TGI Tuesday?

Yesterday was pretty uneventful until I finally took Julia’s advice on “the best aperitivo” and went to Kitsch with Anna, Alison and Liane tagging along. It was good. We liked the drinks, the bartender, the food, the place, and even the slideshow projection on one wall. After that, we went back to Liane and Alison’s to drink vodka and play Thumper and Buzz. Liane made a comment about how she wishes she’d birthed Mindy, and I made a similar one about wishing I’d fathered her. Then she and I also contemplated what our child would look like if we ever had one. We settled on Mindy. We also realized it would be a very messed-up child, having a pothead mother and an alcoholic father and all. But it would be damn good at foosball, with both her offensive and my defensive skills. After that, we went “barhopping” several times between our favorite cultural association and my favorite bar, beginning with all the girls except Liz and adding Agata, her friends, Sergio, his friends, Domenico, Morten, and Thomas to our party in the process.

party on

On Tuesday night, since Henk didn’t want to walk because he was sick and I didn’t want to cook again, we went to dinner at the trattoria next door, which was awesome, again. We got a platter of grilled meats and vegetables. The waitress, same one from the last two times, gave us complimentary aperitifs and digestifs this time. God, I love that place.

Wednesday was the usual: Food writing and Beginning Italian. My food writing class went out to dinner (since the day’s lesson was “restaurant reviewing”) at Buca Dell’ Orafo, which is right next to the famous Ponte Vecchio. I don't know if I've mentioned but I'm the only guy in that class. It's like swimming lessons in a pool of estrogen. The rose seller outside the restaurant glared at me because I didn't buy a single flower for "my fourteen dates." We had a seven-course family-style dinner. Chef Giordano, a character in his own right, kept plate after plate coming as well as bottle after bottle of red wine. Clearly I was sitting at the right end of the table since we cleaned all those plates. This was especially true of Sara, Samantha, and me.

"Pass that down here. We'll finish it."

Then I met up with some friends for the grand opening of Twenty One, a new venue owned by a promoter we’re acquainted with. It’s supposedly “the twilight zone between a bar and a club.” It was pretty fun. Every class I have here was well-represented by drinking, dancing people having a great time. The party was by invitation only, and I hadn't gotten mine from a friend because I was late due to aforementioned dinner. There were tons of people outside on phones calling others panicking or frantically searching pockets and purses for cards. I felt pretty lucky as I was walking to the front door and Fabio (the promoter, now club owner) shook my hand and waved me in. Of the people who regularly appear in my writing, only Jack, Giuseppe, Henk, and Anton (who part-times as a promoter) were there. The music was great. I didn't need any drinks since I was extremely drunk full from dinner.

A few hours later, I went to a Russian bar to meet up with Henk, Joe, and Juan and then we went to Twice to meet up with Anthony and his friends. Some drunk American girls followed us around and kept trying - inexplicably - to dance or to talk about sports stats.

The next morning I got great news. Guess who's not getting deported from Italy! I got a letter back from the government legalizing my stay in this country. Tight.

My food/culture/society class made two nearly-vegetarian dishes today. They were both filling and delicious. I thought of my parents because they would have loved them.

peperoni alla venezia (yellow bells sauteed with eggplant, tomato, garlic, wine, and of course, olive oil) and "risi e pisi" (pea risotto with parmesan and pancetta)

For my photography class, we were split up into groups and assigned different culinary aspects of the city to photograph ON-LOCATION. So we had to walk around the city and take pictures of various things. My group was assigned specific pastry, bakery, and chocolate stores. (The group that had first pick took gelato. Bitches.) But we had lots of fun and still stopped at Dei Neri for gelato anyway.

Henk and I grabbed dinner at the oil shoppe before he left for the train station to go to Paris. Then I took a long nap and got up when Jack and our friend Eddie came over. Somehow we were all hungry again - they'd gotten food on the way over - and went to "The House of Sizzle" to get one of their dozen burger selections. Mine was a BLT Burger. I'm pretty sure the bacon was actually pancetta but no complaints. That and the fries helped satisfy the American craving.

After that, we went to Salamanca and met up with a bunch of girls who I now know live on the same street as me. Eventually Juan, a bunch of other girls we know, Ross, Nick, Giuseppe, John, and more girls (in that order) showed up.

I love Salamanca because it's a Spanish tapas restaurant by day / Latin bar at night. And half the bar is a regular bar and other half is like a nightclub complete with green laser lights. After several pitchers of sangria, some of the girls, Juan, Ross, and I went to the dance floor to cut it loose and for a while even get up on the tables. Great times.

