Melp

S'Mac - Sarita's Macaroni & Cheese

345 East 12th Street

Really - Need i say more? Mac and Cheese, its an American favorite comfort food. For me, thats exactly what it is. After a bad day at work, all I want to do is rip open a box of Kraft's mac and cheese. This takes it a step farther. Cheeseburger Mac and Cheese - enough said. Mediterranean has goat cheese, spinach, olives and garlic. Parisienne has BRIE, figs, shiitake mushrooms and rosemary. Masala Mac has indian spices. Lets not forget buffalo chicken mac, which might sound odd in concept, but in practice, it is more than you can ever imagine. Last night I went for the Cajun which is cheddar and pepper jack, andouille sausage, peppers and onions. The spicy goodness was too hard to not finish. Yes, my arteries are clogged slighly more than yesterday but it was well worth it. Just to make it slightly more fun, their sizes are Nosh, Major Munch, Mongo, Partay!. Any excuse to say the word nosh, I'll take.

http://www.smacnyc.com/

Scream it from the rooftop

Don't you wish you had your own personal rooftop at your disposal, to scream at the top of your lungs, everything you wish you could say - just to get it off your chest? Lately I absolutely feel the need for such. I would say that a padded room would serve quite the same purpose but I feel like it may have a bad connotation, so, I'll refrain from going there. Sure we can scream all the crazy shit we want but in the semi-nice (see: asian) neighborhood that I live in, I cannot do such without someone calling the cops.

I have much on my plate lately, in terms of grievances. Instead of bursting out in tears every time one of these things surfaces, I inhale deeply and do what any healthy person does - repress it. Sometimes this doesn't always work, which inevitably leads to an uncomfortable scene in which people just wonder why you're crying in Taco Bell (note: that was NOT me). There should really be NO reason to be crying in taco bell.

Well, until I have my own non-judgemental rooftop to air all my dirty laundry, I suppose I'll just keep on breathing.

mL

Edit: Turns out that even better than a rooftop to scream your unearthed problems, are a few great friends. People up at 3 in the morning to listen to your seemingly earth shattering emo stories. To all these people in the world who lend a ear to those who need it - thanks!

Test Failed.

unexpected death
lost memories, lost friendship
hard drive failure sucks

Dell Inspiron 600m Jan 2005-Jan 2008

Yesterday, like any normal day I went to turn on my computer and it sounded of cries of desperation. It was trying so hard to fight for life making grinding noises like a plane trying to take off. I first turned it off in fright, panic setting in, took a breath and turned it back on hoping that it was only a misunderstanding. It made the same sound again and this time I let it run for a few seconds until it beeped twice then turned off. This is when I knew that the gig was over. Worst case scenario - everything is lost. Fortunatly, sort of, I backed most of my stuff up last December (of 2006), but this meant that everything that took place in 2007 was lost. I feel like this was a sign of the past year - that I'm not to remember 2007 in too much detail. Like selective memories - of good times such as in pictures posted on my online photo site.

So now, I have some sort of recovery plan (of all documents, photos and music of the past year). I am of course trying with all my might to recover it by extracting it from the hard drive, but I feel that the effort will wind up wasted. I spoke to the infamous Dell customer service and it was actually slightly helpful but still only told me what I already knew - hard drive crash. System tests yielded: Test Failed! messages in red.

I guess I'm not too distraught. Yes, it sucks, yes, shit happens, but it'll be ok. Moral of this story kids? Back yo shit up!

mL

Train of Thought: Therapy

I saw by Matt Nathanson
(press play)

I would say that I spent a good 14.87% of the past 3 months bitching about my commute and about 4.9% of my life thus far, bitching about commuting in general. Then there are moments of clarity when I realize that it can benefit my mental well being. To the naked eye - you might think this ludacris as I am shoved under armpits, squished in a sea of suits, and throwing elbows at little old asian women (who will, in fact, shove you down the stairs while they pretend to look innocent and feeble). When the commuting game is strategically played, there is no shoving, squishing or b.o. to be seen/smelt. There's a cramped seat with theraputic powers. This is your time to do what you please, without distractions. Read, listen to music, people watch, ponder the worlds deepest questions, etc.

I listen to music while either sleeping, reading a trashy magazine, book or newspaper, or ponder whatever comes to mind. So before I diverge any further - the song. This is one of my all time favorite songs. During my routine trek home I heard it and it got me thinking. It made me wistful and hopefull all at the same time. I'm not even sure I know what it's about. It seems to be a song of unrequited love after a one sided breakup - like most songs. Come to think of it, theres nothing really hopeful about the song at all. The thing is, we've all felt this way before.

