Thursday, November 16, 2006
New York fun - 4:37 PM
Alright, now that I've composed myself, its time to blog about the time I had in NYC.Friday was rather peaceful. I brought 2 friends to 70 Park Ave Hotel where I used to work, and there... I met the people I used to work with. Everyone was super nice and pleasantly surprised to see me. And of cos, I used the opportunity to squander some possible donations to the Auction. heh. and then I dumped my friends and went downtown to meet Ruoxi and her friends for some good ol' chow at Chinatown. Then I went back to sleep cos I was sick and tired.
the famous clock tower of the Waldorf=Astoria Hotel.Sat morning, we got up bright and early. 8am, to be exact, to meet with the Waldorf=Astoria people. OH yah, we stayed at the Waldorf again this year, and we got a small room. Dammit. So we met them for awhile, and this year, didn't get to go to the Royal and Presidential suites cos we didn't have enuff time! Double damn. It was all becos we had to rush to the Sheraton for another corporate presentation by Starwood hotels (who owns the sheratons, westins, w-s, st regiss etc). And after that, I went for lunch at Ruoxi's recommendation - Juniors' on 45th street for some burgers n shakes.
And then we got back to the W=A at 4pm to meet some young alums, possibly for advice abt the workforce and all. They split us up into groups and each group was assigned 2 alums or so. Something ironic was, we got 2 old men in our grp instead of Young alums. They are not just like middle aged, they were from the class of 62' that kind! whahaha but they were very nice n sweet, so it was all good. Oh yah, some of the REALLY young alums came back, and we got to see people like Parimal and Geoff again!
Then the Celebration of Leadership reception ensued at one of their great rooms. We had to stand the whole 1 hr while the people gave their speeches. And then of course, we chionged to the food stations la. Duhhh...
And we saw Ruben!!!!!!!!! Ruben is the guy who hosted us in Puerto Rico last year, and he was honored as one of the young alums of the year at the reception. Ruben, in my mind and you may disagree, is like the hispanic version of Li Nanxing. A bit fei, but super handsome...that aura is the same!! Oh, the old man next to me is Mr. Dan Darrow, one of the alums who sat with us during the 'young alums session'. wahahah. but he is super sweet.
After the reception, we decided to adjourn to this bar (i dunno the name, i just follow them around). Its a rooftop bar and no one's allowd to smoke, so its really cool. The strangest thing was the alums were there too! Like those from the class of 65, 72, etc... And one particular alum was probaby really drunk, and started sitting on pple's laps n started touching the girls. MY tian ah. Totally *weird*.
views from the roof. thats the empire state building, but it was so foggy that night that you can't really see the top!
pics with people: melissa and chad, mike, melissa and jessica, parimal
Sunday morning, I had to work at the school booth at the Hotel Motel & Restaurant show. So we couldnt sleep in, and had to go to the Javitz Center. Which is fine, really... except for the lil fact that we got the longest shift of 1145-245, LUNCH TIME OK... but ok la, after that we went around the show eating their food. wahahah
hard at work (uh hum) at the booth. with sparty and mike.
I'm always super amazed by what the Show offers. Suppliers to hospitality industries include people selling grills for restaurants, safety shoes for people who worked in kitchens, paper bags and books, portable dance floors, linen, uniforms, lights...and of course, it was a great time for people in the food business to show off their culinary skills! we had burgers, roast beef, ham, gelato, smoothies, chocolates, fried shrimp, bread, etc etc etc!!
There was a Hilton Meet n Greet at the Hilton Towers in the evening, which we ate and zao-ed really early to go for dinner at La Mela.
we saw this super duper cute puppy at the lobby at the hotel before we left for dinner. if i have a dog one day, i will have this one, and try not to step on it!
After dinner, many of them wanted to go to the bars (again, i swear these pple hor...), but a few of us opted out, and got off the subway at Grand Central Station. Woo... night time there is pretty interesting cos there's no one around, except kuku pple who start to debate with you about social issues.
on the subway to the Grand Central with Marc and Kim. goofy.
Grand Central at night.
And then we walked to Times Square, which was AMAZING cos Times Square, is ALWAYS crowded by like the millions of visitors who visit Manhattan. So to go on a Sunday night where there's no one, is really like a breath of fresh air. There, while we were standing in the middle looking at the dazzling ads and lights, we met a guy who says he's a rapper. And then he started rapping his own production to us, which is really not bad. And then we talkd to him for awhile and left in search of dessert. WAahahhaa, wrong move. its impossible to find dessert at midnight in Manhattan when its raining and when we don't have umbrellas.
the rapper. wahaha.alright, one last shot of the W=A. CYA NEXT YEAR!
