Bounce House

We threw Sheila a surprise birthday party this past Sunday at mama's house. Sheila had no idea until she walked into the back house. (Soroosh had blindfolded her and drove her around a bit) Jess ordered a Bounce House and it was amazing. There are some things that never get old and never stop being fun. A bounce house is definitely on that list.

I must have had a lot of energy as a kid, because after just a few minutes of bouncing, I was sweaty and tired. As much as I would like to attribute it to having done the LA Challenge the day before, its probably because I am out of shape and, of course, not a kid anymore.

I had bought a Justin Beiber pinata for the party that I filled with Candy and random stuff from the $1 section at Target. Pinata's and Bounce Houses are officially birthday party must haves.

Los Angeles Challenge Nation

In honor of Sheila's Birthday, as well as a sweet deal on Groupon, I took part in LA Challenge Nation this past Saturday. It was definitely a fun and memorable experience, and I am definitely going to participate next year. The event itself is based on the show "the Amazing Race" with a few differences. In teams of two or more, you are asked to solve 11 out of 12 clues that lead you to different landmarks throughout downtown LA. With a camera in hand, and only using public transportation (aka the Bus) or walking, you needed to figure out the location of the land mark and take a picture of your entire team with the answer.

I was surprised at how challenging some of the clues were. You definitely needed to read each clue carefully, and even though I had written down nearly all of the landmarks within walking distance of our starting point, it really did not help. Some of the clues were straightforward (Take a photo with anyone with a badge). Others, not so much (The oldest house in LA?) Honestly, I don't know how a team could solve some of the clues without the help of a smartphone (iphone, android, blackberry).

The five of us had a great time wandering around downtown. Despite growing up in "LA," I was amazed at how much of downtown LA I had never seen before. I'm tempted to spend a weekend just walking around downtown and exploring. Since we were so focused on finding the clues and finishing the race in a reasonable time, it really prevented us from getting more than a superficial view of the landmarks. It makes me wonder if those teams on the Amazing Race actually get a chance to explore the cities they visit after they check in to their pit stop for the day. That would suck if they didn't have that opportunity.

Another really fun aspect about the challenge was the costumes. This was optional. You were by no means required to dress up, but in fact, a large majority did. Our team was "Dora's Explora's." Sheila was Dora, I was Diego, Nina went as Swiper the Fox, Afarin wore animal print, and the best was Jess, who wore a furry monkey costume that belonged to Nina's brother. We, especially Jess, got plenty of looks while we ran around downtown, which made the day so much more memorable.

Other groups had really clever costumes and I'm smiling as I write this thinking about them, specifically my two favorites

1. Team 2nd Amendment- For those of you, like me, who don't know what amendment that is, it's "the right to bear arms." It was a group of five guys who had fuzzy bear arms. Very clever.

2. Charlie [Sheen]'s Angel's- Three girls that wore fedoras and cubavera shirts like Charlie Sheen. They also had things like "winning" "warlock" and "troll" written on their faces. I think it was Nina who asked them why they didn't go as his "goddesses." They said that it would require that they dress like sluts and they had too many other reasons to dress like that anyways. I love the people you meet at events like this.

We finished in 61st place in about 2 hours and 30ish minutes. But just FYI, the first place team finished in 1 hour and 30ish minutes. Since my number was 325 when I checked in, there was at least over that many people who participated. When we left, people were still finishing the race and 100 teams had finished.

Recap

I just noticed that my last blog entry was December 8th, 2010 (Close to three months ago). Here is a brief recap of things that have happened.

MCAT- After weeks of studying, I finally re-took the MCAT on January 28th. This was the main reason I neglected my blog. Don't know how I did, I can only hope it was better than my previous attempts. My scores come out on March 1st and I basically pee my pants every time I think about that day. On the other hand, I've really enjoyed this month of ignorant bliss.

Operation Eggnog- I never got around to providing more details like I said I would. My secret Santa successfully kept me guessing. I got 5 gifts in total and the first letter of every gift I got spelled out my secret Santa's name: Legos, Altoids, Uno, Reindeer, Almond cookies (LAURA). It was a really clever idea and possibly something I might want to try next year.

I'm trying to be more diligent with blogging. Previously, I had been blogging while at work, but after discussing the issue with my co-workers, we decided that I should just blog at home.

I'm back!

And ready to blog again!

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.