End of July

The entire week was just getting work done, going home, getting on computer and finishing work. There were plenty of situations that got me on tilt. The meeting and people 3 rooms away called into a meeting. Friday I had too much work and we had to stay around for the weekend; gonna go to NYC tomorrow.

JACKPOT

Friday was rough as a lot of stuff was happening at work. I even had to dine solo as my other coworkers travelled. I Decided to stay in Farmington to save on the driving time and relax. Luckily a friend decided to come up and visit.

We enjoyed some thai on friday. We ate at brio on sat for lunch; this place was really really good. We had crepes and a really delicious chicken pasta dish. We walked around West Farms Mall and then went to Mohegan.

We did our rounds of the casino and played some electronic hoops. I was challenged and thought nothing of it. I was draining 3s in the first game and only won by a couple points. The 2nd game I actually LOST?!?!?!?! Then the third game we tied and I won the last 2. Pretty ridiculous; both of our arms were extremely extremely sore post bball.

I finally decided to sit down at a BJ table for $10 hands. I lost $50 in no time; luckily there was some action brewing at a nearby roulette table; crowd was 5 deep and a guy had just yelled out big time. We noticed a HUGE stack of reds on a number w/that clear marker on top of it noting a win! It was at least $400. Dude ended up hitting 00 for a ~6k win!!! I got a pic of the spinning roulette wheel w/the chip stack.

We continued to walk around and noticed a deserted area w/a tall blonde dealer (dude). We sat down and i started to chat w/him as he shuffled up. My friend cut the deck and we were off. I wn a couple hands and started putting some bigger money ($25) on some bets and kept winning. I hadn't lost the last 6-8 hands when the following hand came up: I had just won $40 and went bonkers. I wanted to put all $80 on the table on the next hand, but my friend, the dealer AND the pit boss talked me out of it. I only put $40 back up there and was dealt 8/3 and the dealer showed a 4. WOW HOW PISSED WAS I???? I slid another $40 into the circle and got my card... of course an Ace. Now I was more relieved I didn't put $80 initially to lose $160, and was now worried i'd lose $40. Who wins 9 hands in a row anyway right???

Dealer flips his card and shows 10 :( like slow motion he pulls a 3 from the deck and now i'm unbelievably nervous... the next card he pulls is slooooooowly turned over to reveal PAINT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BIG WIN!!!!

Now when I play in the casino aside from poker I make MADD noise especially w/my friends around; that day was no different. A guy was watching me from afar and came over to sit at the table. The dealer told him he would appreciate it, "if you wait until the gentleman loses a hand." How bad ass is that; the dealer protecting me from someone else cooling me down. I may have one 2-3 more hands after that and eventually just really cooled off. The most I was up for the entire day was around $250, I went back down to around $175 and left the table after it got very very cold.

When we returned to Farmington we ate at Grist mill, one of my favorites when I'm working at corporate. Unfortunately during dinner was when trouble started brewing between us and we started discussing potential problems. We can expand on this later.

We hammered the problems out and chilled all day Sunday. We walked around the outsides of the hotel around the corporate complexes and spied a Maserati behind one of the UTC buildings parked near a vacant helipad. I also started playing my friend's nintendo DS and have been hooked on Mario Kart ever since. Eventually she left; I relaxed more and did some work. I did some fantasy research in preparation for next week's draft!!!

A lot of dinners

I've been at the hotel for a long time. I've been eating RIGHT!!!

Wednesday we went to the Coellos and had delicious authentic mexican. There was this spicy angel hair pasta that was sticky, cheese enchiladas, homemade guac, beans, and other things I totally have forgotten as it is now more than a month after it happened.

Lots of my coworkers were there which was nice as we never get to all hang out. We were able to hang w/the Coello kids, they learn chinese, their first language is spanish and their 2nd is English; pretty crazy huh?

His house is freaking amazing. It's set on the side of an incline; we walked up the driveway on the left side of his house to the backyard which is pretty big; he crafted his own terraces and is currently working on a manmade waterfall/creek!!!!

The interior is equally amazing. His master bathroom has italian tiles along the sides of the stones that make up the counter; there are just amazing designs, a nice adobe feel. Nice pictures, and everything looks very sturdy and solid. THe kitchen is vast; an island in the middle and really cool cabinet doors that are "no slam" doors. You swing them shut and they never slam.

Later in the week we went out to eat w/Jen the old EA for our VP. She was actually lookin RIGHT!!! We went to Chili's to eat; last time we met up w/her she was wearin a sweatshirt, may have been sick and looked like any normal person; this time she was wearing bright colors, was dressed up and did her hair real nice; I didn't even realize it was her. She was lookin really good!!!! We all caught up and it's cool cuz we never even worked together but we get along well (fellow G Men Fan).

Anyway, I just need to finish up at least one post in the last month so that's that for this one. Enjoy.

Been extremely busy

The weekend was pretty hectic, Friday I drove home from CT, and went out for Corey's bday in the city. I had planned to go to Woodbury on Saturday and went to the Patel bros' so we all went out after. We all drove into Chinatown and i waited for sly. Once she got there, I drove to the actual place which was down a few blocks from where we first parked and walked in.

The venue was extremely small when we first walked in. It seemed real nice, but really really small; it was also really really hot, annd the music was a bit weird; nothing i've ever really heard before, not techno, but more like relaxing dance music if that's even possible. After a bit, we went upstairs... and it was HUGE. There was a loooong row of chairs and tables; a median with bathrooms and door to the kitchen I believe, then another long bar w/seats on the sides. It was really really nice up there; loungish and very cool ambiance. We posted up there, me, sly, nams and Anand and waited as most people filed their way up to be w/the cool cats. We were enjoying drinks (I actually drank a tequila sunrise... it's not bad but it's tequila), company and the atmosphere.

Later, Sly was gettin tired, so we left; I had the keys and had to get her stuff out of the car, so I ran back in and gave the keys to nams. As I was inside; a girl i had met earlier and was feelin some vibe from was there as well and she was w/a blonde. As I told Corey I was out, the chick asked me why i was leaving and that it was a wack decision; i just said my friend wanted to go; she was tired. She tells me, "OH YOUR GF IS TIRED????" I said nahhh, that wasn't a gf. "Oh, it sounds like a GF." "Well, it's not." "WHY YOU TELLIN ME THAT????" Hahahaha, she was givin me so much shit. It was hilarious. Eventually I just left and we somehow got a path that came w/in 10 min of reaching the Christopher st. path station.

