!! I literally had a 7 second walk to the bus stop!

I quickly changed in my car and brought my bag with me. I ended up getting on the NQR and MISSING MY STOP AT UNION SQUARE.... I was madd tired and tryin to check out this really cute younger looking latina w/a curvy body. Luckily, the tunnels for uptown and downtown connected and I got on the next train back w/o paying, but waiting around 5 min. I noticed I missed U Square around 12:47 and I got back around 1. I ran over to the crosstown eastbound L and got out of the station around 1:05. I called Daigo up and he hadn't left yet once I got to the court. We had 2nd next, so we had plenty of time for him to walk from his apartment over.

After strapping on my new LeBron V's (they were MADD COMFORTABLE, NO BLISTERS!!!) we had a team of Daigo, myself, Verne (old black dude), and 2 others I dont' remember (one was very aggressive, and took it to the rim a lot which was good), but we lost a close game because the other team had this white dude in green who basically controlled the guy who basically wanted to D him up. He hit turn around jumpers in the paint, 3s and everything. Everyone else just sat around and shot 3s. I shut my guy in red down, but he didn't really do much; I'd like to think that was attributable to my D. I played pretty well, had a real nice dish to a cutting daigo in the paint that he didn't finish. I scored twice maybe and grabbed a couple boards.

We had to wait for 2nd next again and it was taking a while, so I went to the other court. I met Ian and got next w/him and Randy. We waited w/Verne for the 2nd next on court 1, but when it never came we got on w/Ian on court 2. We almost said no, but Daigo said the all important words, "We probably win on that court and play again." Playing again is KEY!!!! So we got on court, met our other teammate shawn and started running against a good looking team w/a big dude that is pretty good. We won the game fairly easily. Ian played like Toni kukoc. I passed it to him cutting in the post and I think he flipped it behind his back to Daigo who trailed him into the paint and daigo actually finished!!! I think we all played well.

The next game was against 5 short dudes that could all pretty much shoot. We ended playing decently, but the guys shot 5 2s to get up 10-6. Games were to 12, so it took them maybe 8 trips more to finish us. We played great D, but couldn't score!!! I actually got the ball once that time, kept the ball up and finished for the first time in my career I made that simple fundamental play.

We left to get some water cuz we were DYING and Daigo made a great choice; SUBWAY. Subway has cheap food and POWERADE ON TAP. We went in, but I noticed a big "REFILLS $1 sign," sO we started to leave. The guy asked us what was up and I said, "The refill sign son." He told us nah, he'd waive it, so we stayed and I thanked him profusely. I Straight GOT MY DRINK ON before, during and after my order. I didn't even eat any of my black forest ham/turkey sub at Subway. We eventually walked back to his friend's bro's place where he was staying for the weekend to dog sit for them as they were out of town.

Jumbalina was a FREAKING HUGE coffee brown Labrador retriever I guess and was very nice and looking for attention every chance she could get. Not aggressive at all, but very much hovering into your personal space at all times. We took her out for a walk to the dog park and I met Daigo's current roommate Raechy... sounds indian right? I thought so too, until I met her and she's CHINESE. I was confused, but when I found out her name was spelled Raechy, I figured maybe her parents thought it was a short cuter version of Rachel (or Raechel, I see you Rae Rae).

Me and Raechy basically hit it off and were shootin the breeze in the dog park while daigo was tryin to prevent Jum from jumping all over this one chick there. We saw 2 dogs including Jum get humped which was HILARIOUS. Many different breeds of dogs: terriers (boston), bulldogs, hot dogs, a big brown st. bernard, pugs, puggles, and others I don't remember and don't know the names of. One copped a long ass massage from me; he just chilled for a while before his head got sore and left (No he didn't tip me).

We eventually walked back and I was able to shower (rain shower meaning the water falls from on top of you which is nice, but a bit unnecessary; still nasty). Then finished my sandwich and watched some of the mets/yanks game before dozing off to sleep for an hour.

When I awoke it was time to eat and then go out. Unfortunately my phone was in dying mode due to all the tweets I sent out during the worst concert ever. I only knew Gav was thinkin about meeting up w/a friend of his and Neha was goin to Ava Lounge at 10:30, but it was too far from the lower east side and I didn't have time to iron my shirt!

Daigo and I settled on checking out Katz's deli (home of a huge corned beef or pastrami sandwich). I didn't feel like blowing up his bathroom, so we settled on authentic mexican. We got a guac appetizer and I got a house special chicken enchilada w/Moze(??) sauce that was very smoky and good. It was a great meal overall and I left happy.

Unfortunately, Daigo was gonna tap out since we had balled in the sun so long and he didn't know of anything going on (no one goes out anymore???), so I went over to Gav's place. During my walk over he was to pick me up in a cab, but my phone died mid convo, so i walked on the west side of 3rd and somehow he found me!!!

We just chilled at his place, and watched the 2nd half of karate kid as he cleaned up his things (still unpacking). Eventually no one wanted to go out (including me as it was already around 1), and we went to bed.

Worst Concert Ever

Friday after work I was deciding what I should do; drive into the city vs. park in JC. The problem was that there was impending rain and I had to get to the concert by 8:30PM. As I was going up the parkway, the rain fell, and it fell HARD. Traffic was moving at maybe 25 mph for at least 10 min and finally broke up past one of the exits (don't remember which one). I started speeding up to exit 140 (rt. 22), but was hydroplaning at times, so I slowed down a bit to around 55. Eventually got to JC and it stopped raining!!! I decided to take the bus and grabbed a gyro before I got on since I was FREAKING HUNGRy. I got the gyro because I saw a sign that said, "$4 for a gyro). I also got a $1 water and the guy said it came out to $5.5. I was confused because w/tax it'd only be $5.35 right??? So I asked him and he said oh yeah, we didn't have change when we gave you your money. Except that that's bs, cuz why would you hose the customer... He only gave me $0.10 back even though he owed me $0.15, but who's counting.

Unfortunately, the gate 51 bus just passed and i had to wait another 15 min to get on the next one. I also couldn't bring a bag in w/stuff for basketball on Sat because there was no one and no way for me to stash it somewhere. I had no time before the concert!!! So I planned to sleep somewhere (prob gav's) and take gate 51 to and from JC on Sat to play ball. I arrived in NYC at around 8:40 and walked up to 56/11 where Terminal 5 was. On the way, there were a lot of people gazing up at the sky for some reason and taking pictures. I looked up and realized the clouds looked like they were painted by a brush; it was breathtaking to see such beauty in nature. I took a few pictures and tweeted them; I've attached one of them here.

I finally got to T5 and waited maybe 7-10 min for the Justin and Dano to get there from their first free concert that got delayed. We got in line w/3 trashed up chicks that wanted us to take their picture, but their camera was broken. After about 5 min we got in and gazed at the big sneaker collection on the wall. THere were Rip Hamilton's Jordans which said Rip City on them (such a sick name!!). There were 3 floors of goodies, so we went up and down (coudln't get on the roof because we were VIP). We settled on a 2nd balcony on some chairs and awaited the 1st act to get the hell off the stage cuz they were TRRRRRRBLE Kenny!

When they finally left, we felt much closer to the big 3 (Clipse, Big Boi and Jadakiss), we really were not. An hour later after the DJ had been in full self promo mode and did a full 20 min of MJ tributes (Look I love MJ as much as everyone else, but it was clearly used for stalling purposes). The crowd was growing restless, so they brought out Wale! Except that I don't know who that is. He played some songs and did one where he said, "Unlike Shockey I remain a Giant," which is a pretty sick line.

I wasn't pleased w/him, but at least him and the DJ were throwing shoes out to the crowd which was interesting and nice. After another 30 min or so, "The Cool Kids" came out and really lit the crowd on fire in a poor way. We were still waiting.

Eventually a very old looking Jadakiss comes out and rocks a couple of his greatest songs like D Block, Walaaaaa and such. He did pretty well and got people pretty fired up! After he left, maybe 25% of the crowd followed him out. After him came Big Boi who was very impressive and wearing all sorts of Ice. At around 1:30 (15 min into his set) Clipse appears on the stage near the group of guys that have been there all night. Big Boi then says around 1:45 in between songs, "Clipse is here, but I'm gonna do one more song then let them do they thang." So we were excited.

Pusha T and Malice come out and start rocking Grindin!!!!! EVERYONE there was pumped up. They followed with "Keys Open Doors" which was not great then a new song from their new album coming in September.

They started saying we are the best hip hop duo ever and the DJ stopped the music and repeated it and told us to pay our dues... then he said Good night everyone!??!?!??!?!?! WHAT?!!?!??!?!?! We were so pissed!!!! They just left. That was really the worst concert ever. All night long I had been texting back and forth with people trying to find things to do, but failing. We decided to try to meet Neha at Hudson Terrace on 46/11 since it was only 10 blocks down. I was dying for some food, but unfortunately other than the packed cart on 56, the next cart was on 46.

