Olivia in New York |
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Sunday, August 31, 2003
GOODBYE NEW YORK! It was a great ride..... New Blog! Since I won't be "Olivia in New York" anymore, I'll probably have a new blogsite. I'll keep you updated! Wednesday, August 27, 2003
Last week in NY! Quick blog... it's my last week in New York! My parents are here to help me move. I'll miss all the Broadway shows. :( Saturday, August 16, 2003
Blackout of 2003 I survived the biggest blackout of the history of the United States. Needless to say, my experience of the blackout wasn't all that exciting, but memorable nonetheless. Ok, here's my story: That day I watched my soap opera General Hospital from 3-4pm, and then left my apartment shortly afterwards to go to a bioinformatics seminar at 4:15pm at the hospital about 3 blocks from my apartment. I didn't notice anything wrong until I walked into the hospital and saw most of the lights off. I guess it just happened, since it was about 4:10pm. I noticed the elevators weren't working, so I walked all the way up to the fifth floor, where our department is. All the lights were off, people were talking loudly wondering what was going on, but I just wanted to get to my seminar. I walked into the room and we proceeded with our seminar, looking at the slides on a laptop. It was pretty funny that we still had our seminar actually. It was still light out, so we had natural light anyway. People came in and out, telling us that the power had gone out, and as more and more information came in, we found out that it was the whole eastern seaboard all the way up to Canada. Some people left, but some stayed for the whole lecture. Afterwards, I checked my phone and saw that I had 3 voice messages... guess from who? - my mom, Kitchie, and Alan. Probably wondering if I was ok. I called them back and told them that I was in class and that I was near my apartment, and not stuck in the subway or anything like that. I was supposed to go to the SF Giants vs Mets baseball game at 7pm that night, and I was gonna leave right after the seminar. It's good I didn't decide to go early or anything, or else I would've been stuck in the subway on my way to Shea Stadium... I passed by the grocery store, which was closed overall, but they were selling gallons of water and candles right outside the store ($2 each!). So I bought one of each and then went home, had to walk up 12 flights of stairs(!) behind this nice girl who had a flashlight in her bag, and got to my apartment. Nothing was that much different, since it was still light out. I decided to read Harry Potter until it got dark. I ate Berry Burst Cheerios cereal and finished my milk before it spoiled, drank my orange juice, and ate some leftover cold pasta. It was kinda creepy at night, in the dark. I lit my candles, was listening to the news on my walkman, and was just sitting in my bed until I got bored. I tried to watch a DVD on my laptop off the batter, but it only lasted about 10 minutes! I looked out the window and literally the whole city was dark. I could see candles in a couple of the windows, but that was it. Our water had stopped running and of course the AC wasn't working, so it was getting pretty hot. I opened the window and went to sleep. I woke up at 3am and called Alan to tell him that my cell phone battery was running out, so if I couldn't call anyone the next day, that was why. Went back to sleep and woke up again at around 8am. Our power came back on at around 8:30am, not too bad. At least I had power at the beginning of the day. Some people didn't get their's back until the end of the day. I had to take a really cold shower, but at least the water was running again... I stayed in my apartment the whole day, since none of the subways were running and it was chaos downtown anyway. Lessons Learned
On a lighter note... Justin! I saw Justin Timberlake on Wednesday night and he was HOT! I got there at around 8:45pm and got in line, even though the doors didn't open until 11pm. There were about 40 people in front of us already! Anyway, there were 6 of us, so we all took turns in groups standing in line and going to this bar around the corner to get drinks, go to the bathroom, and just sit down to rest our feet. We finally went in and directly went to the stage. I was about 10 rows of people back from the stage, so pretty close. We came on at around 12:45, which meant just standing there for about 2 hours! The girls around us were a little b!tchy, pushing everyone and trying to get closer. He finally came on and he was awesome! He opened with "Cry Me a River" where he added expletives here and there. (hahah. It was awesome. I mean... it was a 21+ club. no little girls to worry about.) He also sang Senorita (with audience participation during the men/ladies parts), Like I Love You, Take It From Here, and Rock Your Body (he had us sing "Dance With Me"!) The Black Eyed Peas were his special guests, and they all sang "Where is the Love?". And of course, he did some beat boxing for a couple minutes, and even played the guitar for one of the songs. He's so hot. Everyone kept looking up on this ledge on the side at the VIP section because Cameron Diaz was there. She was standing behind one of the pillars watching the show. I think they just should've stopped looking at her and concentrated on the real star. hehe. Ooooh Late-Breaking News! The subways are back up and running! Yay! I'm going to see a show. Wednesday, August 13, 2003
No more rain! The weather here in New York has been pretty weird so far this summer. For the past 3 weeks, I think I've seen the sun for only a couple of days. It's been cloudy and overcast and even raining hard sometimes. But it's still pretty hot and muggy. I think that's why I'm a little bit sick right now. Weird weather patterns. But the forecast calls for no more rain and sun! 90 degrees tomorrow! Dinner at Grand Sichuan Last night I went out to dinner with a couple of friends from my department at Grand Sichuan in Chelsea. It was a farewell dinner for the guy who graduated and is moving to Maryland for a job. It was pretty fun and we had some interesting conversations about the Chinese names of some of the foods, like "Husband and Wife's Lungs" and "Ants Crawling Up The Trees". Really good food though. Close call! After dinner, we were hanging out outside of the restaurant meeting one of our friend's husband and a lady from the restaurant comes out and says that someone lost their cell phone. It was mine! I remember picking up the phone when Alan called me and I guess I didn't put it in my bag properly. Good thing they were nice and we tipped them well... Or else I would be without my precious phone right now. Last few weeks in NYC! About two more weeks in New York and then I come home for good! I think the thing I'm gonna miss most is Broadway. Seeing all the shows and such. I still have 4 more that I want to see before I leave, so I'm gonna try to fit it in my schedule! Today I'm gonna go see the Billy Joel musical Movin' Out! Justin Timberlake's "Show After the Show" Apparently, JT is doing gigs called "The Show After The Show" at smaller venues like dance clubs after certain concerts of his tour with Christina. I'm going to the one he's doing tonight at Irving Plaza. I'm pretty excited to see him perform in a smaller venue, a dance club scene, and without young girls scream their lungs out (since the age requirement is 21 and up).... Although I might be screaming my lungs out :) New sideline pics Oh, and check out the new pics that I put on my blog over there on the left. I posted some classic NY pics and put captions on them! Wednesday, August 06, 2003
Hugh Jackman! Hugh Jackman was signing posters at the box office of his new musical on Broadway, The Boy From Oz, for the first 25 people in line for tickets... And of course, I was there! I got there at 7am, and waited for 3 hours for the box office to open. The first girl in line had been there since 8pm the night before, and the next was there since midnight. It started raining like crazy at around 7:30pm, but cleared up just in time. Hugh was really nice, talking to all the fans, taking pictures, and doing interviews for all the camera crews that were there! And I even saw myself on Access Hollywood that night... If you want to check it out, I think my sister and Alan taped it :) hehehe. Check out my pics!!!! Oh by the way, if you don't know who Hugh Jackman is... Shame on You! He's the really cute Australian actor from X-Men, Kate & Leopold, Swordfish, and Someone Like You. Friday, August 01, 2003
Happy August! It's the first of August! One more month exactly in New York. But the weather is, unsuprisingly, weird here. It's supposed to rain for the next week (thunderstorms), so I can't go out and enjoy the summer sun, 'cuz there isn't any! Nothing to write about I don't really have too much to write about now... Still finishing up my degree, writing papers, going to class... almost done! Have a good day! |
