Mooncake, Mooncake

Feeling: Pensive
Current Love: "Yeah Yeah" - Bodyrox

This weekend has been rather chill. Slow, but still good. After finishing classes on Friday, I studied for awhile in the Union and chatted with Sami after he came over. (Maybe it was more like me listening to him talk about how he got raped by his Physics test) I made dinner, studied more, and watched TV. I was waiting for some calls to make plans for the night, but it was around 11, and I still haven't heard from anyone. Matt texted me to join him at a party, so I agreeded since I had nothing else to do. The host was his old roommate who is hispanic. Everyone at the party was hispanic. I'm pretty sure both Matt and I felt awkward being there, so we left after awhile. We picked up Connie from her house and met up with Andrew, Jen, Raj, and Molly at a party in Jen's apt. complex. Surprisingly, Nikhil was there, and I later discovered he lived next to that apartment. I had a good conversation with him in his slap-happy state. I also got to steal some music from him, which is always a plus. I left around 3 and passed out.

I want to kick the habit of sleeping in super late on weekends. I woke up at 1 Saturday morning, which is an ok time. Mike called, and I went downstairs to make lunch with him. Tasty bok-choi and beef stir-fry. We studied and did laundry before he had to work at 6 at Bea One. I went with him though, because I wanted to talk to the owner about doing graphic works. She was surprisingly young. I think everything went well, so I was pretty happy about that.

More study ensued after I left. Studying never gets tiring, right?
I ate at Panera (ran into Mayowa) and stayed there until 9. I switched locations to the Village Coffehouse but didn't stay very long as I had gotten a call from X. He was studying as well, so I invited him over to my place to have a study party. He brought me chicken curry from his house, which was pretty tasty. I slacked off though and pretty much just ended up watching foodTV. He left around midnight, and I met up with the crew at another party. That party did not have the best vibe, so we left for another, which turned out to be fairly cool.

It was a roof party above Von's with live music and of course, drinking. Mike came after he got off of work around 2, and we had fun watching/stalking drunk people. There was this one guy who walked like a zombie due to his drunkenness. (Also, I learned from this weekend that drunk people can be scary. I don't like it)

Mike and I left abit before 4 as the party died down but had enough time to grab food at the Rice Cafe before it closed. We ordered "Egg Foo Young", which is apparently fried egg with meat and veggies. It was tasty nonetheless. Passed out at 5 and surprisingly woke up at 1.
I went downstairs to borrow a pot and woke up Luke in the process. I decided to make lunch with him, so I pulled out my marinated chicken and veggies and made tomatoe mushroom penne. I was really happy with how the chicken turned out, so I'm excited to cook the rest when I get around to it.

Studied, did more work.

My parents wanted me to come home for dinner, because we had neighbors over, so I agreed and rode home with my dad at 6. Ate dumplings, ribs, tofu, noodles, etc. The usual party food.

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I feel like there's so much homework/work I have to do, but in reality, it's really not that much? I don't know. I guess I like having things to do, but sometimes having nothing gives a good sense of acomplishment.
:shrug:

"We dress just like Cid and Nancy"

Feeling: Exhausted
Current Love: "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" - Daft Punk

Is it the weekend yet? I'm completely exhausted of energy at the moment from lacking sleep in the past 30 hours. But yet, I'm still excited about summing up my weekend at two in the morning.



FRIDAY

I woke up at 9:35 for my Diffeq class and received a text from Matt:
"You want to come to the Threadless opening?"

What.
I have been wanting to go all week, and it was surprising that he was going. Basically, the online/Chicago based company just opened a retail store and was "throwing a party" at the Metro= free shows.
After ironing out some kinks in the plan, I agreed to tag along with Matt and his friend Mike (the driver) for a weekend road trip to Chicago.

