Great decade. I graduated HS to start off and now I'm a man.
Hard to believe Y2K was 10 yr ago, 9/11 was almost 9 yr ago, and my whole college life has passed me by. It's been really the defining decade of my life. I really felt college shaped me into the man I am today. I made great diverse friends, reconnected w/my HS friends and continue to live a happy, healthy, joyous life.
The last decade was filled w/predetermined goals I always took for granted, like graduating HS and getting a job. What I didn't plan well was my new goals after I accomplished them. This decade I think is a perfect lift off for planning and creating goals for myself in order to be a better and more productive person.
Most of all, I plan on not wasting as much time anymore. Sometimes I sit in front of the TV and computer and just surf facebook, twitter, cardplayer.com, espn.com, gmail, and other things just to burn time. I'll even play minesweeper, hearts and solitaire to pass time...
NO MORE! I'm going to start working on personal projects, business ideas, reading for work, reading training materials, and trying to find ways to improve myself.
I also plan to use more moisturizer, as my skin is very dry and plan to plan to go to sleep 30 min earlier so I have more time to apply moisturizer and maybe floss more and do more cleanly things to keep my skin/body healthy.
I'm looking forward to develop into a master flirt too. I am doing very well in the articulation department. I can hold conversations, I can start them well, I just don't really close well. I need to find that mortal kombat killer instinct. I don't mean I'm just going to try to hit up girls and never call. I plan on fostering relationships casual and/or serious as I really love learning more about girls of different cultures and backgrounds. I think everyone who has a serious counter part before they are 25 is just really missing out. I think most people strive for love, but I don't think people who are "in love" really know if they are or not... life's all about sample size and 1/5 is just not enough. What do I know, maybe i'm just bitter.
There should be some follow up to this post, I just wanted to get something out so I can tell you what happened NYE!
Here's to the next 10 years!!!
12.31.2009
Toronto!!
Our flight to Toronto went fairly smoothly; we were only delayed 30 min at EWR and actually landed 2 min early at YYR... who would've guessed that's the airport code for Toronto? I think they give Canada all the Y prefixes which blows for them haha
All through the weekend we ate at pretty nice restaurants. Mark spends a lot of damn money! There was Maki Sushi, a really interesting all you can eat Japanese place. This is not just crappy sushi; we're talkin hand rolls, regular appetizers, sashimi, udon, yaki soba, rice dishes, teriyaki, & pretty much any type of japanese food you want!!! It was only $20 a person which is sick.
We also checked out a place called Bourbon St.. Mark asked if we had Bourbon St. in the US and I joked no, but we have Bourbon St... like the one in Louisianna (I kill myself and no one else). It was a very good american food/steak place. My sister and I got a cajun pasta dish and some chicken dish to split half and half. That's a favorite of mine. On dates, w/fam, I usually try to order something both (all) people like and split so we all get a nice variety... i guess it's more chinese culture to share?
The first Friday night we were there, we ate a DELICIOUS thanksgiving dinner (even though it was xmas). It really was so so good; kudos to Uncle Peter the Canadian Cook!!! He made roast potatoes to die for... mashed potatoes may have been the best I've had (he adds a bit of mayo I think). He also marinated and prepared a turkey frmo 9AM til dinner around 8PM. There was cranberry sauce, 2 types of salmon teriyaki that Auntie Esther made, some veggies, good stuffing, asparagus and some turkey gravy. If there's anything I missed, I'm sorry, but that was a huge huge dinner and I stuffed myself. We topped it off w/some pumpkin pie.
That night before we went out, we opened presents. My sister hooked up Stanford t's for each of the boys. I hooked up Dennis w/this black velvet Le Tigre blazer that he loved. We also got both sets aunts/uncles a pilsner glass and mug from Stanford each. Everyone really loved their gifts.
