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.