I went to my math class at 10:30 and got ready/packed before going to Mechanics at 2:30. I had to skip my 3:30 Stat class since the show was scheduled to start at 6, and we wanted to avoid traffic.
After food, gas, getting lost (solely a fault on my part), we finally got on 61 around 4:30. Lucky for us, there was an accident a mile or so down the road, and the traffic was in congestion for about 15 mins. Some car/truck was flipped on its side by the road. Eh.
The rest of the drive went smoothly and we got into Chicago just around 6. (Chicago time!) The store was a lot smaller than I had imagined from looking at pictures, but the LCD screens were super neat. I took a few pictures but did not buy anything.
The store was in the Depaul area, so Mike dropped his car off at his friend Ben's, whose apt. we later crashed at. Ben came with us to the Metro, but it took him forever to get ready. Taking the train took awhile and getting lost did not help either (not my fault this time; I was actually the one who noticed we were going in the wrong direction). We finally made it to the Metro around 8:30, where the last band, Hey Mercedes, was setting up. I was disappointed that I missed Anathallo, the band I really wanted to see, but I couldn't complain too much considering the show was free.
Hey Mercedes turned out to be punk/emo/whatever, and we all agreed that it wasn't super. We left after 40 mins. and followed Ben to his friend's party.

The party started out small and grew exponentially with time, until it hit the limit, and then decreased. It was fun talking to people, but the highlight had to be the piss-ass-drunkard.
Everyone first noticed him when he locked himself inside the bathroom throwing up for awhile. He disappeared after that, and everyone assumed he left. But later he comes out of no where, stumbles into the kitchen, where I was sitting with others. You can tell that he was about to blow as he tried making his way to the door. I watched in silent and waited for the moment...
BAM! He blasted.
The projection was rather impressive. Red liquid and chucks were splattered all around the entrance to the laundry room. Seeing as the front door was too far, the drunkard dashed for the immediate window in the laundry room and rained down from the second floor.
Oh but it gets better.

Two minutes later, a group of guys walked up from their smoke break, not looking very happy. Apparently, they got hit by the drunk's puke as the window was directly above the front door. Luckily, they didn't get too much on them, but the turn of events is still hilarious.

The hosts freaked out when people started throwing up, so they wanted everyone to leave. Ben was in the pool of people that threw up, and he was pretty wasted. We ended up hailing a cab, because he didn't want to walk, and the cab driver was really dumb.
$10 later, we made it back safely and called it a night.

SATURDAY

Mike and I woke up bright and early Saturday night. We had to pick up Matt from the apt. where we partied, because he ended up staying there for various reasons. Naturally, we made fun of him.
The plan for Saturday was going up to Libertyville, Mike's hometown. The place is about 40 minutes north of Chicago.
On our way there, I dropped into the first "Oasis" I've ever been to. It's basically a consolidation of fast food haven. I wanted to get a Gyro, but Mike recommended a local place. Since we were close to out destination, we left and ended up eating at the Gyro place. I enjoyed it, even though the meat was super salty.
We sat and watched TV at Mike's house for awhile, regaining energy and figuring out our next move. After some time, Mike's light bulb lit up, and he had a surprise in store for us.

I was pretty curious as to where he was taking us. We made a pit stop at Caribou Coffee (my first time to the chain), and ended up in the rich neighborhood. Mike led us to the end of a street, where sets of wooden stairs delve onto a beach and the sound of wave splashing lingered in the air. It was a very pleasant surprise. I had no idea the town was right by the lake, and I have not been to a beach for over a year.

We spent a long time at the beach. Everything felt calm, happy, and peaceful. I imagined how wonderful it would be if I lived in such an area. Everyday, on the beach.
But Indiana, in the end, is just Indiana.

Mike planned a get-together with his friends for the night. His dad bought him alcohol from the store and apparently doesn't care that he or his friends drink in the house. We grabbed food with his friends at a Thai restaurant for dinner, and regrouped back at his house.
The night was also his high school's homecoming, so his sister and friends were hanging out upstairs while "us college kids" partied in the basement.
We danced and raved to Daft Punk (Interstellar 5555), and later Matt taught us to swing dance. We danced the night away, and before long, everyone parted, and it was already 1 A.M. I had work Sunday morning, so I requested that we leave in the morning. Mike planned on staying up, and we all ended up staying up before leaving around 5.
By the time I got into the car, I was ready to pass out. At some point down the highway, I noticed Mike pulling into a gas station. Apparently his car was heating up, so he had to buy some coolant. Problem solved? Except some times later (I really don't remember how long, because I was pretty much drifting in and out of sleep), he stopped again because the car was still heating up. He called his dad and found the problem. Good, we're really on our way now.