Before you think we hosed Mark, we were planning to get him 2 bottles of liquor from Duty free. We had foudn out he likes Vodka, so we were gonna get some goose and a bottle of this really cool looking saki, but we were there too close to our flight time, and they refused to serve us!!!! The guy said we'd be able to buy it in Canada, but NOPE!!! We also couldnt' even get any on the way back to the US since there was the freaking heightened security and we went to some small 3 gate terminal corner.
After presents, we went out to Toronto's downtown area. Right when Mark said let's look for parking I reached in my pocket and realized I pulled a "forgot my ID" for the 2nd time in my life (1st time was w/Martin after a similar 45 min ride). I can't believe out of Mark, Dennis and Amy no one showed outright anger over this. I sheepishly admitted it and berated myself at least 4 times on the way home. After I fetched the ID, we tried a sports bar around Richmond Hill, but it was closed and
we gave up.
We snowboarded Saturday; it was really a great day to snowboard. It sleeted/rained in the morning (we woke up around 930) and got there around 1030. There were NOT a lot of people around, so we were gettin in a lot of runs on clear ski lifts. Thank god too because i was teaching my sister snowboarding for the first time.
My sister has skiied and hated it in the past, so she tried boarding. She really enjoyed it much to my enjoyment. We both felt I was an excellent teacher, as she was able to do "falling leaf" down the smallest non-bunny slope (we didn't realize there was a smaller bunny slope to the one we were on) 3 runs in. It was sick!!!
In the afternoon after lunch, she tried toe which was more of a disaster and then tried linking as she got overconfident. She fell a lot. She did come with us down an actual part of the mountain (kudos), and did fairly well; extremely well for a beginner.
That night we just rented Pelham 123 (Denzel/Travolta) and played some rockband.
We went Boxing Sunday... not punching boxing, but shopping boxing, as in Canadian boxing day (week). It's basically Black Friday, but after xmas... really weird. We went to Easton Center and I only bought 1 black shirt w/white stripes from Club Monaco. We walked around the whole day around Toronto. It was tiring. We did, however, get Mark a nice gift; a 4:20 clock and Uno Extreme which came to good ues the following morning as we played for 15-30 min to kill time and relax.
Monday we ate Mongolian; the line was ABSURDLY long for the mongolian barbecue, so amy, aunt esther and I just got regular buffet and shaved ice. Pretty good, but not worth goin all the way to Pacific mall to check out. We did get to the airport very early and then...
The freakign guy who lit himself on fire screwed us on the flight back. We had to get to the airport like 3 hours early just to make sure the extra security didn't F us over. Our flight got pushed back, but i got on the standby list w/my sister. Unfortuantely, she doesn't get priority while travelling w/me since my elite status is not high enough. I got on the earlier flight, and she did not. They made me make a decision if I wanted to use that flight because they'd have to move mine or my replacement's bags to the earlier flight... so w/an hour to go, I decided to give up my standby spot as i had gotten on the earlier flight.
Not 10 min after I did that, (there had been 5 people total on the wait list, and i was 2nd, so 3 people neeeded to get tickets for my sister to get one), 5 total people got tickets!!!!! I coudln't believe it, I was on tilt; I went up to the desk to ask and she said they didn't give tickets to the people on the standby list, they gave them to people coming in from other flights because those peopel get priority... I kind of calmed down.
Anyway, we waited another hour and started boarding. The new policy for international flights entering the US detailed that for the last hour, no one could get out of his seat, so since our flight was only 1 hour, once the door closed, NO ONE COULD STAND UP... meaning NO ONE COULD USE THE BATHROOM THE ENTIRE FLIGHT. SO MUCH PRESSURE! Before they closed the door I rushed to the front even though I didn't need to go, JUST IN CASE. There is a line of people behind you and every second you take is another second we delay take off!!! You think that's not pressure?!!?!
Luckily, I didn't need the bathroom and we got home safely.
All through the weekend we ate at pretty nice restaurants. Mark spends a lot of damn money! There was Maki Sushi, a really interesting all you can eat Japanese place. This is not just crappy sushi; we're talkin hand rolls, regular appetizers, sashimi, udon, yaki soba, rice dishes, teriyaki, & pretty much any type of japanese food you want!!! It was only $20 a person which is sick.