We got there and grabbed a hot dog each; the vendor said they're 2 bucks each, so I got $4 out and the guy said $6. I said huh??? Didn't you say these were $2 each? "Yeah" "So then 2+2 is 4 right??" Then he finally obliged hahahaha.

We ate quickly while strolling over half a block to Hudson Terrace; unfortunately, the bouncer said they were closed to anyone tryin to get in, so we turned around and walked to the bar across 11th ave. As I texted Neha we weren't gonna be around, we realized the bar was a sausage fest.

We left and as we were outside I spotted a blonde in a fedora and a brunette walking towards the corner; I paused on purpose, they passed and I said, "I like your hat!" The blonde turned, smiled and said, "I like those (my jade necklace)" Her friend said she liked them too. We immediately started kicking game to all of them and I was doing well w/the blonde. We found out they were russian (the other was 19). My girl siad she was workin at a Hookah bar in Brooklyn near where she lives. They just loved to walk around NYC since they were only going to be here until September. They said they wanted to go to Times Square, so I lead and we walked w/them. Unfortunately I led them the wrong way (not on purpose) and it took a while to walk since it was like 4 avenues and 6 streets away. They asked us if we had any weed cuz they wanted to smoke and unfortunately none of us had any. Immediately after that the mood changed and they didn't want to be around anymore. They ducked into a deli while we waited for them, then they just sat down on the side of the street pretending to be tired, so we just bounced. It was tough keeping convo up with them; not too reciprocating (not that they were being bitches, just didn't seem to know how to keep convo up... but they were russian so maybe language barrier).

Eventually I went over to Gav's and passed out.

Plowing Through the Week

My whole week was pretty much trying to wrap up things I didn't complete last week. I think I've been doing a pretty solid job at work and the loose ends were slowly being tied. I did get positive feedback on my work lately which is definitely a plus and makes me feel a lot better in life. I'm never one to brag or even talk about work, but it really makes me feel an overall goodness in life when I'm doing well at work. I realized no matter what my lady situation is like, as long as I progress and keep showing progress in my flirt game, if I do well at work I'll always be happy.

I don't think I did much Monday night. Tuesday was the 2nd try at a 2nd lesson w/my 2nd customer; unfortuantely it was not to be as the rain fell (picture posted on twitter). Wednesday we went to our parents' house and had dinner. I got a call from long time friend Archana; we hadn't spoken in at least a year or so. She is what kept me going freshman year. I was a shy young boy as an 18 yr old and spoke to Archana almost everyday by phone. We talked for hours sometime about how school was and it really kept me sane at GW. Those days I didn't go out at all (had no money and was extremely cheap). All I did was waste my time studying unoptimally and really didn't enjoy myself that much. Sophomore year I kind of got the hang of things and opened up a little more. It really wasn't until TCNJ when I met Marc, started hanging w/Martin and Shawn where I really blossomed as a flirt (not really). I didn't really become that much of a flirt until 25.

Well we just caught up; I told her the key points of my relationship with V. She told me about her recent relationship and past ones. It was really good because Archana is really one of my top 5 friends I think. My top 5 really should be top 10. I basically have several tiers of friends and am really fortunate to have so many ones I consider close... I got my group of Boys and my group of people in general that keep me sane and I just enjoy talking to and keeping track of. If only everyone had a blog and twitter... just saying.

Today I had my 3rd lesson and my customer really has improved her forehand after 2 lessons. We worked on the backhand and that looks like a pretty frustrating stroke. I'm hoping we can get it goin and she can be consistent from both sides. The cross court forehand is lookin NICE! I've moved up from my first introductory rate to my smooth regular rate which is nice too!!!!

Before I had the lesson, my sister and I went out to Baja Fresh to get some lunch/dinner (linner?). We actually stopped short as we saw a vietnamese place on the way we've never been to before. We parked in front of a bagel shop, planning to walk over to order vietnamese, then go back to the bagel place to get a dozen bagels depending on the deal (it was around 4:30 near closing time). We looked at the viet menu for a while during which the old lady who didn't know english well I'm guessing called someone and a fairly cute no bodied vietnamese girl came in and planned to take our order. She handled english very well and I felt a little vibe from her although w/my sister being around I wasn't sure what she was thinking about what our relationship was (was she my gf???).

She told us we could sit and wait, but we went to the bagel shop and found the owner to be very polite and friendly. He offered 50% off anything I wanted as far as bagels, so I got a baker's dozen for around 5.50. I got my favorite, cinnamon raisin, plain, sesame, poppy, tried a rye, sister got 2 everythings and owner threw in an extra blueberry to try. My sister picked a chicken panini and I devoured a cin/rais bagel while we waited. The owner tried to get me to purchase some spread but i declined. He let me try a homemade walnut/cin raisin spread which was decent, but I don't even need spread on my bagels sadly. I just freaking love bread!!!!

We got the panini and walked over to the vietnamese place. I was determined and already told my sister I was going to go for the number. We walked in and the girl said it was done. "Already??" I remarked. "Yeah". So she went to put some napkins and spoons/chopsticks in the bag. As she filled it I asked, "Can I take you out sometime?" "Yes, where are we going" she said w/a smile. Wow that was easy I thought. "We can grab coffee or tea, and maybe some mini golf." She said, "That sounds good, but I work a lot" "Is that a rejection?" "Yeah, indirectly, plus she wouldn't like it" "Uhh ok, but she wouldn't care, that's my sister" We turned and left. After we walked out, my sister said it was pretty good and the only reason I got rejected was she thought I was tryin to deal in front of my gf.

I don't really understand this; do guys really hit on girls in front of their gf's?!?!?!?! How ?!?!?!?!?!?! That's just trrrrrrrble Kenny. I think if I go back and ask her again, I prob can get the #. We'll see though.

The draft was tonight; pretty exciting stuff. rubio looks decent, Harden looks NASTY!!!!!

Papa's Day

I woke up very early (1030AM) in Gav's apt and had to help him move stuff from 2 different apartments for the next 5 hours. We stopped in the middle and grabbed bagel sandwiches and vitamin water (the new cherry flavor is bangin). We were to have a family dinner around 6 at The Manor in West Orange and we had to finish around 4:30. During the day I contacted my sister to have her find my burberry suit, a collared shirt, a tie and my belt.

At 4:30 we were done, and I took a quick shower. I sped off and got to The Manor on time if I had my clothes w/me but took about 7 minutes to change into a striped blue shirt w/my light blue interview tie (terrible choice Amy) and slipped on my black Burb.

After getting it all together we walked in and waited a bit to be seated. The buffet was DELICIOUS!!! We started off with appetizers including smoked salmon, salad, delicious bread, fresh mozzerella (not great), fried shrimp (AMAZING) and other things I forget. The main course included penne pasta w/vodka sauce, chicken parm (not great), italian sausage w/peppers (not great), amazing carved turkey, not great lamb, pretty good seafood in cream sauce and other things i forget. Desert was pretty good as well; there was apple crumb that was decent, a chocolate mousse cake that was ok, tarts that tasted good and an ice cream cake (more things I forget). There was a really cute black chick I coudln't hit on there in front of madd people and a waitress that was VERY young but very cute.

We eventually went outside to take pics in their beautiful courtyard. I went home and just relaxed, unwound and eventually took it down.

My First Pancake; Served by Orlando Pace

After I left the JFK Ramada, I cruised over to Gav's new place and helped him move some stuff as he was getting situated. I noticed his new place 23/1 is very very close to Stuy town which means I'll be playing more basketball again (Daigo moved out of there). Afterwards, I ended up goin out around 12:30 w/Daigo and my other boys. We met at Aces and 8s on 2nd and C. I walked to the back of the place where I found were 5 long beer pong tables and a lot of freaking asians.

My 2 boys were massacr-ing a team and by the end, I teamed w/daigo in hopes of defeating them. I offered to buy the beer, so I went over and got instantly rejected by the only bartender to put in an order. I spied another girl behind the counter w/nice cleavage and asked if I could order w/her. She smirked and said no cuz she was upstairs... whatever that meant. I was by some cute asian chicks and decided not to holler. I waited at least 5 good minutes and saw Todd on the other side so I went over to him. We discussed how slow the service was and eventually the bartender got my $14 pitcher and apologized for the wait which definitely was appreciated.

I returned to the back and we got our game on. I sank 7 cups while Daigo could only muster 1. During the game the guys who weren't with us said they had next, but then a group of a really cute small asian (think MI3 half asian girl) a fatter asian girl (we'll refer to her as Orlando Pace, standout offensive lineman for the St. Louis Rams for the last 10 yr or so) and a short asian dude came behind us. MI3 asked who had next and we explained the dudes did, but then they explained the table was reserved (it had a reserve tag on it) and only our crew could play... which seemed fair and just, so the girls talked their way (rightfully) into NEXT.

