weekend in Chicago

Even with their flight delays, I was the last to arrive, so David, Lauren, and Ryanne picked me up at the airport. We just chilled at his house for the afternoon and then went with Viralyne to Wildfire for dinner. Lots of steaks and carbs. Good times. More important were the wine flights we did. Lauren and I both did “4 jazzy reds” and “4 premium reds,” which got us off to a great start. We all went to Hangge Uppe for hip-hop and ‘80s nights on different floors. Lots more drinking. Lots of dancing. David’s friend Paul and some of Viralyne’s friends joined us. As did Ted and his entourage, including familiar faces David and Justin. Fantastic night.

That Saturday after a nice breakfast of croissants and blueberry loaf, we went directly to lunch at a drive-in, SuperDawg. We spent the day in the city at Lauren’s love, Cloudgate (“The Bean”) and watching kids play in the face fountain. (I don’t know it’s real name.) We walked down Mag Mile and stopped at both Hershey’s and Ghirardelli chocolate stores. I stocked up with some ammunition for that night’s dinner dessert, as Gisela had requested chocolate be involved.

I’d promised her and the others a high-end meal and recruited Jack, once again, to be my culinary partner. We stopped by Jerry’s for vegetables, Binny’s for wines, and Whole Foods for proteins. Jack and I decided on ingredients and recipes in a completely spontaneous, impromptu way. (Save for dessert because pastries and chilled items usually require a little more prep time than other things.) I had texted Tara our decisions once they were made, so she, fresh out of sommelier school, could do some pairings. The guy at Binny’s took her type-and-region recommendations and even further refined them to bottle-specific. Whole Foods was out of duck, so we changed that dish to lamb at the last minute. But everyone still seemed to be really happy with the Jack-Andrew Tasting Menu:

• Chorizo seared scallops with shallot sauce
• René Muré Gewürztraminer France ’04 from Marlborough, France.

• Veal tenderloin “al ajillo” wrapped around fontina cheese and fresh sage
• Sauvignon Blanc’06 from Le Clos Redon, New Zealand.

• Asparagus artichoke risotto with pancetta bits
• Chateau de Mattes Sabran Corbries ‘05 from Altos de LuzOn, France.

• Center cut lamb tenderloin in sriracha coconut curry
• Cabernet Sauvignon ’05 from Pacific Rim, Spain.

• Dark chocolate mousse with rosemary vanilla crème anglaise and straciatella whipped cream
• Vin de Glaciere Riesling ’06 from Washington State.

After that, we all entered a food coma until Sunday.

Breakfast of champions: Shots while barhopping, specifically Patron and “break the curse” which is blue curacao and 100 proof Absolut. Lunch of champions: Ball Oark hot dogs with mustard and onions, peanuts, crackerjacks, and beer (Pabst Blue Ribbon and Bud Light). The Cubs won the game, by the way.

After the game, the four of us and Viralyne’s friend Kris got a few more drinks at Vines with one of David’s friends who was really nice and even drunker than we were. He recommended a film one of their old classmates currently stars in, Wauntown Skank.

We went to get some Chicago deep-dish pizza at Giordanos in Buffalo Grove with Gisela, Laura, and Becca. Then some of us hit up Culver’s for custard and discussion about upcoming marriages and the intricate complications of cheating. I wasn’t going to get dessert, but when I saw the flavor of the day was Snickers, I changed my mind.

Chi-Town got it goin' on

It's time for some reunions in the windy city.

Friday, May 30 - Monday, June 2

Monday, June 2 - Thursday, June 5

That is all. This is going to rule so hard.

aaand, I'm off!

Alright, everyone. My next entry will most likely be in and from the beautiful city of Firenze, Italia. Thank you for the phone calls and messages. I will miss you all but do my best to keep everyone up to date with all things Andrew. I usually say take care of New Orleans for me, but in this case, take care of... the United States? Ciao.

P.S. Congratulations on your engagement, Jenna and Jerry! Belated congratulations, Kara and The Dooleys' Cousin!

P.P.S. Adding those two engagements to Gisela's, that makes three wedding trips in the next one and a half years. Way to be a trendsetter, Jacque.

2008 already???

So I made it my new year’s resolution to resurrect my journal from abandonment hell. It seems a lot of you faithful readers that are now finished with college now need something to help you procrastinate from your actual lives. So be it.

It only seems right to pick up from the start of this new calendar year. I promise future entries won’t be this long in terms of words or time-span.

Since Suze4Booze’s annual new year’s parties ended their four-year run with 2007 (under the correct assumption the gang wouldn’t be as available or local this year), I rang in the new year with my family for a change. My parents, Adrian, his girlfriend Monica and I went to Jaleo for their Noche Vieja.

[I think this would be an appropriate point to note that I’ve begun a new food-oriented blog “where’d ya eat?” to spare you all hunger pangs while you read about my life and to further detail all the delicious aspects for you foodies. I usually hate links in blogs, but I will make an exception for any restaurants I happen along and end up writing about.]

After enjoying the unlimited tapas, sangria, cava (Spanish equivalent of champagne), desserts, New Year’s favors, and dancing, we came home to imbibe a little more and resurrect the Marin family karaoke machine. I mean, c’mon, we’re Asian. Good times.

I went to the Italian embassy to get my visa, and I was about five minutes late of when the visa office closed. Lucky for me, the nice consulate lady who I thought would take my info and tell me to come back took a look at my passport and noted I had the same birthday as her son, right down to the year.

My mom and I met Adrian and Monica for lunch at Zorba’s Café, which was nice because it’s usually packed but even had easy parking the day after New Year’s.

We spent the afternoon at the National Gallery of Art wandering around the Edward Hopper exhibit visiting from Chicago. I got to see my favorite painting ever Nighthawks, which I’m sure I’ve mentioned before. Unlike most famous paintings, it’s surprisingly larger in real life than one might expect. The lighting and the momentum are spectacular though. I bought a print that I have yet to frame and hang.