The first car we got in was hot as HELL!!!!! We switched cars at the next stop and it felt amazing in AC. We eventually got back to my place at like 3AM which wasn't bad.

Saturday we went to Woodbury. It was a very fun day in the sun; I got freaking burnt, but oh well. I got a burb trench coat and other things from juicy Couture (my first items). It was a really fun time and Sly said she doesnt really like looking at stuff and looking at clothing in the US cuz nothing fits hahaha. What a PERFECT GIRL!!!! We would go in and out of stores so quickly for her.

She wanted to check out coach and there was a big ass line for like 3 hours... we kept walking by then leaving to go somewhere else hoping the line would dwindle... after the 3rd check it finally was clear, but the cash register line was absurd inside, so we just said forget it, and bounced.

We drove all the way back to her place near JFK airport and unfortunately I was not allowed to stay due to her homestay mom? dont ask.

I ended up meeting up w/Arch in the city later at one and one and having a blast over there. I literally changed in the car w/o a shower to meet them out around 10 and somehow got a parking spot really close to there. We danced the night away after I ate a chicken wrap at the bar upstairs. Eventually I walked to Gav's to sleep that night after getting too trashed to drive home hahaha.

Sunday I played some ball and Sly came to watch. I went to hang w/Daigo, picked up Ivan a bit later after dropping sly off at the grocery store and bounced to Farmington for another week of work.
drove to farmington after hanging w/gav and daigo.

Messed up the 3 day rule

There's more to Monday! After work and after dinner I called the chick but didn't get an answer. I used to be great at leaving messages but these days being out of practice hurts me severely. I was not only repetitive, I didn't leave my damn phone number!!!! I know, I know, we have call waiting, you can check your vmail and check message details, but as JC always says... "You can't let the girl fuck it up." By not leaving the number, she could get lazy, or just not feel like it. I feel like usually you have to talk girls into things for some reason. Who knows, I just know you have to.

I still really couldn't believe she didn't call back. Maybe she was too drunk when she met me? Maybe she wasn't really interested? Weird because of the great vibe I got... Maybe it was just that I called before 3 days.... Sunday, Monday is only 2 days :(

Tuesday I worked then did work all night after going to dinner at the formerly known as Agave (JD Homers). It was nice, very cheap. There wasn't more selections than regular bar food, so I got mini meatball parm sliders (they were decent). The guacamole was from agave (not sure why) but it was really really good!!!!

Wednesday didn't do much either; I went swimming and chatted up a cute married chick that also was swimming. Nothing much came of it, just that she was from NYC. She left soon after. I pretty much saw her every morning at breakfast and didn't really converse much as I was w/my team and she was w/hers.

We later at China pan; I wasn't very hungry, so I just had wonton. It's a shanghainese restaurant that makes pretty good food. Whenever I eat oranges there after the meal though I feel nauseous for some reason. Needless to say, when I realized this, I no longer ate oranges there, nor any other restaurant for dessert.

booking a conference room

We got in at 8AM as usual w/this boss-led work days. I tried to step up my workload more in the beginning of the audit and did a lot of work during the day outside of trying to find a conference room to work in w/my group. This next story is comical and almost downright stupid.

We have a team which "helps us" in our EY audits to gather information. Unfortunately the key people aren't even proficient in doing this. We gave the guy a simple task, book a conference room for us so we could work for 3 weeks straight in a big enough room for 3 people. We first emailed him weeks back and he didn't respond. After we emailed him directly ONLY about that item, he then finally said he'd taken care of it (he could've thought it was just for the opening meeting, but he is sox auditor, he knows we need a room; we basically do similar things to their group.)

We show up around 10:30 to the office's building as we had a meeting at corporate. My man is nowhere to be found. We asked the security guard to see if any rooms were booked in his name, but he couldn't find any. Luckily, our IT audit team sits in that building, so we went over and asked them to look up the schedule; they didn't see anything either. We ended up sitting in the old manager's vacant office (3 of us) and working from there in the interim.

@ around 11:15, my man called up and we told him about the problem; he didn't seem to realize and understood that we need a room to work out of. We told him to get on dat, and he agreed to have it done by the end of lunch; we could just work from the manager's room until then.

We get back from lunch at Great Taste (a chinese restaurant in New Britain that's pretty good) and saw my man in his office and said hi. He asked us first, "Hey, so are you all set w/the office, or do you need my help?" WHAT?!?!?!?!? I knew he wouldn't do it for us, but that he'd be so clueless or arrogant (had to be super clueless). So we said by the end of our meeting at 2:00, we'll look on the 3rd floor (where most of the business people sit).

During the meeting, he said, "So there are some open items, and the auditors don't have a room to work in." hahahahaha, one guy looked at him, laughed then slowly realized he was telling the truth and said, "Wait, that's actually a problem?" "Well yes" HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA So he suggested going to a woman who knows a lot about the open rooms on the 3rd floor apparently; unfortuntately, she didn't know of anything consistently open over 3 weeks. Not a surprise since it was the same day of the start of that freaking period.

We go down, and he tells us he'll do some research. 2 hours later he shows up w/a piece of paper. It's the schedule of the one conference room the lady mentioned and he goes on to explain to us that it's only open certain times each week and is going through the schedule like we give a damn. HAHAHA It's comical how dumb this is; it's been like 6 hours and we have no conference room. We tell him, you do the same stuff as us when you look at businesses, and he says, "yes, of course". He goes on to say, "You know, if we had done this a couple weeks ago, there would be no problem; I checked before and they were all open." AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I don't even know what to say here. Did he say that to make it sound like our fault? LIke we didn't mention it to him? Just super dumb...

Eventually, he says we'll have to get a room on the 5th floor, so we go up w/him and he looks around, doesn't know a thing and can't open any of the locked offices. So... why did we come up here w/you???

