New Years 2007 at Saki in DC

It's been a while since I posted, I've been busy with the holidays.

I spent my Christmas break in Charlotte. Always enjoy going to Charlotte, it's one of those things that never get old, especially now that I only get to do it a few times a year. No specific details here, same old stuff, but always fun every single time, always worth the drive.

I spent New Years in DC. I went to this place called Saki. It was a trendy Japanese restaurant with a bar/dancefloor/DJ at night. The tickets were about $60 each, and it included an open bar between 8-10, buffet (mostly sushi), and the party itself (music, dance floor, DJ, lighting effect, etc). My date and I stayed there till about 12:30 or so, had a blast.

Yellow Rose Cafe & Billiards in Charlotte

I haven't shot pool in a while, and I'm glad I got a chance to go play pool with my friend Nick while I'm in Charlotte. It was the same friend I used to play this drinking game with. We played at this pool hall called "Yellow Rose Cafe & Billiards". It was my first time being there.

It had a lot of pool tables, but the first one we played on had a "table curve", where the ball rolls funny because the table wasn't completely leveled. We switched tables after 3-4 games, and the 2nd table seemed fine. Yellow Rose Cafe & Billiards was somewhat less crowded than other pool halls I went to in Charlotte; it had a "neighborhood bar" vibe to it. But then again, the vibe could've came from it being a Sunday night.

The price of Yellow Rose seemed more than reasonable. Maybe it was just my perception due to the prices I'm used to in DC and all billiard places cost that much in Charlotte. We shot for about an hour and a half, had a coke each, and our total bill was $13. I was really surprised, I would've imagined to be around $13 each.

Overall, I think Yellow Rose was a fun place to hang out. Friendly staff, cheap pool, even though the quality of the tables is questionable.

Halloween Night Adventures

I'm surprised. Today's the day after Halloween and none of my friends blogged about Halloween adventures, I guess I'll be the first one.

I dressed up as the grim reaper and went bar hopping at Mt Pleasant, DC. I had a great time. Instead of having their busses take me to the other two bars, I decided to randomly walk up and down the street and look for bars.

I stopped at 3 bars and a restaurant (with a bar), and got one drink each over two hours. The restaurant was an interesting experience. It was a Mexican restaurant, and all the people there seemed to be able to speak Spanish. But the bartender, Heidi, was extremely nice and friendly, I ordered a rum & coke. While sipping on my rum & coke, I socialized a little with the others that were sitting in a bar, gave some props to others that were wearing Scream masks and such. It's Halloween night, everyone was drinking, everyone was looking for a good time, and nobody was a trouble maker. I guess that's one of the perks of being an adult; being able to go out and have fun without someone picking a fight.

I met some interesting people in great costumes, had a blast, got a few #'s, had a great time.

Halloween Plans Tonight

I'm trying to decide what I want to do for Halloween tonight. I procrastinated on getting a costume, so I'm reusing the one I had in 2004, the Grim Reaper. It looks pretty cool, cape, faceless mask, plastic scythe.

So far, I have two ideas on tonight's plans:

1. Walk up and down the streets of Georgetown DC, which is similar to Chapel Hill's Franklin Street.
2. Bar Crawl in Mount Pleasant DC

Bungee Jumping in Six Flags Maryland

So I went to Six Flags in Maryland on Sunday. My buddy Eddie had free tickets from his company, and I decided to tag along with his group of friends, especially with the tickets being free. At the end of the trip, I looked at the bungee jumping thing, and said to myself, “This is something I wanted to do sometime in life, so why not now”. I got up there, and found out that there were no lines and it only cost $15.

I backed out at the last minute, right before buying the ticket for it. I was under the thing and saw how high it really was. I guess need to reevaluate my bravery. Now looking back, I’m kicking myself in the @$$ for it.

Last night in Long Island - Day 5

Ahhhh........it's Saturday. I woke up around 9:30 and not have to work today. I met up a friend Rob for a bagel. I remember playing basketball with him on our neighborhood court when I was living on Long Island. He was about 3-4 years younger than everyone, so we all picked on him. I haven't seen him since I moved away, and it's been about 10 years.

After that, I caught a movie with a friend. "My super ex-girlfriend". It was pretty good. Cute, semi-romantic, creative, and humorous. Perfect for my friend and me. I see her every time I visit Long Island, so there's not much to catch up, just sit around and enjoy each other's company.