David came to visit me for a weekend, which was awesome. Also awesome was Ryanne’s birthday falling on the same weekend, so it was one less night I had to plan. His visit was not unlike my visit to Chicago last January: Relax, eat, drink, sleep, rinse, repeat.

so happy to see Ryanne on her birthday

He got here on Friday, and we went to lunch with Mon Mon and Jon Jon at Matuba, which is my favorite Japanese restaurant in this area. Low-key but delicious. We spent the afternoon playing sports... of the video game persuasion. Wii Tennis and the NES classic “Double Dribble.” Strangely, we can understand the physics of 256-bit tennis but 8-bit basketball is too much for our college graduate minds. We met up with Ryanne, the other Visi girls, et al for happy hour at Café Citron, where we had dinner before moving on to Porter's for the actual birthday-at-midnight countdown. Ryanne and I went upstairs to the DJ, so she could ask him to play The Cupid Shuffle at midnight. And he did! And it was awesome. Even though someone forgot the steps...

Visi '03: so purty

David and I slept away about half of Saturday before having lunch with my parents at Peking Gourmet Inn. (Adrian and Monica left for New Orleans in the morning.) He and I spent the afternoon walking around Old Town and watching the Redskins not-beat the Seahawks at Murphy’s with some brews. We grabbed dinner at Warehouse Bar & Grill and met up with my longtime friend Harry Potter Patrick to go to Clyde’s for more beers and watch the Colts/Steelers game.

He left the next morning, so I spent the next few days doing what he and Patrick recommended: Beating Super Mario Galaxy on Wii. (I almost suggested David bring his but didn’t fearing I would bore and/or offend him, but to my surprise, he would’ve considering he only has a few more stars left.) Anyway, I did beat the hell out of that game. (Beating Bowser is one thing, completist that I am, getting all 120 stars is another.) But I’m not hardcore enough to go after the 121st star. At least not yet.

I also spent a night at my even longer time friend Ludovic’s house guiding him through Resident Evil 4 (for the Wii also). We got through about two thirds of the game. But for the first time in maybe a decade, it was a sleepover that actually involved sleeping. Over.

Now I’m just resting up for a visit from my other favorite Chicago boy, Mike. Perhaps I can ask Ryanne to have another birthday since I think I’ve almost forgotten how to plan a night out.

with blog as my witness:

David: forgot to mention this

David: i fully expect random ass calls from you in europe

Andrew: I don't know what the phone bill will look like.

Andrew: but I will do my best.

David: get a good phone card along with the phone

Andrew: yeah, that's my plan.

Andrew: I'm going to document you saying that.

Andrew: so when you yell at me for the time difference

Andrew: as I slur my words

Andrew: I will feel vindicated.

David: i won't care

David: only lyne has rights to bother me in the middle of the night

David: but i can extend that to you while you are in europe

Andrew: it's a deal.

a few more thousand words

the rest of 2007 in other people's pictures:

courtesy of Gisela Lopez

courtesy of Margaret Bolhous

courtesy of Jacque Peacock

courtesy of Emily Castro

courtesy of Fiorella Quiroz

courtesy of Ona Balkus

last week 4/29 - 5/6

Sunday

Sunday was the TCC crawfish boil. Crawfish are good. So are red beans and rice. Yeah, that's about it. Justin made cookies that afternoon apparently, so he made a special delivery. I know there were two kinds, and they involved some combination of butterscotch chips, peanut butter, white chocolate, and something else. I don't know. Heaven.

Monday

Monday was my last psych class ever. The topic of the day was Health Stress & Coping, so the professor managed to get one last jab in:

"That's my picture of marijuana. I got it from Andrew."

And then:

"We're from the same hometown, so we have the same dealer."

I'm going to miss that course.

Calculus was a sort-of review. Not really. Say your prayers for my final exam.

American Popular Music was... the usual mayhem. Not to be outdone, the professor not only gave us a lecture about how "when you're partying or getting laid, music is in the background, but in this class, [he] want[s] it to be in the foreground!" And then told us an anecdote of how he had to go to court and testify against Juvenile for plagiarizing the lyrics "you's a fine motherfucker won't you back that ass up." I might miss that course too.

I went to Stephen's final review and then went to Kyoto for dinner with him and a few other architects. Japanese beer and wine both made appearances. I got a Stella Roll (a spicy scallop roll enveloped in tuna tataki) and a Hotbox (a rainbow box with eel, avocado, and pepper sauces).

Tuesday

Former Vice President Al Gore delivered his famous "An Inconvenient Truth" lecture. David had the hook-up and provided a few of us with reserved VIP seating, which is especially great because I honestly wouldn't have gone otherwise. But I'm glad I did. Gore was hilarious in-person (and would've surely won the election if his personality was more in attendance back then) and does the world's best impersonation of Bill Clinton. (Figures.) He also went on record to say that he is never running again.

Tara and I skipped lunch because of the lecture and because she forgot her phone, and Ben and I had an early dinner (last one, sob) and caught up on each other's apparently-very-interesting weekends.

God, this was a busy Tuesday. I went to the last 1718 for the year, a gathering which always coincides with Columns Happy Hour. Andrei Codrescu did the author reading and was hilarious. I was sad to find out he was reading from a yet-unpublished book, so I bought his tribute to New Orleans, which spans 20 years. And I relate wholeheartedly to this excerpt from it:

"How did you fall in love with New Orleans? At once, madly. ... Looking back, sometimes I think it was predestined."

As always, the bartenders are great for conversation. We were talking about old age, so one (a woman who shall remain unnamed) asked me how old I was, and then told me "You're not old! I'm over 40!!!" and (the guy, also left anonymous) asked me what my plans were. When I said they were unsure, he suggested "Travel, get drun, have as much sex as possible, and don't be afraid to forget it all." Apparently it's what he did after college. God, I love that bar.