We also checked out a place called Bourbon St.. Mark asked if we had Bourbon St. in the US and I joked no, but we have Bourbon St... like the one in Louisianna (I kill myself and no one else). It was a very good american food/steak place. My sister and I got a cajun pasta dish and some chicken dish to split half and half. That's a favorite of mine. On dates, w/fam, I usually try to order something both (all) people like and split so we all get a nice variety... i guess it's more chinese culture to share?
The first Friday night we were there, we ate a DELICIOUS thanksgiving dinner (even though it was xmas). It really was so so good; kudos to Uncle Peter the Canadian Cook!!! He made roast potatoes to die for... mashed potatoes may have been the best I've had (he adds a bit of mayo I think). He also marinated and prepared a turkey frmo 9AM til dinner around 8PM. There was cranberry sauce, 2 types of salmon teriyaki that Auntie Esther made, some veggies, good stuffing, asparagus and some turkey gravy. If there's anything I missed, I'm sorry, but that was a huge huge dinner and I stuffed myself. We topped it off w/some pumpkin pie.
That night before we went out, we opened presents. My sister hooked up Stanford t's for each of the boys. I hooked up Dennis w/this black velvet Le Tigre blazer that he loved. We also got both sets aunts/uncles a pilsner glass and mug from Stanford each. Everyone really loved their gifts.
Before you think we hosed Mark, we were planning to get him 2 bottles of liquor from Duty free. We had foudn out he likes Vodka, so we were gonna get some goose and a bottle of this really cool looking saki, but we were there too close to our flight time, and they refused to serve us!!!! The guy said we'd be able to buy it in Canada, but NOPE!!! We also couldnt' even get any on the way back to the US since there was the freaking heightened security and we went to some small 3 gate terminal corner.
After presents, we went out to Toronto's downtown area. Right when Mark said let's look for parking I reached in my pocket and realized I pulled a "forgot my ID" for the 2nd time in my life (1st time was w/Martin after a similar 45 min ride). I can't believe out of Mark, Dennis and Amy no one showed outright anger over this. I sheepishly admitted it and berated myself at least 4 times on the way home. After I fetched the ID, we tried a sports bar around Richmond Hill, but it was closed and
we gave up.
We snowboarded Saturday; it was really a great day to snowboard. It sleeted/rained in the morning (we woke up around 930) and got there around 1030. There were NOT a lot of people around, so we were gettin in a lot of runs on clear ski lifts. Thank god too because i was teaching my sister snowboarding for the first time.
My sister has skiied and hated it in the past, so she tried boarding. She really enjoyed it much to my enjoyment. We both felt I was an excellent teacher, as she was able to do "falling leaf" down the smallest non-bunny slope (we didn't realize there was a smaller bunny slope to the one we were on) 3 runs in. It was sick!!!
In the afternoon after lunch, she tried toe which was more of a disaster and then tried linking as she got overconfident. She fell a lot. She did come with us down an actual part of the mountain (kudos), and did fairly well; extremely well for a beginner.
That night we just rented Pelham 123 (Denzel/Travolta) and played some rockband.
We went Boxing Sunday... not punching boxing, but shopping boxing, as in Canadian boxing day (week). It's basically Black Friday, but after xmas... really weird. We went to Easton Center and I only bought 1 black shirt w/white stripes from Club Monaco. We walked around the whole day around Toronto. It was tiring. We did, however, get Mark a nice gift; a 4:20 clock and Uno Extreme which came to good ues the following morning as we played for 15-30 min to kill time and relax.
Monday we ate Mongolian; the line was ABSURDLY long for the mongolian barbecue, so amy, aunt esther and I just got regular buffet and shaved ice. Pretty good, but not worth goin all the way to Pacific mall to check out. We did get to the airport very early and then...
