YAY: aparna and i went to 'Burger Joint' inside Le Parker Meridien (on 57th st, between 6th and 7th) last night, and let me tell you, my burger was DELICIOUS. apparently this casual little burger joint, ironically tucked away inside this fancy hotel, is a bigtime hotspot. their burgers have even been quoted as one of new york's best! and also one of the city's best kept secrets i guess. i would have never found this place if it hadn't been for aparna taking me there. i mean, who expects a burger joint inside Le Meridien?! the place was filled with men and women shedding their suits after work, and young people on dates, and some tourists too. my burger and fries were beyond yummy, the place had a fun vibe to it, and i got to catch up bigtime with aparna. all in all, i had a great time. :)

NAY: i had wanted to check out 'Peep' for the longest time for a number of reasons - it has thai food (and i'm SUCH a thai food junkie!), it's in trendy greenwich village, it is supposedly all pink inside, and it is full of mirrors! the whole concept of 'Peep' has to do with peeping... as in, the floors are mirrored, the ceiling is mirrored, and most of the walls. and get this - the bathroom is all mirrored, and in such a way that you can SEE everyone eating outside as you are in there peeing. (wtf?!) but they can't see you. obviously. it's one of those peekaboo mirrors all along the bathroom walls. crazy, right?! it's a weird concept, but intriguing. so anyway, swathi and i checked it out tuesday night... and boy, what a bummer. the service was good, and the place was, well, interesting. but it was a LOT smaller than i expected (they made it look a lot bigger online!) and the food was not that great. at all. i've definitely had better thai food. as for the bathroom - which i obviously used so i could 'peep' out! - well, it felt REALLY strange peeing and watching others eat right outside. i was highly uncomfortable. i finished my business as quick as possible and got the hell outta there. so, overall, not a horrible experience, but not a fantastic one either. i doubt i will go back. (and oh, it WAS very, very pink.)

friday night was a lotta fun. :) first a couple of my girlfriends and i met up at Taj to have a few drinks and scope out the desi men. it was slightly amusing because a lot of people had come in various costumes (you know, halloween and all). the desi potential in there was unfortunately limited, but there were a couple of cuties. my friend was especially interested in going up to one of them, but that never happened. unlike a lot of other people, i don't go to bars and lounges to find guys to hook up with. i go there because i genuinely enjoy the atmosphere, enjoy checking out different places, enjoy having a few drinks with my friends, enjoy dancing, and yes, to a certain extent, enjoy feeling pretty and checking out other pretty people too. it's not about finding a guy to take home with me for the night. anyway! i finally got a call from my other friends who were gonna meet us at 40/40 around 12 so we headed there. it's just about 6 blocks away from Taj, but it sure sucks to walk that in the pouring rain! we did eventually get in, and i think this is when i started to have more fun. i really liked 40/40! it was very different from what i expected. considering it's Jay-Z's nightclub and whatever, i expected it to be very snazzy and like ashwini said in a comment earlier, "ghetto-fab", etc. but it really wasn't. it was very casual and chill, and yet had an element of snazziness because of all the flat-screen tvs suspended in the air and the leather couches and whatever. i really liked it. we stayed there till around 3.30, drinking, dancing, chilling... good times. :)

yesterday was the complete opposite of friday night. i met up with my friend in brooklyn. him and i were gonna go to the aquarium by coney island (i have a slight obsession with aquariums...) but we both woke up late due to our friday night adventures, and so, by the time we met up we didn't have enough time to get to the aquarium and back and still have time to check it out. so instead we explored some parts of prospect park together. it was very interesting because ... firstly, i have never been to prospect park before and it was gorgeous (especially with the leaves and all their different colors), and secondly, the weather was extremely schizophrenic, one second sunny and not too cold, and the next second pouring and windy and cold as hell! the clouds kept drifting in and out, in and out. definitely a strange day to be outside. but the both of us kinda enjoyed the adventure of being out in it i think. haha. then we went back to his apartment, warmed up inside, played with his kitty (she is so cute), and then went back out to get dinner at this thai restaurant 'Lemongrass' - it was SO YUMMY! then again, you all know how much i love thai food. i could eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. okay, maybe not breakfast, because that would be a little ... weird. but yeah, a fun chill saturday!

and today ... i have a lot of laundry to do. ugh. i still hate the concept of going to the laundromat to do my laundry. it's just so different from anything i've been used to. at the expense of sounding like a brat (which i'm really not, i swear), i've always had someone do my laundry before when i was home, and then in college i lived in places that had laundry IN the building. and now here, in manhattan, i have to walk outside with my laundry hamper, two blocks over to the laundromat (yeah, i guess it could be worse), and do my laundry with others IN PUBLIC. i just can't seem to get used to it.

also, i need to do some more studying for the GREs, so i might go to 'DT/UT' to do that. it's my favorite coffee place here in the upper east. it reminds me so much of 'central perk' from FRIENDS! i know, i know, it's cheesy, but i really like it there. i used to study at starbucks whenever i wanted to get out of my apt and was craving a coffee, but now i started going to 'DT/UT' and i love it there. very good coffeee and lots of yummy dessert-y things. hehe. they also offer free wireless internet! can't go wrong, right?

the week has flown by! i can't believe it's friday already. i AM thankful it's the weekend though. it was a really boring week at work, as you can tell from my earlier entry. the weekend is the only thing that gives a break to the mundane routine.

so, i feel very nomadic at work. i'm still here as a temp (until they figure out the visa situation) and since i'm not an 'official' employee, i don't have my own 'official' cubicle or computer or log-in name or email address, etc. so what ends up happening is them moving me around. from cubicle to cubicle. from computer to computer. the last two and a half weeks i was actually at one cubicle and at one computer and i was starting to feel a little settled in ... but this morning one of my bosses comes up to me and tells me a new employee is coming in on monday and they need this cubicle for her. they have to set up the computer for her, the phone line, and so on. he told me to move to one of the other co-workers cubicle for now because she's not in today. and then next week, one of the guys will be out, and i will use his desk. obviously i have to do whatever they tell me to do, but it sucks to feel so ... nomadic. i can't think of another word that explains my situation better. i always have to be ready to pack up and move somewhere else. ironic how it's the story of my life no matter what context, eh? so yeah, i'm a little cranky about this.

anyway, whatever. it's the weekend! i plan to have a craaazy night out tonight with some friends. we might go to 40/40, jay-z's nightclub. and some around places around that area. all i know is, i want to have an obscene amount of ridiculous fun tonight with the alcohol and the boys, because i haven't really let loose in awhile. i've been a good girl for so long i don't ever remembering being silly and spontaneous! i need to cause some drama tonight. ;)