A bunch of us moved on to The Delachaise for wine and food. I don't remember what I got, just that it was the red that paired well with the "beefy bruschetta" I ordered, which is basically bruschetta with grilled flank steak. David met up with me, and we picked up Tara and Alison to go to Balcony Bar for more drinks and more food. I was all about the beef apparently because I got a "balcony burger," which is a half-pounder with tomato, grilled onion, green peppers, mushrooms, bacon, and jalapenos."

Wednesday

Adrian finally had free time to go to the "birthday lunch" my Mom gave us in April. We went to Pascal's Manale. I got the stuffed eggplant for an appetizer, while he opted for a dozen raw oysters. I got their signature Barbeque Shrimp, which are huge and delicious. He got crawfish ettouffee. We topped it all off with bread pudding and pecan pie, respectively.

That night was also interesting. LOST and a trailer party. Then a bunch of us went out to Bruno's and then TJ Quills for a little bit, but the bar crawl ended there... for most of us. Lauren called me about half an hour later wanting to go back out, so we met up at The Rat and then went to The Boot, The Palms, and Snake & Jake's. There was a guy there proving the rule that if you get shot at or get naked at the bar, you drink for free. I'll let you guess which.

Thursday

I think I bummed around all day? Whatever. Shannon, David, and I went to Rock-n-Sake for dinner. Their clear soup is easily the best I've ever had at any Japanese restaurant, and I know that's a strange thing to remember, but it was awesome. We got a portabello tempura appetizer, which was awesome. I got an omakase (chef's choice) plate of sushi, sashimi, and crunchy rolls. Then we met up with more people and went to Spider-Man 3, which wasn't as good as the first two, but every fan should still see it anyway. The main problems with it are it's perhaps too comic-book-y (everything is more extreme; the evil, the jokes, the romance). But I still enjoyed it.

Friday

Storming and flooding. Calc final. Sleep. Dinner with Whitney and Tully at Sake Cafe. TNT. which is tuna stacked with rice, various roes, and a quail egg. And an Uptown Roll, which is a mix of fish, roe, and avocado. We stopped by Creole Creamery after, where I got an I Scream Fudge Sundae. (It's a chocolate overload. A hot fudge coated glass with two scoops of I Scream Fudge, chocolate chips, cocoa powder, whipped cream, and a chocolate covered cherry.) I can now say I've had every delicacy I've ever wanted there.

After that, Tully left and David met up with us. Monkey Hill. Drinks. Shots. St. Joe's Bar. Blueberry mojitos. Storyville. Ms. Mae's/The Club. More drinks. Stephanie's. Hookah. Waiting. Wine. Awesome night.

Saturday

I finished my adolescent psych final in fifteen minutes. I don't remember what I did all afternoon, so I probably wasted it somehow. Shannon and I went to Whole Foods and bought dinner there. Those Xochitl chips we love, guacamole, a surprisingly/insanely spicy mango and pineapple salsa, salads (mine was basically a Cobb), and a "California Club" (a huge sandwich on foccacia with turkey, bacon, avocado, lettuce, and a sun-dried tomato aioli).

David, Nate, and I went out and met up with Whitney, Matt and Paul for Cinco De Mayo. Lots of Corona. Tequila shots. My roommates and I decided to do more bonding by going to Camelia Grill(!) which was as incredible as I remember. I love breakfast at three in the morning. WORD. I got eggs over easy with bacon and fries. And a chocolate cherry freeze. I let it get to my brain.

Now that I'm all caught up, I will do my best to update this reasonably on-time. Besides, what else will I do since there's no more class?

the rest of birthweek 2.0

Tuesday

Unless I’m forgetting something other than visiting Alison for strawberry birthday cake, Tuesday was pretty typical. Terrorism. Lunch with Tara. Screenwriting. Dinner with Ben. If I forgot something significant that you were a part of, please let me know!

Wednesday

Classes. As a belated birthday present, LauRu treated me to the gelateria, the name of which escapes me, on Oak. While staring at the paninis and talking about food, we realized we wanted non-dessert food. (Apparently we were both busy and had gelato as our breakfast.) So we went to Philip Chan’s Asian Cajun Bistro for dinner. We split a seafood tempura trio appetizer of shrimp, crawfish, and squid (family members: very much like the baked squid Dad likes) with a chili dipping sauce. Lauren ordered the pineapple prawns, and I got the soft shell crab, which like the other seafood was lightly beer-battered. It was quite the late lunch.

Back on campus, I went to a meeting for the terrorism debate we had Thursday. (More on this later, believe me.)

Then Tara treated Alison, Rachel, and I out for our birthdays to Côté Sud, a charming little French restaurant. That might have been the best birthday present ever. Thank you, darling.

We split escargots and garlic bread with mozzarella for appetizers. I had the saumon crème d’epinard (salmon with spinach cream over rice and vegetables) for my entrée. And we split a chocolate mousse layer cake and Poire Belle Hélène (poached pears, vanilla ice cream, melted chocolate, and Poire D’Anjou liquor) for dessert.

When I was returning home, I saw a bunch of familiar faces walking around in black. Lauren and I ended up back at our apartments at the same time, and while discussing our plans (or lack thereof) for the week, I realized what the somber occasion was: Fun Lauren’s funeral. I missed the service because I would have cried too much. She was buried next to the late Fun David, who passed away about a month ago, but whom I plan on resurrecting come May.

Thursday

Worst technological morning of my life. My computer malfunctioned, so I couldn’t even open my “domestic spying program” position paper for the terrorism debate. After two hours of messing with Getaway, I called my professor. He told me to just focus on the debate. So I went to the computer lab and started typing up notes and talking points, but when I went to the printer, the printer queue was about 23 names long. So I e-mailed my notes to (myself at) the other lab.

