Out of Cortex

Cornell's Slope Day 2012!

On Friday, we decided to take a break from studying (or procrastinating from studying) and do something that we would not likely get to do again once we graduate: party like undregraduates at Slope Day! I've never been to Slope Day, because it's always in the midst of finals or before finals, when we need to be studying. But hey, I'm a 3L right? So isn't it time that I stopped worrying about that? I'm banking on the fact that it doesn't look good for the school to fail 3Ls who have done fine throughout the last two and a half years!

Anyway, we met at my house where I had nothing to consume to get us into the mood, but of course Sam brought her sweet tea, some lemonade, and some vodka. Everything was at half mast, but we did a good job cleaning it out and heading out relatively on time. We missed most of Neon Trees, but we heard "Animal" playing in the distance as we walked across the gorge toward the slope. 

When we got there, we headed straight to the beer garden area to get our bracelets and our beers. Might as well get the full undergrad experience, right? And the rest is history. I do have to note that when I first heard Taio Cruz was going to perform, I was less than excited. But when he actually came on stage he was 1) on time, 2) super ridiculously nice about everything, and 3) happily did an encore (they always do, but he seemed so chipper about it!). 

Regardless of who was performing, though, it was fun to hang out with friends admist the crazy drunk undergrads. We exercised our (ahem) maturity, so it was nothing wild. But who wouldn't have fun with a group like us, no? We ended up (not so maturely) covering each other in grass. I know, sometimes you just don't grow up, right? See Sam's face in one of the pictures below? ("Why am I sprouting grass all over the place?!") [Note also: the five photos immediately below are courtesy of Sam!)

 Cheers, guys! To our latest and probably last brush with relatively carefree campus life. Man, work has never looked so... uninviting. Back to studying for finals...

Holi Color Festival, Ava's B-day, and After-Party

Okay, so it's been kind of a blur these last two days, so I'm just going to play catch-up here. After the proposal on Saturday (ack, did  that really happen?), I was just kind of stunned, in a good way of course! Mike and I walked back to his house to lounge around until it was time to go to the Holi Festival. On the way up to Mike's unit, Pip greeted us jubilantly from under the cracked window (obviously to congratulate us)! [sidenote: Justin and Mike found Pip sitting outside later in the evening, and he had apparently popped out of the window, realized he wasn't supposed to be outside, and waited anxiously / patiently for someone to let him back in. Mike knocked on the neighbors' door and alerted them to this fact, and they rushed out to let Pip back in! Aw, what a good pup for not running away after the common enemy of all dogs: squirrels!]

And then... we were off to Holi: Festival of Colors! Sam, Justin, Mike and I were dressed for the mess as we walekd up the hill toward the Arts Quad. There we saw everyone gathered. I didn't wear my ring, for fear that I'd get it caked in rang (the powdered colors). Good thing too, because when we got there, everything got caked in the bright festival colors. Now, the legend behind Holi is this: 

According to the Hindu mythology, Lord Krishna started the tradition of playing with colors during the festival. He was jealous of his soul mate - Radha's fair complexion, because he was dark in color. The young Krishna often complained about his dark skin tone to his mother - Yashoda. To placate the child, Yashoda asked him to smear color on Radha's face, so that her fair complexion is masked. Obeying his mother, Lord Krishna applied color on Radha's face, which changed her complexion. The playful and mischievous Krishna started the game of playing with colors and this is how, the celebration of Holi with colors was started. 

I don't know what each of the colors is supposed to mean, and whether there is any specific meaning at all. What I know is that this is a beautiful festival. I think most of the powder from Cornell's Holi festivities is just colored corn starch and none of the dye stained our skin at all so that was nice also! We slathered ourselves in vaseline just in case (we read that it keeps our skin from staining). Even if we did stain though, there are worse colors to be than beautiful, right?

See what I mean? The colors were lovely and vibrant. We weren't offered red, which I wish we knew about because I would definitely have gotten some of that. We had an abundance of pink, but Sam mixed her pink with blue to make purple. Mike, with obvious foresight, was the only one who got yellow. I loved the green though. It was really, really pretty. And I drew an accordingly beautiful mustache on Sam! Most of all, I loved how the rang settled in our hair, because it looked fantastical; it isn't something that could be done with haircolor easily so ... loved it.

Other than throwing rang at each other and getting messy, we also saw Cleo, Sarah and Randa mucking around. They still had rang whereas we used most of ours on each other. (Speaking of which, this poor photographer with a really nice camera got bombed by random people and I felt so bad for him! Because what if he got his camera all gross?!) Anyway, note Cleo's elegance even as she sprinkles the rang about. Dancers, I guess!
After that was all said and done, and we ate samosas (which were delicious, by the way!), we walked back home to wash up. There was this weird skateboarding thing going on down East Buffalo, and all these people gawked at us with our strangely colored clothes and faces and hair. We told a few of them what was going on but they still looked a little surprised at our appearance. Anyway, it was quite a rowdy day, what with Holi and this skateboarding tournament going on right outside my window!

But things weren't over yet! After I cleaned up, Sam, Mike and I went to Wegman's to get some food and to prepare for Ava's surprise birthday party later that evening. Mike took our groceries home to his place, while I stayed and helped Sam make spring rolls for the party. Caitlin hosted it, for a ladies only event at her house, complete with hors d'oeuvres and wine and decorations. Very lady-like... except for the penis hat. At first, I didn't realize what it was! Of course, Ava was very surprised! And then halfway through the little shindig, Sam announced to everyone that I just got engaged so there was a bit of a hub-bub about that too. Thanks everyone!

Then it was off to Silky Jones where non-female friends were invited to join us. Mike apparently had emailed all of our friends in the local Ithaca area about the engagement before he had done it, so everyone (except me!) was cued into it. When he told them all that he had done it and I had said yes, they poured out and bought us a ton of drinks. We definitely appreciate all the support (although the morning was a bit rough...)! Thank you everyone, so much!

Of course, Silky Jones was not enough so we made our way to the Second Floor Bar located across the way. Some more people showed up and some more drinking was in order.

Overall, it was a great time and the whole day was just... wow. I don't even know how to describe it. It was very memorable, so thank you all so much for making this day so much fun and for the well wishes! You guys are the best! Cheers!

A Day To Remember: April 28, 2012

The reason April 28, 2012 will always be seared into my memory is because that is the day that my wonderful boyfriend, Mike, proposed. Yup, I'm ENGAGED! 

