It's been awhile again since I last updated. For those of you who don't already know, I'm here in London for training and won't be back to New York until end of October. I haven't had a chance to see too much of London because I'm always at work (or exhausted). But, based on what I've seen so far, I've come to the conclusion that London is really expensive. Everything is about twice as expensive as New York (and I thought New York was expensive)! The city is very nice though! I live south of Central London, and pretty close to Big Ben and Parliament. My favorite thing to do here is to take a walk to the Thames river at night! The view is breathtaking! Shopping is also quite fun, and equally expensive. But they have some very interesting stores here, especially in Camden Market. Matt, you should definitely check out Cyberdog. I think you will like the stuff that they have. They have a HUGE store here, with robots and everything.
England is also notorious for pick pockets. Fortunately, I haven't had anything stolen, but I did get an unauthorized charge to my credit card. Apparently, someone somehow got my credit card number from somewhere and used it to pay off their debt. I had to cancel my credit card and all that painful stuff. So if you ever go to London, be careful.
The clubbing scene is also quite nice. Although, I'm not sure I like English guys. Despite their sexy accent, they are all too sleezy. And unlike in the US, they are not afraid to pursue a girl on the dance floor, even after a verbal refusal. They're persistent to an annoying level. But I've mostly been going out with the crowd from work, so I don't have to worry too much about that. They play very good music though at most of the clubs. I also went to a house/rave club one night, and it was interesting. Apparently, there was a world famous dj playing (but I don't know any djs, period, so I didn't know him). But the music was pretty awesome!
Another really neat thing about being here is the diversity of people that I meet. I'm training with people from all over the world! My roommate is from Spain, and there are lots of people from Germany. So I'm learning a lot about different cultures, and also a little bit of foreign languages (my roommate tries to teach me a little spanish everyday and I teach her chinese in return).
Anyways, it's getting late here so I'm going to get some sleep!
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...can you move into an apartment with no gas, no phone, no cable, and no laundry services.
...can you live across the street from where you're working.
...can you go ANYWHERE on the island without using a car.
...can you see crowds of people at 1am.
...can you get hit on by a guy on the subway.
...can you almost get run over by a taxi.
...can you get free wireless in public parks.
...can you go to a private lounge for $250.
...can you go shopping in 5 level high discount stores.
...can you see broadway shows every day of the week.
...can you go to an all-you-can-eat sushi bar that's the length of one street block.
...can you get internet at a Burger King.
...can you eat ice cream made without lactose (called smoochies).
...can you walk outside your apartment into a soft ice cream truck.
...can you order groceries online and have it delivered to your doorstep.
...can you go rollerblading and find instead an outdoor salsa dance.
...can you fall in love with a city so fast.
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Last night, my awesome roommate Jennifer got me an extra ticket to see the Yankees vs. Oakland game with her company. So I left CT around 3:00pm to catch a train into the city. I got there a little early, so I wandered around Wall street and the financial area before meeting with Jennifer around 5pm. The financial area is actually really close to lots of cool places, like South Sea Port where there are lots of shops and restaurants, and a beautiful view of Brooklyn Bridge. After meeting up with Jennifer, we hopped on a subway to the Yankee Stadium.
The all-mighty Yankee stadium was rather disappointing compared to PNC Park. First, the Yankee stadium was much smaller. Also, I love singing to "Take me out to the Ball Game" except that they didn't put up the lyrics =(. I can't sing without lyrics! Maybe it's cause they assumed everyone there already knew them, which seemed like they did. But still! Also, no running perogies...in fact...no running anything. Instead, they had some simulated subway race through the streets of New York that they displayed on the screen. Plus, no Outback Steakhouse! =(
Despite all that, I guess the one good thing is that both teams that played were excellent. Yankees weren't playing their best game, but they still scored a few. It was good to see teams actually scoring...that's more than I can say for Pirates games. Jennifer's company provided car service for everyone to get home, so we got a free limo/taxi thing back to CT. We got back pretty late, so I was really tired!
I'm moving into my new place in New York tomorrow. I won't have internet for awhile, at least not in my apartment. I might try and find an internet cafe close by so I can get online. But until then, you might not hear from me. If you need to reach me, you have my number.