When I tried to print there, the computers told me no printer was installed. Great. I bypassed the busy library since I was already late to class and made a last attempt at Cudd Hall. Printers not available there either. Thank God the debate went well anyway because at that point I’d memorized almost everything from having to look at it so much.

Tara had a meeting so no lunch. David and I went to the grocery and Wendy’s. That night I missed Alifun’s (and slightly my) birthday celebration since my ride bailed due to sickness. I went with Ryanne et al to the bird flu BLew birthday bash.

Friday

So I skipped out on 80s Night with Whit and Puje because of my morning class, but when my classmates and I got there, we found it had been cancelled. I wished I had stayed in bed. Calc.

Pop. Bank with Ben. Shower and shave. 543@1.

That sounds like a strange countdown. It means dinner at five (o’clock) for three (people) at ONE (restaurant and lounge).

Shannon, Jenna, and I celebrated her long-awaited return. (It’s been about a week, but the girl called me last weekend to ask – "don’t get excited but" – if I would be her date to formal if she drove back for it.) Clearly I said yes, and she drove back.

I had a fried soft shell crab & escargots (atop herbed risotto with a leek & bacon meuniere sauce) for my entrée and a flourless Swiss chocolate cake (with real whipped cream and Louisiana strawberries) for dessert since someone wouldn't share even though she didn't finish hers. (Nothin’ but love, Shanizzle.)

Jenna and I did a quick-change into our formal dress clothing and then went to The Boot a little overdressed. Then we got on the drunk bus to the Board of Trade Plaza, which was a beautiful venue.

Chi Omega Formal was fun. All the Chi Hos looked gorgeous, especially the seniors. There was just a little bit of drama but Jenna and I just drank it away laughed it off. It’s only natural after four years of grudges and drama that a little alcohol would bring it out at the end. But it was still a fantastic night.

Saturday

David and I got up to go to Crawfest bright and early to have three pounds each (of the three tons) of crawfish for breakfast. The bands were good. The food was great. There should have been beer, Cynthia. I slept most of the afternoon away before going to Ralph & Kacoo’s with Shannon for (Gabby’s) Mikey’s birthday dinner.

Besides the bottles of Pinot Grigio the birthday boy ordered that prompted Gab to swear he’d be sorry on her birthday, seafood was the highlight. Shan and I split a she-crab soup (which was not authentic Maryland but still very good), and we all split gator bites (blackened and fried), and crab-stuffed mushrooms for appetizers. I had the Shrimp Charles: Gulf shrimp stuffed with lump crabmeat and topped with hollandaise sauce and more lump crabmeat. Then Shan and I split a huge slice of key lime pie (with real key limes).

I showed up a little late to the "Party of Shame," the Phi Sigma Pi date party. Lizzie, my lovely date was still sober and glowering, but we remedied that problem with drinking and dancing. Lots of that. It was F&M's. That’s what F&M's is for.

There aren't many significant stories. (Okay, there are a few about Stephanie, but ask me in person. She shot me a Lizzie-Shame-Glare-Minus-The-Squawk when Max, our knight in shining armor who drove us home, asked if she was a Hot Mess.)

Sunday

...was pretty much sleep and recuperation. Mass. Sunday night supper. Molly (who I met at a previous F&M's date party, on the pool table, and was present last night) mused and reminisced(?) on the fun. You can reminisce without remembering!

I was wrong, 21 was not the last good birthday. Like last year, some people couldn’t make it to the real day, so they insisted on celebrating later in the week. Except unlike my last "birthweek," food replaced drinks this time.

Thank you everyone who took me out to eat, bought me drinks, greeted me, etc. I have amazing friends and am grateful for y'all.

Oh yeah, pray for Adrian. It’s hell week.

a very Good Friday

Last night was awesome. Nicole, her friend Brenna, David, and I started off in their friend Travis' "modular housing." (She told us to go to the trailer with all the booze in it and the Christmas lights. I thought it sounded very similar to Snake & Jake's and thus awesome.) I'll say at this point that Lauren, Storey, Becca, her friend Jamie, Whitney, Jordan, Mike, and Matilda all showed up at some point. And Brenna, Nicole and Travis disappeared eventually. Anyway, we went to Pat O'Brien's, where I bought Nicole and Brenna shots and... reaped the rewards even though no one else except our jack-ass waiter was paying attention. Then some of us went to 80s Night at One Eyed Jacks which was intense and as good or better than pre-hurricane. The line extended forever, but the place was packed and jumping inside. I guess since no one had work or school the next day. We like a prayed, killed the radio star, thrilled, 99 red ballooned, didn't stop believing, spun round like records, and tainted love. Michelle, one of Chad's most favorite Latinas, was there. We "crazy-danced" the way he would and internationally drunk-texted him. At night's end, Whitney and I went to Big Easy for food.

David and I began today by going to lunch at Franky & Johnny's. (In Louisiana, when Catholics can't have meat on Friday, they have crawfish boils.) We each polished off a batch of crawfish, his accompanied by french fries and mine by pepper rings.

Whitney, Tully, and I went to Creole Creamery. Their "skyscraper" (a very tall sundae with layers of chocolate, vanilla, and cookies and cream ice cream, hot fudge, caramel, crushed Oreos, whipped cream, and a cherry) is fantastic.

Lauren's felt "left out" for a while because she's never... partook in an experience almost every "real" college student has. So we, a group of ten or so, commenced this mission at Columns happy hour. After that, some of us moved on to Taqueria Corona for dinner. Sangria, cebollitos (grilled green onions), chips, pico de gallo... and their "numero tres" (tacos, flauta, burrito, beans, rice). I made sure to get everything made of shrimp and a little fish to avoid the meat.