Interestingly, I didn't see it coming at all. I mean, we've talked about getting engaged as some point in the near future, but I thought it was more of a "after we graduate" type of near future. Plus, Mike was really good at putting his plan into play incognito. On different dates, he emailed my family (father, mother, brother) to let them know of his more specific plans and to show them the ring via photos (after he had already spoken them in person over winter break); he emailed our friends to try to concoct a fancy plan; he had his parents mail the ring to his home under cover of getting an IRA form or something that he had to sign and which was time sensitive (I didn't even bother asking more about it; even until the night before he proposed, he was showing me rings online that he was "thinking about buying" in the near future although he had already purchased mine and it was hiding in the drawer near the couch where I always sit when we watch TV!; he bought a mini tripod under cover of "hey, the weather is getting so nice, and when we do our exploration walks, we never have good photos of us together because we have to do the arms-length thing," so that I wouldn't be suspicious of his attempt to document the whole thing; and he timed it so that the day was beautiful and clear and there was something else to be excited abotu (Holi!). Anyway, in the end, all his planning led to a decision to keep the whole thing simple and intimate, and I can most assuredly say I'm very happy with the result! 

He woke me up early and we went for brunch at Carriage House. Then, armed with my camera and his tripod, we took a walk toward campus (this is pretty customary stuff for us, when the weather is nice). Looking back, it was kind of suspicious because he ordered two mimosas with brunch and he downed them quite quickly, but I got one too thinking "I guess we're going to start day drinking!" and plus Mike tends to gulp his drinks, alcoholic or not. I wasn't suspicious, even when he was slightly buzzed and muttered "liquid courage." When I asked him "huh?" He said, "well, I'm excited about Holi but it's going to be crazy so you know, something to take the edge off." I didn't think much of it (kind of oblivious of me, really).

So when we finally hiked up the hill from Carriage House, to "our spot" by Uris Library (also known as the location for Slope Day), I took out my camera and started snapping photos while Mike set-up the tripod. We took a regular photo together, and then Mike said "Oh I need to adjust the tripod."

I just gazed out at the view below, and when he stepped over to me, I noticed the timer light on my camera wasn't flashing, so I asked if he actually clicked it correctly. He said yes, I was kind of confused. And I thought we were going to take a photo, so I hugged him to pose, but he started talking to me. Now, I can't really remember what he said, but I know it was very sweet. Still, I felt confused, like "what is going on?" Then, after maybe three sentences, he slowly drops to his knee and pulls out a box. I see the box, I'm still confused, my mind doesn't register, and I'm thinking "huh? What is that?"

And then he asks, "Will you marry me?"

My first reaction isn't "Oh my goodness, yes!" ... rather, it's "Are you serious?!" but in a good way. And I just couldn't leave him kneeling there, so I bent down too and that's that. And now, in hindsight, I see how all his planning came into play and that the whole reason the timer light wasn't blinking on my camera was that Mike was taking a video of the whole thing so we can share with friends and family, and so this moment will be immortalized forever. He will edit the video soon, with subtitles (because the McGraw Tower bells were going off and you can't hear him on the video...you can only hear me say "...Are you serious?!").

WOW. Can you believe this? Amazing. Thank you, Mike, for a beautiful proposal, for a beautiful ring, and for showing me (once again, and definitively) that you love me so much! It's going to take some getting used to... because I guess Mike isn't my boyfriend anymore. He's my fiancé! Ack! Still can't believe it! And thanks to EVERYONE for keeping this a secret and doing such an amazing job NOT spilling the beans and playing it so cool for the month prior to Mike's proposal, and for the outpouring of support and love after you found out that it finally happened. Love you all!

Ləḥayyīm, to Cornell's Israel Day!

As if Animal Companions weren't enough the day before, on Thursday, I got to met a wonderful... camel! I guess the Cornell Israeli student association was having an event called "Israel Day" and they had all sorts of festivities going on. Part of that was to bring in a camel for camel rides. Now, I love animals and I am very much drawn to seeing them, but I don't like the idea of making the poor thing carry students around in a small circle from 11:30 am to 3:00 pm. So I vowed that I wouldn't take a ride on the poor dear, but I definitely wanted to meet her.

Do you see the camel in the distance in the photo above, to the far left? I learned later that her name is Virginia, and she is 19 years old! She is about half-way through her life, as camels live around 30 or so years I think. Anyway, I got to climb up by her neck and give her a good scratch (and a short reprieve from the clamoring undergrads). The worst part is, the handlers didn't seem to care if the riders were... well, portly or not. So I saw two very heavy-set girls get on at the same time and they shifted around on Virginia's back a lot, probably making it very uncomfortable for Virginia to walk around under their combined weight. I think there should have been a weight limit, or at least only one person at a time (especially when you're large). Or, maybe no rides at all would be best and we could just have a good old meet-and-greet. 

But she was such a patient camel! No spitting at all. And she just stood there gently waiting for people to climb on her back. She was a bit foamy around the lips, and when she blew outward, stringy spittle flew around, but that didn't really detract from the awesomeness of meeting her. Isn't she amazing?

And I also picked up some Dead Sea moisturizer, a t-shirt and a drawstring backpack. AND I got a relaly neat henna tattoo from this half-Japanese artist who has practiced henna for over 20 years. She was very talented and nice. Bob came to admire the handiwork of the artist, and then I found out he is color blind! He said I had nice blue nailpolish, but it was lavender. Interesting.

Then today, we had our end of the year BBQ, but it was indoors because it was so windy and cold. We had dinosaur BBQ, as usual when we have the end of the year party. But the line was horrendeously long! And it snaked throughout the law school because we couldn't have it outdoors anymore. At least the food was good. I ate chicken, because I'm trying hard to cut out red meat and the other white meat as well. Then later, to celebrate the end of law school, Mike and Justin beat the final, optional level of Rayman Origins: The Land of the Livid Dead.

If only I didn't have finals (the ethics test and my two papers), I'd really enjoy the end of the year. As it is, I will try my best to slack off only moderately so that I not only enjoy my remainting time in Ithaca but also pass my classes... Cheers!

A Play, A Llama, Two Dogs, A Lake House, and A Couple

This week is a week of newbies! First, On Saturday (4/21) Sam, Justin, Maegan, Mike and I went to see the Avenue Q play at the Risley Theater! It was really good. My favorite characters were Trekkie Monster and Kate Monster! The girl who played Kate Monster just had the sweetest voice. You can see a snippet of the actors / performers here, and while it's not from the actual production, you get to meet some of the cast and their puppets! It was all really well done, and timely, and hilarious. While we saw it at a small theater, if you get a chance to watch it on Broadway, I think it'll be worth your time! I couldn't take any photos of the actual play, but I got one of the simple stage set-up. I like how none of the props really detracted from the acting, the songs, or the performance generally. 