Okay, with all these new names, it's getting confusing again. Here's the second edition of the Andrew's-regular-friends-in-Italy cheat sheet, broken down by apartment:

l'auberge Italienne - gents: Giuseppe, Henk, myself
l'auberge Italienne - ladies: Liz, Aneet, Anna
the Girls Next Block: Mindy, Liane, Alison, Jess, Primavera
Donne interNazionale: Primavera, Marissa, Helen
across the Arno: Jack, Juan, Anton
designer district: Ross, John, Joe, Nick

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.

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?

last week 4/23 - 4/28

I realize I'm behind on the updates. My apologies. Time seems to be flying by more swiftly than ever.

Monday

I don't even remember. Sorry.

Tuesday

Lunch with Tara. The Pussycat Dolls found their new Doll, and I'm never watching The CW again. At least until next season. "Why is it every time I come home to you actually watching TV, there's some half naked chick dancing on screen?" I don't know, Nate. I don't know.

Wednesday

Wednesday night Shannon and I went to the best idea she ever had. "So Sinfully Sweet" at Morton's Steakhouse downtown. Blue Frog Chocolates decided to a chocolate tasting (with a different wine accompanying each), had Morton's serve hors d'ouevres (chicken tenders, bruschetta, mushroom caps stuffed with lump crabmeat, chicken tenders, and steak tenderloin sandwiches), and had masseuses from Aveda giving rubdowns. It was quite possibly the best two hours of my life. And I got drunk because there was a different wine for each of the five chocolates and Shannon would take one sip and insist I finish the rest for her, besides my own. Watching LOST drunk really isn't as hard as one would think.

Thursday

I had lunch with Tara and then went over to my professor's house for our final class (since she cancelled the Tuesday one). I presented my screenplay. It seemed to go over well. We all brought beer since she said "no hard liquor" after "certain behavior" last time we all drank together at Juan's Flying Burrito. She made us dinner (soft tacos, pico, guac, beans, rice). Good times.

Friday

Last Friday of classes. Ever. Shannon and I decided to turn our last Friday class ever into a drinking game. (We're good at this sort of drinking-in-what-may-seem-an-unlikely-situation. Just like the end of lagniappe's Bruff Happy Hour.) That was fun. TGIOver. A little more happy hour. We went to dinner at 5 Happiness, which was sort-of-good Chinese food. Asian Cajun still reigns supreme even though it's not traditionally Chinese.

Nicole and I met up to go to Erin's Cocktail Party, which was one of the best parties I've ever been to. Almost all the guys had shirts and ties on and the girls wore cocktail (duh) dresses. She had two bars (with bartenders), all the liquors, mixers, extras (cherries, lemons, limes, olives), one could want. And kegs. And the backyard was lit up with paper lanterns. Gorgeous. I was telling Nicole that if it weren't for the ice luges and beer pong table, I could have mistaken it for, like, a "grown-up" party. Tons of fun.

When we got there, we jumped immediately into the Cupid Shuffle. Nicole has a little trouble when the directions aren't given, but it was fun. A few hours later, after splitting up and mingling with different friends, we did another Cupid Shuffle. This time Nicole had trouble even with directions. "No, Nicole. Left. Left. Your other left!"

And then we left to go to another party at the "Calhoun Castle of Craziness." Nicole doesn't remember anything past this point, but I distinctly recall her verbally abusing two drunk boys walking near us. (Not as bad as Eileen in the Mardi Gras flashback though.) When we got to the house, she went to the bathroom, and I talked to Jose, whom I'd just met. By the time she came back out, I had realized we were at the completely wrong party. It was a Latin one. And the ladies of the castle are six white chicks. so we left.

When we finally made it to the correct party a block or so further, we saw more beer pong and nurses walking around giving people "shots" to cure senioritis. Good times.
We ended up at Dillon's house in his kitchen. The two of them had what may have been the most circular of drunk debates ever. But I was amused.

Saturday

Saturday was full of delicious food. Lizzie, Wes, and I went to Domilise's for po-boys. (Another restaurant crossed off the list.) We took them to the levee and had a little picnic with them and Abita. I got the Wednesday/Saturday special of barbecued beef. Awesome. The best part of the levee layout was when the ice cream truck pulled up, and all the half-naked college kids ran for it like a bunch of children. I was part of the bunch. It was worth it. We had a potluck that night that was pie themed. Pizza pie, chicken pot pie, spinach and mushroom pie, quiche, chocolate cream pie. Awesome. I was going to make Emeril's banana cream pie with caramel and chocolate drizzles (all from scratch like at the restaurant, but seeing how the grocery was out of ripe bananas... that didn't work. I brought apple instead. Then Lizzie convinced me out to Madigan's because Maureen (among others) were there. Adrian and his new Sig Ep brothers stumbled in soon after, so that was a pleasant surprise.

to illustrate a point

Two photos from parties last weekend. The first is an example of an "appropriate" college picture for announcements and publication intended for extended family and people-I-don't-know. The second could be considered thoroughly "inappropriate."