After that, Lauren, Storey, Nicole and I went to Creole Creamery. Yes, again. Nicole took a picture of my plaque and me. I got a "I scream fudge" ice cream soda this time. With chocolate soda. Storey and I agree: No such thing as too much chocolate.

Back here, Becca rejoined our little party, and with Steph, Sarah, and her friends watching, we recommenced the mission... armed with everclear and mixers. We played "Presidents and Assholes," and Lauren was The Asshole most of the time. Mission accomplished!

other people's photos

The following photographs are courtesy of Shannon Will, Abita Banana, Lauren Ruth, Ryanne Clarke, and Caitlin Tully. The first three are from spring break in Panama City Beach; the following four are from "Freshman Night" last Thursday.

Shan and myself donning the life vests

with "Rosie" and "Abita" for our first dip in the hot tub

chillin' at Hooters with my favorite off-duty waitress

exact replicas of those Butler 216 boys in freshman year

I bought Ry an appletini, but a Kara'd be more freshman year.

with Steph, "Quick. Do something freshman year!"

Becca's midriff... totally freshman year

bringin' freshman back

Terrorism and lunch with Tara. Typical Thursday.

Very atypical Thursday night! Ryanne had the bright idea of us going to Vera Cruz for margaritas and TJQuills for drinks after to relive the fun of freshman year... even though we're now old seniors. I surprised her with a special present: Kathleen "MIA" Fanone. (It would have been a present to Sylvia too, but she didn't come.) She, David and I even dressed up in old freshman year clothing to recreate "the look."

We went with Whitney, David, and Tully to Vera Cruz. Several flavors of margarita pitcher. Sauza shots on me. I knew NONE of the servers at Vera Cruz, which is probably in it's hundredth revision... just to show how long it's been since I've been there.

Kathleen had an emergency and left, but Stephanie, her sister Samantha, their Pinay friend Jeanine, Becca, Matt, and Paul joined us at T.J. Quills. Pretty awesome. I finally got my Choy sandwich to balance out the Marin one Steph got last year when Adrian visited.

Quills was fun. There was popcorn. Ry and I got appletinis to commemorate freshman year. (R.I.P. Kara "Whorkus" Wagner.) My favorite Quills bartender was there and was all "never thought I'd see you again!" My reply: "Old habits die hard." He gave me free shots.

We went to Phillips next. Danielle, my favorite lab partner ever, was bartending! I thought she left after graduation. She gave me more free shots. Good times. So was Jason "press menswear" Warrington. That brings the count of people-Sylvia-loves-with-me-tonight to TWO.

Whit, Tull, and I went to The Palms next to close out the night. It was packed. I LOVE it around that two in the morning time. I missed Chad Michael like whoa though. Dalia&Co were there too. Awesome.

We closed out the night at The Rat splittin' a turkey sub with "everything," a bacon cheddar burger, and a chicken tender combo. Then Whitney and I got ice cream for dessert.

Mardi Gras '07: part one

H.R.M. Queen of Oshun '07

big-ass unicorn float at Pygmalion

decidedly my new favorite picture of Whitney and me

Maids of Sparta

H.R.M. King Pegasus '07

Miss Molly and me at New Bruno's

Esteban and his bull's-eye

roommates - and everyone over our shoulders

Nicole, Mike, and the gold people at One Eyed Jacks

Hermes float and riders

other people's pictures

Krewe du Vieux with Shan - photo courtesy of Gabriela Molina Schleusz

Miss Molly's after-party for Sparta and Pegasus - photo courtesy of Katie Austin

girls on shoulders get more stuff - photo courtesy of Brooke Hansen

with a perhaps (yet unlikely) sober Lizzie - photo courtesy of Meredith Robinson

Peter, Cosmin, and I lookin' tough - photo courtesy of Paul Murphy

Carter's departure - photo courtesy of Will Southerland

5:48 a.m. on Mardi Gras - photo courtesy of Reshelle Smith

HAPPY MARDI GRAS

I'm sure it'll be no surprise that actual Mardi Gras itself was anticlimactic. Well, it always is for me at least because everyone is intoxicated and exhausted. And at that point I don't even care anymore. I don't even call for beads or Zulu coconuts, let alone catch them. I just kind of bat the flying objects away from my face, so I don't get bruised by eager throwers. (It's happened to others.)

On that topic, the best beads I got this year were not the ones that were signature to each parade, not the Christmas ornament size ones, or not even the must-catch clay medallions. My favorite were the fiber-optic Muses beads that light up and changes colors.

Anyway, despite being drained and drunk, Mardi Gras was tons of fun.

After Nacho Mama's, we hit up "The Daiq Shack." They had a special on large daiquiris, so we got those.

At Stephanie's apartment, we hung out with Sarah and watched The Butterfly Effect (which was on TV) and Mean Girls (from my DVD collection). I was able to find a drinking game for the former and had long ago concocted one for the latter, so we played both.

After those, we got ready and headed out to "Tequila Sunrise" at The Boot. (I'll just say at this point that almost everyone local went to Zulu, so I won't even bother dropping names.) We saw two awesome guys standing outside. The first was wearing a nice blazer but eating french fries out the trash can, and the second was making out with two different girls next to the porta-potties. Some of us stopped by The Palms for a bit. I guess they got tired of being classy, so they replaced their pool table with a stripper pole? Then a handful of us went to Jackson & St. Charles early to stake out our spot.

Stephanie and David had found a great little market next to Igor's (where we get Bloody Marys) where we could get hot breakfast. It was beyond awesome to have eggs, bacon, sausage links and patties, hash browns, grits, and biscuits all fresh and ready to eat. Zulu was fun. A few of us left before Rex. Sarah, sober sister/hero of the day, was nice enough to pick us up.

When I got up after the most glorious pass-out ever (no fire alarms like last year's Mardi Gras pass-out), I went to dinner with Lauren, Evian, and Stephanie. Apparently Mardi Gras coincides with National Pancake Day this year, so we went to IHOP for dinner/breakfast.