Then on Wednesday, during out last week of class EVER, we got up early-ish to partake in a very special pre-finals treat: Cornell Companions! It's basically a group affiliated with the Cornell Vet school where students at the law school can sign up for a 25 minute slot where they meet dogs and llamas (yes, llamas of the Emperor's New Groove variety!) to de-stress. And let me tell you, these delightful animals are just so adorable and well-behaved and well-socialized. I hope we didn't stress them out. It seemed like the dogs were perfectly fine, but I don't know how to read llama signs. We tried not to crowd him, but you never know. Still, he was so sweet and gentle and let everyone take photos with him/pet his extremely fluffy and soft wool. We also met a pup (a black lab mix) named Rory (who apparently looks like Susie Millor and John Mehta's lab mix, James). Then we saw Tank, the adorably jubilant rottweiler (gosh, I do love Rotties...they are so wonderful!) who is just gigantic and loveable. He really likes to have his tummy rubbed! 

Aren't they the best? There were a lot of people giving Tank love, so I ended up back with Rory who is just the sweetest little thing ever! He handler explained that she just had her birthday (aww!) so that's why she was wearing this lovely little hat. Rory also showed off her wealth of tricks (well, sit, stay, shake, roll over, and down!)...she just needed a high-reward, rarely given treat: potato chips! I don't usually condone that, but the vet school people know what they're doing, and the very special treat of a potato chip or two once in awhile isn't too bad.

It was just such a special experience getting to meet these guys and it was a bit surreal seeing them on campus (who would have expected a llama, next to McGraw Tower and in the law school Saperson Lounge?). I wish there were fewer people in the Lounge, though, because I know I would be stressed out if I had all these hands coming at me. Like I said, the dogs seems more pumped up because of it and thrived on the attention while giving lots of slobbery kisses (Tank, especially), but I just don't know about the llama. I ended up giving him a giant hug, though, and he gave me a snuffle kiss (where he sniffs you and makes a soft wooshing sound in through his lips). Sigh... I didn't know how awesome llamas are until meeting such a gentle one in person. 

Later in the afternoon, after Mike and I ran some errands (like getting fingerprinted for the CA Bar exam), we went to Professor Glenn Galbreath's lakehouse where Glenn has his anual get-together. We went last year as well, after Trial Advocacy was over. For Mike's trial (last Saturday), I served as one of Mike's witness in the same case (State v. Jackson, an arson case) but where I was the State, Mike and Liz were the defense. I played the hurt, jaded, but credible wife (separated, but not yet divorced) of the defendant. I let my eyes well up (without crying) at the trial, and my voice wavered. And I ad libbed a bunch to add some realism to it (saying things like "I answered the phone, I believe, because... well, Arthur never answers the phone" on direct and "well, counselor, I'm trying to answer your question as best as I can, so I can't answer with just a simple yes or no" on cross). At the end of the trial, even the jurors who voted against the defense said I was the most credible! Perhaps I should have done acting instead of law school... Either way, one of the jurors actually came up to me and gave me a giant hug ("I was with you the whole time while you were up there!"), looking daggers at Gabby (who played one of the "other women" in the case and said "You know, you might get the opportunity, but never break up a family!" Gabby and I looked at each other, thinking "wow, you know this is a mock trial right?" It was pretty interesting. Anyway, the opponents (Priscilla Fasaro and Drew Levine) were both very good so it was a tough battle indeed. Plus, to ask jurors to digest the facts in only one day, with something like 8 witnesses is a little too much to ask. Either way, out of the eigh jurors, Mike and Liz got 5 solidly on their side, with three on the other side. Woohoo, 8-3 is not bad! Plus, the ones who entered a "guilty" verdict had good reason ("There simply isn't proof beyond a reasonable doubt!" or "The State just didn't win me over on the idea that Mr. Jackson didn't have any other avenues, and why he would destroy a company he loved so much.") while the people who thought the defendant was guilty just didn't really have a solid basis (i.e. a juror whose husband cheated on her shot her hand up immediately after sitting down and said "Guilty! You just can't trust the defendant."). Anyway, we celebrated then end of this all at the cabin, with delicious food, good company, and a wonderful view. 

We discovered that one of the adjuncts, Steve Flash, who is a city attorney in Ithaca, has a secret power: he is ridiculously good at skipping rocks! He showed off his rock skipping prowess by having the most skips the furthest with some of the largest rocks, and we were all impressed accordingly! Anyway, it was great getting to talk to Glenn and to kind of close out that chapter of classes. I think Mike and I would like to invite Glenn out to dinner sometime to thank him, as one of our very favorite professors. The best part? Watching the sun set over the peaceful lake while eating smores.  

Once everyone started drifting away back home, Mike and I hitched a ride with Susie and John to Stella's where we had a few drinks. Mike owed them for driving him back from Syracuse after our Florida trip, and after Mike fell in love with a photo of James (their pup). And while we're really different individually, we're a surprisingly similar couple in terms of the things we love to do and eat and see. And we are all getting into this animal rights thing as well as healthy eating, so we had a lot to talk about. And Mike and John connected about clothes (quality!) as well. Anyway, we're probably going to have dinner with them at their house so we can meet James next time. James sent us a message, via Susie, the next morning. He is pretty much super adorable.

(His note says, in case you can't read it, "Hi Jing + Mike, I'm excited to meet you! Sincerely, kisses, James"... tell me that is not SUPER cute? Ahhhh I love pups!) Overall, at the end of 3L year, it really is interesting how a number of people have grown on me in the last few weeks. Maybe it's because everyone is calm now that no one is competing against each other, so there isn't that kind of rivalry you might feel during 1L year. While it's great meeting and connecting with all these people now that law school is pretty much over, I'm glad I met my core group of friends, and Mike, because I actually never felt that kind of dynamic between us. While law school isn't the best place to be, hanging with friends has been amazing. So, I guess what I'm saying is, whether we've missed out on other folks in law school or not, cheers to the lifelong friends I think I've made, with our bonds cemented together through mutual suffering among other things!

Congrats to Liz and Kay!

This past weekend, Mike and I went to Liz's wedding. I have to say, I was not as excited as I should have been because I had a lot to do this weekend, and so did Mike who ended up staying up almost all night working on his assignments the night before the wedding. But to spoil the ending, everything was worth it because the wedding was really quite lovely and it was great to be able to see Liz all glowing and happy. Still, just give me some leeway to whine to my heart's content about the hardships of getting there.

