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Archive for friends
April 13, 2007 at 4:23 pm · Filed under friends
A college friend of mine is the luckiest person I know. It’s as if he has a four-leaf clover in his pocket every day of the week (remember that Futurama episode of Fry’s 4-leaf clover?). Here are three examples of why my friend Paul is the luckiest person I know.
- Once upon a time, Paul and I took a trip to Europe together during the summer. Before the school year ended, the local Peace Frogs store sponsored a “European Backpacking Trip” seminar for students and advertised the event by saying that they would be raffling off a First Class 2-month Eurail pass. Paul decided at the last minute that he would go to this seminar and check out the happenings for the both of us. He ended up winning the raffle for the Eurail pass in the popularly-attended seminar.
- Every year, the Engineering Student Council sponsors E-week (engineers-week) with games and food and prizes. One of the games featured an iPod as the first-place prize. I had class, so I told the guy I was dating at the time to go play the game and potentially win me an iPod. Paul somehow found out about this game and decided to also go for shits & giggles. Paul ended up winning the silly little game of chance and subsequently the iPod.
- Yesterday, Paul told me that he won another iPod, a silver nano. It was some kind of meeting for school, and he decided to go at the last minute. When he showed up, he realized that there was a raffle for an iPod nano, so he entered the raffle (I mean, why not?). Well, he won.
So my question is, how does one person get so lucky? That doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. It’s not like a skill that you practice, like piano, whereby you can get better. It’s an intangible chance that shouldn’t differ from person to person. So how is it that my friend Paul has all the luck?
More importantly, what is the mechanism for this so that I can either learn from him, or take some of his luck?
January 20, 2007 at 2:08 am · Filed under friends, music, going out
It’s been quite a while since the Gang got together. In fact, I haven’t seen some of these people since August/September last year, or at least not all together. Things have mainly been individual lunches here or dinner there or coffee when we found the time. Tonight, in honor of a birthday, we gathered (all of us, almost) for a late dinner at Anthem. It’s always nice to try out a new eatery, especially one that I hadn’t even heard of before.
By the time everyone trickled in, we moved the conversations from the bar to our reserved table for 16. Along the way, like one of those handshake games where you go around and shake everyone’s hand exactly once, we all naturally fell into a ritual of chatting, clinking glasses, and going out of our ways to say hi to every person, even the one headed toward that far other end of the table. As I glanced all around me, I saw hugs, kisses, winks, happy laughing faces, and smiling faces who radiated back genuine happiness at seeing me, and each other, again.
I felt like I was in the final scene of those romantic comedies that come out around the holidays, where everyone’s gathered around a big table, laughing and happy, but you can’t make out what any of them are saying because warm and fuzzy music is playing, leading to the credits rolling. So this time, my life felt like a happy movie. The best part is that this is just the beginning, and not the conclusion of my movie.
Unfortunately, the night had to end with the restaurant playing The Scientist by Coldplay. I never really paid attention to the lyrics, nothing beyond the eerily haunting melody. Ironically, I looked up the lyrics just earlier today. They are quite sad, but somehow right for my life at just about now. I cut the night short (the others were all going out, albeit only having about an hour before last calls), wanting to come home instead and just curl up against my pillow with my book of the moment.
January 3, 2007 at 5:49 pm · Filed under friends, going out
We rang in another year, next to some fishes and turtles this time. I like New Year’s Eve parties with open bars :)
High school friends at the SC Aquarium celebrating New Year’s Eve
(left to right: Ryan, me, Lauren, Mary Ellen, Jen)
Lauren told me to look “angry” for the camera … probably a bit too un-sober to appear angry enough :)
September 20, 2006 at 8:24 pm · Filed under friends
Cathal says that I’m the ruler, and he’s the rock. Go figure :)
August 23, 2006 at 1:06 am · Filed under friends
Usually wine makes me very sleepy. Tonight, wine just made me very very talkative, and now I am wide awake with thoughts racing marathons in my head.
Ryan and I went to Radius tonight, for “Restaurant Week.” When the hostess called to confirm my reservation yesterday, she off-handedly said that they’re only doing lunch for Restaurant Week, and do I still want to keep my dinner reservation. I kept it, thinking “what the hell, why not splurge?” and also knowing that Ryan probably wouldn’t mind. Once we got there tonight, we sorta understood why they don’t do dinner Restaurant Week dinner menus; the average price for entrees was ~$40. We had a fantastic time anyways, not to mention some excellently prepared and presented food. Ryan even picked a nice bottle of wine because apparently he garnered some wine knowledge this summer despite not having taste buds, but I guess a whole summer of eating out on Ropes & Gray’s tab can work wonders.
Surprisingly, we talked a lot about Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink, which I’ve been meaning to read for about 6 months now (it’s just sat on my bookshelf). It made me think of when I bought it for Jason’s birthday right after New Year’s, and the hours and hours and hours we went on talking about anything and EVERYTHING sitting in Atlanta Bread Co that day. I was worried about Jason driving 2 hours home so late at night; I think he was just happy to spend time with an old friend and not have to face his family for a few more hours.