I've been putting the Gras in Mardi Gras all break as any avid reader would know by now. So I had the chicken fried steak dinner, which came with corn, onion rings, garlic bread, and a side salad. And of course I took advantage of the free pancakes for NPD.

I'm going to justify all those carbs with the fact that carbs soak up alcohol, and it was the end of Mardi Gras. Do the math.

My mom asked if I had "a picture or two" I could show her from this Mardi Gras season. It's more like "a hundred or two hundred." They'll be up eventually. Here's the very last one. We're laughing because Lauren had just shoved David to the side and said "I'm the girl. I get to be in the middle!"

HAPPY MARDI GRAS
AND HAPPY ASH WEDNESDAY TOO

Sundi Gras

Sunday started off with a trip to Popeyes, so it was a good day by default. David and I picked up the chicken he bought for the day long camp out on the neutral ground that our group of friends planned for the Krewes of Okeanos, Thoth, Mid-City, and Bacchus. It was amazingly successful. I'd say about fifty people were there at one point. Besides the Popeyes (and requisite biscuits and sides), we had king cakes, chips, crawfish, burgers, hot/corn dogs, random food items people bought from nearby places all day, and gallons of beer and liquor. (There was a creation of a controversial new drink called "The Peter," which is cranberry juice, vodka, and champagne.)

I got kicked in the stomach! Looking back, it was pretty hilarious. I'll be nice and not say who the culprit was. I was upstairs with some other people in the apartment of our friend Brooks, who was nice enough to let us use his bathroom. I went back down the stairs to head out to St. Charles when I saw a girl coming in, looking madder than a wet hen and soaking wet. I said "____, what happened to you???" And I admit I was chuckling a bit because it was a funny sight. "I HATE YOU. DON'T TALK TO ME OR TAKE A PICTURE. I'LLFUCKINGKILLYOU!" Then she kicked me in the gut and ran away.

Explanation? Apparently Drunk Cosmin, who was watching the parade from a window upstairs spilled his beer... and it landed on poor _____. She thought I had decided to throw alcohol on her then run downstairs to laugh at her. Pretty funny. Well, maybe not to her.

At the end of the parades, ______ and I rode back with another fun Drunk Girl and got caught in traffic. _____ took a nap on me, and we cuddled and she said "we should sleep together more often." At the end of the ride - luckily Sober Peter was driving - she told me it was the best nap she ever had and napping on me was "like sleeping on a cloud!" I guess that kick softened me up?

Carter&Co, Nicole, and I went out to dinner but wound up at New Bruno's because everywhere else was already closed or extremely busy. Everyone else got the usual cheese fries and sandwiches, but Will and I decided to accompany our Black 'N Bleus Burgers (dressed 1/2 pounders with bacon and blue cheese) with Debris Fries, which are amazing waffle fries topped generously with roast beef debris, green onion, and a little horseradish sauce.

After a pitcher of beer, we walked back to Nicole's place for the travelers to crash and for me to say seeya to 'em. And somewhere in that ten minutes, the world fell apart.

When I got back to Bruno's, Car Ride Drunk Girl had apparently left due to a personal crisis of sorts. And members of the baseball team that had been bickering in Bruno's had been exiled to the street where they were openly brawling now. Bouncers from both of the Bruno's had to pull them apart and eventually N.O.P.D. showed up. At the end of this, I was about to walk back in and some bitch tried to shove me out of the way. Then I realized the bitch was Kicking-Cloud Drunk _____. She said she was so happy to see me, and then she hugged me and went to stand in the corner and looked upset. She called me over, and I asked what was wrong and if I'd seen Someone, and I told her I hadn't, and she told me to leave her alone. Emphasis added for irony's sake. Then Lauren came rushing out to save the day.

Eventually Lauren came back, and life was fun again. Lots of other people were there too. Sometime after as-yet-unmentioned Drunk Girls had made out (apparently prompted by my t-shirt) another new Drunk Girl grinded with Jordan to Boyz II Men's "I'll Make Love To You." They were grinding in front of the dartboards to the chagrin of all the players. I wouldn't want to piss off people holding darts but whatever. Last Drunk Girl of the Evening decided to throw up in her drink, set it back down on the table, and pick up a new one. (That's when Lauren and I decided it was time to leave.)

On the way out, those two tried to convince me that New Orleans is "pretty tame" and that Gainesville is the party capital of the country. They asked what time our bars closed. Ours don't! Shut up, bitches.

I like [drunk] girls that like [drunk] girls.

weekend antics

So last night I went to dinner with Shannon "Who Wants Me? Everybody." Will and some of her friends. We went to Byblos because we'd both never been before. While waiting for her friends, I tried a bowl of the crab and corn bisque while she opted for some of what I call Shan-Nectar (Malibu and pineapple juice). Delicious. The two of us split a lightly fried crab and eggplant cake topped with parmesan sauce and lump crab meat for an appetizer and then for entrees the Byblos Pasta and a plate of baba ghanoush, lebna, mujadarah, and maybe the best moussaka I've ever had.

(Someone complained about lack of food detail in previous entries?)

Also kind of funny was I saw Katie (who lived on Butler 3 freshman year and whom I hadn't seen in ages) at Byblos and then saw her boyfriend RJ (Butler 2 and also hadn't seen in ages) at the party later. RJ told me a funny story. Ask about it if you want.

David, the six chicks, and what seemed like a thousand familiar faces, most of them drunk, went to the Tulane Ornithological Society's "Bird Flu Party" to get our "vaccinations." Good times. This following photo is courtesy of Lauren Mitchell:

Lauren, Whitney, David, and I were literally the last to leave. We stopped by The Boot for pizza, where we Adrian and company and where Whit apparently gave herself third-degree burns from eating too-hot pizza too-fast?