So when we headed off to start our journey to Williamstown, things definitely didn't start off on a good foot, what with a mishap with the car rental (the car we reserved was taken, so we got a different car that was  more difficult to drive but turned out to be trusty even if not the most comfortable or convenient), the car rental being quite a ways away (Mike walked almost two miles down to the Commons to pick it up), our other passengers living spread out from each other (Barbie all the way on North Campus), and our GPS not working very well (we got lost three times and had to loop around endlessly to find our way back beacuse the GPS took us on a no-toll road that took almost 40 minutes longer). One good thing to come of it is that we got to see a few of the small towns on the way there... small comfort when you're cramped and tired though.

After four hours, we made it to Williamstown so that Jessica Pai could be part of the rehearsal dinner (otherwise Mike and I wouldn't have left until the next morning, which I guess Mike didn't realize until he made our motel reservations). Despite this rough start, the trip was worth the hassle because otherwise it was a very enjoyable experience. We dropped Jessica off at her motel, and then checked into ours (we stayed at the same one as Barbie and Wei). Once we settled in, we took a walk around Williams College campus to take in the sights (I mean, honestly, we'll probably never go back there right?). Mostly, we just walked down Spring Street and Water Street, the two main ones in the town and looked at the buildings. We ate Thai food at a surprisingly tasty restaurant and then pretty much called it a night (we skipped out on a rehearsal party with Liz at a really cute beeer garden she rented out). When we got back home to our cozy little motel room, Mike spent the whole night trying to write his last (5/5!) patent law paper. Success (sort of), but he was tired after the drive...and there was a long - but very fun - day ahead of us!

Williamstown kind of reminds you of an even smaller Ithaca, doesn't it?! Anyway, the next morning, Mike polished his paper a bit and went out to get us lunch. We then got all prettied up for the wedding and took a shuttle (it was a school bus!) to Thompson Chapel. Let me just say, this little chapel is super cute and yet elegant and grand enough for an intimate wedding to feel glamourous. I really liked the setting as far as church weddings go (of course it's a totally different feel from an outdoor wedding or something of that nature). 

It was a beautiful ceremony in a beautiful chapel on a beautiful day (the weather was simply gorgeous). As Liz first started walking down the aisle, his father was all smiles. Then as he neared the pulpit where he was going to hand his baby daughter into the hands of her future husband, I think the realization really hit and he started sniffling. It was really heart-wrenchingly adorable.

It was also really touching when they honored the parents. When Liz handed her folks the flowers, her mother seemed happy but the father was sobbing (noiselessly) into a hankerchief. And they gave her extra long hugs. It was very sweet. I wonder if my parents will cry at my wedding in the future? I think my mom won't, but I'm betting my dad will! He's a big old softy who says he can't wait to pawn me off on some unsuspecting man, but I am almost certain that he will probably cry at least a tear or two when the big day comes. 

After the ceremony, we meandered around in the beautiful sun for awhile before jumping on the bus and heading over to the Orchards Hotel where the reception and dinner were to be held. It was nice seeing some Cornellians present, other than Barbie, Jessica and Wei: we saw Cleo, Sarah, and Fred as well. In fact, our table was comfortably seated with familiar faces. 

Once we arrived (yes, via school bus) to the Orchard Hotel, we took mini-polaroids which we then posted into the guest book next to little messages of love and congratulations. Cleo and I were loathe to give up the polaroids (when we first took them, we weren't aware that they were to be given back to the newly weds!) so we took one joint one with Mike and we kept the two other ones (pictured below). Come on! They're cute photos! After this little stint, we grabbed some tasty snacks and headed to the line for the open bar (unlimited wine and beer? Cheers!). Everyone who was there was all smiles and good spirits so it made for a lovely early evening.

And we got to see the bride in person to congratulate her! Well, we also got to do so right after the ceremony, but we didn't stop to take photos with her because I think she was trying to get photos with all her closest friends and family. Anyway, it was nice to get photos with the lady of the day. After all the smile and camera flashes going off, we headed to the ballroom where we went to find our assigned tables. There we found cute little party favors (aw, the jam looks so sweet - in both meanings of the word). Then, dinner was served in a buffet style (tasty, if I don't say so myself, but I forgot to take photos). After all that, the night was just a blur of fun, including the bride's first dance with the groom, the tossing of the bouquet, and the tossing of the garter, along with the best man's and maid of honor's speeches. 

From then on, it was just plain old dancing, shouting, happy fun. Everyone was up on the dance floor, which I loved. I've been to some weddings where people just sit on the side lines and only a handful of people get up and get into the groove. I'm hoping that everyone will dance at my wedding. Maybe that just means we need more alcohol to be served... 

Well, it was quite a wonderful weekend. And when we got back on Sunday, after a long but shorter than the firs time drive, we were pretty pooped. At least we got to enjoy some nice, rural country scenery. Some of the towns were very quaint, and while the three other passengers luckily got to sleep, we kept ourselves awake to drive and navigate with questions like "why are there so many churches in a town where there only seem to be 15 houses altogether?" Gripping, right?

We sure didn't feel like doing work right away, so Mike and I took a leisurely drive to Wegman's (how nice it is to have our own mode of transportation!), picked up some groceries and ate dinner together there (I've fallen in love with the Wegman's vegetarian bar, where they have sliced and grilled brussle sprouts, surprisingly delicious coconut kale, and cashew chili). I know, very domestic. Then we dropped off all our food and drove down to return the car. Down in the Commons, we found a cute little coffee shop that lent us a pen (to sign some paperwork to be submitted through a mail slot as the rental office was closed by the time we got there) and saw a ton of bumblebees! They are coming out of hibernation, I suppose.

Well, it was a good way to end the weekend of good weather in Williamstown with good weather in Ithaca. Apparently, it had rained all weekend otherwise! Congratulations again to Liz and Kay! Hope this next step in the rest of your lives together was everything you dreamed of and more. And may every year get better than the one before it. Cheers!

Thức ăn cao lương! (Delicious food!)

This weekend we had such a treat! Samantha, with the help of Kyle, cooked up a sumptuous việt bữa ăn (vietnamese meal). She made shrimp and tofu and pork (?) spring rolls, green papaya salad, vermicelli noodles, and a variety of bánh mì sandwiches (the chicken was great). Thanks, Sam!