Erin, the hostess with the mostess

Dillon giving me a shot "to cure senioritis."

birthweek pictures

Here's just a sampling of pics from last week I got to transfer when Getaway was cooperating this morning. I'll load all the photos from last week/end as soon as I finish my last papers and screenplay and no longer have to worry about losing stuff if my laptop decides to have another aneurysm.

Puja, Whit, and I pregaming my birthday at Las Palmas

Monica and Adrian on the Uptown Cajun porch

Josh the pool shark. He might remember this.

about 50% of the writing on my arms at the end of the night

Miss Mule and Louisiana Strawberry Queen pageant winners after dinner

sexy seniors! Chi 'O7

"walk of shame" & "stride of pride"

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.

here's the kick-off

Sunday

The festivities began Sunday night at Madigan's. Stephanie and I were the first ones there, so we played the world’s greatest game of pool. We're sharks. Watch out. Josh, Rachael, and Brian soon showed up. After impressing them with the last few minutes of our mad pool skills, we did a quick round then went to Walgreens. Rachael bought Josh a beard clipper as a birthday present, and we looked at birthday cards for a while. Then we went to Baskin Robbins, but only a few of us actually bought ice cream. The rest saved room in our stomachs.

We moved on to Uptown Cajun, where the majority of people showed up. Lauren, Lizzie, Becca, Nicole, Leah, Courteney, Whitney, Puja, Ben, Katy, and last but certainly not least Adrian and Monica. My parents called around eleven and then again at midnight. Good times. I think it was also around this time that people started marking the drinks they bought me off on my arm and writing signatures and birthday messages on it.

We also stopped by Bruno's, both old and new, where one of the bartenders jokingly asked Adrian and me if we were twins. I think it was here that I saw Laura and Helen. Sylvia(!) and Lizzie showed up too. Moira was there maybe? Or maybe I'm just so used to seeing her there that I just imagine her when she’s not. A bunch of Adrian’s friends were there too. Rachael and Josh played an amazing game of pool, which he totally remembers, but before that I had the honor of buying him his first legal drink first drink ever. We called G.Ho a few times. She didn't answer.

We went to The Rat, where we ran into even more people, for food and beer. I vaguely remember buying ice cream from the vending machines. And then we called it a night.

Re: Moist phobia

a Mardi Gras '07 flashback

In my 2/17/07 entry, I wrote:

After the parades, some of us piled into Carter's car and went to Reginelli's for pizza and beer.

The following video is the best part of that car ride.

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

the freakin' weekend...

Baby, I'm havin' some fun...

What happened yesterday? Class. Nap. Whole Foods. Dinner with Matt and Becca at Brooks' place. I made a semi-Cobb at the WF salad bar, and Brooks had picked up sushi from Sake Cafe. I ordered my favorites, spicy yellowtail and New Orleans rolls. We played with Trek, his ex's dog, and Matt and Becca helped me completely fill in the blanks from Thursday night.

In the interest of privacy, I'll leave names out, but note that someone is singular and people is very plural. Here are more things that happened which I forgot in my previous update.

• people snuck into bars
• people pretty much made out
• people groped others' breasts, buttocks, and/or crotches
  
• people had nip slips
  
• people told someone they would do them
• people were throwing themselves at inappropriate people
• people fell... often into things or other people
  
• people couldn't drive/walk/read/speak
• people got laughed at by workers at The Rat
  
• people got into arguments over nothing
  
• someone accidentally hit someone else
• someone hid in the art building from someone else
  
• someone seriously danced with a stripper pole
• someone discussed their sex toys
• people passed out, impervious to light and noise
  
• people woke up still drunk
  
• someone woke up on a couch holding melted ice cream
  

Last night was much less Tara Reid. Some friends and I went to Karma. Last one ever. Sob. It was some people's first time ever, and it was also Tara's and my first Jacque-less one. The mix of food, drink, hip-hop, reggaeton, and bhangra was still amazing. Stephanie brought Samantha and Jeanine, just like I brought Adrian last year. Tara, Ian, Alison, Whitney, Lauren, David, Becca, and many others were also in attendance.

