November 27, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Summer Recap Part II

Here is Part II of my Summer Recap.  But before you continue on down, I said that this would be a "two parter."  Well I just realized that I have a ton of pictures, so this "Summer Recap" will take as many "parts" as necessary.  

I could do them all in one, but blogger doesn't let me organize pictures the way I want to.  Also, It doesn't put them in the order I put them in when I upload them.  So I have to take each picture, and drag it down, one by one.  For every picture.  It becomes a long and tedious process so that is why I'm not doing it all at once.  

So here we go:

This is the waiting area on the 6th floor @ Ogilvy.  It's Neo@Ogilvy's floor.  I think I was waiting for some people to go to a "Thirsty Thursday" event.  It was also a Media Planner's birthday.

We went to 230 Fifth, a rooftop bar in NYC.  That's the Empire State Building.  Everyone from Ogilvy that went got wristbands, and we got to eat a drink for free.  

Best free  mini-burger ever.  It was really good.  They had samosa's too, they were okay, but the inside's looked like green baby vomit.  But don't get me wrong, they were pretty good.  Their drinks on the other hand were weak.  Until we tipped the waitress.  

I forget the name of the joint, but I met up with an old friend, and met her boyfriend, and his friends, and another friend who I didn't know was going to be there.  It was fun.  My shrimp taco's were delicious.  The only issue I had was that there were only 4, and they were as long as my index finger.  I need more food.  Also, this place has the best guacamole I've ever consumed, thus far.  Mango flavored, orange flavored, they were all good.  

This is from when I went to the Siren Music Festival @ Coney Island with PK.  As usual, Coney Island was packed.  But probably more so because of the concert.  We walked around a lot, ate italian ice ($1), played skee-ball, and people watched (aka judged).  The stage was too far away to actually sit there and pay attention.  The main band I wanted to hear was Broken Social Scene, which we heard for a little, then left.  There were other bands, but I didn't want to walk over to the other stage.  

This is after the Siren Music Festival, I think the same night.  We managed to get Dark Knight tickets @ the AMC theater in Times Square.  I think it was opening week, or the week after?  Point is, the movie was sold out for practically a month.  

This was taken @ Central Park.  I went to the Summer Stage concert thing-a-ma-jig.  Santogold was playing.  I'm still not that into her, but it was fun.  Minus the whole, waiting in a line part.  I didn't take this picture though.  Anu took it, with my camera.  It's pretty neat.

So as MAIPers, we have to give back to the community.  Not only because we wanted to, but also because we had to.  This is from the TORCH event.  Where we basically set up shop and had a mini-college fair for high school students.  This was somewhere in NYC.  Near Washington Square Park.  Kimmel Center?  

I guess I can't complain, because we were organized alphabetically.  We each represented our own school.  I, of course, was representing OSU, but to my left, was UPenn.  

All those kids in the picture...were inquiring about UPenn.  Didn't even look at me, or take a brochure.  

But then a miracle happened.  Somebody stopped by and asked about OSU.  I got a little nervous.  I'm not one that is full of school spirit, but I do like my school.  I had to make us look good.  So what do I talk about?  Sports.  But we're not even that good at that anymore either...I think I was showing him a picture collage I made while I was at work.  All the picture in that collage were of athlete's.  

I knew someone felt my pain.  Randy, also representing a Big Ten school, University of Minnesota.  He sat next to a girl from NYU.  Carla I think.  I don't think she knows me.  But I know of her.  Thanks to mass MAIP emails.  (Carla not pictured)

This sushi is from Tenzen.  Nothing spectacular, but the sushi was good.  We had a "Hot Date Night."  Basically an excuse for a big group of people to go out and have dinner together.

Here's Tiffany and Ruchy.  

After Tenzen, I think we went to Crumb's?  I'm pretty sure it was Crumb.  Anywho, Geia wanted to eat the cake like this for a picture.  The first time around, I didn't look at her, but I was looking at the cake.  She then yelled, "You're supposed to look at me!"  This is the result.  

The cake was alright.  

Stephanie and Zack.

Later that evening Rudy and Tiffany stopped by my ginormous room.  I forget what we did.  I think we just watched youtube video's.  And maybe drink some beer.  I forget.  

This is from when some of us went to MoMA.  Look at all the people that are passed out.  The museum wasn't that boring...

Brandon thought it was pretty boring...

Worst piece of art.  Ever.  I really mean it.  It's seriously just a square canvas painted black.  with a ridiculous description that I will share with you another day.  If you look back far enough, I might have already blogged about it.  

