Traveling the Silk Road...

Friday night was incredible....
I had my 3 classes in the morning (2 classes actually, because I never go to my 8 o'clock lab lecture)...

It's almost time to choose dorms for next year...and right now it looks like I'm dorming with Ken and Steve next year...because of the current social situations...
The three of us scoped out some possibilities for next year...
We walked down Broadway and check out the Broome Street dorm, two feet away from Little Italy....didn't like the feel of it very much...it looks like it used to be a hospital or something...the words "The Annex" is carved in stone at the top...just seemed very spooky...

We explored Chinatown for a bit...stopping to pray at a small Buddhist temple on Mott Street...
Make a small donation and the fortune I got was:

Probability of Success: Excellent
Do your things, day and night.
Money comes with no fight.
Happiness is in sight.
As you see the real light.

We walked all the way south...to the financial district...trying to find the Cliffe Street dorm....got a bit lost and but this time it was getting dark....walked through police headquarters...but we eventually found it, and it looks like our top choice for next year....
Finally we walked a couple more blocks...to check out the Water Street dorm, which is the largest of all the dorm...a couple thousand kids living there, it used to be an office building before they converted it...it's also one of the more impersonal dorms, with strict rules like keeping your door closed at all times...

Later that night...
Went to Silk Road Palace aka "Chine and Wine"...
It's a restaurant all the way uptown, with decent food, but the main reason for it's popularity: free wine...
The wine is cheap and tastes like shit, but hey, it's free, and all you can drink...
I didn't have a fake ID, so I couldn't get a wine glass...but I did however have a water glass that was fogged and colored...
Using the technique described my RA, I finished off my water and replaced it with more "water"....
Met a couple of cuties from Fordham (juniors too!)...oh god, they had the most intimate conversation and we were sitting right next to them....
"Mine's shaved, I started shaving ever since the first time I had sex my junior year of high school..."
"I get razor burns easily..."
Ended up getting their number, but we're probably never gonna call them...

Man, we really got trashed...I don't know how we made it back home alive...
On the subway, Steve would do "poses" in front of all the people...
And we put on a performance in the subway, a terrible rendition of Ben King's "Stand By Me"...

Christina, her boyfriend Mike, and Lisa were over....
Good times, pizza and music...
There was some touching and spooning on my bed, but I'd like to forget that...

For the rest of the night we just hung out in Eric's room...listening to the incredible guitarwork of Jerry Garcia...

"Tennessee, Tennessee, there ain't no place I'd rather be,
Baby won't you carry me back to Tennessee..."
~Grateful Dead, "Tennessee Jed"

Visiting Astoria...

Chem Lecture, World Cultures: Russia class...
Back is sore, arms, chest, abs...which means I got a good workout...

I had lunch with Asians...(for this is quite rare for me)
All the Asians are in the Stern school of business so I don't really come in contact with them...
I've heard someone (an Asian) say to me, "you're Asian you're not in Stern? Dude, that's really messed up..."
Growing up in suburban town on Long Island where everyone is either Jewish or Catholic, I've always been an extreme minority...
I've always hung out with White people all my life...it's just always been like that...
Sometimes I feel like I'm not white enough to hang out with the white kids, and not Asian enough to hang out with the Asian kids...
But whatever, in the end, the color of your skin doesn't really have an effect on what kind of person you are...

"Are you currently in a relationship? Because you know, you're gonna be a doctor and all..."
That statement really bothered me for some reason...
Girls who'd date someone just because of their occupation...it just seems messed up to me...

Chemistry safety agreement..."Avoid touching hot objects"....okay done deal...

Bought a shotglass and keychain....it's kinda funny because I used a gift certificate from my chemistry class...my chem class paid for my shotglass...

Then I took a trip to my Grandpa's house to check up on him...it's alright now...
Had coffee and oatmeal cookies...
Made an arrangement to hang out with my cousin Alice this Friday..

Bright Eyes and Interpol concerts coming up... :)

"Making your way in the world today takes everything you've got.
Taking a break from all your worries, sure would help a lot..."
~Cheers Theme Song

Blizzard, corner of Broadway and 10th... 

IT'S A MIRACLE!!! 

Taco Bell hot sauce packets are very amusing... 

An old picture I took over break...a place known as the"Golden Krust" in West Hempstead...great name for a gynaecologist center...

Come from Alabama with a banjo on my knee...

Had Calc then biology lab at 4:45...
We just looked at slides with microscopes...
Bio lab is nothing like chem lab...it's almost the polar opposite...no goggles to wear, no prelabs to do, no postlab, no safety procedures...