Today was pretty laidback. I studied for a bit, and Lizzie and I motivated each other to go to the gym. (I met a Gonzaga '01 grad named Chris who's here for med school. Recognition by athletic shorts.) Tonight we finally watched Showgirls for the half of us who haven't seen it and the other half who wanted to subject others to the experience. This following photo is courtesy of The Artist Formerly Known As Jesse Spano and was a moment we found controversial:

'tis the season

This is by far the longest entry I've written a while. Mad props and a little extra holiday cheer if you get through it all.

Wednesday night Rachel (Kinks/Prudence Rachel) and Wes convinced me to take a study break from my last final and go to Celebration Under The Oaks in City Park with them, Tara, Alison, and some other friends.

It put me in the holiday spirit! We roamed around Storyland with all the fairy tales, bedtime stories, and nursery rhymes and took pictures like we were little kids.

They had all sorts of fun including Christmas trees decorated with ornaments schoolchildren made, a Cajun night before Christmas, a living nativity scene (that we missed), rides, Santa, and a laser light show. And if you like little light-up villages, you'd love the miniature New Orleans city, with distinct neighborhoods and streetcars even.

Thursday morning I took my last exam of the semester. Freedom!

To celebrate, Rachel, Tara, Becky and I went to Nirvana and over-ate as usual. Well, Becky didn't but whatever.

That night I got to see Alifun for the second night in the row! (But not in her actual home of course.) Since her boyfriend Frazer was getting kicked out by his landlord for no good reason, she decided to host her graduation shindig there... aka "The Loudest Party EVER" and give that landlord a good reason. Alison... always stickin' it to the man.

After that I met up with Shannon AND Jenna to celebrate J's last Thurs before she graduates college. We hit up Bruno's and Miss Mae's. I'm glad Jenna takes the "calcium" - She must have meant vitamin C. - in her screwdrivers so seriously.

Then those two decided to go home and talk to/about their long-distance boyfriends or something, so I stayed out and hit up Grits (ugh, very briefly) and then F&M's with Audrey, Aurell, and Dalia. A blast from the past, Jason "Delt" Talley, was kind enough to give me a lift home. (We ran into each other outside F&M's.)

Friday I got up by sheer will power alone (and David surely would've woken me had I not) to go with him to Dunbar's for some serious artery clogging. We both got gumbo, red beans and rice, and their perfected fried chicken. That was entirely too much. We went to Winn-Dixie right after, so he could pick up the applesauce and sour cream for Lizzie's Christmakkuh Party. It was hard to walk.

Back on campus, while David entered cholesterol-induced-hibernation, I went to wish Tara happy holidays since she was leaving early the next morning. I miss my JigglyJuggs already. It was SO hard to walk the two blocks to her office.

That evening was the Christmakkuh party! Lizzie decorated her apartment with lights, two-dimensional-tree, faux-fire, and blue stockings. She also served her guests latkes and kugel. Delicious. There were also several kinds of holiday cookies, chocolate coins, and a butter/cheese/caramel popcorn tub.

Drinks were not lacking either. My contribution was hot apple cider, and Chris' was eggnog. And... there was Manischewitz. Then for some reason Rachel (Virginia Rachel) suggested we play Drinking Dreidel. (I abbreviated it to "Drinkel.") And for some other reason, David and I thought it would be a great idea! The three of us (with just a little help from Jon and Graham, who each played 5-10 minutes of the game) finished two battles of Mani.

Drink(ing Dreid)el was not a good idea. And neither was the rum that followed when I decided to meet up with Conrad, Ben, and Katy. But hey, I had to see them before they left for Christmas.

Saturday I was actually productive and cleaned my room and some of the apartment. Miss Molly called me in the afternoon to tell me about her Catholic Center Christmas Party at her house and how I HAD "to bring Whitney!" It made my afternoon.

Too bad Whitney left the other day. The party was still fun. Lots of friends and some friendly, familiar faces. A million kinds of cheese with crackers, jellies, and vegetables. Bottle beers and fine wines. Some amazing chili with sides of rice, corn, salad, coleslaw, and rolls. And too many desserts (if there is such a thing).

I love family parties because meeting people's parents, children, siblings, and other relatives is one of my favorite things.

An assortment of pastors, both past and present, were there too. As I was leaving, Fr. John said "God bless you," Fr. Jose said "Be good," and Fr. Carl said "You must be going to another party with maybe food but surely drink." Which do you think knows me best?

I went to "Welcome back Dooner, Cya Later Brandi" (in reality spelled "Brandie" with an E) at the Nashville House to celebrate Dooner's homecoming and Brandie's departure.

And besides those two parties I managed to go to Snake & Jake's Christmas Club Lounge with Lauren and Sarah. (Decorated for Yule all year but Lauren had never been and Sarah and I thought it a perfect time to go.) And somehow some of the Nashville House die-hards and I went to Bruno's before calling it a night an hour or so ago.

Sunday. It is SO time for bed.

the week's off to a good start.

Okay, so I'm behind again but not as badly as before. Sunday the internet wasn't cooperating, and yesterday I kind of got drunk randomly. Bygones.

David's birthday celebration was on Saturday night at Cooter Brown's. Several of his friends, several beers, several orders of cheese fries, and several shots. Fun David came back for the night, and it was good times. Even though he refused to do a body shot off of Peter, who was even conveniently sitting next to him, Fun David gave us a rendition of the power ballad "The Power of Love" on the car ride which segued into "Get Low" when Lizzie changed the station. And then he kind of got pushed fell into the bushes.

Any night that involves David looking like this halfway through...

...and looking like this by the end...

...is a good night.