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| Date: | 2004-07-27 16:26 |
| Subject: | Countdown |
| Security: | Public |
| Mood: |  nostalgic |
It's now 3 days until I move out into the real world. That's right, this Friday, I'm making the drive out to New York City with the rest of my stuff, and there I shall remain until holidays and whatnot. I'm not sure I'm ready for such a big change, but I guess I've been preparing for it all summer. But no matter how much you prepare for something, physically and mentally, it is still quite a shock when it actually happens (like getting your wisdom teeth out).
I must say that I've had quite a relaxing summer. I'm glad I didn't take up a summer internship. It was nice just to be home, and hang out with Dad. Last weekend, Dad and I took a spontaneous trip to New River Gorge. That's where I first started climbing. So we hiked around looking for all places I used to climb. It was really nostalgic. But the scenery, as always, was beautiful! After doing some hiking, we drove to Tamarack (it's like a little mall that sells all kinds of WV made goods). Greenbrier caters dinner there and they have the best food! For $10, you get a gourmet style dinner and desert. It's almost worth driving an hour just to eat there. =P
In any case, I'm really going to miss WV, and I've already been missing Pittsburgh all summer. But I'm looking forward to living in a new place and having a new city to explore.
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| Date: | 2004-07-20 17:50 |
| Subject: | The unexpected |
| Security: | Public |
| Mood: |  annoyed |
Just got back from a very fun trip to Pittsburgh! It was fun seeing some people whom I haven't seen in awhile, especially my other half! It would've been even more fun if a certain someone from California didn't PRETEND that he was in Pittsburgh, and then make me realize later that he wasn't. Revenge will be taken when I see you in New York, you can count on it. As for my other half who was in on it...I'll deal with you later. =P Robert had an awesome party on Saturday night, with some of the best party music. It was a good opportunity to catch up with people.
When I got back, I got a happy package of work from Deutsche. I was really excited because I've been itching to do work since June. So now, I'll have something to entertain me during the day. I think this is the longest I've gone without programming since I started college. I also got a not-so-happy email from the building management of my new apartment. Since the apartment is new, they haven't had time to finish it yet, so they moved my lease back by two weeks! This is a big inconvenience, especially for people who have already scheduled to come visit me during those two weeks. I should've expected this since it was new and such, but it is still a giant pain =(.
Speaking of pain, my cheeks are pretty much back to normal and I can eat real food again! Not too much pain anymore, but my mouth and my jaw sometimes feel really sensitive. But, the good news is, I can start doing physical activity again! YAY!
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I am soooo lucky to be in Pittsburgh today! The weather is just perfect, and that hardly happens in Pittsburgh. I'm writing this entry sitting under an umbrella outside the University Center. There's a light breeze blowing through and it's sunny! It is so relaxing. The drive to Pittsburgh was nice too. I like driving through WV in the mornings. The mountains are all misty and foggy. I wish I could take pictures, but I'm always the person driving.
In any case, I still have hamster cheeks so for those of you who are around Pittsburgh this weekend, you may get to see me all puffy. Hope you're happy.
In the afternoon, I helped Jason move. Or rather, sat around while Jason carried his own boxes from his old place to my car, then from my car to his new place. =P I'm currently waiting for my other half to arrive (YAY!!), after which we will be getting food, because I'm starving for real food.
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I made it through my wisdom teeth surgery without too many complications...at least so far. I am, however, left with chipmunk cheeks, and they're not as cute as you may think they are once you have them yourself. I'm supposed to be getting lots of rest and repose, but most of the time I just feel restless. Not being able to run makes me sad. Not having cable tv when I can actually sit down and watch it makes me sad too. But I should be back to normal in about a week, so I can run around again!
Oh, and for those of you in Pittsburgh, I think I might be coming up this weekend! Not sure what my plans are yet, but hopefully, I'll get to see some of you.