Larissa 

In front of MoMa.

This is from when we walked to Dinosaur BBQ, only to not eat there because it was packed.  They eventually ate there, but I was unable to attend.  Sad face.  

So that night we didn't go to Dinosaur BBQ, we went to this Cuban place.  It was pretty good.  Brandon had a cool idea for a picture.  The right camera screen is over exposed, but it's another "eye".  You get the picture.  

Part III will be up shortly.  I hope before Thanksgiving.  

Enjoy.

Summer Recap Part I

So this is how my summer started:

-I got news that I have been accepted into the AAAA MAIP 2008 program.  Holler.

-I had to send a profile picture of myself, but I didn't have a good one, so I took one.  And still, to this day, I don't have a good profile picture of myself.  But since this is the image used in the MAIP book, I have to put it up here.  Can you say "awkward?"...

-I finally get to New York.  I didn't get a chance to relax yet, because I had finished my final exams the day before, literally.  This was my humble abode for 9 weeks, which apparently was way bigger than other peoples' rooms.  Holler??

(Air Conditioning not included)

-Here's a shot of my desk.  It got messier as the weeks went on.  

-This isn't from my first day at work.  But, this was probably within the first 2 weeks.  I really enjoyed interning at Ogilvy & Mather.  I would love to work for them.  I hope they search me after I apply for a job, and they stumble upon this blog.  It's already linked to my Facebook, which they probably check.  

-My first outing with a big MAIP group.  We went to Coney Island for the Mermaid Parade.  It was pretty fun to say the least.  I enjoyed my Nathan's hot dog.  

-First un-official MAIP party (only some knew about it, but only because nobody knew each other).  This was at a friend's APT.  We basically just ate food and had some drinks at the rooftop of their building.  Funny thing is, we had to go down 4 floors to get there.

-The night before my birthday.  Basically, it was just a regular outing for us MAIPers, except Hiro told people that it was also my birthday.  Thanks Hiro.  I really enjoyed partying in your ballroom (club's name = Hiro Ballroom).  We danced a lot.  I made friends.  

-I'm pretty sure I took this on our way back from Hiro Ballroom.  The significance of this picture is Cecil's face.  I captured it again later on.  It will most likely be in Part II of this segment.  

-The night of my birthday.  After a failed attempt at going to an Internbar.com suggestion, we went uptown to K-Town.  Specifically, La Quinta Inn (not a Korean establishment).  They have a small rooftop bar, and we drank there for a few hours.  I'm not wearing beads.  It was a shot glass necklace.  I used it once.  I wore it for the style...(pictured is Jessica and I).

-While at La Quinta Inn rooftop bar, some of us got hungry.  Hiro and I went to Woorijip (A Korean establishment), and got some Korean food.  It was really good when I ate it.  It was really gross when I threw it up on the way to my cousin's.  I ended up in Chinatown that night, by myself.  I was supposed to get off on Prince St. but the train didn't stop.  So I got off on Canal, and barfed.  It was a long night.

-The day after my birthday, Less than 12 hours after the above incident, My cousin and sister, who came to visit for my birthday, and I, went to Freeman's for an awesome brunch.  This place is tricky to get to, but my cousin knows NYC like the back of her hand (I never understood this saying, but I'll talk about that another day).  This is the alley way leading to Freeman's.  (Pictured: cousin and sister on left, random dude w/ pink shirt on bike on the right)

-This is the inside of Freeman's.  There is much more to it than this, obviously, but I feel like this captures the scene.  

-Basically this whole day was kind of my birthday celebration.  After Freeman's we walked around, and my cousin and sister went shopping.  We went to a desert place, but I didn't take any pictures.  The lady gave us a free cookie.  They were so good.  All homemade, all delicious.  We bought a cake for dinner.  We met up with my cousin Paul and his fiance Pam.  I also invited my friend Patricia.  We ate at a Thai place next to Smack, a mac n' cheese place, which I have yet to try.  

-Afterward dinner I went to go karaoke with my sister, her friend, and Patricia.

This is me and my sister singing, which looks to me, like a Korean song?  I can't read Korean that well, nor do I actually listen to Korean music on a regular basis.  

-This picture was taken during the Gay Pride Parade.  Which was pretty fun actually.  Cecil, Hiro, Larissa and I went, and got drenched from the rain, but that only made the gay people more....gay?  Here is a picture of the Google bus.