You can tell everyone loved the food because we were all pretty much silent for 15 minutes or so, just happily munching away. Then, when we were all stuffed (except Sam, who eats notoriously slowly!) we started on Natasha's tasty dessert: sliced mangoes and pineapples, covered with blueberries and (vegan) coconut yogurt. It was just such a nice, delicate balance of flavors and textures. It was perfect! And it seemed fitting with the vietnamese meal (what with the pineapple and mango). Andy Jacboson also brought a bottle of wine and we just sat off our food coma before heading up to Chapter House for a nightcap. 

On another note, the weather was bright but windy so I enjoyed the view of Sam/Natasha and Angie's apartment complex courtyard through the window. As we were looking out at the sunbathed lawn, however, Mike and I noticed some pretty beautifully patterned spiders spinning intricate webs across the glass. Pretty in a too-many-legged kind of way, right?

On a similarly unrelated note (well, it's sort of related to food so that's why it goes in this post), Mike and I tried blk water, which is supposedly infused with fulvic trace minerals that are allegedly healthy for you. Though it looked like coke or pepsi, without the carbonation (or perhaps soy sauce), it really did just taste like water with maybe a tiny itty-bitty-bit of mineral-y flavor. Strange, what people come up with no? And silly consumers like us just have to try it, although I don't really think I've been converted into a regular buyer. 

Cheers! Thanks for taking your time and energy to feed us, Sam! And thanks Kyle, for helping although you had so little time to spend in Ithaca. Thanks to Natasha and Angie as well for hosting this little shindig in their apartment. We really appreciate it!

UVA Softball Tournament 2012

In order to compete at the University of Virginia Softball  Tournament on any softball team from Cornell, you must commit to three days of pure exhaustion and a lot of fun. This is particularly true if you're on "Team Fun," which is the best team at the entire tournament! If fact, it's the best team of any team from any of the competing schools. I'll explain more as I go along.

The trip started off on Friday, bright and early around 9:15 AM. Well, we woke up even earlier to walk up to school where the bus picked us up, and it didn't help that we stayed up late to pack. Anyway, it was a hassle getting everyone to quiet down and I was definitely in a bad, bad mood. People were frustrating and there seemed to be no seats but thankfully the ever-thinking and organizing Sam saved us spots. Thanks, Sam! I wouldn't have gone on this trip had it not been for you; I would have been way too annoyed. As it were, we took a long drive into Virginia (Mike's first time there, ever!). There was lots and lots of drinking, shouting and movie watching on the bus (Basketball, The Sandlot [I love this movie so much; even though I wasn't a little boy who liked baseball, I felt like this was one of my coming-of-age type movies], and of course Top Gun to get everyone pumped up). I just sipped consistently on two bottles of sangria that Sam made (yay, Sam, for staying up all night - drunkenly - making drinks and packing [way too many] supplies but forgetting to pack things like shirts and makeup). 

Although the drive was quite frustrating at times and definitely constantly loud, the scenery was lovely. The young grass was this lush, tender green color and the skies were blue with soft clouds. Here and there the sky got overcast, but it was a really pretty drive. There were also all these trees simply covered in purple flowers. Beautiful!  When we finally got into Charlottesville, we only had a few minutes to freshen up before the bus driver kindly took us downtown. We went to Wild Wing Cafe to register for the softball tournament and get some dinner. The place was swarming with law students from all over the place. We got a little bit of a negative culture shock: lots of people saying bro, some guy dropping the N-bomb (wow! what the hell?), and someone being racist to Mike (when Mike nudged a bathroom door open with his foot so as not to get his hands filthy, someone shouted "whoa, whoa, we got karate kid over here!"). We also experienced some positive tastes of the south, including really nice and friendly people who were talkative and helpful. I think those kinds of people are the true Charlottesville natives (makes sense, as they are the ones living in a liberal, well-educated college town) while the racist, mean people were actually mostly law students from elsewhere. Shocking, that these people are going to have legal degrees.

The next day, we left for the tournament at 8:15 AM after getting not very much sleep at all. The Team Bios kind of speak for themselves. Ours, of course, was the best (this was from a draft, but you get the idea):

Anyway, the first thing we did was watch an earlier game during which we hoarsened our voices to cheer one of our school teams. They did pretty well! As we watched, we started warming up with some morning drinking. We mixed up the sweet tea vodka, and dished out the sangria among other things. I liked our team because everyone was game, and everyone was pleasant about it. 

As we waited for our game to start down on Field 2 (right next to Field 1 where we were watching the earlier game), we were informed that we were playing the "fun" team from Florida Coastal. But please, they were wearing official softball clothing, from the hats to the button-up shirts and baseball pants. Everyone was intense about the game, and they even had parents who made the 18-hour or so drive up just to watch their kids play softball in some joke-law-school tournament.  They were so good that a bunch of girls and guys made home-runs, and they were able not only to knock the balls out of the park but to aim at Sam and me once they figured we were the weaker links in the outfield. That's skill. We made a mockery of the game, I'm afraid, with our cheering, dancing, and music. Although the score was something like 30+ (Florida) to 0 (Cornell), we won by a landslide in terms of fun and pure awesomeness.

A few notes: first, we were super lucky that our fields/diamonds were right next to each other all day (Field 1 and 2); second, I tried to get action photos of each of our team members and was partially successful so a lot of my photos consist of people "posing" similarly.

By the way, I had to blow up a picture of Hahn because I think it's awesome that he smiles, constantly, even when he's batting or walking around! 
 After playing that first atrociously un-fun team from Florida, we had a breather until about 2:00 pm. Half of us went to eat at some local eats, while the other half lagged a bit (and of course Mike and I were playing with an AMAZING German Shepherd named Remo). We went with the laggy group to Buffalo Wild Wings, where we had some greasy bar food and some Bloody Marys. Well, I had a Bahama Mama (hey, I was in the mood for some fruity flavors rather than spicy tomato-y flavors). The walk over to Buffalo Wild Wings wasn't too long, but it was really warm. Still, we got to enjoy some lovely trees along the way. When we got back to the Field 1 / 2 area, we just vegged out and continued our "warm ups." I also took the time to meet some of the many dogs wandering around with their owners! (Merlin is the white fluffy beauty, Remo is the GSD, Heidi is the little black pit-mix that looks like a small lab, and I don't know the names of the others... I also missed a shot of this amazing St. Bernard named Samson). As we waited, we also saw an amazing neon-socked team that I wish we had played. They seemed like good competition for us (that is, who could have more fun). THAT is what the tournament is about. I don't get people who are so competitive when playing law schools. It's kind of silly, no? Anyway, Neon-Sock team was probably the ONLY team that could give Cornell's Team Fun a run for its (fun) money.