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| Date: | 2004-07-12 06:50 |
| Subject: | Wheeeee! |
| Security: | Public |
| Mood: |  groggy |
I started experimenting with the rich text mode of posting on LJ, and it completely deleted my previous entry. =( Ah well. Here's a quick recap. I'm up at 6:30am this morning because I have to get my wisdom tetth out at 7:30am. They gave me some happy pills that I had to take an hour before the surgery. They're supposed to be relaxing...although right now, I just feel sleepy.
This weekend was rather uneventful. On saturday, I played around with my rollerblades and I didn't get hurt. I still don't know how to stop though (Sorry ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.2) fleaplus , I couldn't find the parachute button). But it was sitll fun. It feels somewhat like ice skating but with ski boots.
Yesterday, Dad and I went to see Anchorman. It was a horrible movie, along the same lines of humor as Dodgeball, although I think even Dodgeball was better. At least the main character had some attractive qualities.
Alright, time to head over to get my wisdom teeth out.
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| Date: | 2004-07-08 17:49 |
| Subject: | New toy |
| Security: | Public |
| Mood: |  energetic |
Today, I went out and bought rollerblades. They were such a great deal, on sale for $40 from $150! I couldn't resist. Anyways, they're really pretty and I can't wait to play with them. The only problem is, I dunno how to stop. So if anyone has any suggestions, advice, etc., feel free to let me know!
In the meantime, I'm gonna be experimenting, in full padding (shhh...I look cool =P).
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I had a pretty eventful 4th of July weekend. On Saturday, I went to see Spiderman 2 which I really enjoyed. The acting was much better than the 1st movie and the special effects were cool. On Sunday, Aaron and I drove up to Canaan Valley Resorts and stayed in one of those resort houses with 15 25-year-olds. We arrived around 3:30pm to a room full of half drunk guys, who immediately sent us off to get more alcohol. When we got back, they had all piled into the hottub, now thoroughly drunk. In any case, we witnessed some very entertaining yet disturbing conversation which I unfortunately cannot repeat here. I think the last time I heard such things was back in junior high school... It was funny and sad at the same time.
The rest of the group had already gone out shopping or biking. But they all came back for a bbq dinner. I met lots of very cool people. One of the girls there is a teacher in New York City, so she told me a little about the city, and we exchanged contact info. After dinner, we set off our own fireworks. Some people brought some big ones, and those were awesome. They looked like real fireworks, except that we had to set them off one at a time. After that, we had some desert, the guys played more drinking card games and got back into the hottub. The rest of us hung out in the basement for some relaxation and dancing.
The next day, we all hiked up to the top of the mountain to take some group pictures and to enjoy the beautiful view. The whole trip made me want to go camping/hiking in Canaan or even Seneca Rocks. It'd be cool to go climbing there too.
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| Date: | 2004-06-27 22:17 |
| Subject: | Hit the road |
| Security: | Public |
| Mood: |  sleepy |
That's what I did this morning at 7am. Drove all 11 hours to Stamford, CT with most of my stuff ALL by my lonesome. Well, technically. Dad drove all by himself with the other half of my stuff in another car, but still. The trip was actually not too bad. I saw a lot of interesting things on the road. Apparently, they're rebuilding Noah's Ark on the side of I-68E. I saw the skeletal beginnings of a giant boat with a sign that said "Rebuilding Noah's Ark Here." Also, the whole I was driving, I was following Dad who was driving the outback. At one point, I saw another green outback, exactly like Dad's, and packed to the rim, just like Dad's. I found that really entertaining for some reason. I kept thinking that I could easily get the two cars confused, and follow the wrong one. Finally, you know you're getting close to New York when people start driving crazy. It's instantaneous. One moment, you're driving peacefully and the next, you're getting cut off by two cars at the same time.
In any case, we made it. Time for bed.
