Operation Eggnog (Part 1)

I am someone's Secret Santa at work. They have been leaving me clues since yesterday.

More details to come.

I'm done!...Sorta

I had my final yesterday for my developmental biology class. Don't feel too confident about my performance, but I'm done and that's all that matters!!












They are really excited for me. Especially the guy in the green shirt



Hopefully I won't have to learn about embryology for a long time. I set the curve last time after walking out thinking I might drop the class. Probably not going to happen this time, so I'm just going to pray that everyone else in my class is stupider than me.


Now I can shift all my energy on rocking the MCAT and being a good employee until Winter Quarter starts in January.

I can feel the tequila in my legs! (aka. Liz's Housewarming/Stephanie's Going Away)

Although this past Friday was Stephanie's going away/ Liz's Housewarming party, I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say that the night actually belonged to one person. Erica

But let me start from the beginning. This one is a long one, but there are pictures at the end for your entertainment.

My plan was simple. Carpool to Liz's with Nina, celebrate at El Cholo's until about 9, and get back home in time to cram an hour of studying for my final that was yesterday. Bam! But life never really goes according to plan though, does it? Turns out 7 was just when we were all meeting at Liz's to pre-party and we would get to El Cholo's sometime afterwards.

But what about food? I wondered. When would I get to eat!?!

I had never been to El Cholo's before. But even with Nina telling me many times that its good, How popular could a place named El Cholo's really be? I figured even if we got there late, we would still be seated and eating quickly.

So after chilling at the apartment with Nina, Bryan, Sheila, and Soroosh, I inhaled a slice of bread and we were off to SaMo. Despite driving in pitch darkness up Liz's street (Santa Monica, you can afford to line the streets with Palm trees, but not neighborhood lights??) we found parking relatively easily.

Of the people going to the apartment first, we were one of the last to arrive and the party was in full swing. Lots of old and new faces. I should probably add here that I was the only person not currently or formerly 1) employed by the Rheumatology Dept or 2) dating someone employed by the Rheumatology Dept at this party (That is if "my carpool" is codeword for "my BF") But I'm sorta an honorary employee anyways, and Dr. Weisman knows who I am. Lol.

Rheumatology doesn't lie when they say they want to drink. Case in point: Ketel One. You know it's a serious party when the good vodka is out. It's so nice to be able to buy and afford nice alcohol. It wasn't open yet, since Tessa was bringing the mixers. But being one of the only not planning to take the train to Smashville, I opted for a beer.

Liz asked if I minded having a lager, since that was all they had. I told her I didn't know what the difference was, so in the grand scheme of things, I really didn't mind. Tessa finally arrived with the mixers and that’s when the vodka tops started coming off and the party really started. Tessa opened the club soda and it exploded all over her. I laughed, internally.

After drinks, mingling, and pictures, it was (finally) decided that we would head over to the restaurant. But how do you get a large group of buzzed kids safely to a restaurant? Tessa offered to drive and as much as I wanted to ride in her amazing car, it was probably in the best interest of everyone's lives not to have the person that downed her cranberry vodka moments ago drive around Santa Monica. Since I was still set on leaving early and Nina would get picked up by Bryan later on, I offered to drive. The other Asians wanted to leave early too so we hashed out a quick plan that they would leave early with me.

Apparently El Cholo is the hottest place to be on a Friday night in Santa Monica. It was packed and even though we had reservations, we still had to wait. Elke, their former coworker met us there. Aprille was also already at the restaurant, but we couldn’t find her amidst the crowd. Once we did, it was pretty apparent that someone had taken the earlier train to smashville...

Our table was upstairs and it was quite cozy. I sat between Nina and Stephanie and across from Tessa and Tedward, meaning I was within earshot of Erica, tedward’s GF. Pitchers of Margarita appeared on the table, along with freshly made Guacamole. They added pomegranate seeds, which was surprising really delicious with Guac.

So why was this girl Erica the highlight of the night. It was just that this girl was so entertaining, and the comments she would make, were absolutely hilarious. If I had known, I would have brought a memo pad and taken notes, because at times, she was literally spitting gold. Thinking back on the things she said to include in this blog, I realized most of what she said isn’t really THAT funny. But you also have to keep in mind how important facial expression and body language play into making something funny. Also, I was buzzed at the time too, since the only thing I had eaten was a slice of bread at that point, and we all know how everything is funny at that point.

Anyways, some of the funny things she said were

[Nina tells her story about testing dilute on her urine test 3x and having her job revoked]

Erica: What do you drink?

Nina: I just drink a lot of water.

Erica: What kind of water do you drink? Bottled water? Because I can tell the difference.

I never realized water had enough of a difference in taste where you could tell the difference.

Nina: Any. I usually just drink the tap

Erica: (Shocked expression on face) Girl, You are from LA. You DO NOT Drink the Tap!

[To the waiter bringing her food]

Waiter: Enchilada _______

Erica: Aqui Jorge!

(I don’t think our waiter’s name is Jorge)

[We are all getting up to leave]

Erica: I think I’m drunk. I can feel the tequila in my legs!

Everyone was also really entertaining too, they just weren’t spitting gold as fast as Erica.

Tessa decided she would rather have wine instead. But towards the end of the night, she was not going to let Erica get all the limelight. Here is something funny she said too.

[Nina left earlier because Bryan came early to pick her up]

Tessa: (To me) Where did Nina go?

Matt: She left. Bryan came to pick her up. She said bye to everyone.

Tessa: She didn’t say bye to me, that bitch. I won’t see her again until Thursday

Since Nina left before the bill came, she gave me a handful of money. I think I figured out what I get out of this relationship we have now.

