Entrance to church on Columbia's campus, 122 & Riverside Drive. I had to hike to the ISSO today, and walked past this church. It is so huge, I decided I had to take picture. My ISSO story is so stupid I don't even want to post it, but in short, I brough over my CPT application, but did not bring my passport. As a result I have to now go to Columbia on Monday MORNING!!! I'm leaving from JFK Monday afternoon! If only when I went yesterday when I was supposed to!!! Uggh...headache...

thursday, may 5 2005 - MAC Dinner

Ahhh MAC, the wonderful but unknown Marketing Association of Columbia. Apparently there is a grand scheme to rebrand Columbia's marketing department, Marketing Marketing as it's called. Great idea, I'm surprised marketing had never thought to market themselves before. I guess there's something to be said about the gap between the ivory tower and the MBA marketing students who actually want to be marketers. It took a group of MBA students to do a project on marketing marketing to push the marketing department to believe that they really need to market themselves. A bit ironic don't you think?

Anyways, the MAC dinner at Sezz Medi was nice. All the pleasantries and chatting about summer plans, standard stuff of course. Not to say that people were unfriendly, no we were all the friendliest bunch, and I believe sincerely so. But belong to a club and going out with them for drinks and dinner is not the same as hanging out with friends. I'm actually on the board of MAC, I love it. I have to plan the conference for next year, and I think it's going to be an awesome event, it'll go down in the history books. To be frank though, I have my doubts about the big splash that conferences make. I mean, ok, we all have good reasons to have a big conference and try to make a big splash...but I'm sure that the clubs who had conferences and failed had thought the exact same thing. And they failed....so god knows what would happen. I would be happy to pour my heart and soul into it, but in the end it's all about setting realistic expectations.

Well...the salmon was yummy, the wine was good. I was a bit bummed that I didn't get home until almost 1AM, but well that comes with the territory when you live in JC. I hate events that happen at Columbia, it just takes me forever to get there!!! UGH. I say, lets' really explore NYC, go to the West Village, East Village, Chelsea! Much more character down there.

This was my bachelorette party veil, you see what's on it? Hehe... 

wednesday, may 4 2005 - Bachelorette Party with the Cluster "B"eauties!

It would only make sense that Japas 55 is on 55th street, right? For some reason it was stuck in my head that it was on 50th street. So as I walked from 5th Ave, all the way to 8th Ave, and didn't see anything remotely like a karaoke joint, I started to panic! Called Tami, Leslie and Kim and no one picked up, the music must have been deafening. So as a last resort, I called Usa and asked her to look up the place on the internet. She said...umm..it's on 55th st. guess that's why it's called Japas 55? Yeah...sometimes I can be really dumb.

Karaoke is always fun for me. Singing with a bunch of girls was awesome! We had the best time. The food was only so so, but the beer and sake was flowing and we all had an amazing time. I love screaming out songs at the top of my lungs, something you don't do at "chinese" karaokes. There you are supposed to perform like a star and most people know and respect that, so they don't make a sound when you sing. With american's, it's all up for grabs, the louder the merrier. I enjoy both, I just love singing. At the end, we shared 'sex tips' for the soon-to-be new brides...nothing I didn't already know...hee hee. We had a blast!

We headed home in high spirits at around 11PM. The only downer was that it took me about an hour and a half to get home. I convince Ricky to come pick me up at the train station since it was late and some creepy bald guy keep looking at me when I was on the train. It actually turned out to be a good thing cause the creepy bald guy kept turning back to look at me when we got off a Grove. He even pretended to wait for a cab at the top of the stairs to wait for me to get out (I was walking slow on purpose, so he couldn't follow me). As soon as Ricky showed up, the guy turned and walked away, see that's why I know he wasn't actually waiting for a cab! Eeeeck!

tuesday - wednesday, may 3 - 4, 11PM - 2AM - AVALON end of semester party

It felt a bit weird getting ready to go out at 10PM, real college like. While most of New York was getting ready for bed on a Tuedsay night, a bunch of Columbia MBAs were getting ready to party. Of course, we just went through a week and a half of exams and we're poised for the summer ahead. I took the PATH to 23rd street and walked over the the ex-Limelight church/club. There was already a line of students I knew getting ready to go in and cabs continued to pull up as we waited in line and more friends joined our line.

The party inside was packed! It was pretty wild. The drinks were pricey, $10 each, but that didn't stop us from buying! There was dancing, chatting, I'm sure there was plenty of hooking up (although of course I was no part of that!). It's been so long since I've been clubbing it was really fun, I missed the crazy dancing..hee hee.. It actually helped the Ricky wasn't there, since if he was I'm sure I would have felt obligated to make him feel comfortable and stick to him all night. It was fun to roam the crowds, hunt down friends for a chat. :)

I guess I've really grown up, I actually did feel a bit too OLD to be partying and clubbing till 2AM. It was also a bit silly to see the folks you hang out with in the library getting wild at Avalon. But I had so much fun, it was awesome..guess I'll try to go clubbing more from now on. Drag Ricky along...gotta remember that marriage does NOT equal the death of all social life!

tuesday, may 3 2005 - Accounting nightmare

So I know I am trying to "survive" business school. After accounting this morning, I'm not sure I'll make it. This is the first time I feel like I may have literally failed a test. However, in talking to some other folks who took the exam, it sounded like a lot of people thought it was the devil incarnate in black and white (and numbers!) I felt only a tiny bit better. It doesn't help that I woke up with a cold and basically lasted the morning on Dayquil (excuse? Hmm..maybe). If all goes well, I am now officially a second year MBA student, a senior! Wooo hooo!

After the worst exam in history, my Cluster set off for lunch at Dinosaur BBQ. The set up was pretty interesting, at the end of one long table were all the girls, on the other end, all the guys, and me! Well, I arrived late with a group of men, so I had to settle for the other side. But in truth, I love hanging out with guys, the things they talk about!! Well..sex, girls, and how to get sex and girls as much as possible. I found it pretty fascinating! Of course, I know a lot of it is probably guy talk and underneath that boorish exterior must lie some token of sensitivity and sweetness that...at this point, I never want to know about! Thank god I'm taken. The food at Dinosaur was just ok, I had a Cuban Sandwich and it was a bit too salty, it was...EH! I introduced a friend to the concept of a Thai "Soapy Massage" since he was going to Thailand over the summer. If he actually does find a "soapy massage" place, I'm sure he is just the right person to enjoy it... heh.

Now I need to catch some zzzz...so I can get over this cold and be refreshed for my party tonight.

monday, may 2 2005 - Operations @ 9AM

Ugh! I just finished my Operations final exam and already realized that I made a few really stupid mistakes. I hate that, I just hate making stupid mistakes. At least if I made legitimate mistakes, I can say, oh well...I didn' t know that, I accept it. But stupid mistakes just make me want to kick myself.

Today was an early day. After studying until 1AM in the morning last night, it was pretty tough to get out of bed and get to school by 9AM. At least the Operations exam is open book, notes and laptop. I think those types of exams are the best and by far the most reliable measure of how much students really understand the concepts taught in a class. Since the questions are about applications of concepts, just because you have your books does not mean the exam is easy. Frankly, in the real world, I would be able to access notes and information when I am facing business problems. So school, especially business school which is supposed to prepare you for real life should be no different.

Although I am glad that this semester is almost over, I think I will really miss it once it ends. I'll miss the comradarie of being part of a cluster, the initial excitment of being part of the business school and of course, I will be one year closer to graduation. I don't look forward to graduation. I love being in school and the being part of this community. But of course, the reality is that one has got to make money, that's what the MBA is all about, is it not?