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October 24 cosco cookies/october fest/communication classI tell you... American food gets a lot of flak, but Cosco cookie are freaking ORGASMIC. My suitemate brought a box of them from home. They're not too sweet, and have just the right hardness. They're not too dry either, and leave a very lasting sweetness in one's mouth. Oh and they're pretty cheap. $6 for a big box. Unfortunately, you need to pay a $50 annual fee just to buy from the store. Yes the $50 applies even if you do not buy anything - they're so good that they can brazenly charge this way.
Oh, and tonight was October Fest. It's some German festival where everyone just eats and drinks a lot. Hayden dining hall styled their dinner after this festival. They had super good frankenfurters and roast beef. They also served root beer and ginger ale (remember, we aren't allowed to drink till 21 in America). I got a roast beef, swiss cheese, lettuce, pickles and mustard sandwich, a frankenfurter and a pasta. Oh and I also got a bottle of ginger ale. So, so good haha. I'm sure I'm gaining weight like crazy here...
By the way, my communication for professionals class started this Monday. It's pretty enjoyable, but slightly intimidating. It seems the class is aimed at seniors and grad students - I think I'm the only freshman there. Also, almost everyone else has attended a communication course before. Ah well, I guess I'll just catch up by reading the textbook, which is incidentally a pretty interesting read! October 20 of food and writing...2 days ago was vegan night at Hayden dining hall... The funny thing is that even at vegan night, there was chicken and meatballs haha; but virtually everything else was vegan. It was pretty good actually, even for a carnivorous person such as myself, which says a lot.
Just yesterday night, a friend brought my suitemate and I to a Japanese curry store at St. Mark's place. I never really liked Japanese curry because it is too sweet, but this one I tried yesterday was really, really good. It was not too sweet, and I feel, it had just the right saltiness. They also put some Japanese pickles on the side, so you could mix it into the curry to give it a sweeter flavor - probably aimed at the Japanese population here. 5.50 USD for the japanese curry with rice, salad and a drink - not a bad deal, especially when you consider the cost of living here.
Writing the Essay is getting quite tough. I'm not totally sure what is required of me; I'm too used to writing argumentative essays. We were supposed to write a letter addressing a "void" in an essay we chose. I'm not exactly sure what we're supposed to be doing for such assignments, but I know what I did is wrong because I essentially went Dear (author), you're a complete idiot, regards. My prof says that we have to note that these writers are fantastic writers, and that if something is not there, it's not meant to be there. Somehow we're supposed to find bigger concepts which the author may be addressing - we're supposed to analyze striking sentences and discuss what they may mean. I've absolutely no idea how to put it into an essay.
Oh well... I think that for now, I'll just pick out sentences and explore concepts, and try to come up with something. October 17 kati rollsThis is weird... I've never had such good Indian food in my life even though I'm from Singapore. Regardless... A couple of Indian friends of mine brought me to this place about 2 minutes away from my dorm. It sells kati rolls for 4 bucks per roll - steep, but it was really good. Essentially it's a roti prata with your choice of stuffing, and they roll it up like a po piah. I chose beef (of course) and it was really, really good :) Spicy but not overpowering, tender but not soft, slightly burnt but not just totally disgusting.
Ok back to work... October 12 chocolateThe weather is finally getting colder! It already dropped below 10 degrees celsius today :) and I think people think I'm crazy cos I still haven't broken out the sweaters.
Anyway, I went to Max Brenner's yesterday for Derui's birthday party... Chocolate place. It was mad. There were chocolate pizzas, chocolate soup, chocolate fondue etc. It was all good but so sweet and oh so sinful haha... Nice experience though. October 07 quartersI have started collecting quarters ^^
Why? You may ask... after all... washing machines and dryers now use campus cash for payment so we no longer require lots and lots of quarters. The reason is this: collectors' items!
Normal quarters have a picture of George Washington on one side, and the picture of the presidential coat of arms (eagle with outstretched wings) on the other side. However, some of them have state maps on the side meant for the presidential coat of arms! I think there are 51 altogether (number of states in the USA), and so far I've 4 - Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota and Rhode Island. :) October 05 falafelI have never had falafels before... and we were treated to some at Investment Analysis Group today. It was ok I guess... I'm not crazy about it, or maybe it's just the wrong kind of meat they put in (for my taste).