The freakign guy who lit himself on fire screwed us on the flight back. We had to get to the airport like 3 hours early just to make sure the extra security didn't F us over. Our flight got pushed back, but i got on the standby list w/my sister. Unfortuantely, she doesn't get priority while travelling w/me since my elite status is not high enough. I got on the earlier flight, and she did not. They made me make a decision if I wanted to use that flight because they'd have to move mine or my replacement's bags to the earlier flight... so w/an hour to go, I decided to give up my standby spot as i had gotten on the earlier flight.
Not 10 min after I did that, (there had been 5 people total on the wait list, and i was 2nd, so 3 people neeeded to get tickets for my sister to get one), 5 total people got tickets!!!!! I coudln't believe it, I was on tilt; I went up to the desk to ask and she said they didn't give tickets to the people on the standby list, they gave them to people coming in from other flights because those peopel get priority... I kind of calmed down.
Anyway, we waited another hour and started boarding. The new policy for international flights entering the US detailed that for the last hour, no one could get out of his seat, so since our flight was only 1 hour, once the door closed, NO ONE COULD STAND UP... meaning NO ONE COULD USE THE BATHROOM THE ENTIRE FLIGHT. SO MUCH PRESSURE! Before they closed the door I rushed to the front even though I didn't need to go, JUST IN CASE. There is a line of people behind you and every second you take is another second we delay take off!!! You think that's not pressure?!!?!
Luckily, I didn't need the bathroom and we got home safely.
Flying through a Snowstorm
Saturday we woke up to a clear day, but it was supposed to snow. Sylvana checked her flight that afternoon out of Newark, and it had already been cancelled. Since she had a flight the next day at midnight from SFO to Taiwan she started looking online and found a Jet Blue flight out of JFK (the ONLY one that was not cancelled). She booked it and still had a contingency plan in case that one didn't take off. She changed the northwest flight from Newark to Sunday. It started snowing and we set off around 230 to get to JFK for her 6:58 flight. We started to drive, but it was snowing pretty hard, so I decided to take public transportation. I called Daigo to confirm the trip details.
First we went NJT to Penn Station ($27.50 for a round trip and one one way). Then connected to the LIRR to Jamaica; it cost me about +$20 dollars because I bought peak tickets even though it was not peak (round trip and one way)!!!! From Jamaica, we took a $5 air tran to the airport. We got there about an hour and a half before and she got through security.
I went back to Jamaica to wait for her flight to take off to make the most efficient use of time possible. I had to pay for the airtran back AT jamaica, so it made the most sense to wait there. She told me she got on the plane, and I hopped through the turnstyle and tried to make the next LIRR back to Penn station.
As I was riding NJT back to Metro park, she alerted me they had NOT taken off yet!!!I started to worry, but I was already on the last leg of the trip back, so I could just sit and wait. She said they were unable to get back to the gate because of the snow, and they weren't taking off (Shades of the other jet blue flight where people were stuck on a plane for 10 hours!). Fortuntaely for us, Sylvana took off around 11 (not bad). They eventually got in the air, and she sent me a text while I was asleep that she'd made it. Luckily for her, she was able to catch her flight on Sunday from SFO to Taiwan.
First we went NJT to Penn Station ($27.50 for a round trip and one one way). Then connected to the LIRR to Jamaica; it cost me about +$20 dollars because I bought peak tickets even though it was not peak (round trip and one way)!!!! From Jamaica, we took a $5 air tran to the airport. We got there about an hour and a half before and she got through security.
I went back to Jamaica to wait for her flight to take off to make the most efficient use of time possible. I had to pay for the airtran back AT jamaica, so it made the most sense to wait there. She told me she got on the plane, and I hopped through the turnstyle and tried to make the next LIRR back to Penn station.
As I was riding NJT back to Metro park, she alerted me they had NOT taken off yet!!!I started to worry, but I was already on the last leg of the trip back, so I could just sit and wait. She said they were unable to get back to the gate because of the snow, and they weren't taking off (Shades of the other jet blue flight where people were stuck on a plane for 10 hours!). Fortuntaely for us, Sylvana took off around 11 (not bad). They eventually got in the air, and she sent me a text while I was asleep that she'd made it. Luckily for her, she was able to catch her flight on Sunday from SFO to Taiwan.
