No game

It’s already 4 am – 3 am if the time has finally been changed, which I can’t confirm – and I am back home from the Halloween celebration. I have been to a club at 55th St., where an amazing midtown’s skyline view could be enjoyed. The night has been fine but I have got no game at all.

You can feel when you are on fire, when your game is high…and you can also see when it is the other way around. I could have drunk 30 vodkas (absolut mandarin and sprite was my drink tonight) and everything would have remained the same. I have had a lot of fun and I can get some nice pictures out of tonight. However, as I said, it is no-game time. Hopefully the trend will change soon.

Ciao

Friday night in

The chill is back in town… finally, for god’s shake! I was really fed up with the heat, with wearing t-shirts and shorts. I am not saying that I’m missing this snow and the freezing cold, but it feels good to see the Autumn finally striking back. Playing soccer in Central Park in the rain, putting on a jacket to go to school, wearing a shirt to work without the risk of color-changing sweat…all these little things!

And when the weather turns a little nasty – it’s also been raining today –I also enjoy staying in from time to time, watching a movie (“Old School” with Vince Vaughn, Luke Wilson and Will Ferrell, for tonight) and eating pop corn…though I am missing the blanket that my grandma knitted for me a few years ago. A nice night in, a quiet one. I will be able to wake up early tomorrow to do some work… and to have fun thereafter!

I have everything planned for tomorrow. Read some cases and complete an assignment due on Wednesday. Grab brunch in the Village with a friend and then go to Nevada Smiths (“Where football is religion” – that’s the tag line) to see my hometown team’s soccer game. Then, ready for Halloween celebration.

Yes, Halloween. Although Halloween day will come next Wednesday most of the people will be celebrating tomorrow night. I have already bought the costume – pirate, this year. I hope it will be better than last year. It won’t be difficult b/c last year’s night was shit: I dropped my phone in a cab and had to pay $40 to the cabdriver to get it back, I got pretty wasted rather early and ended up coming back home around midnight and I had to suffer the damned toy crow that I bought for my “The Crow” costume…It looks better this year! Just a preview of the place where we will be heading tomorrow…http://www.archiphixdesign.com/HalloweenFlyer2007.html. I do not want to have very high expectations but hopefully I will be able to tell you all some good stories tomorrow

See ya!

Indulgence

Some of my buddies will laugh about it but I just had a slice of pizza - bacon and pepperoni - before coming back home.I mean that they will laugh b/c I did not have any chicken breast, as the legend says...It was a nice slice. My indulgence.

The LABA party, one of Stern's largest throughout the year, has taken place tonight and, as in the majority of big events, a lot of stuff has occurred: people going crazy, mad dancings, casual hookups, everyday teasings...but a lot of fun in the end at Arena, a pretty popular club near Times Sq.

I have really enjoyed it. I don't see people very often any more and it feels great to see them again at such a great venue. Everybody goes kind of crazy b/c of the LABA party and that pays off. I haven't drunk that much though, just a couple of drinks and two shots.Enough for me to be in the mood...

I felt like it was worth writing about it before going to bed. I have had the chance to see a couple of friends "fighting" (i.e. it was like capturing a rebound in the paint against Ben Wallace or Yao Ming) for a girl, some guys hitting on some girls heavily (this is what Biz school is about, right?), people making out in the dance floor... as I said, pretty crazy. I don't know what a high school graduation ball is like in the US (aside from the movies) but tonight looked pretty much alike.

I also had the chance to play my part, obviously. I talked (yes, just talked!) to a girl that I met a few weeks ago - a friend's girlfriend's cousin, more precisely - that I liked then and that I feel like I really like...but she will probably "dump" me in advance anyway, as it usually happens to me. And I also randomly danced with some girls except for one of them...we danced and fooled around (I guess people were expecting sth else) and she ended up leaving with another guy - not big deal, btw - but I feel like we are just playing around after a year and a half... it's a matter of time I'd say, but you never know.

In conclusion, it's been a great night. All my friends were there, even some unexpected ones who have settled down "with Italy" after partying heavily while in biz schools or visiting Brazil. Life moves forward for people... but let's burn the bridges before it is too late!

Ciao

Wasabi chickpeas

I am really tired. It may be the jet lag after a short (i.e. 2 days) transoceanic trip back to my hometown last weekend. It may be that the idea of working two full days a week and having class until 9 pm two other days is beginning to hurt me (who the heck said that my second year was gonna be "smooth"?). Or maybe it is the two beers that I had yesterday night at a crazy Greek restaurant in Soho with a friend - and prospective dad - who arrived from L.A. (Btw, there was a belly dancer with a BELLY...pretty baaaaad!)

The thing is that it is the first time, as far as I remember, that I am writing a post from school. Why? Because I have not attended my Foundations of Entrepreneurship course after not reading the cases due for today. Too much stuff going on so I am chilling for a few minutes.