We were down about 4 to 3 cups and kept missing shots. I turned and asked MI3 for some advice because I "Couldnt' hit a thing". She told me to just get my lean on... she spoke in slightly ghetto fashion which to me is an obvious turn on. Everytime I shot I forgot to lean and made it a big deal, yelling NO LEAN! It was my attempt at conversation...

Everyone knows the best way to pick up chicks during beer pong is to play against them and TRASH TALK THEM. When we lost I was pretty upset as I just forfeited my opportunity, but luckily my other friend stepped out to call someone and I played in his place. I sank 4 shots immediately. MI3 sank her first, but the team was literally TERRIBLE; they sank no shots after that. My boy came back, so I took a seat behind MI3 and told her the B team was in; we couldn't stand embarassing them w/starters.

The trash talking continued and after another couple turns, Orlando Pace turned around and asked me for any pointers. I said, "Honestly it's all natural skill, so there's nothing I can give you." SHe frowned and pressed for more, so I offered, "Well you just have to have that stroke," and demonstrated the pretty shot and follow through. "Well I'm not really good at stroking," she replied. "Well we really have nothing to talk about then."

About 5 turns later I looked over and saw they had still only hit one cup. I asked MI3 "Do you guys need some help???" She pretended to be upset and said no! I responded with, "Oh you must be playing the other way where you hit cups and put them on the table??" She slowly just shook her head; I laughed and apologized for being confused.

Later when they lost, she handed me the last beer from their side. Then proceeded to tell me sinec I was on the other team, it was my responsibilty to drink the beers the girls did NOT hit wihch were MANY. "What school did you go to, because those are some weird ass rules," I asked her. "Community College" From that point on I figured it'd be best not to continue w/that topic. She ran over to my boy, explained the circumstances and brought the 4 beers over.

Later I continued to trash talk her and eventually the following came up, "You know what? I"m going to do you a favor tonight... I'm about to play with my boy right here and I'm gonna let you take notes. I usually charge for tennis lessons and beer pong lessons, but today I'm gonna hook you up." All of a sudden she turned her interest and started trashing me about tennis. "Don't even mention tennis cuz I'll whoop your ass any day of the week," she said.

We discussed tennis further and in the meantime I had taken my phone, threatening her I'd put her # in and it'd be ON. When I got around to formally asking her for it, it had been 15 min at least since we started chatting one on one. Orlando Pace and the dude were maybe 5 ft away and must've heard the question. Like uma thurman in "My Super Ex-Girlfriend" she dashed across the room, grabbed MI3 and tried to leave w/the other dude. I tried to grab MI3 and failed; as I did so I said, just give me your # so we can play. She started 973- and i lost the rest in translation.

I looked up and all my friends just said GO AFTER HER... I got up and dashed to the front, put my arm around the dude and said, "I can't let you do this to me." "I'm not doing anything dude," he replied. I looked at MI3 and asked her to give me the # so we could play, and wouldn't you know it, Orlando Pace decided she would speak on behalf of MI3. "We're not gonna leave, we'll be back, don't worry, you can get it later." I know what the deal is here; I looked at MI3; she really wanted to give it to me; she had that drunken smile every girl gets when she wants that piece of meat in front of her. Unfortuntely Orlando wasn't budging and I just said, i Don't want it, don't worry about it and returned to the back.

For the next 20 min everyone discussed how "in the bag" she was and how it was ridiculous how badly I had just been cockblocked, "Pancake cockblocked". WHen we were about to leave, I checked upstairs just to see if they were around and of course they were not. I walked home w/Ken Fung and went to bed an unhappy man....

Air China Alights

Saturday morning I woke to rain; customer 2 called me and we officially cancelled the lesson. "THANK GOD" I said to myself and went back to sleep until around 12:30 when I finally got myself to jump out of bed because I had to holler at AC. It would be a long drive and after I called, I told her I'd probably be there around 4 (I planned on leaving around 2). I went to fill up Accord, then skipped breakfast (which would've been a buffalo chicken sandwich courtesy of Quick Chek) and sped up the turnpike and for the first time, crossed the Verrazano from Staten Island.

What a freaking TERRIBLE ROAD. I was on bumper to bumper for maybe 8 exits and it finally cleared up a bit. The fortunate thing was it looked like I"d get there around 3, so I called to explain that. She told me that meant she'd have to get out of bed haha. I ended up getting there around 3:20 and to my dismay, she came down w/a friend. Nevertheless we set off on the drive down 687 towards manhattan. This road was packed as well and it was a very frustrating weekend in regards to driving. I had already driven 2.5-3 hours home and now I'd already had 1.5 hours getting to JFK. It took maybe 45 min to get into Flushing; I felt they'd be more comfortable there w/the chinese writing all over the place and the people all being chinese.

We parked in the lot in the middle of town outside and walked over to Nan Bei He (South North Lake directly translated). On the way over the ladies looked pretty cold; they had only packed summer clothing and didn't expect the chilly weather in June. Beijing temperature had reached the 30's (celsius) which is around 90-105 depending on where in the 30s. We decided to stop at a bubble tea place my ex had turned me on our last trip to Flushing together. They have the best tapioca balls (opened myself up I know). They elected for some sort of tea I didn't understand while I got old faithful milk tea w/tapioca. Oddly, they didn't even ask and paid for all of our drinks. I made the motion to let them know I realized they paid and they said it was ok. I really appreciated that because it at least showed I wasn't gettin played (I think).

We walked over to NBH and I sat across from the two ladies (always on the outside chair with or without someone on my side) at a small 4 person table on the left side. I told them this place is the home of the Taiwanese best beef rolls (beef rolled up w/scallions and sweet brown sauce inside a chinese scallion pancake). They noticed a part of the menu that looked like authentic Beijing lunch items, so I told them to order somethign they wanted from there so I could taste something they eat often. They went with a eggplant dish with brown sauce and bits of ground beef and basil. "This tastes NOTHING like what we eat," AC explained; her friend tried and said the same exact thing, but both of them agreed it was still tasty. They tried the beef rolls and LOVED THEM!!! I told you. Daigo has tried them and loved them as well.

Once we finished, we left and headed to Manhattan. Unfortunately on the way I missed the last exit before the bridge into Manhattan at the end of Grand Central Parkway... so I had to pay the $5 to get into the city, even though I was planning to park in Long Island City and take the subway in. I even could've gotten off and gone up the queensboro bridge and paid NOTHING. Horrible oversight (i'm cheap yes). So we cruised down the FDR and parked around the 50s to check out the local scenery. There really isn't anything to see in Manhattan other than NOTHING. Can someone tell me what to show people who come to NYC??? We walked for 5 min and hid under the awning of an apartment. I spoke to Gav on the phone to see if I could bring them around his place or what he thought I could show them, but literally no ideas popped out; plus it was raining pretty hard, so we just stood around and spoke. We decided to just go back since the weather was so bad, so we walked to the car. I did decide to take the opportunity to get pics of me and these ladies, so I suggested we went to the little park area to take pics w/Queens in the background.

I got a couple pics and we went back. The traffic was still terrible. I ended up staying w/them from 7 to around 10PM. My excuse was that the traffic goin back to Manhattan looked terrible, and in truth, I was pretty tired. Luckily they allowed me in their room where we chilled for a while. I unfortunately learned AC smokes, but she did smoke some sexy sexy cigarettes; they were very long and slim... I don't know much about stoges, but those were incredibly sexy. We ended up just talking (all in chinese) and I obliged when she wanted me to read their flight attendant announcements in English as they'd never heard a native speaker recite them. I told them the grammar was wrong in some and they said they both tthought so. I also learned all the flight attendants handed their passports to those 2, so we looked through them (I felt odd doing this), but it was cool seeing Chinese passports.

Eventually around 10 I decided I had to go meet up w/Gav and AC immediately said I'll walk you down. Her friend followed and in the elevator we saw the 2 attendants that went to the empire state building decked out in I HEART NYC shirts. Her friend and them started talking and we just went out the door ourselves to the parking lot. I started feeling like there was some sort of vibe here, but I was too terrified of breaking any conservative rules she may had since she's Chinese. I told her I'd drive her back to the front door (only like 60 ft away). We got in and I adjusted my GPS to find manhattan. She was kind of acting a tiny bit like she wanted to do something, but I didn't capitalize on it because again, I Feel chinese people are generally conservative, so I didn't want to try anything.

I backed up and drove to the front; as I drove I explained how people in the US like to hug and sometimes kiss when they say bye and she kinda did that ooooo, noooo lean back when I mentioned, so I quickly mentioned that I wasn't used to it since I've been back. We said our good byes when I stopped at the door, but she didn't make moves to get out. I don't know what she was waiting for; maybe i should've (I DEFINITELY SHOULD"VE) went in for a kiss right there, but her friend was right behind her looking... so I went the pussy way out and stared at her friend and she looked back. At that point it was her cue to get out, so she left and I sped off.