12.23.2009
Tennis
Monday night Syl made my family some food; it was delicious. There were mushrooms, potatoes w/some spices, noodles and some squid. It was really really good. It was paired w/my dad's beef; I forget what portion; it was bangin.
Tuesday morning we played tennis; there was no one at the desk of WTT (my old tennis club). I planned to get Sylvana a tennis racquet for xmas, so she could use it while we played. Since there was no one there, We looked at the racquets and I noticed one that was perfect for her; big frame and light. It was only $50 (regular price $90), so I called Corey in (he works there) and he made the sale. She looked surprised and pumped. We immediately went out and played for about an hour. We played drop game for about 25 min which was a lot of fun; she actually was pretty good at it. I think Sylvana is actually pretty athletic.
That night we went to NYC for a belly dance show; we first got Chicken & Rice and brought it to Gav's place to eat and hang. We planned to check out SoHo, but then didn't have enough time, so we went w/gav to his tailor which was right near Stanton station where I was a month and a half ago. This tailor was supposed to be nasty. They're all dominican who work there. While Gav got his suit fitted up, we went to check out some stores.
Eventually we just got dropped off at Je'Bon restaurant (I've been once, great sushi) and we walked over to Veniero's to get a slice of cheesecake and some strawberry type dessert. Both were freaking delicious after we missed the train at midnight and had to wait an hour.
We walked back in the 20 degree weather and checked out the japanese place next door; I got some not so great ramen.
The belly dance show was suppsoed to start at 730 and it ended up starting around 930. It was pretty interesting; there were some really athletic girls, all of them smiled the entire time and were pretty solid entertainers. I even made eye contact and talked to one of them ebfore the went out. Kind of flirted you know?
One of the dancers was this dude Tariq and he was pretty nasty. He had all the ladies screaming and it was madd funny. It was pretty entertaining and the place was freaking packed. To get there you had to walk to the back of the restaurant and go downstairs. There were a lot of women there, but only maybe 3 cute women aside from the dancers (about 4/8 cute dancers).
Thursday was more shopping at woodbury; I got madd stuff including a pair of D&G Shades, almost a pair of Pumas, and a new pair of True Religions w/the flap pockets (kind of annoying, but look good).
We drove from NY to Mountain lakes as I had a tennis match that night. While I played my usual mixed doubles, Sylvana was madd bored for 2.5 hr. We ate at TGIF and watched the football game; colts beat the Jags.
Saturday we went to NYC in the afternoon and she bought me a ben sherman grey thin tie w/shield icons and stripes; pretty nice xmas gift. We also ate at Vanessa's dumpling hwich was AWESOME as always.
We hung w/albert (and his friend isaac) and rahul at McManus's. We just bs'ed and Al told me about his most recent dating escapade and how it's going well. I love hearing about dating experiences in general and comparing notes. It's a great way to learn and divulge information.
I think this was very convoluted, but I had to get the post out!
Tuesday morning we played tennis; there was no one at the desk of WTT (my old tennis club). I planned to get Sylvana a tennis racquet for xmas, so she could use it while we played. Since there was no one there, We looked at the racquets and I noticed one that was perfect for her; big frame and light. It was only $50 (regular price $90), so I called Corey in (he works there) and he made the sale. She looked surprised and pumped. We immediately went out and played for about an hour. We played drop game for about 25 min which was a lot of fun; she actually was pretty good at it. I think Sylvana is actually pretty athletic.
That night we went to NYC for a belly dance show; we first got Chicken & Rice and brought it to Gav's place to eat and hang. We planned to check out SoHo, but then didn't have enough time, so we went w/gav to his tailor which was right near Stanton station where I was a month and a half ago. This tailor was supposed to be nasty. They're all dominican who work there. While Gav got his suit fitted up, we went to check out some stores.