I also found out from Elke where the morgue is. It is surprisingly close to where I work. Exciting and creepy. I texted Lorraine asking if she wanted to know and she told me to tell her on Monday. Sometimes I forget that not everyone likes scary movies.

Despite not being able to study for my final, I think it was a much needed mental break from all the studying I've been doing lately. I definitely had an uber fun night. Thanks to Liz for welcoming us into her apartment and sad for Stephanie who is leaving. Credit goes to her for the pictures that I stole off her facebook to use here.

Good luck in Nursing School Stephanie.

Here is Liz. I'm sure deep down she is glad everyone got drunk at the restaurant and not her house.

Someone made a mess. I think someone pre-partied for the pre-party

Someone definitely pre-partied the pre-party. Look how nice others are cleaning up the place.

MARGARITAS!!!! (+ 1 Glass of wine)

Cameras now come with an Anti-Asian Glow feature. It the option right under anti-red eye.

In case you were wondering, I did finally get to eat. Here is my food. I was not aware that Stephanie took a picture of my food...

So many things can be said here. Comment on what you think would be a funny caption.

Is It Weird?

Over lunch I decided to make a new segment called "Is it Weird?"

I am going to post a scenario/situation/question, and you can vote/comment on whether you think it is weird or not.

So here goes...

A nurse has half-naked pictures of her son throughout her cubicle. Her son is 19.

Is it Weird?

BAM! It's your birthday!

This Wednesday was Lorraine's 23rd birthday, so Sonya and I decided we would surprise her by decorating her cubicle area. I stopped by Target after my class ended on Monday in search of the most obnoxious "It's my birthday" hat thing I could find. But alas, others beat me to it and there was nothing left.

No tiara. No Hat. Not even an "I'm the birthday girl" button!

Who knew there was such a demand for obnoxious birthday accessories?

All was not lost. I picked up a Happy Birthday Banner and some balloons. We still had streamers from when we decorated Mercedes' (my supervisor) office the week before. So in terms of decorations, I was set.

So Wednesday morning I raced to work, hoping that Lorraine didn't decide to come into work at 5am to leave at 2pm, like she sometimes does. She decided to snooze that morning so I was in the clear.

I quickly hung the banner from the ceiling directly above her desk. The next task was the streamers. We have these overhead drawers above our desks. Instead of putting streamers all over our office, I thought it would be funny to tape all the streamers in her overhead and have them fall out onto her desk when she opened it. Sounds simple enough...

Taping the streamers was easy. But everytime I closed the drawer, the streamers would fall through the cracks. This was absolutely unacceptable. In an effort to create the ultimate surprise, I spent the next 10 minutes struggling to keep the blue and purple streamers contained inside the overhead. Time was running out and just as I was about to give up hope of an awesome surprise, I discovered a hook thing on the inside of the drawer that I could shove the streamer ends into.

Matt 1, Overhead 0.

I didn't have the energy to blow up the balloons, but it didn't matter since I had the streamers figured out. But Sonya came back and needed my help with the monitor, so we switched places and I asked her for help with the balloons.

On my way back, I ran into Sonya, who had left the gift she had gotten Lorraine in her car.

"Did she open the overhead?"

"No"

"Ok, I'll wait until you get back"

Sonya taped balloons all along the back of her chair and on top of the overhead.
(Note: Sonya must secretely be a professional balloon blower [Or maybe a clown...?] because it was alot of balloons. Amazing!)

Sonya gives Lorraine her gift (Burt's Bees Lotion. Girls and their lotion!) upon getting back from her car. My gift (Cup of Noodles and Shrimp-Flavored Chips) is inside the overhead, which I now need to get her to open, without being uber-obvious.

Solution: I ask her to describe forms for the study that she is fixing. Sonya steps out during it, so I have to keep finding info to ask her about until she got back.

"Can I see what a completed form looks like?"

"Sure!"

Lorraine opens the overhead. Matt excitedly holds his breath.

Instead of the smooth fall of streamers out of the overhead, like I imagined. It was a mess of streamers, some stuck inside the nook. Lorraine was still surprised...Or confused.

Lorraine liked the food gifts. Then Mercedes walks in with a chocolate cake she bought for Lorraine. All that was left was a slice for Richard...Sorry BMT Department. No yummy cake for you!

All in all, it was a fun morning for Lorraine, despite having to work on her birthday and look after some monitors. Lorraine and Sonya are both really great co-workers, so its been fun doing these surprise office birthdays for both of them.


"Take the picture already. I want me some cake!"
(Richard's card fit in perfectly)

















More pictures to come.

Brownie points for someone (besides Lorraine) who gets the title

I made a blog!

It's official. I decided to make a blog.

Everyone else seems to have a blog. Matt wants to make a blog too!

So now you might be asking yourself.

"Why are you starting a blog?" (confused face)

"What are you going to blog about?" (even more confused face)

-----
Answer:

I don't know. Haha


But wait! Here is where YOU can help.
(And who doesn't like to help?)

What do you think is something I can blog about?


Here are some ideas. Feel free to create your own.

-Funny things that I think of

-Funny things that happen while at work, or on my way to/from work

-Funny things that happen while I feed patients on Tuesday

-Funny pictures like this one












(That penguin has a purse!)

If not, you force me to blog about my mundane work day. And I promise you. There is LOTS of mundane....


Also, help me decide on a pen name. Apparently, I need a pen name, says our monitor from Houston, Texas. Here are some ideas, y'all.

Wongton (*Tessa)
Matholemew (*Tessa)


Comment now!