Some of us shuffled back and forth between Nirvana and the oh-so-cheap drinks at The Club: Miss Mae's. At the end of the night, Whitney and I went with some people to the only bar that's more of a dive than Mae's... Snake & Jake's.

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.

PCBaywatch

Click the link if you want to see it on YouTube and full-screen.

Four college students, a Canon PowerShot, spring break antics, a little running, lots of alcohol, masking tape, and some really red swimsuits and visors produced this video.

It was shot entirely on location in Panama City Beach.

I spent the last third of break in Panama City Beach.

THURSDAY

Shanita, LauRu (not to be confused with Lauren), and I grabbed a late breakfast/early lunch at Cracker Barrel. It was Ihita's and my first time. We approved. The price is right, and the food is tasty. Bacon, eggs, gravy, muffins, apple butter, and fried apples.

We checked into our hotel then while Ihita laid out (because apprently being Bengali doesn't make her tan enough), the rest of us went exploring. We tried to go to Hooters, for wings, but it was waaay too busy. We went to Harpoon Harry's instead and got spinach artichoke dip and buffalo wings. Our Scarlett-Johannson-looking waitress even gave us separate checks without us asking. Then we stayed for their "happy hour" from 7 to 9. Free margaritas and free beer. For two hours. So we played more C-o-D/K with my waterproof cards and got drunk. Shan and I walked back on the beach and LauRu and Ihita opted for the sidewalk. We got into the hot tub and played truth-or-truth because were too tired/lazy/drunk to do dares.

FRIDAY

Only Shannon and I got up for the free continental breakfast, but the other two joined us for a glorious morning on the beach. We went to Bishops Buffet for lunch. The waitress there gave us separate checks too, guess they're used to spring breakers. We went to Beatniks, which is a souvenir store disguised as a hippie shop. Some French guy with "gorgeous eyes" (as Shannon noted) did henna for us. Ihita got a tasteful, tiny heart on her wrist and a tramp stamp near her ass, and the rest of us got fleur de lys tattoos. Shannon's and mine on opposing shoudlers, Lauren's on her shoulder blade, which in my opinion is a really lame spot for a tat. (If you get that inside joke, I salute you.) The store also sold "white powder" and whipped cream cartridges "for food purposes only" among other goodies.

We stopped by the liquor-store/karaoke-bar that's only open from 4PM to 4AM to get some tropical mixers and then headed back to the beach. I cut my foot with a splinter, so I swabbed it with vodka, covered with a bandaid and kept on trucking.

We went to Hooters for dinner, where we had the epitome of Hooters waitresses. Her name was Angela, and she had a beautiful face, big... brains, and separate checks without request.

We climbed into the hot tub again. An eight-year-old was doing back-flips in the pool and flirting with the girls. Very cute. "The force is strong with this one."

We almost went clubbing but decided we didn't want to pay cover, so we went back to the karaoke-bar/liquor-store. There was a big black man singing "Let's Get It On," and that was awesome. Then the karaoke got more and more awful despite our drinking, so we retreated. The girls went back to their room, and I went to the hot tub and made some friends. There were other college students, and some insanely drunk 40-year-olds. One old lady's breasts kept popping out, and some douche who deduced that I was from New Orleans kept asking me to give his girlfriend beads. She kept flashing me and then another unattractive girl started doing it too, so I went for a walk with my new friend Samantha.

SATURDAY

We all got up for breakfast. I was the last to make it. We packed and checked out then spent the rest of the day at the hotel pool/bar. For some reason, we thought it would be a great idea to chug the remainder of the Bacardi handle. And for some reason, I let them convince me to do most of it, so I was drunk before noon. LauRu caught up at the bar. We went to Spicy Noodle for lunch, where we got shrimp in a horseradish cheese sauce and calamari for appetizers and split spicy chicken alfredo and spicy shrimp scampi for entrees. Then left. Sad.

Thursday and Friday

Very early Thursday morning, when Lauren and I left Uptown Cajun, we realized neither of us had an umbrella. I assumed she'd brought hers because mine was broken, and she assumed the rain was over. We were wrong. So wrong.

Well, we bonded with a nice walk in the rain. Only pelagic organisms should be allowed to be as wet we were. We couldn't have been more soaked if we had jumped into a pool. Seriously.

I decided to do late-night laundry and threw my sheets and towel in with my sopping clothes. But a few washing AND drying machines were broken. They wasted my quarters, so what should have been an hour-long laundry process took over two.