I then visited my buddy Ron. We also don't have much to chat about, we get together and play video games every time I visit him and talk nerdy stuffs such as computer programming and code.

After dinner, I visited my buddy Bobby, who is now an NYPD, and I'm proud of him. He's out there making a difference. He isn't sitting under bridges trying to pull over people who're trying to get to work on time in the morning; he is in subway stations keeping people safe. I hang with him for about two hours, caught up on a lot of stuff, and returned to Ron's place and played some more video games.

It's about 2AM, and I need to go to bed. I'm getting up around 9:30AM to drive to the airport tomorrow.

Shout from Long Island - Day 4

Today was great. Did the whole family/friends thing after working from home 9-5.

I did get to take an extra long lunch break. I had lunch and coffee with a friend. Her name's Marian and I met her online about 10 years ago. I was 16 and new to the AOL chatrooms thing, and became friends with Marian and we kept in touch till today. I've gotten together with her here and there when I visited Long Island, and I think the last time I saw her was about a year and a half ago over Thanksgiving break.

Since she's mostly an online buddy, I talked to her about a lot of things I normally wouldn't tell the friends I hang out with, because online buddies are less judgemental. I remember talking to her about my ex-girlfriend 5 years ago, having a total crush on this girl 4 years ago, not able to find my first "real job" 3 years ago, etc.

It's always a real treat for me to see her in real life, and she's so nice every time I meet up with her.

Live from Long Island - Day 3

Okay, so I'm now on Long Island. Woke up around 9AM in my aunt's basement and jumped on a my laptop to work without brushing my teeth. For some reason, the convenience felt great. I now envy people who work at home. I got more accomplished today than I normally could've at the office, I guess I'm just more efficient "working from home".

I ate some leftovers for lunch (from yesterday's dinner) and "called it a day" from work around 5:45PM. After watching some TV, I went to a Jewish place for dinner with my aunt. The food was alright, just typical American, but everything was "Kosher".

I DID get to drive my rental car around today, it's a new Pontiac Grand Prix (pic), had less than 500 miles on it. It's fun to drive because I can randomly floor it without worrying about reducing the life of the car.

I hang out for a little bit and visited a friend around 9PM. It's about 11:30 and I am going to go to sleep so I can repeat the same exact thing tomorrow.

Gambling Dice Game in Pirates of the Caribbean 2

I just saw Pirates of the Caribbean 2 today and one of the scenes showed them play a dice game on the ghost pirate ship. I remember playing that game as a drinking game with my buddies Nick and Chi when I lived in Charlotte before I got my first “real job”. We played the exact same game, with the variation of “one’s are wilds” and can substitute as any number there is. We did the same thing those ghost pirates did, except there was about half a shot of Vodka in the middle and the loser had to drink it. With only 3 people playing the game, we got drunk fairly fast.

Ahhh………good times.

A Capitol 4th 2006

Last night I had family over for July 4th and we attended the celebration in DC – A Capitol 4th 2006. I guess that was one of the few “family friendly” entertainment that didn’t totally suck.

The celebration concert started at 8PM and lasted till about 9:30. Other than the National Anthem sang by Jojo, most of the performers were big named old-school singers such as Michael Bolton, Vanessa Williams and Stevie Wonder. I was most impressed by the host, Jason Alexander. With his Broadway experience, he was just a great entertainer.

Overall, the show was not as boring as I imagined it would be, and I’m somewhat glad I went.

Water Skiing

A friend was visiting his parents, and I drove to see him on Saturday. His parents live close to Fredericksburg VA, which was about an hour from where I live. It was a lakeside community, and the weather was great. I tried waster skiing for the first time, and it just totally didn't work out for me. I tried it 4 times, not used to the sudden momentum of the boat dragging me, and I couldn't stand up each time. I gave up after the 4th try because I know I probably wouldn't do it again in a really long time, and it's not worth me trying 20 times just so I can learn it.

Afterwards, my friend and I kayaked in the lake, which was a lot easier and more relaxing. What a great way to spend a weekend.

Patio Bar

I have a tendency of posting things late, and this is another one of my late posts. I went to a bar with a coworker last Friday after work, about 10 days ago.