Not long after, we saw our competitors arrive at the same diamond (Field 1) where we were waiting. As they were nerds just like us, we figured they'd be more fun than Florida Coastal (every team seemed to be less serious than they were) and indeed they were at least much friendlier. This was one game where fraternizing with the enemy was acceptable! And so our game commenced on good terms. The best part? When I went up to bat the first time (I didn't even get to bat the first game), I got onto base! Sadly, we got thrown out a little later. But still, I was pleasantly surprised I didn't suck as much as I thought I would.

Also, I realized that while I took pictures of almost everyone that went up to bat, I didn't take enough to make a full on feature for them like I did for Hahn, Mike, Sam, Justin, Maegan, and Ava (scattered throughout this post). Sadly, I think I missed Zach (a.k.a. Zac-Attack) so I feel bad about that, but I can't even remember if we went up to bat? And of course Andy Orr never got up to the plate because of his bum knee so I don't have an action photo of him either. I remember most of our team's nicknames, but I am not sure about Jeff's. Oh well, here goes:
Most of our team is featured above (circling around starting with the top left): Clever "The Streets" Gallegos, Brantley "B-Hawk" Hawkins, Josh "Grizzly Pear" Peary, Melissa M.Cab Cabrera, Jeff "Commish" Wiener, and Amanda "Demanda"Bradley. Andy Orr's nickname (as he isn't pictured) is James Pyo, after one of the 2Ls in our class. That is awesome. Mike was thinking, in hindsight, that he should have made his shirt say "Samantha Hsu" but then we thought maybe she'd just delete it and give him some awful name instead, seeing as how she was in charge of the T-shirts... 

We did really well against Harvard because last year we went something like 28 - 0, 29 - 0, and 31 - 0, but this year against Harvard we scored two runs, courtesy of Justin "Big" Correa and Michael "Pickle" Hsueh! Woohoo, good job guys!

As such, we fulfilled one of Justin's goals, because he really didn't want to have 0-points for every single game. Anyway, spent the post-game lounging until dinner (yay, free Barbeque that doesn't only serve pork but had chicken as well). I loved sunning ourselves and waiting while killing off the remainder of Sam's sangria, her Jack and coke, and the sweet tea. Our team was very happily tired by the end of it, I think, and a lot of them took much-needed powernaps. During the down time, we met some kids from other schools and Sam's ex-coworker/friend Tim (Illinois) came down to enjoy the company of the awesome and (somewhat) famous (or is it notorious?) Team Fun.

For our third and final game, we played Cumberland (an Alabama team). We warmed up with some wine-balling from Any Orr's genius wine gun. Yup, instead of batting and throwing the ball around or doing stretches, Team Fun warms up by catching glistening pearls of wine shot into the air via a water gun. But guess what? Other watching teams (Fordham, Cumberland, and others) ran up and asked to get wine-balled. Who are we to deny others the joy of being (however brief) a part of Team Fun? All (nice folks) were welcome.

Woohoo, team fun! Starting from the left and looping down across the front: Andy Orr, Josh Peary, Michael Hsueh, Brantley Hawkins, Zach Coffelt, Jef Wiener, Hahn Liu, Justin Correa, Maegan Deare, Melissa Cabrera, Amanda Bradley, me, Clever Gallegos, Ava Jacobi, and Sam Hsu. Like I said, this is the best and obviously most athletic group at the tournament. Which is why... 

We clearly lost our next game (but only in terms of score! not the amount of fun had by participants). So, oh well, boohoo, we still "win". The only annoying thing was that this Baltimore team was playing one of our other teams on the same field later on, and they started chanting "Cornell sucks" over a megaphone. But the thing is, Cumberland didn't really know them and we didn't know them. And also, we couldn't heckle back because we really don't know their school except for the fact that it's ranked really low. Saying "your school sucks" would actually be mean, because their school isn't really ranked (or maybe not even accredited?). Oh well, we were the bigger people... except that a huge group of us stayed for the Cornell-Baltimore game and heckled the crap out of them. By "us," I am excluding Justin, Mike and me. We opted to walk back to the hotel rather than wait for the bus so that we could see some of the campus. We met up with some of our classmates and headed back together.

Later that night, we went out bar-hopping with free beer, starting at the Biltmore (I think the $160 fee for the trip was really well-worth it, considering it included the t-shirts, the bus ride, the hotel room, and all the registration fees and drink tickets). We also stopped for a snack at the White Spot, where Mike got to try some famous late-night Charlottesville fare.

 
On our last day, we had yet another early drive but it was better than it would have been if our boy's team (which advanced to playoffs) hadn't forfeited their 10 PM game the day before. If they had played, we would have had to wake up earlier the net day so our bus could transport us all. Obviously, the softball teams from Cornell had their priorities straight: go out and have fun, go home early... no need to actually win any glory in terms of sports.

During the long, long drive starting at about 9:45 AM, we watched a ton of movies (Wedding Crashers, Old School, Super Troopers, and Austin Powers 2). We got home around 6:30 PM, went to Wegman's to get some food, went home, and just stared blankly at all the work we should have done. Then, after staring for a few hours and making no progress, we all simply passed out.

What a crazy weekend. I am exhausted. Next weekend, I think I won't really do anything (although, I have a ton of work to do for school). Sigh. Back to school mode, I suppose! 

Part III - Seeing the Sunny Seas of the Sunshine State

Originally, the plan for the third day in Florida was to go to the Everglades so that we could spend Saturday in Miami. But we decided we'd rather have a relaxing, outdoorsy, beachy vacation than spend time partying it up in Miami where, other than clubs, there isn't much else to do. So, we decided why not take advantage of being in the snorkeling capital of the United States (I think it might even be known as the diving capital of the world)? Yup, did you know that the Florida Keys is the third largest barrier reef in the world, and the only living coral reef in the USA? 

Day Three - Snorkeling in Key Largo

Today, the entirety of our time was dedicated to enjoying Key Largo at its best. Part of me wishes that we had the opportunity to go diving, but I don't think we're skilled enough or that we had enough time to take a full lesson. So snorkeling it was! But first things first: breakfast! Chris spotted the Waffle House so we decided to have some southern comfort food to fill us up before our exertions in the salt water (which I think is more tiring because it's so dehydrating... does that make sense? maybe not...) and the sun.

After our filling breakfast (with delicious hashbrowns complete with all the toppings, waffles which Chris could not finish but insisted on taking to go ["Diana, you're going to be begging me for a bite of this waffle after we're done snorkeling and you're starving!"], a mouth-watering cheese melt, and more...I know, we're fatties]), we decided to head over to John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, the first under-sea park in the US, rather than some of the other snorkeling places (although I wish we went to Bahia Honda Beach, even though it's kind of far away back down toward Key West because it's considered one of the most beautiful beaches in the Keys). We signed up for the 3:00 PM boat out to the reefs, so we had time to just relax, walk around, and lay about. 