The end of the story is, the next time we went up, he did what he shoudl've done before we went up the first time.

The long frustrating day w/my man ended w/a delicious dinner at Ginza. Also, Ivan hooked me up w/the choco's that i ordered from him (VIA BELGIUM!!!!) I ordered a Del Rey Box of Pralines... FREAKING GOOD. And plenty of bars of cote d'or. Holler at me if you want some... I still have them to this day!!!

P.S. unfortunately I took my 2 coworkers' chocos, now i'm stuck w/them, out a couple bucks and have to figure out a way to get it to them.

Leisurly stroll

So I woke up saturday morning after a couple huge glasses of water at night because of my parched throat due to getting all f'd up. I was supposed to meet my mom's friend's daughter for lunch, so I called her up and it would take her about 1 hr to get to the city. We settled on a 1:30 meet up time. I was extremely hungry already, so i heated up some of the pretzals (bangin!!!) from Sam's bday party and ate a banana Nancy offered me. About 1 hr later I started getting acid reflux and my chest felt really really unhappy. Unfortunately I had so much carbonation in my chest taht I had to get into the bathroom for like 30 min trying to purge it, but nothing came out!!!

In the middle of all that agony, I decided to call sylvana and tell her that i had to cancel cuz i could barely breathe w/comfort let alone eat a meal. I felt TERRIBLE for cancelling cuz like i said, it took her about an hour to get into manhattan. She asked if she could come over to help me and i said not necessary, cuz i am not even leaving the bathroom.

After one pepcid AC (or something close), water that felt like it would make my chest explode on its way back up, diet coke that felt the same way and 45 minutes, I could comfortably LIVE again and I called Sylvana to tell her to come over and try gav's mom's food.

When i went downstairs to meet up with her after her first cab ride outside of Taiwan, i found an attractive girl w/a nice body and big sunglasses walking around like she owned the place. We exchanged pleasantries and went up to Gav's apt. We bs'ed for a while; nancy, gav and sameer as well as gav's parents joined in the bsing. I was planning to play ball that day, but had to cancel because of chest problems, so I told Daigo and Anand I'd go watch them play for a bit and say hi.

We walked over to Stuy town and watched for a bit; I was surprised she was down to watch more than 5 min and she told me she loved watching SBL (Taiwan's bball league, it's terrible), so it was fun to watch. I felt a nice vibe and had my arm around her (not touching fully though, just resting on teh bench).

Later we just walked and I grabbed a bagel sandwich to eat for late lunch. After we were done I communicated w/ivan and picked him and Paula (his fiancee) up from the 59th st. marriott. This was the first time I met paula, a frenchie who didn't speak much english. I loved the accent though!

We drove to around JFK to drop off my friend and then were stuck in traffic goin up that bridge out of queens (forget what it's called). The rest of the drive wasn't bad and we stopped at Mickey D's for a late dinner to Paula's delight. The guy at the counter actually was born in germany and was pumped he was serving 2 europeans haha.

2 Graduations

I woke up and relaxed until I had to get ready to go to my Brooke's sister Sam's graduation party. I went to CVS to pick up a card and headed over to Hillsborough to the BP residence. B's house is pretty nasty, and the houses in the development are NASSSSTY. I met up w/B and we hadn't hung in a long time. I know her sis from Oakcrest summer camp when I was a counselor (holler ashley). Sam was only 5-7 years old at that point; crazy that I knew her sister because we lived across the hall from each other at Thurston @ GWU!!! Actually Paige was there too; I know her from a long time ago when I saw her play tennis at Winning Touch when I worked there. She was nasty, and she is gonna play at TCNJ next year. Go Lions. I know her sister too! It's crazy, 2 sets of sisters I know from Hillsborough, weird.

I then went to NYC; Ivan was there but tapped out early and didn't join me. I hollered at Aakash, should've went to his place to get into R Bar, but stayed around GGav's because I didn't realize I had a car, so I could've just left and brought my stuff into Gav's place later. Unforuntately I waited for Gav and Nancy and we left around 11:30 while Aakash got to R Bar around 10:15 when he said it was packed full of ladies.

During the day, I was in contact w/Rajul and for some reason she was hollerin at me to go out (never happens). So I decided to roll from R Bar cuz it was PACKED and went to meet them at La Caverna. I ran about 6 blocks through pouring rain because a cab would take too long. Unfortunately I was SOAKED when I went in, but luckily my shirt was black so no one could tell. I was flossin my french cuff black w/blue lined shirt from BR with the Watercube cufflinks my sister got me from Beijing (nasty).

I bought Rajul and I cran Vodkas and I was immediately trashed. I Danced w/her and her friends, roommates and others and it was a lot of freaking fn. the DJ did a great job and she had a lot of fun friends that went crazy on the dance floor. I actually wante dto hone in on the cutest one (started w/a b?) but she immediately went away after I met her (felt some vibe). I moved on to her friend Kristen, a short blonde who seemed a bit reserved but seemed interested.

I was dancing near her and she told me I'm a good dancer; i took her hand, we started adnacing and she asked me "What are you doing?" I am not sure why girls always ask dumbass questions like this, so I just said "i'm just tryin to have fun, I'm triyn to dance w/you" And she obliged. I pulled her in and it was on. She kept tellin me I was so much fun, I know how to dance and "Can you teach me?" I just told her, the dumber you think you look? THe better it looks to other people!!!!

We stopped for a little as I took a breather and talked to Rajul. Then started up again later for the rest of the night. Everyone eventually left and she closed her tab out. We took a cab back to her place (I dropped her off after getting her number) and I went to Gav's. Great night!!!!

Cajones

That weekend of the 10th I completed some work, got wendy's and felt nauseous. Manny came by and we chilled/he pregamed before we went out. He talked me into goin to Morristown even though for some reason I was feeling New Brunswick. Fortunately, Morristown is basically good everytime I go, so that's why we decided on it. Before we left, I got a call from Taiweezy and we spoke for a couple minutes. I invited her to my friend's sister's HS grad party the next day if she wasn't up to anything and she said she'd consider it. I really felt like she was trying to holler at me from the vibe we were getting (I Know I know, it was over the phone, but trust me!!!)