Last night was supposed to be serious studying, but leave it to David to give me a present (screening passes) on his birthday, so Guy, Whitney, and I drove out to Elmwood but found out the Babel screening was already full. So we went to Applebee's Neighborhood Bar and Grill – Hello, Jewelyn "Humpy" Wellborn – and got dinner and more importantly drinks. We had the nicest, most patient waitress ever. The major question of the night was which TV show had the theme song "Closer to Free" which was playing at the restaurant.

Everybody wants to live
How they wanna live
And everybody wants to love
Like they wanna love
And everybody wants to be
Closer to Free

All three of us wondered independently before discussing it, and everyone immediately thought of "Friends" and then immediately knew that was wrong. I actually guessed correctly but wasn’t assertive enough, so we kept guessing and eventually called Tully who provided us with the answer.

After that, Whitney and I came back here and put a serious dent into a handle of Bacardi and watched The Rules of Attraction with Carrot Top's commentary. Hilarious even though neither of us is actually a fan of Carrot Top. Nate came home from his latest interview with news of a conquest to that, so we did a shot to it.

Then Whit-Walk and I decided to go to The Palms and drink some more and then The Big Easy.

Yeah, I’m nuts. What else is new?

And this is the TV show for those of you who care:

quick poll [Steph won by three.]

David's birthday celebration at Cooter Brown's was fun. Lots of beer, lots of cheese fries, and even lots of Fun David! I guarantee a few more pictures and a few more details soon, but first I'm taking a quick poll:

Which hot babe should be my new desktop background?

Lizzie (above) or Stephanie (below)?

Readers: Feel free to set one as your desktop background and to respond by comment, IM, E-mail, text message, messenger pigeon, any mode of communication...

Mom: Peter's candid portrait skills put mine to shame.

back by popular demand

Once upon a time in October 2006, Andrew never actually updated his journal, which has happened before but not during school, so he wrote an entry after the month ended detailing in run-on sentence that his high school English teachers would detest exactly what he did during that month: With Stephanie free of the LSAT, her birthday was finally celebrated and involved a good amount of Harrah's, drinking on the patio, drunk people at the piano bar, and Pat O'Brien,s Tara turned 21 about a week later, and she and Andrew celebrated by making a spectacle of themselves with a spectacular pub crawl that semi-began with margaritas at dinner at Taqueria Corona and pre-gaming at home but really began with Abita Amber at Cooter Brown's, then bypassed the closed Daiq-Shack, and into Madigan's, then Uptown Cajun, then TJ Quills, then past an early-closed Vera Cruz in favor of both Bruno's, and after Phillips was sadly closed as well went to The Palms, and then The Boot, and then The Palms again for a long timg, dancing and drinking and dancing and drinking and then doing five shots each to hit the 21 mark before going to Big Easy to get laughed at by the workers and then taking a picture with the Tulane sign before the sun came up, there were more birthdays and parties (kegs for Curry, Chris' graduation celebration, and the noise-violatin' gettin' shut down Freaky Friday the 13th all come to mind) that were fun as well, and lots of barhopping and picture-taking, some of which the subjects don't remember, but that's okay, and Cowboy Mouth played a show for homecoming (which Tulane won against Army), and Andrew couldn't refuse to go since Curry was in charge of it and it was his birthday and personally invited and recommended that people go, and it was loud but the band basically forced people to have fun and brought Matt on stage because he didn't look like he was having fun, and as a finale brought literally everyone on stage to sing their last song, and Lauren got into med school, so that was celebrated with brownies and champagne after anticipating the victory a few nights earlier by going to Phillips after David and Andrew went to AEPi's Original Sin and Zeta Psi's Bayou Bash and tried to remember how they went to several of these parties freshman year and didn't get tired of them then, went with David and Peter to go see The Departed which was violent but amazing, and everyone should see it, and watching the new mini-season of Lost which will be over sooner than it should be, and random nights of hanging out with Adrian or running into him and/or his friends at various nightlife locations here in uptown (funny that Adrian and Andrew both went to the Jazmine Café on separate occasions without hearing from each other and really liked it and thought it was cheaper yet better Viet food than at home), Halloween was suddenly here and began a couple nights early, naturally, and there were lots of parties, and people madly hunting for costumes last-minute, and most of the girls dressed like sluts because that's what the holiday celebrates, and there were lots of Quail-Men (Nickelodeon's Doug, anyone?) but they were all cool, and there were at least five of them throughout the “long” weekend even though the best costume this year I think was the Two-Face walking around Frenchmen with half a head of make-up, half a wig(?) or half a dye job, a suit half in animal-print and “matching” shirt, tie, and probably hands and shoes even though they weren't seen, and Stephanie and Andrew went to The Rocky Horror Picture show which was disturbing/entertaining as ever and got hooked up with VIP passes (thanks David) and sat in the front and experienced rice, water, the actors, the candy, and all such antics even though Stephanie thought the walk to McAlister was really long because they were dressed funny, and Ted suddenly decided to tell us that he was leaving for Texas but with much less notice and fanfare than last time and apparently this time for real, and conversely Jacque was back in town, so that was fun and it was like old times except with legal drinking and going to the levee with her and Tara and talking about how no one - not even Jacque surprisingly – knows what they're doing with their life, what the Pitt St. Pretties are doing with their Thursday is going to Vaughan's Lounge to see Kermit Ruffins and drink with professors and eat late night red beans and rice, which is fun and they've taught Andrew to go (he goes to Café Luna, their workplace, a lot to visit also), Tara is really into the red wine and split a bottle of it with him and Alifun even though Alifun only really drinks a glass, but it was the thought that counts because red wine is medicinal for tragedy, and then St. Joe's and Monkey Hill and other places twenty-one year olds can go, and pictures that people don't remember. The end.

So if you really want to kill some time, wrestle your way through that. It'll be like reading James Joyce but without the intellect and deftness in the writing or Victor's chapter in The Rules of Attraction without the sex and drugs.

There will be pictures as soon as Microsoft PictureIt repairs itself.