Eventually we just got dropped off at Je'Bon restaurant (I've been once, great sushi) and we walked over to Veniero's to get a slice of cheesecake and some strawberry type dessert. Both were freaking delicious after we missed the train at midnight and had to wait an hour.
We walked back in the 20 degree weather and checked out the japanese place next door; I got some not so great ramen.
The belly dance show was suppsoed to start at 730 and it ended up starting around 930. It was pretty interesting; there were some really athletic girls, all of them smiled the entire time and were pretty solid entertainers. I even made eye contact and talked to one of them ebfore the went out. Kind of flirted you know?
One of the dancers was this dude Tariq and he was pretty nasty. He had all the ladies screaming and it was madd funny. It was pretty entertaining and the place was freaking packed. To get there you had to walk to the back of the restaurant and go downstairs. There were a lot of women there, but only maybe 3 cute women aside from the dancers (about 4/8 cute dancers).
Thursday was more shopping at woodbury; I got madd stuff including a pair of D&G Shades, almost a pair of Pumas, and a new pair of True Religions w/the flap pockets (kind of annoying, but look good).
We drove from NY to Mountain lakes as I had a tennis match that night. While I played my usual mixed doubles, Sylvana was madd bored for 2.5 hr. We ate at TGIF and watched the football game; colts beat the Jags.
Saturday we went to NYC in the afternoon and she bought me a ben sherman grey thin tie w/shield icons and stripes; pretty nice xmas gift. We also ate at Vanessa's dumpling hwich was AWESOME as always.
We hung w/albert (and his friend isaac) and rahul at McManus's. We just bs'ed and Al told me about his most recent dating escapade and how it's going well. I love hearing about dating experiences in general and comparing notes. It's a great way to learn and divulge information.
I think this was very convoluted, but I had to get the post out!
12.22.2009
Lots of shopping and football
THe last couple weeks have been a lot of shopping and fun. I was at Jersey Gardens walkin around on Saturday, and went to Dinner in the city w/Syl on Sunday. We hit up this place in the city whose name I forget; it was a mexican place. I rocked my Jacobs jersey and we got free queso dip for it because the owner loves the Giants. We met up w/her friends from class, Diego, Julia, Yung Gan, and her teacher Mrs. Shockey!!!! No relation. It was delicious food; we had goat belly tacos, and chicken enchiladas. There were these donut like things we dipped in light chocolate which were ok; pretty unhealthy.
Monday I hung out w/Ebin; we went to the mall I think called riverside up north. It was pretty pretty nice. I checked out Ferragamo and saw a really nice watch that I was thinkin about buying; it was 1.8k but was quartz; ouch. Automatic is way better and it's 3.5k :(.
I gave him his gift; I used my amex points to get him a $50 Nike gift card and 2 $50 PF Changs gift cards because he loves chinese food. We actually went to PF's for dinner that day and he really enjoyed it. I tried again to brush up his chopstick skills. It was tough, but we laughed together which is what's important.
Later I watched MNF w/Daigo and Syl at Chilis, then went over to North Brunswick bowling lanes and couldn't get a lane because they had JUST closed down the cash registers and we got there right at 11. DAMN!!
Monday I hung out w/Ebin; we went to the mall I think called riverside up north. It was pretty pretty nice. I checked out Ferragamo and saw a really nice watch that I was thinkin about buying; it was 1.8k but was quartz; ouch. Automatic is way better and it's 3.5k :(.
I gave him his gift; I used my amex points to get him a $50 Nike gift card and 2 $50 PF Changs gift cards because he loves chinese food. We actually went to PF's for dinner that day and he really enjoyed it. I tried again to brush up his chopstick skills. It was tough, but we laughed together which is what's important.
Later I watched MNF w/Daigo and Syl at Chilis, then went over to North Brunswick bowling lanes and couldn't get a lane because they had JUST closed down the cash registers and we got there right at 11. DAMN!!
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