Eric finally got his banjo...got it from eBay for about 400 dollars...sunburst...it's beautiful...
Helped him tune it...it's tuned a bit differently than guitar...5 strings, tuned to an open G...with the really high string right after the lowest string and the string ends in the middle of the neck...

Ryan and Kathryn were in the room and I fell asleep doing some reading...then Eric comes in with his banjo and start playing really loud...then the next thing I see is Ryan and Kathryn walking out of the closet...oops...I felt so bad...went away for a second, came back and they were reading on Ryan's bed...Eric on my bed playing really loud...I had to bring him into the other room...he's a great guy, but sometimes he can be a little too much...
Gave him a quick music lesson then went off to bio lab...

Went to the gym where Christina signed me up for this FitLinxx thing...
Guy behind the counter: "Do you really want to sign up for it? Or is she making you?"
Me: "A little bit of both..."

Forced myself to do some more reading, and fell asleep...

"So I have been hanging out down by the train's depot. No, I don't ride.
I just sit and watch the people there. They remind me of wind up cars in motion."
~Bright Eyes, "Waste of Paint"

Snow, Hot Dogs, and Weed Controversy

At this very moment I have The Russian Revolution by Sheila Fitzpatrick opened up to page 27...but I'm not reading it, obviously...the words stopped making sense pages ago...
When you're reading a book you have to have your full concentration and you have to process the sentence as a whole...if you're not focusing, then it will only seem like jumbled words on a page...and you'll read and re-read the sentence over and over again....not absorbing anything...
This happens a lot to me because I think too much, my mind is constantly wandering, thinking....it's either that or I have ADD....

Also I have headphones on, but no music is currently blasting through them...it's a weird thing I do sometimes...I put on headphones and read without music...that's so people won't talk to me while I'm reading....I can't be bothered right now...
I find that headphones are effective in keeping your ears warm...

Hmm...what else?
Ryan my roommate is reading a book 10 feet away from me on my right...things are kinda awkward right now....my roommates just had a discussion that left a big schism in 705...I'll get into that later...
Then Allie is reading like 5 feet behind me...I'm really glad she's in my Russian class because I've lost her as a chem study partner (she's not taking Gen Chem II)...she's just an awesome person and I have so much respect for her....*sigh*
Eddie is Christina's room right now...
And Steve and Kenny are at Avalon, it's Gay Night...and Kenny is NOT gay by the way...

Anyway, yeah...big blizzard...I love the snow the city looks gorgeous when it's covered in a thick blanket of snow...went to Horace Cafe in Alphabet City with Steve and Ken yesterday...it was good...
Afterwards we went to a place with a giant sign that said "Belgian Fries"...I confused it for this other place Pomme Frites (which I'm sure is much nicer)....
This Belgian Fries place was really shady....a tiny room about 6 feet wide with this small old man that appeared to have Parkinson's Disease...got fries and a hot dog...while I was eating the hot dog, a man came in with his dog...it was a pitbull or something and it jumped on top of me trying to get my hot dog...I should've kicked the dog in the balls, but it was female, so yeah, it wouldn't really help....

Came back and watched Garden State, which is an amazing movie...
Funny to see Christina drunk...she's normally the type of person that's against drinking and cursing...but a little ethanol in her system and she cursing all over the place and being perverted...
Watched The Wall with Ken...went to bed around 5am...

Today, there was a conflict between my roommate, with me ending up being in the middle, acting as a "fulcrum" to their balance...
On one side you have Eddie and Ryan, against marijuana....then on the other side you have Kenny and Steve, obviously for it....and you've got me in the middle....forced to choose sides...
Eddie doesn't want anyone smoking inside 705...Steve and Kenny were trying to convince him to let them smoke in Mr. Ball's room aka the closet aka "the Anti-Chamber"...
"Well Julian, what do YOU think?"
"Uh, yeah thanks a lot..."
Yeah, and now I feel like both sides hate me...
So far, I've managed to avoid pot...I'm just not ready for it...I've been offered countless times...and I've just had to say no...I remember that one time in Eric's room that Allie and Anya said, "if you smoke, we'll both hook up with you..."
Let me just say that...that was fucking MEAN...it pained me to say "no", but I did anyway...I had to....
Why haven't I tried it yet? Because I'll end up liking it...as a matter of fact, I'll LOVE it, I know I will...I just don't want it to become a habit...
Yeah, so for now, no, but things can change in the blink of an eye...

I fucking hate having to choose sides...I really thought that college was going to be a lot different than high school, seems like I was wrong....I'm see a lot of the same issues and themes pop up, again and again...
There are certain things that I just can't escape from...

"No family life, this makes me feel uneasy,
Stood alone here in this colony."
~Joy Division, "Colony"