Today's IAG meeting was highly productive, if full of contention. Caraustar was the company chosen to be dissected today. Boy... were the presenters flamed. They claimed that Caraustar (laden with high debt and apparently, not a profitable business plan) could turn things around by selling off their non-profitable parts. Hmmm... I don't really like that idea. It's going to be really hard to sell their company when the paper industry is shrinking or remaining stagnant year on year, there is a huge possibility of outsourcing and the other companies in the sector are probably not even operating near full capacity (especially probable when you take into consideration the stagnation of the industry). Of course, I don't have any figures to back me up so... this is all talk.
I finally woke up from my FSX slumber today, and purchased a few stocks - Oracle (ORCL), SanDisk (SNDK), China Mobile (CHL) and WalGreen (WAG). Fine this is not very diverse, but I couldn't be bothered to spend too much time on FSX. Actually I bought Oracle yesterday, and it has already risen 3% today. However, that profit is not a good gauge since the market was rather bullish in general today. I believe Oracle will hit 24 within this year, which will give me a sweet 11% profit. There'll be a shareholder meeting in early November so we'll see how things go then.
SanDisk will be announcing their quarter soon and I expect it to be good news (post holiday sales). It went down for no good reason (as far as I can see) today so I bought it just before the close.
China Mobile should be a good medium-term stock. With so much growth potential (China, need I say more?), I don't really see it dropping. I'm with it until early 2008.
Walgreen... long-term stock. Probably not for the day trader. I'm keeping it till it shows 10% returns. It has a good amount of revenue and may even be up for a buyout.
Disclaimer: Everything above is merely an opinion... Buy at your own risk. September 29 homeworkI'm actually liking writing the essay. It's ultra time-consuming cos we've to write at least 2 essays per week but it's pretty fun and thought-provoking.
I've so much homework this weekend though. Essay writing, another essay for my world cultures class, a macroecons test, a macroecons assignment and a calc assignment ALL due on Tuesday. I probably shouldn't be spending time online and procrastinating, espsecially since I'm not entirely sure what to write for my essays. Bye for now... September 24 You and I bothJason Mraz - You and I Both Was it you who spoke the words that things would happen but not to me? Jason Mraz is talented... I think I am only just starting to appreciate how much meaning his convoluted lyrics have. September 22 sighSomeone from NYU committed suicide earlier today... Hmmm mixed thoughts. I don't even know the person, but one of the residential advisors in my hall seemed rather disturbed (even though she doesn't know the person either). The person who committed suicide isn't even in my hall. I wonder how people are supposed to feel in such situations - sad? I don't know... September 21 clubbing sux I can't believe I paid 20 dollars to have loud music increase my blood pressure and be squashed into a tiny area, totally unable to move or even hear my own thoughts. Wtf...
Life is so god damn boring. I wish I could find at least ONE thing I truly enjoy... September 17 FOODA gastronomically delightful day!!!
Today was my mom's and grandma's last day in New York before flying back to Singapore. For those who are puzzled as to why the hell they were here for so long, they actually toured Canada for some time before coming back to New York and taking a direct flight back to Singapore.
Well... we grabbed pizza at Famous Famiglia's. Seriously, I believe their claim when they say they've the best pizza in New York. The 10% student discount is a huge cherry on top of the cake. We then grabbed ice cream at Cold Stone haha.
Dinner was the highlight though. I can't really remember the name of the restaurant... Knickerbocker's Bar and Grill or something... We ordered a lobster bisque and a T-bone steak for 2 with baked potato, mashed potato and creamed spinach. The lobster bisque was really fantastic. There was half a lobster tail which was perfectly cooked (not overcooked as is usually expected with soups), the soup really tasted like lobster, and they put cognac sour cream which was a marvelous touch. The T-bone steak was like... omg... ORGASMIC. I think I nearly cummed in my pants when I ate it lol. It was seared to heavenly perfection, and was uber huge. Lol... the 3 of us couldn't finish it! The baked potato has rock salt on the outside, and was not too soft on the inside. The mashed potato had some cheese mixed in and had a really good flavour. I hate spinach... so I don't know about that lol. But the beef... omg! Haha...
Oh well... finally had some real steak here :) Next up... Jap food!!! September 14 homeworkHmmm... so far school's been really easy. Also, writing is getting quite enjoyable. Ah what am I saying... it IS enjoyable... as long as I don't have to comment on art pieces. My empires and political imagination course is still as irritating as usual... I really can't catch what the professor is saying. Perhaps the textbooks will shed more light on what I'm supposed to know.