Sometimes I worry about Jason. Other times, I’m glad I don’t have to see him but once or twice a year. I thought that I would be worried about Ryan, too, but I was glad to see him as happy, as talkative, and as opinionated as ever today. It’s so rare to find those people with whom the conversation never gets awkward, and I never ever find myself searching for the next small-talk topic.
Maybe that’s why Ryan & Jason are both such good friends to me. They are like the brothers I never had. I know them so well, but more importantly, they know me so well. (Ryan knew to ask how I wanted to share food before just plopping something down on my plate, and to emphatically say yes without even consulting me when the server asked if we wanted a couple of clean extra plates). I am completely comfortable around them, and I really don’t care what stupid things I say to them, and I tell them the kinds of life details I only reserve for my best girlfriends. Basically, I’m not afraid to talk to them about anything, including conventionally awkward topics, while being completely at ease because I know that they will both still love me for whom I am, along with all the ridiculous things I think and say.
Soulmates are so hard to come by that I really do try to hold on to them whenever I discover one.
April 17, 2006 at 2:14 am · Filed under friends, people
A while ago, I started writing a post about wanting to be friends with a person whom I have never met, but whose facebook profile I randomly stumbled on through some friends of friends’ profiles. His profile/albums/wall comments really struck a chord with me, and I immediately said to myself, “wow, I really wish I could meet him, become friends with him, and have him in my social circle.” I ended up not finishing the post because even I thought it was too stalker-like. Besides, I knew that the chances of my actually meeting the person were slim to none.
Enter tonight. My friend Amy had an Easter potluck dinner thing at her place. At the potluck, I most unexpectedly met the guy behind the facebook profile. The whole encounter was like a scene straight out of the movies, very surreal. He was there already when I arrived, standing next to the windows on the far side of the room, looking out the window with his back to the room. As I walked in, he turned around (cue in slow motion), and I almost dropped the plate of lasagna in my hands out of shock. Here he was; the man behind the profile. I recognized him right away. It turned out that we have some common friends. The slim-to-none chances of our ever meeting just became 100%.
I played it cool, didn’t introduce myself right away, but eventually got to it ~10 minutes later: “hi, I don’t think we’ve met before. My name is Shan.”
It turns out that the things in his profile that struck a chord with me don’t really come through in person, which was disappointing. But at least now I know.
February 12, 2006 at 5:22 pm · Filed under friends
Mr. Paul Otto, of care-packages-lore, proposed to Joyce, his beautiful girlfriend of 4 years last night in front of the Rotunda, in the snow, right back where things started at our beloved University. She said yes!
Congratulations Paul and Joyce!!!
I have to confess that I was in the know about this :). In fact, I got Paul a book on buying engagement rings back in August 2003. ACTUALLY, I just remembered that I mentioned Paul’s impending engagement back when I started this blog the summer I was in Atlanta. Fourth paragraph down in that post, the “next engagement” mentioned was supposed to be Paul’s, which finally came now, 2.5 years later!
For a while there, I rather lost hope and thought that Paul wasn’t ever going to actually use the book I got him, since weeks, months, years came and went and there was nothing from Paul and Joyce … until Paul told me last month that he read the book and BOUGHT a ring! He told me he wanted to propose to her in Charlottesville, and even sent me pictures of the ring. It’s puuurty! *sigh* And what better place to ask for the hand of the girl of your dreams than on the serene, snow-covered Lawn at night?
Paul, Joyce — I am sooo happy for you! You two are awesome together, and Paul, you’re one freaking lucky dude. You better take good care of her!
January 23, 2006 at 11:46 pm · Filed under friends, grad life/MIT, dating/relationships, daily grind
because there always are aftermaths. Some directly result from the event, and others seem completely unrelated.
1) I felt like a queen this weekend. I will be eternally thankful for all the caring friends who went out of their ways to bring me movies, ice cream, beer, groceries, conversations, and some altogether well-spent quality time. I feel no less grateful to everyone who left comments, phone messages, and/or sent emails expressing their condolescences and offering to help in any way that they can. I truly am a lucky gal.
2) I am much happier now than I was last May about some life choices. This subject really deserves its own entry. For now though, it will remain a joyful afterthought.
3) I am already tired of a relationship that doesn’t even exist yet and will most likely never be. The games have gone on 2 months too long. I need to accept that “he’s just not that into me” and move on. I want to tell him how I feel, so that I will have no regrets or thoughts of “what if?” later on … but what I really NEED to do is to stop wasting time/energy on him and move on because he’s just not that into me. He is just not that into me. Repeat. Repeat.
4) I did not call my parents when the accident first happened (they were not one of my 2 phone calls … ), and I mentioned nothing of it when I called them yesterday. I don’t want them to worry unnecessarily (of course they will), and I don’t want them to have their hearts in their throats every time I tell them I’m going snowboarding/skiing from now on. I feel guilty that I have not told them yet, but I don’t know how to bring up the subject.
