NYC, re-visited!

i can't believe it--finals are done. i survived 3 weeks of torture, barely! i was nearly the last to crawl out of our classroom, as i had nowhere to go really since my flight home isnt' til friday. the rest of the class darted out the second they were done, so eager to escape Hope 203. so i went back to the dorms, managed to spend $50 on water and snacks, and donated $100 to charity, and paid for several people's meals just standing at the cashiers! net balance at end: $9. too lazy to buy more junk food to bring home, so decided to just let that money slip. then i managed to totally exhaust myself the next 4h cleaning, mopping, vacuuming, laundry, organizing a room that is only 10x14 square feet in size! geez! so much for going to the CT mall--i had no energy left. so instead i plopped myself in bed and watched the first "Bridget Jones Diary" and managed to stay awake until the last 20 min. woke up, felt like i slept a good hour, and deliberated going to NYC tonite instead of tomorrow. i decided to workout first (i suddenly had all this energy), and go to NYC after. turns out, the shuttle schedule for the holidays are all different, and i missed the shuttle to the train station! so i had to wait for 1.5 more hours for the next shuttle (i wasn't about to walk to the train station at 10pm lugging a 25" bag). finally, i caught that one, got to the train station, and to NYC by 11:40pm. my friend met me there, and after dropping off luggage, we decided to go check out rockefellar center xmas tree. sadly enough, it wasn't even LIT! we wandered around times square and near central park, and i was getting tired so we headed back at 2am.

next morn, i woke up at 10am and went shopping on my own. my plan was to walk south through central park (i was staying north of the park or uptown, shopping is all downtown), and shop all day, and subway it back home with bags in each hand! but turns out, it began to rain and only 1/4 way through central park, i had to call it quits and hop on the bus. the whole day, i must've been re-soaked about 4x 'cuz it never stopped raining. =( too bad there aren't that many "indoor malls" in NYC--just lotsa stores individually. i had lotsa fun, but i guess i still wasn't fully rested from my finals 'cuz by 3pm, i wanted to call it quits! 3h of shopping and i had already pooped out!! how sad...=( no stamina! but after an hour's rest at rockefellar ice rink (where i saw the tree, lighted this time! and crappy ppl ice skate--why would you pay $30 for 30 min of ice skating in a tiny rink where EVERYONE can see you fall?), i was somewhat ready to go again. i wanted to hit up the old navy that sharon and i went crazy in last time, but wasn't sure how to get there. i randomly hopped on a subway, and managed to get to 32nd street where i found it! shopped more, and by 6pm, i REALLY was done. NO MORE plz!! sadly enough, i had only purchased 3 items at Gap, after an ENTIRE day's of shopping! at least i really liked what i bought and didn't spend too much money. my friend met me up there, and we went to korean-town just next block and ate yummy food! =) costly tho, but i didn't have to pay! =P decided to check out empire state building which was lighted green/red for the holidays, but the visibility was zero (rain rain all day) so we just looked from outside. went shopping some more, looked at shoes and nice wool coats, and still didn't buy anything. went to check out union square (yet another mall i didn't know about), and visited campus, and came back around midnight. ended up watching "unforgettable" on TV--some movie about a detective who injects CSF into himself of people who have died 'cuz CSF supposedly contains "memory" neurotransmitters and that's how you can figure out who killed who, etc. Interesting, but lotsa medical stuff that didn't make sense. anyhow, was gonna pull all nighter...(continue reading next blog now!)