Next thing I know we are driving up to M town and we hit up George and Martha's first (I went w/another friend earlier this blog and it's a good pre game spot). We rolled in, I purchased a cran vodka and a (I believe Vodka red bull) for Manny and we chilled, watched some baseball and surveyed the field. He compelled me to chat up a group of 3 cows and a cute asian. After much prodding, i just told him I wanted to wait til they stopped talking and approach. He thought I woudln't do it as time went by, but I stepped up and said my line, "Hi I'm Ken, how are you?" And I was in.

I waded around for a while, I didn't know what else to say and the girls were not very interested, so I used "where are you from?" It opens up the lines a little more; I then asked what they do and the asian said Providence for College to which I could say, "I was just there!" The asian perked up a bit and we spoke for 10 seconds about RI, but a guy came and she instantly went into Derek Bell Operation Shutdown mode. The other girls were not interested either (we were out of their league), so I politely said we're gonna bounce and left.

Manolo was pumped I stepped up and I was pleased myself although it was an ugly set. We walked to the far inside of the bar and posted up. Some beer girls gave us posters as they walked by and we continued to monitor the baseball on TV situation.

All of a sudden manny tells me that there are 2 slammin chicks at the bar w/NO ONE talking to them. Of course I've already noticed but the thought never entered my mind to holler. I think this is one of the reasons why ou need to go out w/other dudes so you can point obvious things out to each other. He started pressuring me to holler and tellin me every dude would bow down if I did. I was on a roll already and was feelin nice from my quarter of a drink, so I promised I would when the time was right. I began to find reasons to step up and told myself and him that I'd step up once we made some decent eye contact.

That moment came maybe 5 minutes later after I had been doin some mock dancing and they had been lookin over. We postured at the tv a little more and then I looked at her while she looked at me. I smiled and immediately headed over. She didn't expect it and I just opened, "Hi I"m Ken, how are you?" We started off similarly to the last set and while I opened her up, Manny tried to open up her very thin blonde friend. My girl, Bethany, was very very attractive, a bit short and blonde w/very good features, a cute face and just very very beautiful. I was attacking well, I got it to the point where I responded to her when she said she worked in insurance with, "Is it as boring as it sounds?" She laughed and said, "No! I actually like it!" I asked her if she was approving/rejecting people; she responded, "Well I wasn't planning to get into it in detail but..." and she started explaining. We were doing very well, but I noticed Manny couldn't hold the other chick. Once Bethany stopped I asked her friend what she did to which she just responded, "TA" So I tried to open her up, but she just coudln't... one word answers (terrible). I realized she wasn't a bitch, I felt like she wanted to open up, but she just wasn't articulate.

Unfortunately I had been feeling great vibe from Bethany; why unfortunately you ask? Because after OWA (One word answer) finished, I panicked because I had nothing to say and politely excused myself and manny. If manny had been able to engage her (not one could've) I coudl've focused on bethany and probably gotten a date it was going so well. Nonetheless we were really pumped we stepped up and he told me she def sweated me. He told me taht I am nasty at opening because it seems like I'm not interested, which is confusing because isn't it automatically obvious you ARE intersted when you open????

I'll take it though. On the way out, we finished drinks and noticed two solid chicks dancing. This time Manny opened it up and I was doing ok not great w/my chick. We kept talking for a bit and he kept asking me for some reason if I wanted to go. The other girl he talked to said, "well grasshopper isn't htat good." which I don't know if i picked up on that she wanted us to stay... I was confused because she was shooting my attempts down but realized later that she just wanted him. I can't believe I let him say we were gonna get out of there. We eventually left and he was upset w/himself he let himself leave w/o a number. We both were unhappy about that, but it was definitely great progress.

We hit up hopper and danced for a bit before walking out. Some girl I noticed was lookin at me, so I approached and got shot down. We left and went over to Famished Frog, just so he could piss. We left since there was NO ONE THERE. We headed to Sona13 and tried to kick it, but no one really was around to kick to that wasn't taken. I do remember some girl stopped talking while we walked by and tried to hide kind of; i should've opened her. Next time I need to realize this and open it up!!!!

We decided to leave and I was real trashed so he had to drive. We tried to get to RAMZ, but after a quick chek run and a dearth of incorrect directions, we made it; it closed around 2 (F U ANNIE, it closes at 2 not 4 dick!!!!). On the way Manny got pissed at me for falling asleep (I freaking passed out from one drink ok?). He didn't trust me on directions and kept asking me are you sure are you sure, so i went into derek bell shutdown mode and just refused to give him directs cuz he kept questioning them. THat shit is MADD ANNOYING. If you keep quesitoning me, why should I offer my advice if you're just not gonna listen; what's the point of asking?

We eventually scrambled and found Club XXXV and checked it out. It was a decent time w/not great chicks. I immediately asked for a really cute waitress's number and got shot down. Some black chick I thought looked good, but manny disagreed WHOLEHEARTEDLY WITH sat on my lap for no tip for maybe 30 min and we chatted. When she finally realized I was not real business, she left and some chick I gave money to for a dance came up to me and was BEGGING me to let her give me a dance for $20. Like she spent 20 min asking me to get a dance and fucking manny prodded her. After much much dissuasion, I got her to leave me alone. We eventually got tired and went home at closing. It was a good night taht we capped off w/Forgetting Sarah Marshall; we freaking went to bed at like 5AM!!!!

Deep thoughts and Golf

I'm writing this exactly 2 weeks after it happened. I had been feeling a little scared and paranoid about the future. I spoke to my friend and really questioned what the future will bring, and if I should think about it. He tells me to NOT think about it, and let it come because nothing is certain; even if you plan for the future, it may not shake out. It's tough to decide if this is actually a good way to think; on one hand I believe he is my one friend who is the most objective w/every decision. He said he'd be ok w/being homeless, because he would still know how to be happy; which makes sense in the long run. If you are unhappy w/money, is that really better than being happy w/no money and no home? I'm also not sure though because if you're homeless, you risk being cold/no food/dying easier than you would w/warmth/food/shelter. I think I felt a bit better talking with him about it, just because there are 2 different schools of thought I can try.