After about an hour of sleep, I went to the UC with Shannon to shadow her FBI interview and make her feel more comfortable. The gentleman asked me not to sit with them during it, which isn't surprising, so I hope my presence was of some help to her.

Terrorism, lunch with Tara, studying. I told Lauren I'd make dinner, so I pan-seared filet mignons (marinated with olive oil, garlic, sea salt, and mixed peppers) in butter. Well, I barely pan-seared them because Lauren likes her meat, very rare, mooing at her.

We met up with Steph to go see the Menage A Capella concert. Them, Green Envy, and a group from UT. Pretty awesome.

Friday was an adolescent psych exam (administered by the TA) then two more classes and FREEEEEEEDOM. Really loud. Braveheart-style. Lauren, Steph, Becca and I went to happy hour at The Columns, where I ran into Sonny and the professor who skipped his own exam that morning for a "conference." I hope he remembers the Manhattan I bought him when he grades. We went to the levee afterward to visit Sarah and Maddie, victims of flight cancellation.

my week so far

MONDAY

My parents were still in town, so between classes, Adrian and I went to lunch with them at Hana. I ordered a Hana Special Roll to share and the combo lunch (tempura, katsu, and shumai) for myself. I had my long calc midterm and after that we went (Adrian-less) to The Columns for happy hour again before hitting up Saltwater Grill for the aforementioned (in the Friday part) 25¢ oysters and red beans and rice with grilled andouille. We hung out at the hotel for a while before grabbing a very late dinner at K-Paul's.

Mom and I both started off with a cup of champagne cream of shiitake soup with sundried tomatoes. We all split a plate of fried green tomatoes with shrimp remoulade. My entree was a plate of duck tenders and shrimp in creole pork sauce over basmati rice. So good. K-Paul's makes their creme brulee with buried sugar pecans. Nice crunch and texture.

Then I took my parents to Harrah's since neither of them had been there yet. Mom doubled her money - at Money To Burn, Chad! - and we called it a night.

TUESDAY

No terrorism, no lunch with Tara, no screenwriting, no dinner with ben. (Canceled by Dad, canceled by her, canceled by professor, canceled by him.)

My father asked me to skip class in favor of family lunch at Felix's Uptown. Fried alligator. Sampler of red beans, jambalaya, and crawfish ettouffee.

Ben un-canceled dinner because he stopped caring about his midterm (at least for an hour), so we had dinner and caught up on each other's weekends before saying "have a good break." Just in case we don't meet up again before he leaves for Spain on Thursday.

WEDNESDAY

Adolescent Psych. Debate. No paper due, luckily. I actually took up Dining Services on their "Take-A-Professor-To-Lunch" program. So after lunch Cunningham and I went to Bruff, for free. It was fried chicken day. Awesome.

Calc. Music. Blah. Phone Calls. Fun. Nap. Great.

Lauren, David, and I went to get cannolis at Spumone in Mid-City. It was probably her best idea ever. We got cannolis, half chocolate, dusted with powdered sugar and crushed pistachios. I also sampled two flavors of gelato. (Both were so good, I couldn't pick just one.) "St. Joseph's Chocolate Almond," which was the daily special and tastes exactly like it sounds (minus the holiness), and Baci (which some of you know is Italian for "kiss"), which must be made of pure Nutella. They probably changed the name so they wouldn't get sued.

Lauren and I had dessert and then dinner. Kind of backwards. While on this Italian kick, we asked Whitney to pick us up a foot-long when she went to Subway. She was sooo nice about it, even checking exactly what we wanted. Parmesan-oregano bread, provolone or mozzarella bread. She asked if we wanted vegetables, and I replied "Are you kidding? It's LAUREN. No vegetables."

I've decided my favorite new show is "The Search For The Next Pussycat Doll." It's like America's Next Top Model but with singing, dancing, and non-clothing. I guess they want a seventh girl so that Nicole can stand in the middle.

At least it was what I watched while waiting for LOST with Whitney.

Closer to midnight, Lauren and I decided to go out. We didn't want to have to drive, so we walked to - unbelievable - TJ Quills for swiller night. We were the oldest people there. All freshmen. We saw one junior (Teddy) and one sophomore (Shivani)we knew. We played a great game of "I Never..." which is really hard when you play with someone you know well, and I managed to screw it up.

We decided to go somewhere more appropriate and wound up at Uptown Cajun. We enjoyed the Flogging Molly playlist and pitcher special for Abita. We decided to call Ted (H) since we missed him. Speaking of whom, here's my new favorite music video for anyone who hasn't seen it yet, the "group project" from last Wednesday.