The weather was great, the bar had an outside patio, and it was awesome. I had about 3-4 drinks, had a great time. Good thing I was taking the metro back instead of driving.

Company Party

Two days ago, 6/20/06 was the official birthday of the launch of washingtonpost.com. It was launched 6/20/1996. Wow, it's a big one, 10 whole years. Sometimes I wish I could've bought washingtonpost.com back in 95 or something and sold it to the Washington Post company for a gigantic amount of money. So we had a party at a place called "Clarenden Ballroom". It was casual dress, mingle event, nothing fancy. They had free food and an open bar, and all the "important people" at washingtonpost.com were there. Obviously ate all the free food there was, and I had about 5 different 8-oz mixed drinks, which equals to about 3-4 shots, over 2 hrs. So it wasn't bad at all.

While socializing, I shook hands with my boss's boos, the VP of marketing. He actually introduced me to Don Graham, the owner of Washington Post. I did the polite thing, shook his hand, did the whole "it's great to meet you thing". After the VP of marketing told Mr. Graham what I do, he also did the diplomatic thing and said something like "I'm really glad you could join us, washingtonpost.com needs as much traffic as possible, etc". But wow, I shook Don Graham's hand, I'm thinking that's the most "important" person's hand I've shaken in my whole life.

Playing soccer again

Last night around 8PM, I decided to get some exercise and play some basketball. The B-ball court is behind a tennis court and a grass field. While walking to the B-ball court, I was flagged by some people to play some soccer. It was a mixed crowed, from 10 yr old kids to girls my age to guys up to their 40’s.

We had enough for a 4 on 4, they used 2 hockey sized goals on the grass, and played over the field of about the size of 2-3 basketball courts. So, I guess this is mini-soccer, with less people, smaller field, and smaller goal.

I haven’t played soccer in about 12-16 yrs; it feels good to be running around on a grass field again.

Random Meetup

So I'm kinda new in DC and don't know anybody. I decided to take the proactive step and answer a "strictly platonic" ad from Craigslist (Thanks for the recommendation, Allison). It's with a happily married girl, 27, and also want to just know more people. We exchanged 2-3 Emails for about a week or so, and decided to meet up for a few games of pool today.

I personally had a great time. We shot pool for about an hour then had dinner at a place that reminded me of QDoba's in Charlotte. Feels good to shoot pool again, and also feels good to have a pool buddy in DC area. We briefly talked about our jobs, our outlook on relationships/marriages, and life in general.

Cherry Blossoms in DC

About a month and a half ago, I had some free time to look around DC. It was during the cherry blossom festivals. I saw some of those and visited some monuments. I know I’m a little late on posting, but here are some pictures of the monuments and cherry blossoms in DC.

Weekend Trips Ahead

Sorry if I'm not going be blogging in the next few days or so. I have some road trips coming along The coming memorial day weekend I'm driving up to NYC/NJ to see a friend (4 and a half hours), and the weekend after that I'm visiting Charlotte (6 hrs drive).

Anyone in the NYC or Charlotte/Greensboro/Raleigh area want to get together and hang out, give me a call or Email.

--Paul.

The Comedy Spot in Arlington Virginia

I was extra busy at work this week, so I decided to try something different to relieve stress after work today. I found this skit comedy place on washingtonpost.com's city guide. The name of the place is The Comedy Spot and it's located in Ballston Common Mall in Arlington VA. The 8PM session was a random rated PG, clean comedy improv session. I'm usually not big into "fun for the whole family" type of events, simply because I'm a single guy without wife or kids. But it was only $10, I thought "why not".

The comedians did a great job, but I wasn't extremely amused for some reason. Growing up as a teenager in the 90's I think I was almost trained, by the media such as "married with children" or "the Simpsons", to think jokes such as "How do you stop an elephant from charging? You take away his credit card" unfunny. Am I so spoiled by the adult humor all around us that I think "fun for the whole family comedy" just isn't funny?

This got me thinking: How do you define "Adult humor?" It doesn't have to be controversial, it doesn't have to include sex or race. It could be things relating to our everyday lives, such as "Officespace" or "the office", or it could be random out of nowhere 15 second jokes presented in "Family Guy". Subconsciously, we all have a line drawn between what's funny and what's just corny. But how do we define that line? And what are the rules of where that line lays?