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I had the best morning this morning! I woke up around the usual time, 7:30am. Dad made me coffee. There's nothing like a cup of Dad's coffee. You can't get it anywhere else, Starbucks doesn't come even close. It's sorta like how no milk tastes the same as milk from you home fridge, even if it's the same brand (or maybe that's just Aggie, heh). After eating a small breakfast, I went for a run. I ran 2 miles today! The first time I've done that in awhile. The last time I ran more than 1.5 miles was last summer. So this is big step! After running, I went to the grocery store and they had just brought in a fresh shipment of cherries! They looked so yummy, and the delivery guy that was setting them out was so friendly and cheerful! I love cheerful people, especially in the mornings. =)
In an effort to try and find something fun to do here in middle of nowhere WV, I decided to check out a local club that was supposed to have ballroom dancing on Thursday nights. I felt a little left out when I first walked in because the average age of the people there was 45. And most people were there with their spouses. Before they had the normal dancing, they had a lesson, and every so many weeks, they would teach a different ballroom dance. This week it was Bolero, a slow romantic latin dance. And I ended up partnerless for most of the lesson because the couples pretty much didn't like to be separated from each other. But it was ok, because the instructor felt sorry for me and danced with me a couple of times. And later on, one of the guys who's wife got too tired, asked me dance. I also ran into a couple who I had met at the wedding last weekend, and hung out with them most of the night since they were the only people I knew. Everyone there was really friendly though, and by the end of the night, I had danced with a few other people, met the DJ, and got a few dancing lessons from the instructor! All in all, I had a really good time!
Nothing too exciting to do in the afternoons at home. I'm about a third of the way through the 4th Harry Potter book. So this afternoon will most likely be spent reading/napping. It's a hard life, I know.
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| Date: | 2004-06-22 10:38 |
| Subject: | I'm back |
| Security: | Public |
| Mood: |  hungry |
Wow, I've been away from the livejournal world too long. I blame it on the fact that I have dialup at home, and hence, updating requires getting online, which is often too much effort. But then again, I've been online a bunch of times, so I guess that's not a valid excuse. =( I'm just lazy. =P
As most of you know, I will be moving to New York in August. In the meantime, I will be at home. It's pretty relaxing being home. There's not much to do here, so I spend most days cleaning the house and packing for New York, and most recent nights watching Sex and the City. Not too exciting (another excuse for why I haven't updated). This weekend however, I went to a small wedding, in a small WV town. The wedding was held outside the bride's home. They picked the perfect day for an outdoor wedding! The weather was beautiful, not too hot, but sunny. The preacher was a lady (the first time I've seen a lady preacher), but she was awesome. She kept it short, but put in a lot of really funny tidbits. It made the whole wedding seem very relaxed (and not formal and tense like most weddings). Also, everyone knew everyone else at the wedding. Most people were friends from high school, if not from kindergarten. But the thing that really struck me was the fact that most of the guests were about my age (maybe 2-3 years older), and most were married and some even had kids! They were all talking about "my wife", "my husband" and "my kids." Some were getting married for the second time! In a way, it was pretty neat. Everyone knew everyone else, and if you grew up in this town, then you stayed and got married in this town. Very few people ever leave. So there was definitely a feeling of community. But I can't help feeling that there is so much more to life and to the world then this small town, and most of these people will never know. However, I think I've decided that I like small weddings. =) This is definitely the most relaxed wedding that I've been to.
In other news, yesterday I went skating for 50 cents! It's oldies week at the skating rink, so they played oldies music. So great! Might have to go back before the week is over. Heh.
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| Date: | 2004-05-04 01:38 |
| Subject: | By request |
| Security: | Public |
| Mood: |  sick |
Aggie's over here and she's demanding a journal update, so here goes.
Despite the breakdowns, the insecurities, and the lonely nights of work, I'm happy to say that research is almost over! It was a long and trying journey, but in the end, worthwhile. I've learned a lot about myself as well as research in general during the process, and I know it will be very fulfilling once I give my last research presentation on Wednesday. I took my last college final today too, but I don't really feel like I'm done with college yet (at least, it hasn't hit me). I think it's because I still have a lot of little work here and there to finish.
Not too much has gone on other than research. Dad came up this weekend to take a car load of my stuff home so I wouldn't have so much to bring home after graduation. After spending the entirety of Friday night packing, I came to the conclusion that I have too much stuff. I think things just multiply by themselves when I'm not looking. I've also managed to get sick. I thought I had a cold, but I didn't really have a runny nose. But I have an annoying cough and sore throat that doesn't seem to want to go away.
