Hint: laziness can explain everything

Some people have it in their heads that I was in the greater New York City area for three weeks based on instant messaging, my twitter shenanigans, and this particular blog entry. Lies and misinformation, all of it.

I was actually in an undisclosed location operating undercover for an undisclosed organization, performing heroic acts of jackassery.

Here I am documenting a recent rash of vandalism thought to be perpetrated by a resident gang of militant Atari enthusiasts:




... and infiltrating a seedy establishment that dispenses warm Bud Lite and Trader Joe's organic tortilla chips to minors:




... and recording the horrid conditions in which respectable pole dancers must practice their noble craft:



And of course, the obligatory jump shot, courtesy of the hotel room I broke into so I could raid its minibar:



I especially enjoy the look that Ted appears to be giving me from within the TV. His demeanor and expression may look blank, but he's really thinking: bitch you crazy.

All in all, I can tell you that my mission was a rousing success. I am awaiting my payment of nipple tassels and Funyuns, and hopefully there will be more work for me in the future.



In other news, an anonymous friend of mine has finally gotten her period after a fun-filled exasperated 8 days. I may possess neither a uterus nor a vagina, but I feel like if you are still a virgin and the closest contact to semen that your cho-cha has had is wading in the shallow end of the municipal pool, you probably don't need to worry about being pregnant.

Havoc: cry of the gastro-american

So it's been a long time since my last food post. Well, at long last, here it is.


Ramen with embellishments. Asian comfort food, for real. I used the prepackaged stuff, of course, but if you think about it, all it includes is the consomme (in powder form) and the noodles. Both are needlessly time-consuming to make yourself, so why not take a shortcut? The debris you see floating in there consists of bokchoy, firm tofu, and oyster mushrooms, stir-fried on the side with a little ginger, garlic, and shoyu before being added to the mix.




This probably looks better than it actually was. I screwed up the ratio of ingredients in the filling by taking an ill-advised shortcut. Oh well. All you need to know is that it was made for Morgan's Valentine's Day Single's Awareness Day party, was actually consumed, and left me with lots of delicious leftover phyllo sheets, cheese, and asparagus. I will make excellent use of all three ingredients. Case in point:




I don't know how I'd classify this stuff, other than delicious. That is in fact not rice, but couscous, tossed with more of those oyster mushrooms, bokchoy, and roasted asparagus, and seasoned with a little anise seed. The dumplings are store bought (only because I still suck at making them, honestly), and the dipping sauce is a favorite concoction of rice vinegar, Chinese chili paste, sugar, and toasted sesame oil.

Mmmm. I'm looking forward to the rest of this week.

Bereft in my stilted repose

They say that sometimes you don't recognize greatness until it has passed.

Wow. I was so caught up in the craziness of Winter Conference that I didn't fully comprehend the gravity of what was going on around me. I was frantically making copies of an agenda for legislation without realizing that I was making copies for the first AIESEC US legislation in years. I was counting MCP election ballots without realizing that this right and privilege was denied for nearly a decade.. I was working closely with Missy, an amazing individual who I will probably never work with again. The same thing goes for nearly everyone else on the conference team. Fuck, I didn't get to know the PAI as well as I could have either.


Wow. What a way to usher in 2009.

Passages, marred by frailty

When I look at the past several weeks of my blogger history, I see nothing but uninspired equivocations and forced ramblings. Hopefully I can change that in the upcoming weeks.




In an effort to live up to my generously bestowed title, here's a picture of my dinner for tonight. Chicken curry (don't ask me what kind, I used garam masala and fenugreek and some other stuff) and garlic naan. No rice since I'm still lacking a rice cooker, and no side dish because I don't need that many leftovers. I bought the naan since I don't have a tandoori oven, but that chicken is all me. It was earth-shatteringly delicious, except for one hiccup. That red chunk you see on the chicken is a piece of tomato. Publix foiled me and carried only stewed tomatoes when the recipe called for pureed tomatoes. Alas. Next time (you better believe there will be a next time), I will do right by Indo-Asia and use the right kind of tomatoes. Additionally, I will also use ground cashews instead of cornstarch.

I'm currently battling the first signs of the flu. Not a good thing, since I'm supposed to be visiting Canada this weekend with these fine gentlemen. Wish me luck.

My silly invasion: 6

Ming tombs.







The Overrated Great Wall.




West siiiiiide.


Umm. Yeah.

My mythical reprieve: 5

Minimalist with words today. Captions present only when absolutely warranted.
















Katie's run-in with a local. Read more about it over at her blog.








I almost sprouted a little wood when I saw this metro stop ;)


Gift for the office. Yay pandas!

My hasty retreat: 1

As you may or may not be aware, I am currently in the People's Republic of China. My flight left at 7AM on Thursday (huge thanks to Thomas, who will be getting dong as soon as I return), and I arrived Friday at 1:30PM Shanghai local time.

Below is a shot of Siberia from the plane ride:



And the (lackluster) view from my cousin's window.



More to come as shit happens!


P.S.
Attention Chinese AIESECers: please drop me a line! I want to see y'all while I'm here!

Confound it! Blasted insolence

Holy crap. It's been over a month since my last post. This is probably because I've stopped writing them during class. Oh well. In any case, here is the long awaited (?) update.

Since the passing of Summer LTR and the real onset of classes, happenings have been relatively awesome.


Cass had her 20th birthday! Athens was great. What you can't see in these pictures is Megan Wing, whose family is now living in Atlanta. She dropped in on the fun and games. Holla!


We had a potluck dinner as an LC, and almost every continent was represented in the cuisine (I think South America was left out). There's Wing! Holla!


Katie and I took Ben James out to dinner for a belated birthday celebration. It was over a month after-the-fact. We went to a fondue restaurant, and although it was amazing, we opted to make dessert fondue on our own rather than pay another $20 for it at the venue. Here we are at Ben's abode with his girlfriend (!) Jessica and her sister. We had chocolate fondue with strawberries, raspberries, and angel food cake. MMmmm.

Coming up in the world of Pu: camping this coming weekend with the LC! We're going up north somewhere, apparently it's near Helen, the German oasis.

In other news, Katie and I got our visas for China! Orient, here we come!

Strike a turbulent chord

Alas, Canada NLDC 2008. 'Twas a bittersweet experience, and it was all my fault. I came expecting the same great feelings of '07, but it was not to be. Like all AIESEC conferences, a measure of similarity must be maintained, and for me it had ventured into the realm of the redundant. And in my pride, I couldn't reconcile necessity with yearning.

But that was only the "bitter" part. The "sweet" part was in the people, the delegates, the individuals. You kids seriously kick some AIESEC ass, and you're generally ridiculous(in a good way). Maybe there are more Canadian conferences in my future than I thought...

Anyway, post NLDC shenanigans. See below.

Niagara Falls:





Me playing around with the macro function on my camera.



And finally, after we crossed the border, we were right next to Buffalo, so we simply had to visit the birthplace of the chicken wing. Here are the magnificent results:

Try to guess which bowl of bones belongs to whom.

Baiting the fleeting consternation

Two quick things:

1. LTM this weekend. Inaugural week as the Fundraising LIGER for AIESEC US. NYC in all its glory. Will wonders ever cease? Let's hope so.

2. I FINALLY PICKED UP MAIL FOR OUR OFFICE! I walked by the mailbox and almost didn't check inside, but I figured I should, and LO AND BEHOLD, a piece of mail! FOR THE FIRST TIME IN A YEAR AND A HALF!

I win.


More later.