My other friend told me I need to set some new goals. I feel like I"ve achieved most of my large goals, and just really need to think of new ones. I think I agree more with this approach. I really want to strive towards something, and I know myself that goals give you a direction in life.

I think that same day I went to play golf w/Martin who now is BIG BIG into golf. We just went to the driving range and swung. After the last time we hit, I texted several people my golf swing and my other friend Pat who is really good apparently corrected it; he told me to keep my back elbow in my body and shorten the swing. It really freaking worked. I also practiced chipping which is the worst part of my game. THis actually makes sense because it involves the most feel. Putting I feel is easier because you ahve a flat edge you hit; you must scoop the ball when you chip and use a lot of feel.

Rain out

I was planning to play pitch and putt with Martin on Tuesday, but it started raining in the afternoon to wash our plans out. Instead I stayed home and watched parts of the Michael Jackson tribute which was nice. I don't really understand why Al Sharpton feels the need to say that what Michael Jackson did wasn't odd, how people questioned him about it was odd. I totally disagree. Why didn't he say this earlier before when he was living??? Dude, it's obviously weird that you hang w/little kids all the time to even be in the situation to be charged for whatever he was charged w/. I think from watching the movie about the Jackson 5 it's obvious he never had a childhood and he prob just wanted to hang w/little kids because it's definitely t otally different from hanging w/adults; plus little kids don't know really who he is, so they'd just treat him like anyone else. I think it's a shame he died; his music was so amazing! I was just listening to "The Girl Is Mine," a duet he did w/Paul McCartney. Paul is singing then Michael blasts in w/a line and his voice just shits all over his. Pretty amazing. Imagine if he never got into music! Do you think he was just destined to get into music w/his voice? I wonder if when he talked, did people just know he could sing? Is it just innate to sing if you have a voice like that? I like to sing, but my voice is horrendous!!!

Later I had planned to call the chick around 8-9, but my mom was coming over to eat dinner; we decided to get Jose Tejas, but when we arrived as usual, there was a 40 min wait. We decided to leave and went to Champps in Menlo instead which is always delicious, but since I had just eaten some food I was not too hungry. I ordered a simple bowl of chunky potato soup.

We spoke about my future and how I am a bit scared of what it holds because I really haven't thought much about it. I don't know what I will be doing nor what will happen with my job and everything. It's a scary thought, the future, so it has been bothering me a bit in the past couple months. I realized i don't really have any goals now since I've reached most of them, so I will set some new goals soon. I think I want to work part time at a tax firm to learn personal income tax in order to eventually own my own tax business. I think i can garner a lot of different clients with my personality, and I think this is a very nice way to make some good money.

Well I think I called the lady too late, around 930. She didn't pick up so I just told her I wanted to see whats up and she should call me back. That's pretty much it on the day, and i'll see you next time.

The Hangover

Not for me... I don't drink much; I pretty much chilled all day Monday for my company's day off; does this really make sense? Our company had its day off the day after, not before the weekend of July 4. It was unfortunate because no one else was off! I got the number of one of these girls I previously met from the wedding and sent her a text just asking if she was working that day; she was. I only texted (and let her know) that I'm finding all the people I know who are working to let them know I was NOT!

Unfortunately I was tryin to set up hanging out and I sent a text later asking if she wanted to grab a drink Tuesday; I guess not unfortunately, because my problem is I think I don't get girls to know I'm interested in them; so it's fairly direct. She ended up rejecting Tuesday, so I told her Thursday I'd have a tennis lesson, but I'd call her Tues to set it up.

Later after chillin all day and winning a FT sit and go but losing almost a buy in on bodog (I haven't won money on bodog in like a month), I watched Forgetting Sarah Marshall w/my sister (her first time). Freaking love that movie. Jason Segal is very good and the whole movie is just hilarious. Very very good humor; lots of subtle humor which I love. We ate a big ass pizza hut pizza which was delicious, but also looked odd; like they took some items off their supreme pizza, and the pizza didn't look as fresh; it looked old.

After that movie, I went w/Christie to go see the Hangover; it was SIIIIIICK!!!!! Like Daigo said, it's actually got a story and it's almost like Forest Gump where it begins in the future and tells how we got to that point in time. They forget the entire night and slowly piece it together (and find their lost friend) in the process. It was unbelievable especially with the dude w/the beard and the asian guy who talked so much trash. I loved it!!!

Public Enemies

We woke up around 10 and watched the middle portions of the Roddick/Federer Instant Classic on NBC's Breakfast at Wimbledon. It was a sick sick match. Too bad Roddick boned the 2nd set wasting 4 set points and losing the tie break. He didn't get broken except for the last game of the entire match. It really was a great effort from Andy (we gotta get you some poonanny!!!!!); he has really shown some maturity. It's almost like Agassi rebuilding himself where Roddick has dedicated himself to fitness and it really shines through when he plays now that he is never tired and is in a match all the time w/that big serve and improved mobility/stamina.

We were in the bridal suite of Amit and Nisha to just all relax and mingle w/each other (we hadn't seen a lot of people for a while). We had bagels, coffee, fruit. Eventually people filed out, and we drove back to the Westmount CC; I picked up my minivan and drove home.

I had the entire day in front of me, but elected to relax and veg. I eventually went w/my sister to watch Public Enemies w/Johnny Depp and Christian Bale. THe object of Johnny's affection was a beautiful brunette with gorgeous eyes. He was super pimp in the movie and was able to go up to her the first time he saw her and use the line, "I don't know why you brushed off the other guy who stepped up... but I'm glad you did." He then later went up to her at work and told her where he was born, that he likes fruit and movies and her, and that's all she really needed to know.

I really enjoyed how loyal he was to this girl because I feel that's how I am. I remember in the beginning of the movie he is holding on to a guy who got shot in the prison break and held on until the guy died and his grasp failed; he is this big shot crook and is willing to save some random dude. So the entire movie he was just looking to rob banks and see his girl. It was really nice... I really really cannot say enough how much I enjoyed this part of the movie now that I think of it. It was like a demonstration that true love can possibly happen at first sight, although I don't believe this. I feel like you can look at plenty of other girls and feel the same way. I don't know though!! It really was a warm feeling when they finally met up after he had escaped from jail.