Yoda Fizzle, Again

It's about 3AM in the morning, Sat night, and I've just finished drinking. My roommate and I drank a 750ML bottle of Smirnoff Vodka. That averages out to 12-13 shots each. We've made Yoda Fizzle's with them, and the drinks tasted good. For ingredients, visit my post earlier (in the April archive). I'm not too sure, but I think this might be the most I've drank in a really long time.

Yoda Fizzle

Today is the last day of a coworker, and we had a small party for her. The theme of the party was Star Wars and we made this drink called "Yoda Fizzle".

Ingredients: Ginger Ale, Lime Juice, and Vodka.

For as strong as that drink was, it didn't taste bad at all. I've had a few, had a great time.

I've found out later after some research, there was already a drink made like that, and its name is Moscow Mule.

Everyone should try that drink out, it's actually pretty good.

Pool Shark No Longer

I found this pool hall in DC. Relatively expensive comparing to Charlotte places, $7.25/hr for one person, $12 for 2. I shot around for a little while, and I realize how badly I play now. I havn't played in about a month, and the shots that felt "natural" back then just doesn't seem to want to go in anymore. I used to play about 5 time a week back in college, and I'm losing it.

Is it worth the effort of going out to shoot pool every single night just to keep up my skills? I guess it depends on whether I want to go out and do it or not, and how much I enjoy playing pool. I always enjoy playing, but after having a fulltime job, my motivation of going out is decreasing for some reason. I must be getting old.

Tokyo Inn

Okay, this is kinda weird. While low on gas, I decided to drive around till I find a gas station. I'm still new here, so that in itself is an adventure on its own. I've finally found a gas station after 5 min of aimlessly driving down what look like "big roads" with businesses around it. I'm getting somewhat hungry.

Next to this gas station, there's this shopping center called "Backlick". I know for as grown as I am, I shouldn't really find it funny, but I guess I'm still just a kid. I found this Japanese steakhouse, called "Tokyo Inn". Looks just like other Japanese steakhouses such as Kabuto's or Nakato's in NC, with the waitresses dressed in traditional Japanese dresses and everything, but they were speaking Chinese. That kinda weirded me out. I've seen other Asian nationalities running Chinese restaurants because they're easy to run, but this is the first time I see Chinese people running other forms of Asian restaurants. I know it doesn't mean anything, but it's just unusual. So I got some Sushi to go, and all is well.

Nerding it out

I attended my first video game tournament in my life today. It was a Tekken 5 tournament for the North East USA, and it was held in a mall 10 min from my place, so I decided to join. It was $15 entry fee, double elimination. I know I had no chance to win any money (top 3), but I just wanted to see how I come up against the "best players in the North East USA".

There were about 20-30 people in the tournament, a lot of them took the bus from up north to get here. I didn't do too bad, won my first match, lost my 2nd, won my 3rd and lost my 4th, which got me eliminated. Against the "top players of the North East", my record today was 50/50, so I'm kinda happy about that. One thing that annoyed me a little were some kids from NY. Everytime one kid wins, a whole crowed of them would say something like "That's how we do it in New York". But oh well, it's just games. I kinda left after I got elimiated, so I don't know who won or how I got ranked. They'll post it later.

Drunk goodbye's to Manda and Michelle

One of the toughest things I'll miss is my friends. Today was a fun day, but also a sad day for me. I got drunk with my bud Michelle, and had Manda as our DD at Ham's restaurant. Manda, thanks again for DDing, I met you back in UNC-Charlotte, and we're still buds, friends forever. Michelle, even though I only see you once every 4-5 months, you're a real fun person to be around, and I need to be around fun people to be happy. I'll miss drinking with you. Wish I could've done it more often while I was in Gboro. Both you girls have to visit me often. I'll make sure I get a pullout couch to accommodate you girls if you come to DC, and we'll take the metro bar hopping, so nobody has to DD.
You two are the best.

Prince of Persia 2

After 3 months, my friend Mo and I finally beat Prince of Persia 2: Warrior Within for PS2. We get together about every week or every other week, and play video games. We usually spend about 2-3 hrs each time switch off playing Prince of Persia 2 while the other one gives ideas, "Go here, no, up there, climb that wall and jump...". We finally beat it 2 days ago, it was one of the things we were determined to do before I move to DC. I feel accomplished. :)