-One day we went to Tom's Diner, the one from Seinfeld.  You know, the one that they always eat at?  Well the inside doesn't look like that.  They just used the outside.  I ordered chicken fingers, and was amazed that one of my pieces was shaped like Africa.  Hiro then calls me a racist for saying that my chicken finger looks like Africa.  I was caught off guard because I had no racist intentions.  The situation was kind of hilarious.  And delicious.  

-After Tom's Diner, we walked around Columbia's campus.  We lived really close to it, and Tom's Diner was about 2 blocks away.  The campus is really nice.  Really small compared to Ohio State.  Actually, tiny would be a better way to describe it compared to Ohio State.  

-This was taken on the 4th of July.  We went to Cecil's mentor's friend's apartment.  They promised a great view for the fireworks show.  Little did they know that the barge, where the fireworks were launched was a little more upriver than the previous year.  Pictured below is the result.

-This was one of my favorite days.  A group of us went to Chinatown and got some dim sum.  We ordered a ton of food.  

-We ate a lot of food.  If you can, look at Brandon's face (middle).  Tell me that is not a full/content face?

-On another day, Anu, Larissa and I went to a bakery close to the I-House (International House), where we were living, and got some snacks.  I think I got cookies, and devoured them.  Anu got this red velvet cake.  It was alright.  Nothing special.  The cookies weren't that great either.  When I devour something, it usually means it was good, but when I devour cookies, it's only because they were cookies.  (I love cookies, even the mediocre kind)

-On a hot day in July, Hiro, Zack and I went to the Central Park zoo.  It was pretty cool.  I watched a sloth move from the ground to the top of a tree.  It only took 5 minutes.  I love the way sloth's move!  We also took this hilarious picture, but it's not on my camera, and I'm too lazy to find it, save it, and upload it.  I did see a Polar Bear though.  Two actually.  If you look closely, on the bottom right corner, there's another Polar Bear.  They are holding hands.  The other one's so dirty.  Polar Bear's aren't as white as the Coca-Cola commercial's make them out to be...

-This was after one of our Tuesday seminar's.  I think it was the production studio one?  We met on a rooftop and split up and toured this office.  It was pretty cool, except I almost fell asleep during one of the stops.  Afterwards I told some people that I'd go see the New York Philharmonics at Central Park with them.  This place was packed.  I heard that there were like, 100,000 people there.  AT ONCE!  I couldn't even see the NY Philharmonics.  I wasn't even facing them.  But I couldn't tell because we were so far away.  After the concert though they had a small fireworks show.  I LOVE fireworks.  Needless to say, I was very excited for this because our 4th of July fireworks were so...weak.  

Well, that's it for now.  I actually chose to do this instead of my Korean homework.  I also told myself that I wasn't going to do my Korean homework until I finished this post.  

But remember, this is only Part I.  Part II will be up soon.  

Do you like it when I have more pictures than words?  

Let me know.  I want to cater to my readers, all (insert small single digit number) of you.  

Funk

I'm in a funk.  

I'm gaining weight, I'm getting lazy, and I'm not studying.  

All of those things are linked and have hindered me from being happy.

To add insult to injury, I bought a pair of gloves from Urban Outfitters today.  $20 (pre-tax).  Why did I buy them?  Well.  It was ridiculously cold outside, and all I wore was a hoodie and my blue scarf.  

In case you're wondering.  I wore jeans and a t-shirt as well.

Anyways, the gloves were quite warm.  I enjoyed them.  Except whenever I took them off, it smelled like the store.  Or, rather, it smelled like, metal?  I don't know.  Basically, not good. 

So I'm wearing these gloves all day.  And I played basketball later on.  I wore them TO the gym.  but I don't remember wearing them when I left.  And I'm pretty sure I left them in the gym.  Problem is, the gym is ENORMOUS.  Like, one of the biggest recreational facilities on a college campus in America.  If not THE biggest.  We use our money wisely.  

I can call them tomorrow, but someone probably picked em up.  That's how it always happens.  

These 20 dollar gloves didn't even last a day.  

Someone get me out of here.  

I've noticed that I have been getting very lazy the past few weeks.  I'm waking up late.  I don't have the drive that I had in September.  

This seems to happen often throughout the year.  I can't explain it and I can't avoid it.

Although I think I can avoid it, but in order for that to happen I have to change.  

I keep telling myself that I'm going to "change" but it never happens.  I just end up waking up later, staying up later, studying less, and goofing off more.  

Time to start getting into the habit of doing things that are good for me.  

