not a bad week

Once in a while, depends on the scenerio, we'd do a photo shoot outdoor. Last Thursday, my boss, Jon, took everyone from the studio to the Manor Golf Club. The weather couldn't be any better. We loaded the gear on the golf carts and drove to the designated spot. It was fun to ride on one of those. The shoot went on for 4 hours. We could have gone on but the light was fading fast.
Because we worked a couple of hours overtime a day before, Jon let us leave at 1:00 pm on Friday. That was awesome! Since it was Jacquie's birthday (studio producer), Mike, James and I took her to Ziki--a Japanese steak house. We did the Hibachi. I also ordered salmon sashimi. I ate the salmon--so fresh and delicious, while watching my steak being cooked. As usual, the chef did some fancy moves with his utensils. And of course, lots of fire on the grill that could actually burn off some unsuspecting grandma's eyebrows. Everyone enjoyed the show a lot except for the part when the bill came. James offered to pay it with his credit card--apparently, some of us were conveniently having money trouble--with an agreement that we'd pick up the tap for his lunch next time. Well, you know what that means: it means "free lunch." You know no one gonna remember James' lunch treaty.


That night, Mike, his too-early-to-call girlfriend, Julie and I went to Clyde's, a restaurant/bar, for dinner. I had swordfish and a couple of Sam Adams. After dinner, we moved to the bar and had some more drinks. Julie tried to guess which type of girl I like. She scanned the bar for clues...haha. Mike and she insisted that I should go and talk to some girl. Easy say then done. Somehow, I find running with the bulls in Spain was an easier thing to do then coming up to some stranger and starting a conversation. Quite terrifying.

On Saturday, I went to Jersey to spend 3-day holiday weekend with some friends. The ride up was great because I had just signed up for E-ZPass, a electronic toll program which lets you drive through the toll without stopping. This saved me at least 20 minutes of travel time. Wish I could say the same for my money--everytime I go through a toll, my money is taken out of my bank account, dry cleaned, pressed and then sent to the Treasury where it then funds scientists to invent new fun gadgets. For instance, adding Wi-Fi webcams on bullets just incase if soldiers, the next Steve McCurrys, wanted to email their friends some cool candid photos of unsuspecting enemies. Seriously, my money goes to pay for building annoying speed bumps over all the neighborhoods where 4 year old kids or health conscious joggers--usually soccer moms--like to dash across the streets without looking both ways.



That evening, Dave, Kristin and I went to Alicia and Chip's shindig. Since the house wasn't too far from Dave's, we walked instead. We met up with my cousin, Kimmy and her best friend, Kathy at the party. I brought a bottle of Cachaça Pitu; been a while since I had some tasty Caipirinha. I made one too many. Everyone seemed to have a good time.

The next day, we went to Philly for some of Pat's famous cheese steaks. Again, the weather was perfect. The line was a bit long but moving fast. Before you know it, we all got our cheese steaks. I had cheez whiz, onion and mushrooms. Apparently, there is a complex system of ordering cheese steaks. If you didn't how to order and hold up the line, you will become someone else lunch. Just kidding, people just stare at you until you develop an eating disorder. After lunch, we drove to Chinatown and walked around a bit. We met some Brit backpackers who were on their way back to New York. We then went to a Vietnamese restaurant to get some iced coffee. Later that night, we went back to Alicia and Chip's place for dinner.
Not much happening on Sunday. I sat around Dave's place all day. After a couple of days of partying, walking and driving around, we all needed some chill time. That didn't last for long when we recruited Johnny (Dave's friend) over to play Halo. Alicia and Kristin volunteered to make angel hair pasta with meat sauce for dinner. They collected some fresh basil--to add some kick to the sauce--from the front porch. Few minutes later, the place was filled with wonderful aroma. Not long after, dinner was served. We paused the game and annihilated the kitchen. It was the best pasta I ever had. I drove back to Maryland later that night.