5) I am signing off of IM for an indefinite period of time. This actually already happened, since I haven’t really signed on since last Monday. While I enjoy catching up with friends, I inevitably stay up until 5am doing nothing except chatting on IM, and I always hate myself for it. I don’t like hating myself.
6) As calm and accepting as I am about what happened, I do ask “why me?” I am extremely thankful for how relatively well everything turned out, but I really could have gone on, perfectly happily, without another major scar on my knee.
January 16, 2006 at 9:39 pm · Filed under friends, going out
Philip, an old friend from UVA, visited me this past weekend. It was a weekend of birthday dinners, salsa dancing, sprained ankles, fraternizing with the Blue Man Group, Dr. M, ghetto rabbits/frogs, meeting ee of ees, chopsticks, stalkers, spheres, trying not to watch 24, pittsburgh & carolina, beers with 9.5% alcohol content, keyboards, clam chowdah, cab drivers who don’t know their way around, glamour shots, and a whole lot more alcohol than we should have had.
The highlight of the weekend was probably us hanging out until 2:30 in the morning with Meridian and Shaneca of the Boston Blue Man Group. In addition to being incredibly talented percussionists, actors, dancers, performers, they’re also just a couple of super sweet, laid-back guys who know how to enjoy the moment and have a good time. Many thanks to Billy, the Charles Playhouse Lounge bartender/assistant manager for introducing the boys to us!
The highlight residual of the weekend has got to be the list of toasts that we now have. Every drink that Phil and I had, we drank to something. We tried to keep a record of all of them (which became quite difficult sometimes), and in turn documented the people, the events, the jokes, and just how much we actually drank in 2 days…
the things that phil and I drank to this weekend:
1. to 1 out of 30
2. to getting phone calls from people we like
3. to tillett - teaching us what not to do in the future
4. to getting wet on saturday night (get your mind out of the gutter)
5. to bouncing hug checks
6. to never giving up - restoration ball 2006
7. to moving up on shan’s list of guys
8. to the monkey
9. to being above ground and sucking on the grass roots
10. to bartenders
11. to making every hour count, every minute worthwhile, every second last
12. to blue men
13. to yushenkov’s poison
14. to shankar’s shot
15. to meridian & shaneca
16. to old flames
17. to not speaking chinese
18. to looking good with black
19. 2 years 2 long
20. to monkeys and frogs and rabbits
21. to not being taken
22. to listening to your heart but following your brain
23. to jaeger
24. to another jaeger, and-in phil’s case-to finishing karen’s drink
25. to stroking the f-key
26. to being admired, but never loved (so depressing, but probably true)
27. to greatness and bitterness
28. to being/getting on top
29. to not being desperate … and still drinking triple sec
30. to sexing it up with Maxim (by Phil)
31. to not talking
32. to always having fun and having limited responsibilities
33. to shan being naked in public*
* clarification: this didn’t actually happen; we just drank to it **
** further clarification: shan did not endorse this toast. she lost a bet ***
*** author’s note: yes, shan does speak about herself in the third person
Thanks for coming Phil; I had such a blast!! Next time, we will go for the nation’s capital :)
December 13, 2005 at 6:34 pm · Filed under friends
Big Yuffie: Shan, looks like you got an early christmas present
Big Yuffie: I wish someone put christmas lights on my desk
Big Yuffie: hahahha
Big Yuffie: so who’s it from?
wahooswu: no clue, nobody knows … and i don’t even know how to find out
Big Yuffie: oh yeah, and also
Big Yuffie: in jr high, all the cool girls hanged out with boys
wahooswu: who? like kelsey and laura and mindy, etc. etc. etc.?
Big Yuffie: none of those names are familiar
wahooswu: hahaha
Big Yuffie: but you did hang out with boys in jr high
wahooswu: hmm … no mostly, i avoided boys in jr high
wahooswu: and talked about them with yin yin & xijia and stuff
Big Yuffie: remember the co rec?
Big Yuffie: the hours we spent playing monoploy
wahooswu: okay, so the msh crowd
Big Yuffie: that was time well spend
wahooswu: basketball and stuff
Big Yuffie: that’s right
wahooswu: i dunno … corec that summer was awesome
wahooswu: with you and zheng, and xijia for part of it
wahooswu: but overall … i always felt like you boys didn’t like us girls playing bball with you
Big Yuffie: yeah we didn’t want to play with you guys
Big Yuffie: you guys played like girls
wahooswu: that and the fact that i had a crush on jiangbo, made me not want to play even more
Big Yuffie: you had a crush on jingbo?
wahooswu: hahaha, yeah
wahooswu: for a long time too, bet you never knew that
Big Yuffie: no I did not
wahooswu: that’s what girlfriends were for
wahooswu: we’d just sit around and talk about guys we had crushes on … all of us had one
Big Yuffie: hahah
Big Yuffie: that’s like sex and the city
Big Yuffie: with training bras
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