Happy Bday Katie!

Friday Night after I got home from CT I just relaxed and unwound after a long week of work. During the week my former college tennis teammate Katie sent an email out to friends to get a birthday celebration goin on on Friday. The venue was set in Morristown; we would start at the Famished Frog. As time lead up to when I was supposed to leave I found myself feeling nervous; I don't know what it was, didn't know why, for what reason. I was trying to call everyone i knew to come with me, but everyone had work on Saturday or just were not in town. I just decided to head out to make the 40 min drive.

I got parking right in front of Grasshopper; it continues to amaze me how that happens; where else can you get parking right in front of a main bar?!?!?! I walked across the Green to the Frog and did a lap and for I believe the first time in my life for whatever reason, I ordered my own drink, by myself. It was a cranberry vodka that cost $4 and I added the $1 tip.

I layed back watching baseball on TV when I saw Caroline and Katie come through and it was officially a party. I caught up w/Caroline for a while and learned she's actually brazilian!!! Imagine that. I haven't talked to her in a long long time.

I met a couple of Katie's other friends; her sister was around and met some of her friends as well. We chilled at the Frog for a bit, then walked over to the Grasshopper. We enjoyed the music there and the place is cool because they have the music videos that come up on tv screens as the songs change. I finally learned who lady gaga is. After a while, I was dancing around Caroline and Katie and this small blonde gave me that look all guys know about. I motioned w/my fingers for her to come over and she did an embarrassed drunk as hell head shake no. I gently grabbed her hand and led her bootie over to me. We grinded (ground?) for a song and I learned she was from Louisiana. Unfortunately her friends led her away; I got her number as she went away and didn't really plan on doing anything with it.

We eventually left and went over to get some empanadas. On the way over I sent that chick a text. We went in and for the next 20 min we are waiting in line to order; I find out at the front of the line when the guy asks me what I want, that I can only order on a small menu that is not on the walls. I scramble and order a spinach/cheese and a buffalo wing while Caroline gets 2 beefs. Buffalo wing was AMAZING!!!!! These empanadas may have cost around 3.50 to 4 so not very cheap, but i guess cheaper than kati roll, but not as goooooood.

So eventually I drove the ladies home; I decided against staying at their place since I just wanted to be home in my bed (albeit the twin). I gave the three ladies a hug each; then hit the road. Unfortunately I looked at my gas meter and the amber E dot was on. I also didn't know where I was, but fortunately my GPS was with me so it told me I had about an hour to get home. I made it in 50!!

Unfortuitousness number 2: I had a tennis lesson at 10:30AM the next morning and the clock read 4:00AM.

For some reason I had left my computer on, and I decided to check my email. I got an email from Air China, not the airline but the girl. She just told me she was in NYC and the hotel # she was at and the extension. I called one time, no one picked up and it had the on the other line beep on all 15 rings. I hung up, searched the Ramada online near JFK and found it. It was the same number. I called back and got an operator who forwarded me to AC's room. We spoke for a while and agreed on a meeting Saturday afternoon sometime after my tennis lesson. How exciting!!

First Travel Since Asia

Monday morning wasn't bad since I went to bed a bit earlier than usual Sunday night to prepare to get a lot of work done in the first week I've been back in an actual office since my trip to Asia. It was nice seeing all the people @ corporate; I haven't seen them all in a year or so. The last time I was in CT possibly was for one of my projects in August, and that wasn't even a New Britain thing, that was in Farmington. I caught up with people throughout the 5 days I was in CT, but the most important thing to do was finish my project. I think I did a pretty good job with that (although I'm wrapping up stuff tomorrow).

The nights after work didn't prove to be very exciting; I started to swim after one of my friends told me he swims. I purchased those goggles last week and really enjoyed swimming, albeit in an extremely smaller version of an "olympic sized pool" that I'm used to swim in... or I should say I WAS used to swimming in. When I was young I swam at De'Nunzio Pool at Princeton University. I practiced for at least 2 years and I think that kept me in decent shape (thanks mom). I only swam in one meet and my specialty was the freestyle (crab). I also did backstroke, but never could physically understand the kick in the breast stroke. I never progressed enough to get to butterfly (it is freaking tough!!!).

Anyway, the work outs were very good; I swam for about a half hour every other night (total of 2 nights) and did a whopping 20 pushups on the other nights hahaha. The sad thing is, I think I saw a little definition in my chest (believable?).

While I wasn't swimming, I was eating. I hit up Ginza on Monday and got their Tuna Amazing roll which consists of White tuna, Spicy tuna and avocado on the inside with pepper encrusted tuna and caviar on the outside covered w/BBQ sauce and a spicy mayo... wow is all I can say. I also Shou Mai appetizer because I was so hungry and needed something quick. Their yaki soba with cooked smoked salmon finished off my meal well and I even saved some for breakfast.

Tuesday I ate at the hotel; wasabi sea bass, delicious. Grist Mill on Wed/Thurs. The softshell crab francese was not great, the crab just wasn't very tender, but still was decent; just not the all around meal I was looking for. From now on I may ONLY get the Lobster/Shrimp L'American (got it on Thurs) there because the sauce is amazing (reminds me of the sauce at Scarlatto in Manhattan.

The only other items to discuss were the ladies; there was one young young cute cute girl sitting in my seat when I arrived on Monday; people steal Internal Audit's cubes all the time, so I was happy to see a cutie in my seat. Unfortunately, she didn't make much small talk and her guy boss kinda did all the talking saying sorry we sat in your seat (sorry I don't want to talk to a dude). She was a bit quiet and I would usually pass her new cube and she'd look up. There was one time when I came out of the doors of the other side of the buildings to the common area on the 2nd floor while she was leaving to go home; I didn't say anything because we looked at each other through the glass; I am pissed at myself I didn't say anything as she left. I tried to time my departure the next day when she left, but she left in a hurry; I tried to catch up, then found out I left my keys upstairs!!!! Idiot!!!

There was a very cute girl that just started working at the hotel I stayed at. I went down to get food and say hi to the veterans at the front desk when I saw her; she looked like Lichelle Marie; I will not go farther than that. She had long blonde hair, a really sexy face and a really really nice body from what I could see from in front of the desk. I did my bit to ignore her at first and chat w/the other ladies; we caught up, then as the convo kept going she kept learning new things; I like cookies, I have a strong relationship with the front desk, I haven't been there in a year, things like that. The next day I went down w/the soul purpose of talking to her (and to get some more shampoo). "I need something" She replied, "let me guess, cookies???" And we both laughed. I think this is a decent sign, but yeah as all of you will say, she DOES work there, it IS her job to make me feel good. WHATEVER!!!

That's about it; Friday i left the office in the afternoon and made it back in about 3 hours. It was a long long drive, but not too painful as I missed rush hour by a bit.

Chillin hard on Sunday

So I woke up on a couch and get my bearings straight. I hear Sud and Neha in the background frmo her room. Then they invite me to go out to Brunch w/them and Sonia. I agree and we make the walk over to Eatery; a year or 2 ago I took Yoon Hei over there who appeared as Jungle Bub that day (looking very fine). For some reason the food at Eatery always gives me gas; today was no different. They had a delicious coffee cake? as an appetizer for free. I had a spinach/chorizo and tomato omlette that was delicious. We all caught up; I hadn't seen Sonia since Neha's bday in February and she was looking good. I feel she looks a bit like a mouse (not in a bad way) and has some very engaging, beautiful eyes.

Anyway, after we finished I had a bad feeling in my stomach, and went downtown w/the gang to head over to Gav's place. Everyone took the Q downtown; Sonia got off first, Neha/Sud next and I finally got off at U square where I was to meet gav w/in the next 10-15 min. I didn't hear from him so I wandered over to Coffee shop to hang out w/Lulu for a bit. She chopped all her hair off, and it looked pretty good; must feel free w/o the modeling gig now for her... unless she still is one; not sure. So we chatted while she took customers and there was literally no talent in terms of waitressing, so it was a bit of a waste aside from catching up (I hadn't seen her in maybe 4 months).

We chilled out, watched some TV, listened to some music and basically relaxed. At around 5, I called it a day as I had to drive to CT for work. I got to my car in JC an hour later and actually saw the Patel Bros w/Namrata. I yelled at them twice, but alas they were too far away, so they couldn't hear me.

I started the trek to CT and got to the last exit before the GW bridge. I had seen earlier that the GW bridge had MASSIVE delays, but I thought i was ok because the signs said 278; I then realized once it started clogging up, that 278 was probably after the GW bridge. I followed Route 9N until I caught the Palisades Pkway and got to the Tappanzee bridge... THANK YOU GOD FOR THE TAPPANZEE BRIDGE. When I got off the turnpike to avoid the GW bridge, GPS told me I would arrive at 8:36. When I got on the Palisades pkway I was to get there around 8:50. After a lot of cruising at 80mph, I arrived at the Marriott at around 8:30; NASTY!!!!!!!!