(I say this to myself ALL the time)

But it's better to say it, than to ignore it, right?

On another note:

I saw Quantum of Solace, the latest James Bond movie.  I enjoyed the action scenes, and how it was filmed in general.  The plot was a little thin though.  Maybe I wasn't paying attention, but I felt like there needed to be more explanation about the "secret organization" and more about their intentions.  Rather it seemed as if the movie went on with little, to no, plot direction.  

The intro reminded me of Mad Men.  Sorta.

Overall I give it a B.   

Recover

I got my Macbook back last night.

Less than 12 hours after I gave it to the Apple store to fix.  

They said they'd call me in 3-5 days.  

They always say they'll call me in 3-5 days, and I always get my computer back the next day. 

Holla.

I have the first generation Macbook with the 60 gb hard drive, but Apple no longer carries the 60 gb hard drive, or at least this particular Apple store did not have them, so I got a free 80 gb hard drive.  So I got 20 free gb's of hard drive space.  

I really like the Apple Care Plan, because I've used it many times.  Not to say that my Macbook is prone to breaking, but for various reasons.  I've only had two hardware issues.  Video card, and hard drive.  All my other uses were cosmetic.  I got wrist pads replaced because they were staining, and I got a new, lack of a better term, shell, cause it was cracked.  

Beyond that, my Macbook has been very durable.  

There is one issue though.  Not with the actual Macbook, but with the Apple Care Plan.  

The 3 year plan is great.  But once the three year deal is up you can't extend it.  You can't even buy a new 3 year plan.  Kind of ridiculous.  

They were explaining to me that once the plan ends, there is a fixed rate for repairs...$300.   But if it's a "major repair," say your screen cracked, it's going to cost you more.  

They were telling me this as if it was a good deal.  

I love Apple products.  I will most likely continue to purchase them through out my life, but they need to cut prices.  

It just goes to show how much people are willing to pay for an Apple product.  

Kudos to them.  

Crash

So my Macbook hard drive crashed yesterday.

Super lame.

I utilize the "time machine" function on the Leopard OS, so I guess I can back my data up from 3 weeks ago. But now I'm going to back my data up everyday.

I went to the apple store, and I really hope, unrealistically, that they'll just give me a new generation Macbook. That would be awesome. But unrealistic.

They're probably just going to give me new hard drive, and maybe fix my computer if it has other problems. Which I hope it does, so that I can get more new parts.

But I basically lost all my documents...or the recent ones. Kind of sad.

Reminisce

So I'm organizing my desk and putting stuff in bins and what not, and I stumbled upon DVD copies of a movie my friends and I made for our senior project in high school.  

First impression:  

I was pretty big.  Not in a muscular way.  

I look like a fool in the movie, and I remember I tried to watch this a few years ago, and I couldn't sit through it.  But I watched Saw V earlier and I can sit through anything now.

This movie was stressful yet incredibly fun to make.  

I want to make more movies.

And I think my acting would be better now.  I think.

I Am Nerd

So I officially revived my nerd status the past few days...

How?

I used a phoenix down.  

I hate me.

So if you've been around me long enough, you'll know that I'm sort of a geek.  But not even the smart kind.  Like the kind that likes to play video games.  But not just any kind of video games, the RPG (Role Playing Game) sort.  I bought Final Fantasy XII (12), last winter and I said I was going to beat it before summer.  Epic fail.

I ended up going off to New York for MAIP without accomplishing one of several goals.  But I don't remember the other goals.  I just know I had them, because I always seem to make goals for myself.  Well since I've been back in Columbus, I've played Final Fantasy XII a few times, and I kind of forgot the story line, I didn't feel connected with the characters, and I didn't know where the hell I was or where I was doing, so the game seemed foreign to me, despite the fact that I had put in many, many hours.  

Well the past few days, I've been playing it more frequently.  I finally beat this boss, and it felt great because I had failed 2 times before, earlier.  So I finally progressed with the story, and caught myself up, and now I'm hooked.  again.

I still play Madden, which is a great game, but sports games are the most fun when you play with someone else.  

I need to beat Final Fantasy XII though.  I can't keep putting it off.  I must finish.  I can't live with myself, if I don't beat it by the end of this quarter!

Don't judge me.  Please?  I'm bored here in Columbus, so I resort to Final Fantasy. 

On a more normal note, I played Flag Football this past Friday, and it was great.  More fun that I thought it would be.  Different from tackle, obviously, but just as fun.  

I'll keep ya'll posted on how far I get.