Apart from homework... there are so many clubs and fraternities. I've no idea what or how many I should join. Finance Society, Quantitative Finance Society, Actuarial Society Professional Development Society and Investment Analysis Group on top of all the fraternities which are just a jumble of Greek letters and I've absolutely no idea what each of them stands for. Most of them want to do community service though -___- I doubt I'll join any cos they'll probably be too time-consuming. I also want to set up a contract bridge club - I hope there are people interested lol. September 09 harold and kumarIf you like Southpark, you will almost definitely love Harold and Kumar go to White Castle. Haha... It's a freaking crazy show, with lots of slapstick humour and satire. I hope I'll get to go to an actual White Castle outlet. My friend says it's freaking good, and having been to a few of his recommended places, I trust his taste :). Apparently they've cheap, small burgers, so everyone eats like 6 of them in one meal... haha.
I did my essays for my writing course this morning. It was actually... pretty enjoyable to write a story - my first time in like... 4 years? I just didn't like the arty part haha. September 08 Chinatown I went to Chinatown today...
FINALLY HAD SOME GOOD RICE!!!
I ordered some beef fried rice, which cost only 3.50 USD... adding taxes and tips, it cost about... 4.25 USD? That's about 6.50 SGD, and it was big... really big. In Singapore it could probably feed 2 people? I think... Ok probably closer to 1.5 people.
Anyway, it was really good - not too oily, and the beef was still juicy. :) The rice in the dining halls is seriously crappy, so dinner today was a very VERY welcome respite.
Ok now I've like <10 dollars left till next Monday... I expected to get my debit and credit cards earlier but nooooo... Have to budget!!! Sigh... September 04 first day of schoolYeah today was my first day of school. I had almost all my lessons today cos I squeezed everything into like... 3 days. First thing in the morning - Macroeconomics. My professor just went on and on about the Republicans and their failed economic policies... which I found pretty one-sided but never mind. Anyway we haven't entered lessons proper. My professor claims that the most difficult part of the syllabus will be his name - Kitsikopoulos - so I guess it should be ok.
Following that I went for my world cultures class. It's entitled Empires and Political Imagination. Sounds cool? It's freaking crazy... The professor was just shooting facts off at 2X the speed of light... I think no one could really catch what he was saying. Oh well... he said that it was just like an intro lesson which summarises everything, so it's ok. I'll be having a recitation (tutorial) tomorrow so I guess I'll probably learn more there.
I then had Calculus. I still can't believe I was placed into Calc II instead of Calc III just cos I took the A levels. It's freaking retarded... what a huge waste of time. Oh and my professor seems to suck haha. He doesn't seem to know what he's doing at all... I hope it improves. He spent more than an hour on partial fractions, which is like... more than 6 times the amount of time I spent on it with my VJC students. Sigh...
To end the day I had Writing the Essay. OMGWTFBBQ I think I'm gonna die in this subject unless I put in some really really REALLY major work. Our reading assignments are really... wtf. I can't find a more adequate adjective/exclamation. How the hell am I supposed to comment on or mark out important parts of an essay which either 1. doesn't make sense or 2. is total bullshit to me? Argh... it's literature all over again - except worse.
Oh well... back to reading. Ciao for now. September 03 ... I just had the best pizza I've ever tasted last night. It was an 18" pizza with pepperoni and cheese, and it cost only 13.55 USD (because of an NYU student discount). It was enough for 4 people... well worth the money. I also had some ultra sinful ice cream at a place called Cold Stone (I think it's the same as the Cold Rock in Singapore). I had chocolate ice cream with brownies, hot fudge and chocolate chips mixed in. Super sinful but oh so good :):):)
Oh and on a not-so-gastronomic note, one of my suitemates just put up some christmas lights around his bed, and has some huge lantern hanging over his bed. I'm not entirely sure what they're for, but if there's any decoration competition, we're so gonna pwn everyone else. August 31 ironicI've 10,000 spoons, but all I really need is a god damn knife.
People are naturally afraid of those different from them, aren't they? So afraid that they actually push said different people away and draw a circle around those of their own kind. It's exactly this which caused Cho Seung-Hui to execute the Virginia Tech massacre.
Sometimes I wish I weren't so logical, so that I'll be able to make choices with my heart and be happy with them. However, if I weren't so logical and relatively more able than Cho at keeping my mind/emotions in check, I may have ended up like him long ago.