As I was saying last w/e I went back to my city to attend two very good friends' wedding. It was kind of crazy (in terms of time and money) to go on such a trip just for two days but I was one of the bestmen and it was worth it in the end. I was happy to be there and I know that so they were (although the groom forgot to mention the one coming from at least 4 times the distance than anybody else who was mentioned (i.e.NY) in his speech... it was the thrill of the moment!). I had a great time and I also had the chance to see some friends (and ex's)that I had not seen for a while. Even the priest who pronounced my friends husband and wife and who used to be my literature teacher in high school was there! The party was great and the w/e was great too...albeit Air France, which, once again, did its best to make my life miserable.

After two 8-hour trips, an all-night party and a considerable amount of time spent at the airports - all in a roughly 72-hour time frame - I was devastated by the time I was back in NY... "ready" for another hectic week!

The big news following my arrival was that I managed to found some wasabi nuts , wasabi chickpeas more precisely. I am sure my Aussie friends will understand my happiness after looking for them for a long time since I first tasted them in London Borough's market last summer.

I have not fully recovered yet from the trip. I am sleeping badly and I need some rest. I am not kidding about the tight schedule pressure but I just hope I will be able to get used to it...and that it will pay off in terms of a decent job upon graduation.

Another "problem" is that I do not even have time to relax. The LABA party, probably the best Stern party of the year is coming up tonight. I can't miss it and I won't, although tomorrow I will probably regret...or maybe not, who knows, hahahaha!

See ya!

30!!

“The thirties are the new twenties”. That’s what a number of people told me yesterday at my birthday party in the LES. Maybe it was just to cheer me up and help me face that I have just started the third decade of my life (my dad told me today, half joking, half seriously, that I have “a lot of things to do” in this decade…no pressure, though!)… or maybe it is true and the best things are about to arrive.

So far so good, I must say. Everything started yesterday when some of my friends called me up from my country to wish me happy birthday. It was a great surprise. Phone calls and emails have followed today. One feels great when somebody just remembers one’s birthday. Or at least I do. Maybe it is because you value it much more when you are far away.

Yesterday I partied hard with a lot of my friends. It was a great night and it seems like everybody enjoyed. We got together at a nice venue in the LES and drank quite a lot… and it was good to see that one can still get some game when he turns 30…relief!

In sum, I am starting this new decade in a city that I love, surrounded by good friends and with many hopes (and some fears too) about the near future… challenging, exciting and, hopefully, fun.

Hotel memories

It’s 2 am and I have just arrived at my place. It was supposed to be a quiet night and I have gone to a friend’s place in Bleecker St. to have dinner. I am not very used to the Greenwich Village by night. I like it but I think that I will keep sticking with my dear East. I have bought a bottle of Bordeaux – not very good but tasty enough after the first glass – and after some pisco sour and a few glasses of wine, I was a little more merry than I expected…

It’s been a fun talk with my friend about our MBA experience (he graduated last May and is working in NY already), our decisions, moving to NY, the city itself…and obviously about chicks. We have been recalling a number of girls that have remained in our memories: girlfriends, one night stands, that girl that you liked but you never got… I have particularly enjoyed recalling my stories with girls and hotels. It’s curious how some nights can be long remembered, including the most subtle detail. My relationship with hotels, in particular the 5-star one that I visited twice, lingers in my mind. It was really awesome…and it was cool to bring it back for a few minutes.

But time has gone by since then, almost a couple of years, and next time I write on this blog I will be thirty already… it’s great news since the best things are meant to occur after you turn thirty. I was not very sure about that, but I can tell you that I definitely am now... I just can’t think otherwise!

Let’s just see if I can’t celebrate properly tomorrow! Time to get some sleep. Tomorrow there’s plenty of work to do before partying…

Working in the US

Today it’s been a great day in my personal history: today I have worked for the very first time in the US!

Yes, I have finally taken an intern position at a sports company. I will be working two full days a week, which means that my relatively light schedule so far is gonna change overnight. In other words, I am gonna have to work really hard this semester to deal with academic and work life... and to go out, obviously! I just hope that this will help me build my resume a little more… and that it will pay off as from June in the form of a nice full time job. We’ll see...

I felt really good walking out of the office in the thirties and 5th avenue. I definitely think I could get used to it.

Ciao

Jerry Rice

I forgot to mention the other day that at the conference I volunteered last week I had the chance to shake hands with Jerry Rice... who's Jerry Rice? That was my question when everybody became excited as the guy showed up. Well, see below some info from Wikipedia:

"Jerry Lee Rice is a former football wide receiver in the NFL. Rice is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in NFL history, consistently showing exceptional performance and strong work ethic on and off of the field. Rice was selected to the Pro Bowl 13 times (1986-1996, 1998, 2002) and named All-Pro 10 times in his 20 NFL seasons. He won three Super Bowl rings as a member of the San Francisco 49ers, (1985-1999), an AFC Championship with the Oakland Raiders (2000-2004), and a division championship with the Seattle Seahawks (2004)"

Not bad, right?

Ciao