In my case, it reminds me of the person who gave me this song on a mixed tape (or CD as it were) who was just that - the kind of person who wo give me a mixed tape. As like most relationships, it ended. Not particularly well or poorly although I was the one who was on the recieving portion of the breakup. The line "I'll forget about you long enough to forget why I need to" always gets me thinking. I think everyone has someone that they'd like to forget because they feel that they need to - which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Otherwise, I just really enjoy the song. It's sad in a way that we can all understand. A little extra time in the day to reflect on our past and ponder our future can really be therapeutic and may very well be exactly what we need to maintain our sanity.

mL

A year in the life...

As we approach the end of the year - it is only natural to sit around and create a montage of your year in review. What are your most memorable moments of 2007? I imagined my 24th year to be the 'best year of my life'. Yes, it was a bit overzealous of me to create such high hopes for the year but it was my golden birthday year. Inevitably with all the hype, it was somewhat of a disappointment. No it was not the best year of my life - but it was good, which is better than saying, it sucked tremendously. So here we have the 10 most memorable moments of 2007.

1. New Years debacle. Oh giggles. Oh Viv, for you, i TOO would miss a funeral.
2. First time abroad - EuroFoodTour 2007. Did someone say sausage and mash?
3. The phone call that changed my life - May 30th - and the aftermath.
4. 42 (+3) miles of biking around New York without getting hit by a taxi
5. Summer of 07 - at Sergio's pool. Yeah Rada crew!
6. I'm from Barcelona Groupies at McCarron Park
7. The first 3 weddings to scare the rest of us.
8. Eyal-ing it in San Fran. Sammifying it in Vegas.
9. 6 hour interview with 5 case studies. Worst experience.
10. Having to give the toast at the company dinner my 2nd week on the job, being coached by the COO.

I'm sure there's other moments, but for now - this will suffice. I learned a lot this year and I had to face things that I didn't necessarily like or anticipate so early in my life. I guess it's these things that build character - hopefully it didn't come with a side order of cynicism. There were people who were there for me - who have always there for me (thank you so much), there were people who I hoped would be there for me but didn't pull through, and there was kindness found in places I would have never imagined. Someone told me that 'it's not the bad things in life that define us, it's how we deal with it' and it really helped me not take a giant bite of my 'self pity pie'. I did however, have a taste. It was kind of yummy - tasted like chicken.

To conclude, family was good, health was good, friends were good, career took a turn for the better, and all in all I'm pretty satisfied. True - not the best year of my life - but I'm happy. I have great hopes for 2008. I can't wait to make more memorable moments. (end sappy montage music)

mL

A week in Limbo

It's hard to focus having all that Christmas dinner, cookies and cake under my hypothetical belt (I'm not really one to wear an actual belt). It's hard to be motivated with one holiday behind us, and an upcoming one in a week. I have my Christmas toys at home waiting to be played with, Christmas cookies waiting to be eaten and Christmas flub waiting to be burned off.

ON a positive note - the commute has been heavenly. No getting squished under unsavory armpits or shoved by little old asian women. Quiet sleep on the 7, a seat on the 4/5..Oh man =)

mL

Juno

This movie was absolutely amazing. I cannot stop raving about it. This is definitely one of my top 10 movies, if not in the top 3. I cannot lie - It started as some creepy infatuation with Michael Cera. To defend myself, he is 19 and I've already admitted that it was creepy. Little did I know, that he would spend most of the movie in abnormally short gold shorts. H-O-T...ok, it was truly more disturbing than anything else. haha. It actually turns out that I fell in love with Ellen Page's character, Juno. Between the amazing soundtrack and the perfectly "me" kind of humor - I felt like this movie was made for me. The quick whip humor and the sweet story of best friends made for a full circle of a movie. I laughed. I cried. (I tried to conceal the two tears that I already unsuccessfully tried to blink back) I just cannot wait to see it again. I really cannot get enough of this movie and I need to recommend it to as many people as possible. It was amazing. A definite DVD buy. A definite CD buy.

Visit the site to listen to the soundtrack. You can find the controls on Cera's blinding white legs. The soundtrack is really great. The songs are really cute and strange but you come to realize that sometimes, you too, feel cute in your bunny suit. http://www.foxsearchlight.com/juno/

I guess in the end, I'm just looking for the cheese to my macaroni.