The Wedding!

Saturday morning was one of the toughest mornings in a while; my alarm sounded around 8:15 and I had to get up after maybe 6 hours of sleep. Usually I get to sleep in on Saturdays. I got my chinese collared suit, gold and blue paisley tie, lavender Kenneth Cole dress shirt, brown belt, black tuxedo shoes, indian garb and extra clothes together and headed out w/my dad's mini van (he was lookin at my car because the power lock of the driver's side didn't work (ANNOYING).

After about 40 min I arrived at the Westmount CC and went up the wrong way to the back parking lot; I turned around after seeing rishi and parked near him on the hill we would soon climb to go find people, climb down, then dance back up w/Amit! We saw the ladies of the groomsmen: Priya, Karishma and Namrata and walked back down the hill where the procession would be starting. (I must mention here that this was only Amit's side of the wedding; people who were nisha's guests were up top waiting in the CC.

Amit was blingin!!! He was decked out in a mostly white indian garb w/a red and white flower scarf (actual flowers), red turban/crown and nice pointy elf looking shoes (get these too Priya). He got up on this small horse and some guy held an umbrella over him so he'd be shielded from the... Sun. We literally danced all the way up from the bottom to the top of the parking lot near the CC entrance and it was ALOT OF FUN. Basically just jumped around and acted stupid while the DJ in the van played different indian music and gave us directions like "all the ladies now go to the front and dance".

When we got to the top we were met by NIsha's party; it's a shame they didnt' get to participate, but at the top everyone just danced together which was fun. After about 15 min of dancing everyone headed inside as there was a pre-wedding snack and just talked/caught up w/old friends and waited for the wedding to start.

The doors to the actual place for the wedding opened and everyone filed in. I sat near Rishi, Ashley, Alex and Mit as the other girls sat around mit. We watched for the next 2 hours as the couple was tied together and raced to sit down first (whoever sat down first at one point in the procession was determined to "wear the pants" in the marriage and rule the household.

To be honest that was kind of boring, but hey what wedding isn't haha... sorry Amit and Nisha. It was still nice and we were taking pictures all over the place. When that was over everyone filed into the other room for some traditional indian food (the fried bread and chickpea was slammin as was this sweet carrot dish) and eventually left.

We made the 30 min drive to the Hyatt Morristown (sick view) and really just relaxed/napped for 3-4 hours before we had to throw our suits on and go to the cocktail hour at the same venue. We first went downstairs where Amit and Nisha were prepping; Amit had on a real tight suit like euro style w/a slim tie which looked nasty w/a tie clip. He also had suspenders which were straight nasty. After greeting and toasting him we went upstairs to this table w/a HUGE elephant made of flowers to find our namecards w/elephant holders (i regretably had mine cleaned off the table before I could grab it before we left!!!). We walked into the cocktail hour room which was AMAZINGLY LARGE; there were at least 12 couches to sit on and people were mostly walking around gossiping/mingling. There was also a balcony over looking some nice scenery.

We ate some delicious food; amazing calamari, some tuna, 2 types of pasta (gemelli in red sauce and penne in vodka sauce), there was lamb (i didn't find) some general tso's chicken (a must), fruit spreads, chicken marsala w/DELICIOUS RISSOTTO!!! and other things I forgot/did not get a chance to try. As we walked around mingling the SBHS crew took a BIG ASS PIC which was cool. We were talking and all of a sudden this really nice drape looking cloth that hung on the wall to the left when you enter the room LIFTED UP TO REVEAL THE ACTUAL RECEPTION ROOM!!!!!! There were 600+ guests so you can imagine how big this place was. It was all white walls/ceilings w/pinkish tinted lights and just amazing atmosphere; each table had a vase w/a BIG ASS PLANT in the middle w/just branches with candles in glass hanging from them; really an amazing site. I've never seen a room like this for a reception that was this beautiful and elaborate.

Anand practiced his speech in front of us twice in the hotel and when he was about to go up, one of amit's bro's friends said his independence day joke to not much applause. Fortunately it didn't phase him and he performed a very succinct, touching, and not very comical speech.

Soon after, the music started flowing and we were all dancing like crazy to the indian music; amit and nisha got lifted up and it was truly a great time. We stepped out into the cocktail room to get drinks and relax/rest. Walked out to see the night sky from the balcony; truly beautiful as well. When dinner was served we went back in and dined on dry chicken, na'an w/green stuff on it that was good and cheese that was really good as well.

The american music started and it ALLLLLL CAME OFFF... everyone just actin a fool and it was just amazingly fun; the dj even played a whole set of like 5-7 R Kelly songs finishing w/I'm a Flirt and Hotel... freaking perfect!!!!!!!!

We danced the night away and when Hotel ended, all the young'ns got on a freaking COACH PARTY BUS. It fit like 30+ people and we all just listened to music, danced and enjoyed the night!!! It was freaking amazing. When the 30 min ride was over, we got out and tried to plan an "after party" which just turned into singles party since all the relationshiped people were "sleeping". One by one people turned in and everyone was in bed by maybe 3:30?

Videos

Friday I finally finished most of my project that's been outstanding at work. Later in the day I went to Martin's and ate a huge sausage/meatball sub courtesy of Tastee. Then we went over to Tara Greens to hit some golf balls; I realized I hate practicing golf; it is so freaking frustrating. I also reconfirmed that irons 3-7 go basically the same distance for me; there should be about 75 yards of difference!!!!! I would hit and everything seemed to go the same height and distance even though each club is angled differently. I don't even hit woods because they're off center (I need to get new ones). I did purchase Martin's sand wedge he bought before he bought his entire bag of clubs. Since he's hooked me up since whenever I have known him, I decided to pay his full price for it.

One interesting thing that came out of the day was that I shot video of him and he shot video of me swinging. It was fun to watch your own swing and I came away from my swing very impressed!!!!! It looks really fluid and fast which I didn't expect. I sent out the video to most of my friends I thought that would care. Pat told me to shorten the swing and keep the left elbow in, but I don't get it... Pro's have long ass swings like mine!!!! Then I recently watched a video and saw that Tiger uses the short swing for irons and I was hitting w/a pitching wedge. Maybe this is the missing key!!!!!