So you can pretty much sum up the past couple weeks as follows:
My mousetrap car is indeed, the slowest mousetrap car ever built and I should never build mousetrap cars for a living. Love Actually is still the best movie in the world. Climbing deprivation is bad for my mental health, so is dancing deprivation. And sleep is for suckers.
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| Date: | 2004-04-28 21:43 |
| Subject: | YAY! |
| Security: | Public |
| Mood: |  busy |
Guess what's out on DVD? Love Actually!
That's all I have to say, I'm getting it as soon as I finish my thesis. But for now, back to work =(
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Last night was Senior night out for the SCS graduating class of 2004. We all went out to Dave & Busters where they catered a dinner, and gave us free powercards to play with! Weee, it was such good stress relief! The night started with dinner, and free gifts (they gave all the seniors a really nice windbreaker jacket), then I went out and played some videogames and the ticketgames (like skeeball). By chance, Yili and I sat down on one those coin machines. These machines let you insert coins, and these coins make other coins fall. For every coin that falls, you get 8 tickets. Yili and I just played it mindlessly, and all of a sudden, we had accumulated 646 tickets! Later, we still had some extra points left, so we played the rest on the coin machines. At the end, after borrowing a few tickets from Greg, Yili and I got Dave & Busters mugs with the tickets! After I spent all the money on the powercard, I played some pool. At the end of the night, I came to the following conclusions:
1. I should never go gambling on slot machines (and neither should Greg)
2. Shooting robots with a giant machine gun on a vibrating platform is super stress relieving
3. I'm surprisingly good at Time Crisis 3
4. I'm horrible at pool
5. I need to go to Dave & Busters more often
...maybe I can reward myself by going there after all this research is done. Speaking of research ::runs off::
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So today I decided that I needed to go all out with the Carnival stuff. Afterall, it's the last year that I'm gonna be able to enjoy it! In the morning, I saw the end of the buggy races, and then watched the RedTeam run their famous robot on the buggy course. It actually started out by swerving off course into a crowd of bystanders! The emergency stopped button was pushed though, and all was well. It ran smoothly after that. Then, I went to over to midway to watch Carolyn's group, Counterpoint, sing. They did an amazing job, and got me obsessed with this one oldie song (see currect song).
 For lunch, I decided to participate in Holi. Holi is a traditional Indian celebration where people gather and throw powdered color at each other. It's suppose to signify the spreading of joy and happiness. For $5, I got a giant plate of really yummy Indian food and a t-shirt. Then, you can buy individual packets of powdered color and just throw it at each other. It was so much fun! Afterwards, we could barely recognize each other cause we were all covered in all these different colors. While walking home, we got all these weird stares from people too, heh.
After a nice long shower, I went back to walk around midway, but most of the booths were already closed. The games weren't though, so Aggie and I played this one game where you have to shoot water at a target. And the first one to raise the water lever to a certain height wins one of those stuffed animals. Aggie wanted a giant green gecko (::shivers::) but unfortunately, neither of us won anything. So we just hung out for a bit, then I went to dinner with Q. After dinner, I made it back to campus to watch the fireworks! We have our very own fireworks at CMU for the first time! It was no New Years fireworks, but it was pretty impressive.
So up until this time, I was having a great day! There was only one thing keeping me from having a perfect Carnival experience, and that was DANCING! So I decided to hit up this asian party and dragged my other half along. The party turned out to be a big disappointment. I should've known since it took place at a Chinese restaurant. Who goes clubbing in a restaurant? Anyways, the dj, despite being cute, was awful! The music he was playing (if you can even call it music) was undanceable. No one there was even dancing much cause the music was so bad. A couple of people went up to make requests and he didn't have any of the music that they requested. When asked if he could play more "hip-hop" style music, he said he wasn't sure what we meant by "hip-hop." So after making poor Aggie put up with it for about an hour, we left.
So now I'm bitter cause I didn't get my dancing in =( But I'd like to thank my other half for sticking it out with me! She's the best other half any half could ever ask for!