I felt a little guilty for having Mike drive all the way back at this hour. I could tell that he was barely hanging on towards the end. I'm just glad I made it back safely.

SUNDAY

After getting back, I showered and got ready for work. The weather was terrific, which made the 20 minute walk fairly pleasant. I haven't gone back to work in over 3 weeks, so I had no idea what's up these days. The hours went by pretty easy as I just had to resort some books. The rest of the time was devoted to ME homework.

The rest of the day wasn't that exciting.
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Sooo, looking back, it was a good weekend with fond memories.
Also, I miss Chicago.

Onward, Week Three

Feeling: Productive
Current Love: Emergency - Passion

Phew. This week has gone by super fast. Stressful, but overall good.

The Industrial Roundtable was Tuesday and Wednesday. Although companies were that enthused about recruiting interns, I had a fun experience and was motivated to look further into getting an internship over the summer. I'm fairly interested in interning with UPS, a consumer company like General Mills, or a tech company like IBM or Motorola. Also, free things are good.

Another time consuming task this week was the interviews for SCC recruits. It was fun to be honest, getting to converse with the applicants and pose questions. I guess the pool of candidates weren't as crappy as I had expected, so that's good. Next week consists of two days of formal interviews. Yay for more work.
Speaking of SCC, there has been some drama/tension lately. I won't go into details, but I find the whole situation amusing. Things will straighten out, I hope.

The weather has cooled down considerably within the week, and it's so nice. I had a productive day today of attending class, finishing homework, stopping by SMEF (Management job fair), and going to work. I received my first graphic assignment of the year and am pretty excited. It's a bit technical, but I think I will enjoy it regardless.

No plans for the weekend yet.

C-A-I-R-O-O-O

Feeling: ?
Current Love: "Digitalism in Cairo" - Digitalism

Ello. There are a lot of things that I want to blog about, but I have been lazy/wasn't in the mood to do so.

I guess first and foremost: school.

It is now the 3rd week of classes, and everything has been going fairly well. The class I am liking the most at the moment is Mechanics. I've heard good things about the professor, and he is, well, fairly good. The problem I can't seem to overcome is that I am always tired/sleepy in there. Perhaps it's the post-lunch laziness, but the instance I sit down, my eyes do not want to be open. Sitting in the 2nd row isn't alleviating the situation either.
Speaking of sleeping, I also have a tendency to doze off in Physics E&M and C-programming. Physics is more challenging this year, so I'm actually paying attention in class/taking notes. CS has so far been review material for me, so crosswords all the way. The professor Bill Crums is infamous for his hated way of conducting the course. So far it's been ok, so I hope to see soon what the rave is all about.
Sadly, Diffeq has not been as fun as I had hoped. At this rate, I don't know if I want to take anymore classes. And lastly, there's my IE stat class. Our lecturer has a tendency to go off on a tangent about herself, and I get the vibe that majority of students in the class doesn't really care about the class. I'm not a big fan of stats, but I suppose it's getting better now that things are more mathematical, but I didn't do too well on the first quiz/hmwk.

Work.

I'm back in the newsroom now. The first day wasn't very exciting, perhaps because I was composing the sports page. Everything is still pretty much the same. Minus a few familiar faces. I haven't checked in with Follett's for two weeks. I am not really sure if I want to work regular hours over the semester. It's so far away and not the most exciting.

Food.

Cooking has been enjoyable even if I still lack essential cookware. (pots) I have found love in making tasty sandwiches and melts, while experimenting with ingredients, especially meat. (Tasty pastrami...) I have ate out on few occasions. The new restaurant down the street called Rice Cafe has gained much popularity for its taste and late delivery hours. Even though somewhat pricey, the portion is good for two meals. I've visited the place once and ordered a pork noodle stir fry, but somehow I got all other meats except pork. (Shrimp, chicken, and beef). It's rather funny, but I'm not complaining.

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Justice Klax?

I am disappointed that I can't go see Bloc Party this wed. in Indy due to SCC duties. Final Fantasy is opening for them, and damn, I want to see Owen Pallett. : ( But in better news, Justice ticket is on the way! I have already started making my shirt (stenciling) for the show, and it's pretty rad.
Hopeful: Klaxons 10.6.07 @ Metro

Please?