Unfortunately w/all the extra time, I didn't iron and screwed myself on Wednesday (I brought pre ironed shirts that I saved from Taiwan hahaha).

Feeling like it will all fall apart

So I woke up around 9:20 and berated myself for forgetting the tennis lesson was at 10:30, so I went back to sleep after the lesson called and made sure we were still gonna do it. I woke back up around 10:15 and rushed out the door to try to find my girl. After driving around a community for 10 minutes trying to find a tennis court, I realized I was at the wrong one because there were 2 sections of the community and I obviously drove to the wrong one.

The lesson lasted an hour and I got a check meaning this will have to be reported (lets be honest I'm gonna report all, I'm a CPA for cryin out loud). I went back home and just decided to relax; I sat in the Chaise I got from Neha a year ago, fired up some poker tournaments (probably lost most of them) and turned the TV on. I basically vegged (I don't like that term) for the next 7 or so hours. I was to meet the Patel Bros and go out to Hiro in the Maritime hotel after heading to Hirak's new place which I've never seen.

Unfortunatly, they left before I got there. At about this point I started having a feeling that nothing was going to work out tonight; I had a lot of options; going to some place w/Rishi, then to Bar 13 (which is always a good time), go to 230 5th w/Christie, go to Hiro w/Anand and Aakash, Empire w/Neha, but for some reason I just felt like the night would go to the crapper.

Around 10:30 I left to visit Neha and Sud. They planned to go to Empire (a rooftop lounge like 230 5th), so as I walked over from Port Authority I picked up a slice of ziti pizza from Rays which was delicious. I FREAKING LOVE ZITI PIZZA.

I got to her place and we chilled watching John Q for a bit; it seemed like Neha was feeling very lazy, while Sud seemed annoyed w/o saying much about not going out. Eventually we talked ourselves out of the apartment, and found a HUGE line to the side of starbucks at Empire even at 11:30PM. We kept the taxi goin to meet Sud's beautiful asian (boyfriended) friend Chau at Players' in K Town (which is where I'll be having a delayed bday party sometime). It was a pretty nice place, very chill, great music, good atmosphere, but no dancing. That will change if I'm there.

So once we got there, Chau and Rich were there and we went to 230 5th; we got in line and I was hoping to see Christie there; the problem was they closed the place down to people in line and you couldn't even get bottle service to get in. I had been discussing Hiro w/Anand and he talked me into going (around 12:30ish?) and i took a $12 cab there, sat in line for 15 minutes (tried to chat up an asian chick) and then found out I couldn't get in w/o a chick (miss having a gf in this situation, but then again, there'd be no point to go... HUUUUUUH). So Anand came out, tried to chat up the front door lady and she had none of it, so I was doomed. I stood outside for a while waiting for Rishi, but he never showed and went to bar13 when I told him the ratio problem. I headed to Underbar to meet up w/Neha, Sud and Chau again; that place always plays great music, but you get no cell service.

Later we decided to head uptown around 2 and get Kati roll. I intro'd neha/sud to the potato/egg roll which is BANGIN. I had one of those and a chicken; these things are freaking 5 bucks each!!!!!!

We eventually went to bed after I watched a bit of some movie w/Diane lane cheating on Richard Gere that was supposed to be sick and WAS. Diane Lane is a great acctress.

In the end the night club wise and lady wise was a bust, but I did get to hang w/Sud and Neha. Sud is moving to Pitt soon so I won't be able to see that dude anymore, not that I did see him before. It's always great to see Neha, and lets be honest, it's always great makin money!!!

Rajul's Charity Bartending Event!!

So Thursday night I went to bed thinking I'd have a lesson Friday morning. Unfortunately, there was gloomy weather forecasted, so it was in limbo. Fortunately if there was rain, I had a plan to actually make it to Rajul's charity bartending event!!

At around 4PM, my customer's moms notified me that B came home feeling under the weather, so we'd have to cancel the lesson and wait til July when they get back from Taiwan to continue. At the same time, I'm setting up my next lessons with my 2nd customer which is huge! I get more from my 2nd lesson, so I'm very pleased with the development. I'm hoping I can get some lessons during the week while I'm home to make max money.

So around 6:30, I drove over to the Patel Bros' and via PATH made it into the city to Rajul's bartending event. As I got out of the cab, and held the door open for Rishi, I made eye contact with this semi cute chick in the doorway of Banana Leaf. I gave her a smile, and she smiled sheepishly about it. We kept staring back and forth until I just kept walking and explained to Rishi why I didn't get her number. Wait, I don't have a reason aside from the fact that I don't know, maybe fear of a 100% non-rejection!??!?!?! WHAT AN IDIOT!!!!!

We got to Stone Creek and immediately ordered drinks with Rat who was already there. We hung w/him and Priya and I found a Rap City (or something close to that) magazine that Rajul was the featured writer in with an interview of TI!!!!!!!! I also was able to holler at Danielle and meet her bf. We spoke about tennis lessons, but I'm not sure how it's gonna work. Going into NYC w/all my tennis stuff is too much work/money and probably wouldn't be worth it, but later I found out her friend Dana would be interested in lessons as well, so maybe it would work!? I think basically if I'm going into the city anyway and it's a nice day, I'll call them and see if they have interest; that way I woudln't be making a trip for no reason.

Victoria, the bartender, then asked me if I wanted anything and I respectfully declined because I wanted to tip Rajul. Later she walked over to where we were sitting and I apologized for rejecting her; I thought she was feelin me, so I flirted back hard. Me and her went back and forth during the night and in the meantime Daigo made it as well as Mit, Anand/Nam, Aakash, Ak, and others I may have forgotten.

Eventually we left and went to the east village; unfortuantely I was wearing shorts so I couldn't get in ANYWHERE. In my defense, I thought I'd be goin back to NJ after the event to either chill and get sleep or hang w/the teacher in New Brunswick. Unfortunately while I was in JC, she called me and told me she was gonna be at the shore all weekend. We showed up at Fat Baby and I asked the bouncer if there was a chance he'd let me in w/shorts. "OH HELLLLLLL NO, I WOULDN'T EVEN LET YOU IN WITH THAT SHIRT!" Daaaaamn, I got got.

So we just moseyed around lower east side, got shut out from La Caverna (which I found out was where Sonia was at). We went to some place to chill for a while at a big table, then to a smaller club for $5 that had ok music, but wasn't great (hot as hell). We ended up going back to the Patel Bros' place at around 3AM and I got back to my place at 4AM. My freaking lesson was supposed to be 10AM the next day, so I set my alarm for 9:15 and went to bed around 4:30 which was TERRIBLE.

Day #4 of the (work) week

So Thursday I was planning to go watch game 4 in the city with Anand and Aakash, but it started raining and I didn't feel like making the drive up to JC then waiting outside in the rain for max 20 min. Instead I went to Kohl's in EB to meet up w/my dad. He was going over there after he visited his mom because they were having this everything 30% off after sales sale. I needed a pair of swimming goggles (my new goal is to swim at least 2 times every time I go to a hotel for a week). I looked on Kohls.com and was surprised to see they sell goggles, so I got a pair regularly priced at $16 for $7!!!! My pops just bought a pair of pans that looked pretty nice. He actually talked me out of buying boxers because you can get them at costco for unreal prices??? I rarely buy boxers, so it's a shame since I have some that are very very old (should I be telling people this?).

We decided to hit up Bonefish Grill which was a walk across the Kohl's parking lot. I was pleased to see an extremely cute waitress come over to our table, and very unpleased to see a weird looking ring on her left ring finger that I believe (did not confirm) was a wedding ring. She was really nice, very beautiful and had a great great smile.

I was unbelievably hungry and was really really excited when Sarah brought the bread out. The bread at Bonefish grill is in the top 3 of free breads from restaurants. Right now I only remember Bertucci's as another member of the big 3. Anyone have any ideas?

Later my Parmesean encrusted Trout came out and tasted really really good, but seemed a bit unhealthy since it was fried. I liked that they kept the skin on; fish skin just tastes really really good (Sorry for the repetition)!!!!

Friday to come later.

Facebook comments

---Editor's note: I wrote this last week on Wednesday I believe.---

I freaking love them. I love getting comments on stuff on facebook. It's like validating that stuff I write actually is somewhat interesting to some people. I especially love getting comments on my status because it's like people actually care about what i'm doing, or feel some sort of emotion becaues of it... or just feel compelled to tell me how dumb I am. I also like commenting on other people's items.

Anyway, I sent the teacher a text Monday and no response becaues it was 10PM, I assumed she goes to sleep early and asked her that in the text. Tuesday I left a Vmail around 9PM and didn't get a call back til the next day aroudn 4PM which is odd becaues I'm not used to people calling so early; most of my friends work 9-5s at least. Pretty interesting though.