When people get overly attached to other people/things, they get extremely depressed when said people/things are gone. However, no man is an island. Almost no one can be happy without being strongly attached to any people/things. What/He who/She who blesses you with the most joy is also the thing/person which/who can cause you the most pain. Ironic, isn't it? August 30 orientationWow... I haven't updated in a few days. Orientation has been hectic with a few really REALLY cool events.
We had a "reality show" performed by students from the Tisch School of Arts, NYU. It was a really cool musical, if slightly crude. I like how they made a parody of like... everything... and actually taught lessons on adapting in NYU through the show.
After several days of provided food, I finally got my NYU ID and used it to get some food on campus. So far I've had 2 dinners and 1 breakfast on campus. All I can say is... wow. For the breakfast, there was like... everything. Eggs, omelettes, bacon, sausages, bread, waffles and pancakes... and I'm sure that's not exhaustive. For one dinner, I had a turkey burger and fries, while for the other I had tomato and basil pizza. Whoever knew vegetarian pizza could taste good! Haha... And the best thing is that the pizza has a thin crust... something missing from Singaporean menus for a looooong time. Strangely enough I still haven't had steak in NY yet... I should probably grab it next Sunday when the weekly steak night at 3rd North commences :)
Yesterday, Stern students went to ESPN Zone. It was really fun - a sports arcade with great food. There were several different kinds of bread, ham, tacos and hotdogs. The tacos came in 3 colours - the normal yellow colour, red and blue. Originally, I assumed the red and blue ones were made using food colouring, but a friend of mine told me that the colour actually comes from the type of corn used in making the tacos.
Just today, we went to watch the US Open!!! Unfortunately, we didn't get to see Roddick or Federer in action, but we DID get Nadia Petrov and a few other rather hot chicks haha. Check out my Facebook for photos... August 25 A little exploration of NYCFirstly, all photos are on Facebook. I'm too lazy to post them again here.
Anyway, my mom, grandma and I met my father's friend, Ivy, and her husband, Edwin, and we went for dinner at Adrienne's Pizza followed by a little exploration of NYC.
The dinner at Adrienne's Pizza was our first western dinner in New York. The pizzas were pretty good... the lasagna was freaking fantastic... and the tiramisu rocked :). Actually, I think the pizzas should've been really good. Apparently, they use wood instead of a conventional oven, so it has a smokier flavour. Unfortunately, one of the pizzas we ordered was too salty because of the anchovies on it. The other (sausage and some don't-know-what-vegetable) was really good though.
The lasagna was better than any I've ever tasted. The sauce was freaking heavenly and the beef was just right - neither too soggy nor too dry.
The tiramisu was literally heart-melting. Not too sweet, and the slight bitterness of the coffee powder sprinkled on top was a very nice touch.
On to the exploration. One's initial impression of New York would tend to be one of a dirty, crowded city. That is totally correct. The city is constantly under construction, the roads are uneven and full of potholes, and rats coexist with humans. Subway stations are, in general, dingy... and are not air-conditioned which should prove to be a real bitch when the temperature hits 100 degrees. It is also rather confusing, not to mention, infrequent. However, I think one must not overlook the entire point of being in NYC in the first place... the dynamism, the opportunities, the (almost) true meritocracy and... well... the money. Haha... The people here are, in general, more open and kinder. You could just strike up a conversation with any random person and you wouldn't be treated like a donation solicitor. Oh... and I witnessed some guy catching a rather large fish... check out my Facebook for a photo of this fish and some others from the exploratory journey... first post!Hello from New York!
I arrived at 5+ yesterday evening... Upon leaving the airport I guess I was rather surprised by how hot the weather is here! It's around 80+ degrees fahrenheit now, which is about 28 degrees celsius. At least the air is rather dry so perspiration evaporates rather quickly. Oh and clothes dry super quickly too. The taxi driver was really friendly - some college student from New Jersey... who drives his dad's taxi part-time. He knows all the small alleys through the ghetto area so we weaved past the traffic via these alleys, and didn't have to get stuck in the rush hour crowd. :)
Checked into the hotel (expensive!!!) and well... the room is really small too. I like the FREE wireless access though... and they provide potable chilled water along with sealed bottles to fill :). However, the air-con is a real bitch. It works on a thermostat, and makes quite a bit of noise everytime it comes back on. Haha... so it's like peace and quiet for several minutes, and then a rattling and lots of other noises, and the aircon comes on. Sigh... I'm fine with it but my grandma and mother seem rather disconcerted.
Will be getting my mobile phone plan today. Hmmm... nothing much else to say.
Ciao. |
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