'06 Album Rock Party

Oh wow, I've completely forgot about this post. It's been almost 3 month since I began writing it, so I'm pretty glad it's done.
Even though it's more than half way into '07, 2006 was still a good year for music, and it was hard to pick the favorite favorites.

All the songs are playlisted. (link on the side bar) So be sure to check it out, if you haven't. Also if you're bored, read my'05 review.
(In order of how my mind flows; but pretty much random; I'm not a fan of rankings.)

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Whatever People Say I Am, I Am Not
Arctic Monkeys
Track Pick - "Still Take You Home"

The Arctic Monkeys is blog raved turned UK's "next big thing". Even though they might have turned "mainstream", it doesn't matter, because these guys are still rocking. When I listened to this unknown little band at the very beginning of 06, I knew think they would hit it big. The raw sound, catchy riffs and bass line, the style, and the adorable heavy British accent (I'm a sucker), is what I wanted. I was tempted to list this album for my 05 review, since it was released in Jan. but I refrained. A year and more later, I am even more in love with these guys and the album.

A Lesson in Crime
Tokyo Police Club
Track Pick - "Cheer It On"

"Ask me about being in Tokyo Police Club". My secret love for Canadian bands never seizes; But seriously, they're awesome. These yet legal Canadian kids are making a scene. The 20 min EP has gave these kids ecstatic fans, television debuts, label deals, and gave the world happy dance-punk tunes. TPC's sound is quite unique and distinctive, but very refreshing and of course, dancable.

Professor Murder Rides the Subway
Professor Murder
Track Pick - "Champion"

Champion! EP by another uprising dance-punkers from New York. Rides the Subway delivers much energy while keeping things fun. Afterall, this band has a lot of fun. You can never have too much cowbells!

Writer's Block
Peter Bjorn and John
Track Pick - "Young Folks"

"Young Folks" is all the rave from UK Top 40 to US Top 40 to Kanye West's dub and backup band. But I can't talk down on the phenomenon indie/mainstream breakthrough and debatable "sell out". The tune is quite catchy, and I can't, or at least haven't, gotten sick of hearing it. The Swedish Trio have been around for awhile, but this was their album. In entirety, Writer's Block is solid.

Night Ripper
Girl Talk
Track Pick -"That's My DJ"

Your favorite mash-up DJ Greg is here to please everyone. Honestly, I think anybody can enjoy this album. I can say so much, but I'll just leave it at that. Listen to Girl Talk.

The Warning
Hot Chip
Track Pick - "Over and Over"

I didn't find too much out of this album after the first few listen throughs, but after awhile, I was in love. I'm not use to listening to "soft" stuff, but something about these UK rocker's infectious electro-pop and dance sound beckoned me to listen over and over.

Transparent Things
Fujiya & Miyagi
Track Pick - "Collarbone"

They're just pretending to be Japanese. Fujiya & Miyagi is fairly unique compared to everyone else on this list. Their sound is very chill jazz like electro, but at the same time it gets your feet moving. The lead's voice is also very smooth and jazzy. Classy.

He Poos Clouds
Final Fantasy
Track Pick - "Song Song Song"

Alright, so I might be in love with Owen Pallett, but I respect his musicianship more. Again, this is another album that took awhile for me to pick up. Pallett hones his violent is this dreamy album that can probably dub as a final fantasy soundtrack. You got nothing Patrick Wolf! (jplaying, I like you too).

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Notables: Here are some notable albums, but I didn't feel it was good as a whole, or for whatever reason, to write a review about it but definitely check them out too!

Robbers & Cowards by Cold War Kids
Scale by Herbert
So This is Goodbye by Junior Boys
The Ship by Danielson
This Harness Can't Ride Anything by Chin Up Chin Up
Yellow House by Grizzly Bear
Wolfmother by Wolfmother
CSS by Cansier der se Sexy
Gulag Orkestar by Beirut
Everything All the Time by Band of Horses
!!! Myth Takes
With Love and Squalor by We Are Scientists
The Loon by Tapes 'n Tapes
Youth for Eternity by The Subways
Pieces Of The People We Love by The Rapture
Bring Me The Workhorse by My Brightest Diamond
Six Demon Bag by Man Man
Return to the Sea by Islands
Let Me Introduce My Friends by I'm from Barcelona