I've just really been prepping during work hours for all my work next week and finishing up a project I've been working on the last couple weeks. It's been pretty interesting and next week should be smooth as I did the same thing last year. I'm pumped to see all my friends at the Farmington Marriott again, hopefully there hasn't been too much turnover. My 2 girls that worked the concierge both bounced unfortuantely.

Really chill Sunday

After the worst conversation I've ever listened to in my life at around 3:30AM Sun morning, we went to bed (me on the couch) and woke up around 9:30 to watch the Federer/Soderling French Open Final (against my will). The Patel bros are huge tennis fans and love federer, so we got to watch him get to 14 majors in a horrendous match by soderling... just in way over his head. We ordered some breakfast; the omlet I got with Chorizo was horrendous. We then took Rishi to the hospital where later he'd find out... nothing. X-rays came back positive and a cat scan came back positive as well.

I called up Daigo to get him to come over to JC to play ball, poker and watch game 2. After thoroughly dominating Anand in heads up poker, we picked up Daigo and continued while he played some MLB the Show. Later we started up poker as Rishi's friend Kanal came over. I got f'd up. Basically Anand got 3 streets of value on me when I raised w/aq, he limp called w/ak and bet into me on all 3 streets hitting the k on the turn. Good play by him. Then I limped w/j9 in the SB on another hand, flop comes out j high, I bet, Kanal raises all in, Rishi calls to my right and I have a decision to make. I am not worried about rishi at all, I feel like he has a flush draw. Kanal had earlier pushed all in w/7s top pair w/a 5 kicker, so i figured I could have him outkicked w/the 9. I made the call after a couple minutes and he turned over aj which was terrible news; rishi turned over j6. Neither of us sucked out and Kanal picked up a nice pot.

Another hand of significance came when I reraised Daigo w/qs, he 4 bet and i went all in and we chopped up qs. Later near teh end of the night, I had raised preflop with 67s picked up an outside straight draw, and flush draw on the flop, kept betting, got raised by kanal on the turn (2 aces were out) and went all in. He eventually called w/a better flush draw, and I coudln't suck out on his 9 high. HORRBILE.

I basically lost around $45. We also saw the end of the game and Courtney Lee being a pro baller MUST MAKE THAT LAYUP. I feel like if you practice every day for your life, you should be making that layup 7/10 times at least. If i practiced it 10 times in a row i'd make prob like 5 out of ten cuz i'd just know from muscle memory how it works!!!!

Anyway, I dropped off Daigo at the JC PATH station, then Kanal, who lives real close to the Prudential Center, and finally got home around 12:30.

Week of 6/1 - 6/6

So Monday I was busy recovering from the lack of sleep and developed a sore throat with the feeling that I had some phlegm buildup in the back of my throat as well (very very uncomfortable; to this day I'm still not recovered from this). I realized it was pops birthday on Tuesday, so I pondered what I could do since my mom and sister were gone (in Beijing).

Tuesday during lunch I rushed home a) because I found out my dad got Lyme disease that morning, and b) so I could pick up a cake for his bday. I picked up a large tart cake (a family tradition to eat on special occasions). This particular one had mandarin oranges, blueberries, and small amounts of blackberries (crucial so you don't get those damn seeds in between your teeth). On the way back I had planned to pick up some hoagie haven, but realized it wasn't entirely on the way back and I had to get back to work, so I skipped that and just went home to eat some chips.

At night, I busted out the tart and my dad was visibly pumped as he didn't expect it. We enjoyed a piece each and it was delicious.

Oddly, when he had called me earlier about the dr. appointment, he made it seem like lyme disease wasn't that serious, obviously because the dr. didn't make a big deal about it. I looked it up online and it is freaking pretty bad although not fatal. It's basically a disease you keep for the rest of your life that affects your joints, arthritis and you get some flulike symptoms in the beginning. He was prescribed some antibiotics, so hopefully that works.

I hung with Corey and Jenna at their new place in Plainsboro on Tuesday night. They had not yet finished all the unpacking, but it was a pretty nice place about 2 min from the tennis club he works at and about 5 min from my parents' house. Unfortunately I don't think I will be hangin out w/Jenna's friend Wei anytime soon as I think he has lost the drive to introduce me to her. I am starting to feel badly about asking him, but he seemed pumped about it before. The problem is this girl seems very flaky when it comes to hanging out, but then again I really should just make plans. I think I'm going to have Corey get her # and try to get a date myself with her.

Wednesday I hit up Hoagie Haven and got a sanchez which is chicken tenders with mozzarella sticks and french fries, it was pretty damn good and unhealthy at the same time. I forgot to tell them to put LT in there unfortunately, so I filled it with some Lettuce when I got home. I had went to Kingston deli 2 days in a row, getting a breakfast sandwich that was delicious and a buffalo chicken sandwich that I didn't like much since it was the sliced buffalo chicken.

Thursday I had to pick my mom/sis up from EWR and proceeded to watch half the game from Princeton and didn't watch the rest of the blowout as I was driving back to Edison. My sister got me these SICK cufflinks from the watercube in Beijing. They basically look like the outside of the watercube. I also got a pendant on red string for I think it was protection? I put that on my other chain that I recently fixed but broke again which is a wish or dream bucket with a lid? I'm not even sure, but it looks nice.

Friday I wanted to go out, but no one was around. I was planning to go into the city to meet up w/Anita, but that fell through. It was good in a way because my tennis lesson Friday was postponed til Sat morning due to the rain, so I needed to stay around NJ to be awake for that. I ended up just losing money in poker and testing out pokertracker which I purchased that Thursday on advice from Niv.

Saturday Anand called me early after my lesson was finished around noon. I went over to his place to ball. Unfortunately, during the first game, Rishi really screwed up his knee and we're still not sure what's wrong with it. We took him to the ER and the x-rays and cat scans were positive. We're just waiting now for him to go to an orthopedist to check out if he has ligament damage. He injured it on a drive where he found me cutting to the basket in traffic; I finished.

We started that game over and played me, Anand and some short hispanic kid. We thoroughly dominated. I completed my first spin move drive of my career and Anand said it looked pretty and quick (it felt like it took a long time to do the 360). In the 2nd game, Anand and I played w/this dude in Black that I was busy dominating defensively in the last game. He basically had no bball iq, and took fade away jumpers over my outstretched hands; he also could not post and go to his right shoulder (similar to Dwight Howard). it was a tough game even though we played 3 hispanics whose total height may have been 13 ft. I dominated the glass, but they hit almost every shot. Near the end of the game I took over and finished a lot.

Later we just ordered some food (penne vodka w/chicken was DELICIOUS). People started comin over around 9 and we were ready to go to BLVD in the city around 1030. Unfortunately, there were some guest list problems and no one wanted to go anymore, so we changed plans to hit up hoboken. The problem was Anita was gonna meet me at BLVD, so instead of lookin like I was duckin her, I called her to let her know we were no longer going.

340 grille was poppin. Rishi noticed a group vacating a table and we quickly went over and sat down. I told him to order drinks from a waitress immediately, so it would seem like we were supposed to be at the table. It worked... no one gave us problems and we were sitting on a long ass couch in the middle of the lounge. Great music made for great dancing.

By the end of the night I had not been hollerin at any girls. One girl I noticed w/tattoos was starin at me when I came in and she clearly was with a guy. While I was at the table dancing she was bending over to put something into her bag; she loooked up at me, I gave her that smile and she gave me one right back. I don't really like messing with girls w/dudes though, so I didn't approach. The rest of the girls though? I was basically a bitch and didn't do much. I realized from now on my opening line in those situations will be, "Hi I'm Ken how are you tonight?" Should work right? Basically if a girl thinks you're attractive, 90% of what you say should work.

Before we were leaving, Rishi opened up 3 asian girls. I all of a sudden got pulled by a blonde chick who said, "You HAVE to dance w/my friend. She loves Asians." So I had no choice, and asked the more conservative looking brunette friend, "So do you know why i'm supposed to dance w/you?" She said, "Well my friend actually wants to dance w/you; she loves asians, but she's a bit shy." So during my confusion we chatted despite her already having been talking to some dude (who obviosuly was not pleased, but coudln't do much about it). We were talking about how she doesn't like dancing because she feels awkward when the blonde (who was basically freaking it on the dance floor w/some dude) comes over and asks how things are going and starts grindin up on me. We danced for a while and when the song ended I asked her what the deal was w/that dude she had been dancing with, that I didn't want to piss him off. She said he's nobody and then left, very drunk.

I continued to chat up christine and eventually got her number. She told me she wanted to hang out in New Brunswick this weekend, so hopefully we can do that on Friday after my tennis lesson.

I'll chat about Sunday tomorrow. Basically I'm done w/this long long post.