Anyway after golf we went back and relaxed; Martin burned me 5 cd's w/a lot of michael jackson hits which was amazing. This song where he says "you're just a part of me" is a SICKKKKK song... what a sick beat in the background w/the synthesized guitar. Nasty. I can't wait to play that at a party I host and freaking dance to that.

The night before I discussed w/my patel friends what the deal was w/the Garba that would be going on Friday night; Mit generously offered to let me borrow a Jumble.... not sure what it's called but the Indian garb you wear to weddings and garbas. I met him at the Garba and changed (luckily I forgot my shoes, but then realized I left them home on purpose since I'd be wearing flip flops w/the garb). People were likin the look for me, and Priya may even hook up 2 when she goes to India for me. I'd really like a white one like the one Gav wore to his sister's wedding and one that is all blinged out like Aakash's that he wore (red w/yellow pin stripes in front).

The Garba was fascinating; there was a game in the beginning between sides of the family where they guess names of songs and other things. Then there was an hour of dancing in sets of HUGE circles. Basically you do a karaoka (not sure how to spell it) step front foot over the back foot and keep alternating back and forth for a FREAKING HOUR. You can take breaks but some people kept going; it was crazy.

The next dance involved 2 sticks w/bells on the ends that make sounds of glass hitting each other; we would do a preset dance where you hit sticks w/the person across from you 2 times then hit your own stick and hit their stick a final time before moving on to the 2nd person on that persons's right. You'd continue this for another hour; madd funn but madd tiring!!!! You can add special spins of sticks, different stick touches and spins of your body in to the dance to add spice to it which is fun.

It finally ended w/a 10 full minute prayer by the wedding couple holding and moving this plate of candles.

First Clizzle Acizzle Fo Shizzle

Thursday morning we woke up and drove over to the airport to return the car; people remember, when you get the option that you will fuel the car up before you get back to the rental car drop off, FILL UP YOUR TANK BEFORE YOU GET BACK. We did not do this and had to rush to a gas station before dropping off the car. Once we did that we hailed a cab at the airport and sped off to the Providence train station. On the way over regrettably I didn't have my camera out to take a pictures of the "Cheaters" strip club we passed :(

The providence train station is pretty small; 4 tracks and only has one decently sized room w/a newstand, a breakfast/lunch place and a ticket counter. You could hear the flapping of the numbers/letters from the schedule above the room showing what trains were coming at what time. Our Acela was a bit late; we went down to the track to wait for it. Oddly enough when it came, the first class car was the last one; I had predicted it was the first one, so we walked to where the front of the train would be when it arrived only to have to walk the entire train length to the back of the train once it DID arrive.

We had some bread pudding and sausage for breakfast; it tasted ok, kind of weird because I don't like eating sweets for breakfast. We did some work on the train (wifi coming soon but not on board yet) and relaxed. We also took some pics (I've been tweeting a lot of pics recently and am starting to do Video). The two gentleman waitors and attendants of first class were really nice. At one point I was madd hungry right before we got to NYC, so I went to the snack car. I ordered some food but the guy was askin me why not just eat in first class. I went back and an attendant told me he'd heat a bagel up and hook me up w/the first meal after NYC since he knew i was getting off soon after.

After devouring my ginger chicken, I got off the train at metropark and rode back via taxi to my house. The driver showed me a lollipop pipe; it was ridiculous. It was a piece and you could just turn it around and it'd look like a lollipop; he said I could get one for 10 bones; amazing. I'm def callin him again just cuz he was madd cool; he said he had 4 chicks holler at him just on his taxi because of the hash. Amazing news. I always thought I had the potential to be a world class weed smoker, but I've never and probably never will inhale any smoke on purpose. The reason? In 7th grade I ran the first mile I was ever required to run and finished in like >10 min which is TERRIBLE. From then on I vowed never to smoke anything because my stamina is so terrible already; who knew if I could even walk 5 steps w/smoke.

Anyway, I did some more work upon returning then got outside for a quick tennis lesson. Before the lesson I planned to hit up The Patel Bros. place for some poker at night. I dashed home and showered not sure if i was awake enough to drive. Plus CK had called me to hang out; but unfortunately I had prior engagement. I decided to drive over and arrived around 9:20. We started around 10 and there were only a few hands that were very meaningful; I played pretty tight through the first hour.

The first was maybe the 4th hand of the night. I picked up Ks and raised to $0.75 @ .1/.25 blinds. Only Corey called me and we went to the flop which was Q high. I CB'd and he called a big big bet. Turn comes and I just went all in; he had me covered and since he's a calling station he thought for a full 2 min and eventually called me w/aq and did not suck out. I was up prob about 20 bucks there and was chillin.

After about an hour Ariel and Dennis showed up and immediately were raising most pots. Dennis and him both kept showing down close to the nuts when they'd be all in or betting huge and getting called down when this hand came up:

I hold QQ UTG and haven't played a hand in a while since the 2 got here. I raise to 1.25 since Dennis has been raising to that. Ariel made a comment, "Ohhhh Ken only plays huge pairs, he hasn't played a hand," and called. Flop was 2 spades and 10 high. I get check raised from 2 to 6.5. I think for a while and call; turn comes off suit 6. He instachecks and I think for a while before putting $10 into $12. He thinks for a while and calls. Another off suit 6 comes and he goes all in for the rest ($14). I had a bad feeling he'd do this and have a feeling he has me beat. On the flop and turn I was thinking the only hands he can call w/are pocket pairs or ak since he knows I only play big hands. On the river he kept talking to me telling me to fold AK. I felt this was all an act to get me to call. What i should've done was ask him if he wanted me to fold or said i think you want me to fold; instead I told him I think you want me to call and he said nahhh, you should fold cuz you have nothing, ak. I kept talking to him tryin to pick up any sort of read and eventually turned over my 2 qs and asked if he wanted a call. He kinda just looked up and laughed and didn't look at the cards. I took this as a bit of weakness after all this strength posturing. I decided to call and he turned over 56 of spades for a busted flush draw but made trips to trump my over pair. Disappointing. I berated myself for not going w/my initial read, but i'm happy I stayed in to pick up all the tells I could try to find.