The Dolphin gave us a jolly ride out to the ocean, and we picked good seats where we got sun but we still had some available shade as well. And as you can see, once we got on the boat, I really only got to take a few fast-moving photos of nothing in particular (other than water and boats from afar, or people up-close), but I'll probably update this entry with another post down the line after I develop the film from our underwater camera! Mike and I thought the $12 would be worth having the memories, although I'm not sure now how the photos will turn out. Apparently, Mike was fixated on the barracudas so he took three individual photos of three individual barracudas just floating in midwater. Hmm...

Clearly Mike is enjoying the ride with the wind blowing through his hair! I went to Mexico several years ago with my family and I remember being on a fast moving skiff that was really just an aerodynamic raft and the waves weren't big but there was a LOT of up and down movement. I was very, very uncomfortable and rather nervous because I felt like we were going to flip at any moment or sink into shark-laden waters. Here, though, the waters were so calm that even though you could feel it when we hit an uneven wave, it was very tolerable. I think it helps that I don't think there are many sharks in this area where it's so high traffic. What's really cool is you can see the deep water in the distance (especially in the photo below). That's the darker, cerulean blue after what looks like just a ridge of rocks. That isn't just any old ridge though; that whole shady brownish area in the water is living coral reef! The waves from the deep blue crash over it in a white crescendo of foam, but the ocean life survives in undisturbed waters below. And that shallow, protected area was where we go to snorkel. How cool is that?
Anyway, the snorkeling was great! We saw something like thirty barracuda (seriously! they were just hanging about, floating around and eyeing us sometimes somewhat blankly, and othertimes a little beadily at the same time, if that isn't too much of a contradiction), maybe seven conch grazing on sea grass (the dark patches in the water), a (eagle?) stingray, a yellow stingray, all sorts of fish (parrot fish, surgeon fish, butterfly fish, snappers, and I think some triggerfish, among others!), the antennae of a lobster between the rocks, and a GIANT sea urchin in the cracks between some rocks (it was the size of Mike's head at the base, I'm not kidding, not counting spikes!!!). And just look at that water! While we saw a lot of cool stuff, there were some cool things Mike and I missed out on. I heard some other tourists on an earlier boat say that they saw some manatees, and some people from our boat saw a nurse shark! Other than my ode to manatees and the nurse shark I added in (hey, a girl can dream, right?), what we saw looks pretty similar to what's pictured below...and I'd say that is pretty awesome! Hopefully our disposable camera photos won't turn out too bad, even if they won't look as amazing as the pictures immediately below.

On the way back to shore, everyone was just wonderfully satisfied. It was a little chilly out, what with the wind blowing with the speed of the boat, but where we could sit in the sun, it was wonderful. This is the epitome of vacation, I think. I didn't feel tired at all, although we were swimming around for quite some time. At the end,  I told Mike I could have used another 45 minutes or so. Still, I was very happy with our trip!

After all that, we were quite hungry (but although we all forgot about Chris's waffle, I don't think we were that hungry... sorry, Chris). We didn't bother washing up and went straight to what is considered one of the best, world famous key-lime-pie makers which luckily was located nearby our hotel: Mrs. Mac's! Did you know that key lime pie is named after the small key limes ( Citrus aurantifolia 'Swingle') that are naturalized throughout the Florida Keys? (Apparently, their thorns make them less tractable, and their thin yellow rind more persihable than the common Persian limes seen year round in most US grocery stores, but what makes Key limes so good is that they are also more tart and aromatic... so taste over longevity, I say! Also, Key lime juice, unlike regular lime juice, is a pale yellow. The filling in key lime pie is also yellow, largely due to the egg yolks. That explains why our key lime pie isn't very green - see below. And during mixing, a reaction between the condensed milk and the acidic lime juice occurs which causes the filling to thicken on its own without requiring baking. Many early recipes for key lime pie did not instruct the cook ever to bake the pie, relying on this chemical reaction (a.k.a. souring) to produce the proper consistency of the filling. The acid in the lime juice actually "cooks" the pie. Today, in the interest of safety due to consumption of raw eggs, pies of this nature are usually baked for a short time. The baking also thickens the texture more than the reaction alone. Hey, you learn something every day!)

After we had our fill of delicious local food, we went back to the hotel to catch happy hour at the tiki hut. They had run out of ice, so Diana and ran in to fill a pitcher up with ice. The nice bartender waited patiently for us and mixed four very, very strong piña coladas (that was the drink this trip, wasn't it?), about 50% rum with the rest being a mi of ice and colada ( in Puerto Rico / in Spanish it means strained pineapple: piña, pineapple + colada, strained) but the mix, as used by our bartender, is a blend of strained pineapple and coconut cream. We sat outside and had our delicious drinks while the sun was setting. We also saw a man throwing his fishing net into the water; it was very picturesque although I only caught one good picture of him doing it, and it's kind of dark (se below). The only damper on the evening was that we got absolutely brutalized by bugs... We found out they were likely sandflies (or "chiggers"). Awful. 

(The bugs explains the towels draped over me. I felt the sharp pain of their bites, but I didn't have any adverse reaction to the sandflies - i.e. no welts or anything - so no harm, no foul... it was the night in Miami that was truly awful, but more on that later.) Key Largo was a wonderful choice to stay during our visit to Florida; Miami would be too far from this natural beauty, the Key West too out of the way, and the Eveglades too swampy to spend late evenings out in. So cheers to a really good call and one more entire day left to enjoy our time in Florida!

Part II - Seeing the Sunny Seas of the Sunshine State

As I said in the entry below, I'm writing these entries a few days after the completion of my Florida trip, but I am publishing them / marking them on the days I was actually doing the events I'm writing about just to keep this journal-like thing I've got going here. Moving on... 

Day Two - Exploring Key West

We got up super early (look 8:00 AM is really early when you got less than two hours of sleep the night before as well as the added drain of traveling with layovers!) and started the two+ hours drive down to the beautiful Key West.

I have to say that although I was rather sleepy, the drive was very lovely. You know, I remember driving on a stretch of road when I was younger, when my family visited Key West, where the highway was practically level with the water and instead of dividers, we just had white sand between us and the sea. Do you think that was changed later on? It's kind of a shame, because now the drive isn't as lovely as I remember even though it is very nice. Either way, the sky brightened as the day went on, which was lucky because I think there was a chance of rain. 