Flight back

So Sunday morning we awoke after 2 hours of hearty sleep. I was, needless to say, dying. I noticed Rishi had not come back upstairs yet to pack and we needed to leave at 10:30 latest to catch our 1:10 flight from McCarran, so I called him w/no response, went back to sleep for 10 min, woke up and texted him, "I think you should probably pack". I finished getting my stuff together and went to chat with Aakash in his room. Eventually Rishi came up and finished packing within minutes. We gave everyone his farewell dap (Coco and Rat already left earlier) and departed. We went down to the cab line with not much time to get to the airport to be dismayed at the length of the line. One guy by himself approached us and asked to split a cab which we agreed to. The cab was going to be maybe 25 total, so we'd have about $9 each. After 5 min, I was getting frustrated as Rishi kept telling me how drunk he was, how it was bad that he got no sleep and how tired he was... oh and how much he won that night, but what really frustrated me was thinking about missing this flight. I saw a black car pull up and immediately ran over to see if there were more. The guy said yes and it'd be $42 to the airport; the extra 17 is definitely worth the non-wait in the taxi line, so we got in and sped off. Maybe 20 min later we arrived, figured out expenses w/our 3rd wheel and actually got through security extremely quickly. We got some food at BK and sat headed towards our gate.

I spotted a head of nice hair and an open seat next to her, so I sat down and started eating. I noticed it was a fairly older woman maybe mid 30s and aimed to strike up conversation. Unfortuantely Rishi was still awake telling me how tired he was, how drunk he was and how he didn't sleep last night. This time though he started telling me how depressed I must be about losing and botching the chick at the pool on Saturday. I got a bit unhappy about this and told him to quiet down about it as obviously, it would be ruining my game w/the chick to my left if she heard it. He decided to continue talking to him and I basically yelled in a low tone to him to shut the fuck up cuz it would in fact ruin my game I was about to spit. He quickly quieted down and I opened with a "where are you heading today?" "Oh, Fort Worth, where I live." She didn't look like the type of person who wanted to chat before I started, but she gave me the comforting smile of the "I love talking to other people." variety. We chatted for a while about where we were from, what we do (physical therapy) and what we did in vegas (she did no gambling). I corraled the email and we got on the plane.

Unfortunately I sat next to a Thai couple, and to my left one row back there was 1 cute cute girl sitting in the middle seat. A guy lucked out, sat next to her, and one hour into the flight they were cuddling. UNBELIEVABLE!!!!! (I'm not hatin, I'm just unhappy w/my luck).

We landed in DFW and had about 30 min til our next flight. We bought some snacks and got on the flight which arrived in EWR EARLY which is probably the 1st time in that airport's history. We drove back to Rishi's after he left forgot where he put his parking pass and we had an extra 5 min debacle before getting out of the lot. I quickly sped home and went to bed after an exhausting 13-15 hours of travel with no sleep.

Finishing up Vegas

I've been really bad about updating since Vegas. I want to finish the LV then move on to this week which was not very happenin.

Saturday after losing all $5 bills I went back to the MB w/Aakash when he busted out ak vs. a2 pre flop and got sucked out on. We decided to hit up the pool and walked downstairs to go on the 10 minute walk to the MB pool. On the way down, some really attractive thin brunette around early to mid 30s asked us where the pool was. "We're looking too, it's tough!" So she started walking with us. Aakash pointed to the sign saying the pool is straight ahead, so I followed with, "We just aren't as smart as he is, he can read" but the funnier version of saying it. She laughed. We continued walking and I started the audit of what her deal was. She was travelling alone from CA to surprise a friend who was there. I noticed no ring and she was very very talkative. Unfortunately Dave called me up and I had to talk to him for a couple minutes while I could've been running game. I quickly hung up as we got outside. Aakash actually got her into the pool area as a guest. She was looking for her friend, thinking she'd be at the pool during the day. Eventually when we got to the actual water, she said, "I'm angie, what are your names?" She asked Aakash what kind of name his was, and didn't have extraordinary interest in where mine was from. He quickly said well good luck finding your friend which I was unhappy about because he gave her a reason to leave without closing the number up.

After berating myself for a while, we walked down the opposite end of where Angie went, coudlnt' find seats, so we walked back. She was walking towards us and I prepared myself for a number close. She smiled at us as we intersected and i put my hands up, "I coudln't find her either." She laughed (Aakash would later tell me that was a great line). Then I did the unthinkable. In order to quicken the process, I pulled my phone out and just said, "Hey, later, do you wnat to hang out?" I froze before i started talking and that's the only thing that came out of my mouth. I was horrified by how badly it went, and she just seemed awkward, "Umm, well I'm not leaving right now, so maybe later." Aakash just started laughing at me and we both talked shit about my game until and after we found seats under the shade.

Eventually we tried to hit up the lazy river, but found out you actually have to BUY tubes to float in it, which doesn't make any sense at all. We quickly left and went back upstairs to chill; it was about time for the game anyway we all got ready for Prive' soon after. Prive' seemed like the nuts when the promoter was tellin us about it earlier Friday.

We got everyone together and headed over to Planet Hollywood (what I think every younger below 30ish person should be stayin at because it's in the middle of the strip (across from Bellagio) and very modern; not to mention they basically have go go dancers dealing blackjack next to Prive). As we waited in the bottle service blob (not really a line), I noticed a real cute asian chick manning the "big wheel game" I kind of was nervous since I guess I'm intimidated by fine ass chicks, but eventually I came up w/a gem, "Hey, when do you work until" This was after she had caught me, or maybe I caught her, checking her out a couple times. She put up 4 fingers and repeated it verbally. "Oh ok, I was gonna ask you to come up here when you're done, but it's too late."

We got in, went up the escalator and were escorted to our dance floor side table (sick location next to a bar). I just started dancin cuz the hip hop was already busting through the speakers. The DJ was layin it down and shit was off the hook. We eventually chipped in for the total dollars for the table and the night began. For some reason the dudes next to us just brought like tons of girls over to the table area, and we kinda got some overflow. We were chillin, dancing, hootin and hollerin. Eventually it got to a point where this huge group of asians came to sit on our couch. I was literally surrounded with beautiful asians... which I'm used to. We started talkin; one thing led to another and my girl was slappin my ass and it ALLLLLLLL CAME OFFFFFF! It was a hell of a time dancing, talking with new people and just enjoying life. Eventually for some reason those girls got booted from the table area; they had told me they have a table (where the dudes' table was) but the bouncer said nah, and booted them hahaha. Oh well. We continued to enjoy life.

By around 3:30 we were getting tired (by the way taht's 6:30AM ET) and began to leave. i noticed a really cute asian chick w/her friend in front of our area and they kinda checked me out. I left and turned back to see them staring at me (so I looked over them to not make it look very obvious). I went back to the table to scope out the situation. They were rejecting all sorts of dudes. I eventually went up to the cute one and said, "I've just seen you rejecting madd dudes, you should come in to our area so dudes wno't bother you." She responded, "Were you at Mix on Thursday night?" I movedm y head back to take a look and wouldn't you know it, it was the asian from the front of mix. Lesson #83592018404 for young Tsuizzie. ALWAYS HIT ON GIRLS WHEN YOU HAVE THE CHACNE AND LOCK IT DOWN. Jeez, so we spoke for al ittle before I realized I coudln't hear a thing over the thunderous club music. I did an extreme baller thing next by asking them to come in, they were thinking, so I just unhooked the ropes, put my hand out and they came in.

Unfortunately after that it all went downhill; maybe it was because I feel awkward dancing w/2 girls by myself; I think if i get rejected it looks bad???? but who cares right? It's vegas, and they clearly showed some interest right?! So I kinda went off to text people on the couch while they just danced by themselves. I also maybe made it seem like they weren't important to me, but right there I just gotta be risky and make a freaking move. I am happy w/the line i opened with but not w/my follow up. I also have to work on the leaving the place w/the girl moves.

Eventually I came out w/her email and saw the same asian at the big wheel again. I said, "You weren't lyin!" after I checked and my watch said 3:30. She said nope, smiled and I left without doing much else... why i didn't ask her what she was doing after was beyond me.

We went back and started up that poker session I spoke of in my last post.

After poker I went upstairs, talked to Nitin and Rat for a while and we all went back down to play blackjack (me to watch them) once Rishi came back from talking with some chicks. We went down and saw Amit at the craps table by himself on a nice little run, Shandor by himsefl at a BJ table, so we sat next to him and just played for about an hr. Me and mit bounced to sleep for 2 hr.

It's Saturday... Oooo OOOOO!!

We woke up in the morning and we went over to the Wynn after eating. We played some poker and we played 1/3 no limit for the first time in my life. Basically we went in and while I finished my sandwich, Amit and Aakash went to the poker room to play; I stayed w/anand to watch him play some BJ.

After finishing my lunch and watching, I headed over to the room and put myself down for 1/3. Unfortunately the A squad just got called as I punched my name in, so I knew it'd be a long long wait.