[Photo: Courtesy of Coco Bean Rathod]
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You know what's worse than getting up on a Friday morning at 7am for class? Getting up at 4am to catch a 6:30am flight to New York City. I definitely don't function well on little sleep; I get all nauseous and dizzy on public transportation. For example, I can't read on the plane and such. It's weird. In any case, I was flown out to New York today for employee orientation. This company is so organized! I got my drug test, finger printing, and all the necessary payroll paperwork done in one day. I also met a lot of the other new hires, and everyone seems really smart and friendly. It was pretty fun and inspiring! =)
Things are starting to hit me now. I'm going out into the real world. I can't hide behind the convenience of school anymore, or depend on family and friends. I'm going to be on my own, in a big city. It's all kinda scary and yet exciting at the same time. A lot of things are going to change for both good and bad, and I guess I'm afraid of that change. But that's probably because I still live in the past, as is the tendency for most people and I should take this as an opportunity to really move on into the future...since I really have no other choice.
New York seems like a good place to start a career. It has so much diversity and energy (not to mention crazy drivers). Every corner that you look, there's something different going on, even if you look at the same corner 5 mins later. In fact, it's ridiculously fun to people watch in New York. With one glance down Wall St, I saw everyone from the student, the professional, to the homeless and the hot dog vendor. I feel like it's a place where I'll either really like it or really hate it. But I'm getting good vibes, so I'll probably really like it =)
Setting foot in the Pittsburgh airport, I got that comfortable feeling that you get when you go home (I think I've lived in Pittsburgh WAYYY too long). I hope someday, New York will feel like home too.
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| Date: | 2004-04-12 20:50 |
| Subject: | Weeeeekend |
| Security: | Public |
| Mood: |  peaceful |
Despite the fact that work tried it's hardest to ruin the weekend, it actually turned out pretty relaxing. Friday night was spent cleaning my apartment but I didn't mind because the weather was really nice, so I opened windows and turned up the music! Then I went to the cluster to grade programming assignments with Aggie. Aggie had a good point: all our students are gonna think that their TAs are giant dorks when they receive their grades at 11pm on a Friday night.
On Saturday, Dad came to visit! As always, he brought lots of goodies (a.k.a. yummy homemade food). We went to lunch at P.F. Changs with Jason and ordered an insane amount of food. The waitress kept insisting that we weren't gonna finish. But we ate ALL of it! Afterwards, we walked around waterfront a bit to digest. The next stop was the beer distributor where Dad stocked up on his Pittsburgh beer, then Dad went happily home. That night, I went to a Marc Broussard concert in South Side. It's the first time I've heard him live and it was very impressive. There is a lot of musicality that happens on stage that you don't see in a recording. Also, I think having an audience gives him a lot of performance energy. Not only did he bounce around a lot, but he also seemed to put 130% into every piece. He was backed up by equally energetic and talented drummer, guitarist, and bassist. It was a great show and I really enjoyed it! =)
Sunday was Easter which was both good and bad. It was bad because the climbing gym was closed! Which made me really sad, because it's my usual climbing day. But, on the other hand, I got a present from the Easter Bunny! Heh, so Sunday was spent working and eating mini eggs =P
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| Date: | 2004-04-08 11:48 |
| Subject: | 80s night |
| Security: | Public |
| Mood: |  excited |
I'm actually gonna make it to 80s night tonight! I'm so excited! I'm preparing by listening to 80s music all day, specifically music from the movie Flashdance. It's a great 80s movie, filled with good music and good dancing =) I'm a little scared though, because I've heard lots of reports of sketchy guys at 80s night. Maybe I can find a stun gun...
Now I just need to figure out what to wear!
** UPDATE **
Boy, that was fun. No sketchy guys, just lots of good music! =) They actually played a few of my favorite 80s music, including Micheal Jackson's Bilie Jean (also the song I was listening to when I wrote this post initially). I ended up wearing a skirt and one of those ripped-up-over-the-shoulder t-shirts that I borrowed from Jennifer. I also wore big loopy silver earings (also borrowed from Jennifer, heh). It was a great stress reliever. I wish I didn't have class on Friday at 8:30am so I can actually go out more often on Thursday nights. Getting up the next morning is no fun.
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