And what do you think was the first thing we did once we got to Key West? No, we didn't break out the cocktails or anything. And no, I'm not talking about finding parking (which was a tiny bit of a hassle). We did what Chris wanted to do most, with all his heart... and that was to visiting the Hemingway House where Ernest Hemingway made his home for about 9 years.  

We were lucky because we got there five minutes before one of the hour-long tours began. It was quite informative, although I am ashamed to say that my sun-soaked, tired brain didn't absorb all of it. Still, I did learn quite a bit about Hemingway. One of things, however, that I forgot to ask was why Hemingway chose to move to the Keys, of all places. I know he had run away with Pauline, the second of his six wives at this time, who bought the house at an auction in 1931 or so (actually, I think her uncle bought it for her as a wedding present, but either way). It was in this house that he did much of his most famous work, including A Farewell to Arms, The Snows of Kilimanjaro, and The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber. Although, in addition to being a rather prolific writer, it seems like Hemingway also loved boxing and set up a boxing ring in his backyard. Interesting and rather eccentric man, but I guess that's kind of what you expect of creative people like artists and writers.

The house stands at an elevation of only 16 feet above sea level, but is still the second-highest site on the island. It was originally built by Asa Tift, a marine architect and salvage wrecker, in 1851 in colonial southern mansion style, out of limestone quarried from the site. As testament to its construction and location, it survived many hurricanes, and the deep basement remained, and remains after all these years, dry. 

I particularly like his studio, of which I took a little panoramic (below). It is located in the little side house by the pool, which his wife Pauline spent something like $20,000 building while Hemingway was living elsewhere. When he came back, he apparently threw a penny into the water and said "well, you might as well have my last penny!" but conveniently failed to acknowledge that Pauline used her own money, not his, and that she was rather richer than he. Hemingway seemed like quite the character indeed... The penny is sealed over a tile by the pool to commemorate this incident. Hemingway also allegedly got his "pay back" (for what?!) by buying a urinal from a local saloon, called Sloppy Joe's where he used to drink very often (saying something like "It seems I have flushed enough of my money down this urinal that I have earned it"), and stuck it by the pool. He told Pauline that he wouldn't remove it as long as she kept the pool, but as she wouldn't remove the pool (why would she?), there it stayed and became a cat fountain which Pauline cleverly laced with pretty tiles and a vase. Funnily, the cats don't really drink from the urinal and only lick water dripping from the vase. 

So now you've read a bit about cats and you might be thinking, why are they featured so prominently in your photos? Well, firstly I like animals so that makes sense. Secondly, despite all these rather interesting facts, one of most interesting things about the house is actually related to the cats themselves! 

To be fair, there is some dispute about whether Hemingway actually kept cats at his Key West house, although his son Patrick did confirm that he had cats back in Cuba (where he owned a home until the revolution, after which Castro confiscated his home to Hemingway's chagrin - apparently the two had always been on amiable terms). Anyway, the interesting thing about these cats, whether decendant's of Hemingway's pet or not, is that they are polydactyl (they are six-toed, specifically). The Hemingway House now breeds the cats for this trait (which I think is rather weird... can't they just open up a cat shelter or something to commemorate Hemingway's love of cats rather than just make more six-toed ones?). Regardless, the cats are adorably lazy. 

The Hemingway House was a great way to kick off the day. It got sunnier and warmer as we walked the grounds and enjoyed the beautiful flora and fauna. We even walked by the little cat cemetary, where there were all these interestingly named cats. Who knows if Hemingway ever petted one of these critters? But it was fun nonetheless, and good to know that these kitties had someone who cared enough to bury them.

Afterwards we ate lunch at Sloppy Joe's, supposedly the same pub that Hemingway frequented (but apparently, the original one was located elsewhere and came to its current location after expanding). Mike ordered, what else, by a sloppy joe, whereas I ordered some delicious fish tacos (see, seafood). We had a somewhat leisurely lunch, given that we timed the morning pretty well and could take our time before Diana and I took off for the Monroe County Detention Center, where our client (the whole reason we got to go on this trip) is being held for immigration purposes. While I can't disclose much here, let's just say it was an amazing experience to get to speak to him in person. He was very soft-spoken and nice; a gentle-giant, so to speak. It was a very rewarding experience to have had worked on his appeal and to finally get to meet the man behind the facts and the case we've been obsessing over. 

When Diana and I got back to Duval, where all the shops and stores (and the boys) were hanging out, we parked our car back in the same old parking lot and got hooted and hollered at (which confirmed our thoughts that we would have had a lot more free stuff if it was just girls...but still, we were glad our boys were with us). We stopped in at Fat Tuesdays to get some big drinks (the bartender was this adorably sweet Australian miss). As we waited for the boys to reach us, we realized (via our limited phone conversation) that the boys were having quite a good time without us. They had consumed a vacation-worthy amount of alcohol and taken some good photos while strolling the streets and docks of Key West. A good use of time, boys, I'm glad you had fun (and thanks, Mike, for the photos [featured immediately above: Chris and Hemingway's bust, a cruise ship, the coast, and a memorial; featured in the collage above that, Mike took some of the interior of Captain Tony's Saloon]). Note: there were all these roosters running around. I wonder what the deal is with that. Mike snapped a few and I got the one above up close and personal. This particular fellow was so cocky (pun not intended) that he snapped at and chased a big dog!

Well, once we were reunited, we looked for a beach to lay out on a rest (Diana was pretty tired, given the tiring drive the day before, as well as early morning coupled with yet another long drive...I mean, I was tired too and I napped a bit on the car so, fair is fair). As we looked for a beach, we came across the Southermost tip of the United States, just 90 miles from Cuba. How ridiculously cool is that? I wish we could have gone to Cuba... what a different culture it would be.

Anyway, we finally settled on a somewhat murky, rough-sanded (or pebbled, almost) beach that was considered the second best beach in Key West (the first was closed off by the time we parked and started looking). Here, we realized that the attire in Key West isn't so much like the attire we have in New York, or even the more casual California.

Given this welcoming omen, we got a few lawn chairs and several beverages (somehow the bartender made Mike's and Diana's piña coladas into mudslides... but they were still good! Then we decided we might as well have dinner at the restaurant belonging to the bar. 

The food was pretty good, and the service was very nice. Not long after we ate our fill, we decided it was probably time to walk back to the car and make the long drive back to Key Largo. 

What a wonderful, fun-filled day! A little bit of history, a little bit of impactful work and human interaction, some good food, lazy sunbathing, and more. Cheers to vacation!