After about 2 hr I had sat down and lost maybe 30 of my $300 buy in. The guy on my left just sat down, a younger kid and a few minutes later the older guy on my right knocked out some dude in seat 2 on the other side of the table and said "I knew I'd get him". Left immediately asked him why? "He kept raising me out of pots and I knew he had nothing, I knew I was gonna get him one of these times."

After taht statement, Left kept punishing Right in pots and eventually right said "I know i have you beat but i have to fold" to an all in for no reason from Left on the river after a mutually checked turn. Left showed 7 high and I knew right was on tilt. Left even offered, "Hey one of these times you're gonna catch me just like you caught that other kid."

The next hand immediately comes up: Right limps in middle position, I wake up w/2 qs and raise to 15, folds to the SB who calls and Right calls as well. The flop? A good one, 10 6 5 rainbow. SB checks, Right actually bets 40 into a 35 dollar pot. I tank and think to myself, he could only have a set or 2 pair to beat me right now, why would he bet into me with those hands? So I asked him how much he had left, he counted out $140, so I thought a bit more and announced, "$180," to the dealer. SB quickly folds and Right calls and asks me if I can beat a set. My heart sinks and I say, "No, but I hope you don't have one." Turn 3, River J. I wait for him to reveal his set and to my dismay it is a set of 3s. So basically I was ahead, an 88% favorite when we put all the money in, and he never had a set. I was incredibly tilted by this and immediately got up from the table for a while, leaving my 80 or so chips at my seat.

I talked to Amit and Aakash who were side by side 2 tables away about my bad beat and eventually sat back down 5 min later. I immediately pick up Ks under the gun and limp for $3. 4-5 people call and BB raises to 15 which warms my heart. BB = Right in this case. I instantly pop it up to 60 and everyone else folds. "I Guess I should give you some of your money back," and he calls me. We go to a 4 6 7 flop w/2 clubs. He checks very oddly although I don't notice it until now. I had slipped 2 $100 bills on the table behind my 80 and put one of them in the pot announcing "$90". He beats me into the pot w/a raise to 250 effectively putting me all in and I beat that raise into the pot with a call.

To my dismay his cards beat me into the pot as he flips 35 for a straight that destroys my ks overpair. I brick out and flip my hand over when I catch a set on the river that doesn't matter. I leave and offer, "Did I get a boat?" I was really upset with the events of the day so far and that was $500 that I lost in about a 10 minute span. That's how it goes sometimes though. I realize in retrospect I can definintely fold to that raise, it was very confident and the only hands i beat are 8s-qs, a8 or a stone cold bluff. I do however realize maybe he could do that with a pocket pair lower than a 7, but not really w/a check raise to put me all in. He may be a calling station, but not many people raise w/terrible hands.

This entry will be all about gambling, so I'll skip what happened in between that session and the 4AM session below.

That night after the club (hint, this will be in my next post) I made about a buck 50 playing pretty tight and aggressive which worked. I did have one hand where I limped from UTG w/kjo and reraised big after a person on the button raised. Unfortuantely both him and the SB called, but I bet huge on the flop w/top pair and they both folded. There were 2 dudes that sat down and looked real trashed up later in the night and something interesting came up. Well first they seemed like terrible players, but after a while I could tell from the way they were speaking that they knew what they were doing. They did some raising and talking. I think the point where I found out was when the tall blonde dude was involved with this dude and called 2 barrels, and was thinking about an all in on the river. He asked if he could show his hand and he flipped over a pair of 3s and was thinking about the pot odds to call. Everyone at the table laughed and he finally folded. The guy flipped over a high and was def relieved he wasn't called.

Later they both were in a hand and pre-flop the guy said "I'm gonna raise you on the flop." So on the flop his buddy bet and he mucked. The dealer got pissed for some reason and called for the floor. They discussed and it was ruled the guy cannot muck his hand and he must raise because he said it before in the hand. The rule was at any time if you say something it's a bonding statement, so since he said he'd raise, it was a raise. It was kind of ridiculous, but funny to see these two arrogant dudes be forced to do something they didn't want. One of them ended up winning the hand, and immediately after went up to the floor man to discuss how unhappy he was with the rule. I decided to leave because I was freaking tired and I was a bit intimidated playing against those two that played in the WSOP as they said.

Friday Night Lights

Friday we woke up pretty early around 11 having slept at around 6? Terrible sleep start to the weekend. We planned to go to the pool, so we went downstairs, grabbed a bite at the deli in the sportsbook, and headed outside after applying plenty of suntan lotion to my very sensitive skin (and face).

Rishi, Mit and I went outside to look for the others and really just couldn't find them. We walked all over; by the lazy river, by the large wave pool ocean simulator and by the 2 smaller actual pools. No where to be found. We eventually just walked back since there were no seats either. On the way out a guard said usually you ahve to get there real early or after 3. We noted that, thanked him and went on our way.

I believe we went back to the room to chill for a bit and then when everyone got back, we went to the Rio to check out the WSOP. We made the slow walk all the way back to the convention center, and literally right when we set foot into the main room, the announcer said, "Will all observers please leave the room." THey were going on lunch break hahaha. We eventually just looked aroudn and saw Daniel Negreaneau, Brandon Cantu (absurdly tall compared to what he looks like on TV), Ivan Demidov (#2 in the WSOP last year), Demidov's gf, Demidov's gut, David Williams, and I saw one player whose blog I follow, Shannon Shorr.

We decided to walk around the Rio pool for a bit as who wants to watch poker players walk around and chit chat. We left soon after to hit up the bellagio. Me and Adam walked around to find some clubs we'd hit up the following night since we had bottle reservations at Tryst for tonight. We walked to Pure to check it out and the dude in the front gave us a really good deal for bottles for 10 dudes. We were very interested and it would end up being like 2/3 the price of tryst.

We also walked to Planet Hollywood and checked out Prive' which actually we got a tour of from one of the promoters. It was freaking pretty nasty; he talked it up real well saying that Tryst is more of the gold digger crowd where Prive is more of the chicks love dudes crowd. Since me and Adam both love those kind of chicks, we decided we may HAVE to go to Prive'. We left happy men.

Later we walked back to the Bellagio and met up with the others who were still gambling. We decided to bounce and headed back to see what was up at the MB pool. Unfortunately it was about to rain, so we stayed in to watch the basketball game (whichever one was on).

Soon after, we discussed and changed our reserves from Tryst to Pure as Pure is my favorite club in the world. We showed up around 10:15 (fairly early, but necessary) and waited in a glob line where it seemed random people were standing but apparently people with bottle service were suppsoed to stand there. After noticing the Pussycat Dolls display (meaning there were 2 belly dancers in the middle of 10 blackjack tables with unbelievably good looking women dealing in scantily clad patent leather outfits we started chatting up older ladies near us as there were no other timid little animals.

At around 10:30 we squeezed through the front and were walked to the elevator. We rode to the 2nd floor outdoor rooftop patio and were seated to the immediate left of the DJ if you were looking at him. The night started off a bit slow as we waited for drinks, but we just noticed the overwhelming beauty of that spot; we had a uninhibited view of the strip and were right on top of the street. We could see people walking around. It was really a site to behold.

Once the drinks came, Rishi poured me a vodka sprite and me and Nitin went down to the 1st floor to prey. We set up shop in the far side of the dance floor where there were some ladies, but again I did not make moves, just looked over at people and wondered if they were interseted (EVEN IN VEGAS I DO THIS). So we are just dancing, eventually he finds a couple girls to holler at, and I notice a girl on my right is likin my moves and pointing so I start playing to her happiness. I learn she is from Omaha w/a bachelorette party and several of the women find my dancing to be attractive. I dance w/2 of them w/o much contact and just kind of hover around doin my thang. Eventually they leave after 20 min and I ask the brunette where they're sitting, she replies "Bally's", I said I'm upstairs as I knew she misinterpreted what I said to, "where are you staying". Hook up #1 blown. We went back upstairs and grabbed another (this time harder) drink. Amit had an argument with Rishi about how hard my earlier drink was and Rishi ended up being right that there was not much liquor at all even though he filled it to 1/2 the glass on the rocks.

Later we went back down, didn't have much success, just dancing to the sick mixes the DJ was cutting up. Eventually some other girls were around and we brought em back to the table where I spent a majority of the remaining time at the club. I decided to mkae a big mistake and do a shot and a half of belvie FROM the bottle. I was DONE after that and felt like passing out (I think there's proof I did). We were just chillin and I spoke to maybe 2 sets of ladies after that with no luck. It was pretty much a wrap. I did wake up a bit and do some crip walking; danced w/a large blonde for a while which was fun.

We eventually just went home around 3; anand and I were too F'd up and unfortunately Fat Burger just had too many patrons, so we just went back and slept.

Sorry Niv, I don't think I gambled on Friday. More gambling tomorrow.