Ah, work.

The first few days of a new job are always fun, no?

It’s especially fun (and comfy) when you go back to a job where people know you already. And your coworkers are people you know and actually like!  I am very fond of most of my coworkers… and I’ve said this many times, but one thing I love about working for the government is the diversity!  I work with Ukranians; Dominicans; Puerto Ricans; Venezuelans (okay, one); African-Americans; Mexicans; Pakistanis; Indians; Chinese; and oh yes, white-Americans … and among the white-Americans are Greeks, Italians, Irish, etc, etc…

The only “scawee thing” is that I’ll sometimes have to work with my old, old boss (from my budget days) who is a decent guy but DRIVES ME ABSOLUTELY CRAZY.

I know my foreign friends are curious about what my coworkers and office look like, so I will take pics as soon as I buy a camera (I haven’t bought one yet). 

Note: the title, “arbeit” is the word for work in German. The funny thing about this is that in both Korea and Japan, this word is used to describe work that students have to earn extra pocket money.  Strange, no?

What I’ve been eating for the last few days:

• yummy Thai food at Chai


• delish cheese-related food at Artisanal (potato gnocchi; asparagus risotto; watermelon salad)


• hearty farmer’s breakfast at Kitchenette


• delish sushi at Kanoyama


• yummy Korean food at Shilla


• delectable banana cream pie brought in from the Looong Island


• pot-bin-soo at Koryodang


• pinkberry – I like it with pineapple, mochi, and strawberries. mmmm… refreshing!

It’s too much, I tell you – too much.  All of this will end next week when I start work. 

You were born in 1975, which means you are 32 years old.

Now, you do have a decent amount of energy for someone who is 30+, but still, you’re not 22.

Therefore, you should not stay out past 3am TWO nights in a row.

You already promised yourself not to do this anymore: (http://www.xanga.com/private/yourhome.aspx?user=lakim40&nextdate=1%2f11%2f2007+0%3a7%3a56.333&direction=n)

Thank you.

I am FINALLY starting work on July 30th, 2007 — nearly 3 months after I got the offer! (another guy told me that he also had to wait three months to start.. so…)

Hurray for me.

Or, should we say : CON-gra-tu-lations.

My dear friend from Uz Firuza got married in 7.08.07 in Rome, Italy. I was sad to have missed it..

Congratulations Andrea and Firuza!!!

Congratulazione!!!

Pics from the wedding of Joy and Daniel… two lovely people who met, courted, and got engaged in Uzland…

The getaway car..

One of the best parts of the wedding was seeing old friends..

Soviet Style picture (we even said – “okay!  Soviet style!”)…

Sparkles to celebrate..

And finally… get this man some shoes! (the morning after – Dan forgot to pack another pair of shoes and had to wear his tuxedo shoes again)

I don’t like gelatinous food, like anything set in aspic…

Last night, I went to:

and ate: Beef Marrow and Oxtail Marmalade… the Beef Marrow was quite ge-la-ti-nous, but tasted OK combined with the oxtail on pieces of toast.  I really like the vibe of the restaurant – very down to earth and the waitstaff – even at 11:30pm – was very helpful and nice. 

Main course was: Sweet and Spicy Catfish  with Mashed Potatoes, Collards and Tartar Sauce. It was very good, especially the collard greens.

And drank: Dentergems White, which was su-perb.

As I mentioned in my previous entry, I love fashion but don’t consider myself very fashionable.

However, with my latest purchase, I now consider myself at the height of fashion:

And this picture doesn’t do them justice. They’re actually HOT pink, not this girly pink color…

CENTURY 21

I finished jury duty today and headed for some shopping at Century 21, NYC’s “famous” discount department store.

Usually, I hate shopping.  I hate it because I love fashion but I’m not very fashionable (according to some people) and so I buy stuff that I think is really cool (or that I like) but then some people (aka ckimchi and azngirl723) usually veto my fashion choices. I just think I have my own unique style that they don’t understand (ahem).

Anyway, I was in a shopping mood today and hit the “European Designers” section, which, to those not familiar with Century 21, means you get Italian made clothes for like WAY cheaper than their original price, but it’s still not super cheap.

I bought mostly jackets (! crazy because today was scorching hot in NYC) and after the salesgirl had rung up my purchases, I looked at the bottom of my receipt and it was printed down there: “Savings $2,089.08″ !!!  What the..?  This is because my Italian made clothes were all originally 10x more than what I paid. 10x!!! Which gets me thinking that some people, in Italy, probably 10 years ago (’cause that’s probably when these clothes were IN in Italy)… paid, like, $600 for the jacket that I’m sporting.  Insane.

I’m planning to do a ”fashion show” for my sister tonight and asking her to judge my purchases. But how could SHE even object to the fact that I “saved” almost $2100!!!

American Apparel

I love the concept of this store.. I’m all about the non-sweatshop-free-ness and the vertically integarated manufacturing and the “made in the US” bit… BUT, I never bought anything from the store, ’cause, let’s face it, I could get the same T-shirt, made in a sweatshop by 15 year olds, maybe, in Macau, for MUCH cheaper.  Gotta choose your battles.

But I decided to try on some stuff anyway this time.

And now I have ANOTHER reason why I won’t buy from this store.

The LARGE was SKIN TIGHT on me.  So what – only waif-ish people can support vertically integrated manufacturing?? Or maybe they’re just encouraging us to be sexier by wearing tighter clothing.  Either way, BOO American Apparel. 

Trader Joe’s

For once, the place wasn’t PACKED and I was able to leisurely look around the store.  I LOVE this store.  I don’t understand how it works (I mean, I understand HOW it works, but I don’t get how they make money and why other grocery store don’t follow suit)… but I love it.  Also, every time you use your own bags for your groceries, you earn a chance to be in a raffle to win $30 worth of groceries, which at Trader Joe’s, goes a LONG way.

I was called to jury duty today.  Everyone groans when they have to serve, but it was interesting for me for two reasons:

1. the agency that I will work for (NYC DCAS) maintains the court buildings, including 100 Centre St, where I reported to for jury duty. 
So I checked the building out and found it to be pleasantly very clean.  Good job custodians!
2. after going through the court process in Uz.land., I am more than happy to have the chance to take part in a process that is, for the most part, pretty fair.. or at least, tries to be, starting with the “innocent until proven guilty” foundation…(in Uz, it’s more “guilty … unless by some miracle of God you are proven innocent”)…

The first case that we were called in for as potential jurors was a second degree murder case involving drugs, which was kind of… scary.  The picked jurors had to answer a list of questions, and many of them had themselves been victims of crime…one woman was dismissed from the jury crying… but some of the other jurors seemed to have really lame excuses as to why they didn’t they could serve… (“personal reasons”; “I hate drugs”; “my foot hurts” – I made the last two up, of course)…

I didn’t get picked.  So I have to go back tomorrow and that’ll be it!

Talking about crime reminds me of how rehey (aka Daddy Mac) once caught a wallet snatcher right in the act in the subway.  She was on some crowded stairs and turned around to find a man clutching her wallet.  “hey, that’s mine” – she said, calmly.  The man, in turn, calmly handed the wallet back to her…. ’cause he basically had nowhere to run.  Way to fight crime, Rehey!