The last hand of importance was when I raised w/a6 under the gun and anand called. I know anand likes to see weakness and pounce. We both checked the flop, then a 6 came on the turn and i delay CB'd. To my surprise he called. On the river, I checked planning to call any w/showdown value. He bet 10 into about 8. I instacalled and he began quickly turned over his hand. The speed in which he did this made me think I was done; however, he showed me a4 and i scooped w/a pair of 6s!!!

I ended up leaving around 1AM to drive home since i had work the next morning and made it home. I was down to around $10 and made it back up to almost double the initial buy in which was nice.

Until next time.

Trip home, finish work, teach tennis, poker at anand's hung w/madd people, won $15

Table 28

Wednesday we finished work and went to Table 28 along the Lake/Bay shore of RI. We used the boss's new iPhone to check out the directions and followed the green dot to the restaurant which was cool. The hostess when we walked in was very very solid, but probably not interested. I don't know why that affects anything. I went to the bathroom and was amazed to see a window from the urinal looking at the bottom of the stairwell; basically if someone kneeled down in the middle of the stairs, they'd be able to see into the men's bathroom (why didn't they do this w/the women's room!??!?!

Our seat was really really nice; we sat facing the glass doors and had the waitress open up the door so we got a view of the lake and all the boats; personally I thought there were too many boats and not enough water, but maybe that's just my house. We got a roasted red pepper hummus w/flat bread which tasted very good; I got a seafood/chicken carbonara which tasted pretty good. Lynette was unhappy with what I suggested which seemed like a seafood pie because they had a bready pastry baked on top of the seafood. She ordered a side of marinara linguini which tasted pretty plain. During the meal I was gettin a mini vibe from the waitress. I told myself I'd ask her out, but during the meal kept finding reasons not to... too young etc... I dunno what's wrong w/me!!!!!!

Eventually we just left because of gastrointestinal difficulties. I had to run out and speed back to the hotel hahaha. As I rushed in, I noticed a cute front desk attendant; during dinner we discussed watching Public Enemy, so I contemplated asking the FD girl (my boss doesn't mind as I know she'd be tired). Unfortunately She left after I was finished showering :(

Another day another mistake... hopefully I can start capitalizing sooner rather than later.

then almost went to movie, too tired, couldn't pull trigger on hostess, waitress nor the front desk girl

East Greenwich

For the first time in maybe 2 years I stepped foot in the Bostitch Plant in East Greenwich on Tuesday morning. We had eaten a quick breakfast which included oatmeal w/raisins and sausage/egg on mcmuffin that I made at the springhill Suites. Work lasted a while and afterwards we headed to 1149, a restaurant about 5 min from the plant that is infamous (to me) for having maserati's, benz's and Beamers in the front of its valet parking lot. I've always loved the wait staff there; all explain things well and are very very courteous. We ordered a smoked salmon appetizer which came out shaped as a rose somehow; it was freaking amazing not to mention how good it tasted. We also got something else I forgot because the smoked salmon was so freaking good. The bread this time wasn't very good; it was a bit plain and dry. I had a roll w/cranberries in it. Eventually we got our main entrees which for me included scrod which I ate for the first time. I really really enjoy eating boneless fish now. I think my fav is still sea bass, but scrod was very good. I tried some of my boss's delicious ribeye and we had mac n' cheese, spinach and mushroom compliments. Not much else happened that night... we just went home and I went to bed.

Acela

Monday I did some work before my train around 2:15. My cab shot over to the train station in 10 minutes and I waited for about 20 minutes before getting on the first car of the acela. I walked maybe 30 seconds on the platform from the middle of the train all the way up to first class and the conductor asks me, "Are you first class?" "Uh, what the fuck you think? Would I walk 30 sec up here just to get rejected???" I thought to myself, but I only said, "Yeah. (w/a smile)."

I walked through the electronic glass sliding doors, walked to the middle of the car, found a 4 seat area for me and my boss, dropped my bags and threw my pull carry on into the drawers above the seats. I sat down and ordered an OJ. I like ordering OJ when I travel because it keeps my immune system working. I sat next to a 6 older brunette and a loud older black chick that was on the phone for the first 10 min of my ride.

The scenery going to RI is really amazing; you pass by the beach in CT and just have a lot of nature on both sides of the train running by during the trip. Bossss got on at New York Penn. When we got to Providence we were both freaking hungry; however, she wanted to buy an iPhone so we went to Providence Place mall and searched all 3 floors for the apple store.

When we finally found it, she went right to an associate and purchased the phone; it was really weird because we didn't even go to a cash register. The associate just had a portable scanner that completed the entire purchase. The funny thing was that my boss wanted to have a "number she liked" and 551-xxx-xxxx wasn't cutting it. She went to the at&t store and inquired; she'd have to pay $36 to change it. The hilarious thing was she wasn't talking only about the area code, she wanted an entire 10 DIGITS that she liked... what a WEIRDO!!!!

We finally left and headed to Blue Grotto, a mafia laden Italian place on Federal Hill that reminded me of Vesuvio's in The Sopranos. I told the hostess I heard the place was nice and that we drove 45 min to get here; she wondered aloud where we were from and I told her, "no, we were 2 min away and drove 45 min!!!" She laughed and explained they don't usually have such excitable characters in the restaurant, but that it was good. I felt a bit of vibe there, but it died down during the dinner. I explained to my boss that I felt a bit cautious and nervous to ask her because of the lack of vibe and told her only so that she'd berate me for thinking that. I told myself I'd get her #, but in the end didn't... I guess cuz i just feel like there's no connection and there's no point, but I might as well just ask right?! Who cares, I need to get practice. I did it w/the vietnamese chick and it was fun for me. I also have to learn persistance.

When we got to the marriott in West Warwick, the front desk lady explained it was free movie night (all marriotts have free movie nights on Monday). I chose Gran Torino over ROle Models (which I saw already and at the advice of Archana). It was a freaking SICK MOVIE. What amazing acting by Clint...