21!

Music: Leona Lewis, John Mayer, OneRepublic, and Justin Bieber's new CD
Mood: 21, twenty one, ventiuno, èr shí yī, vingt et un, einundzwanzig, واحد وعشرون, Είκοσι μία, इक्कीस, ยี่สิบเอ็ด, двадцать один)
(sorry i got carried away... that's 21 in Spanish, Chinese, French, German, Arabic, Greek, Hindi, Thai, and Russian)


If I haven't made it clear, I turned 21 this past weekend! I had a great weekend, and now I am totally checked out of school and enjoying myself.

The consulting firm I signed with to work for after graduation flew me and all the other offerees up to Dallas for what they call Offer Weekend, where we visit the office, meet everyone at the firm, and get to know Dallas better. They wined and dined us and really made me excited about post-graduation plans! I flew up to Dallas on Friday morning, where our chauffeur picked us up from Dallas-Love and drove us to the office in Irving. That's right, we had chauffeur who picked us up in a big HUGE sedan. They even gave us a text message the night before of the name of our driver and when we landed, where the sedan was located. It was a little intense.

On Friday, we got oriented to the office, chatted with other offerees, played foosball. After a nice lunch at the building's fancy restaurant, we had one-on-ones with partners and managers of the firm, where they were responsible for trying to sell the firm even more to the offerees. Since I had already accepted, it was definitely more laid back and very comforting to know how approachable the top ranking members of the firm were. I had conversations about my plan to run the marathon, my post-graduation travel plans, and how they had gotten to where they were, etc. After the one-on-ones, we met back together for an "anything goes" consultant panel where recent hires answered all our questions from lifestyle to Dallas to housing. After that, they bused us to the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Uptown Dallas where I was able to fit in a nice work-out and enjoy my decadent room a bit before dinner. Dinner was at Sambuca's, across the street from the Ritz. Let me tell you, dinner was delicious, especially since they were serving a good number of people in our group. We had different appetizer choices, salad, entree and desserts to choose from. I settled on a spinach-walnut salad, a steak and lobster entree, and creme brule for dessert. There were also free-flowing top-notch drinks all night long. After dinner, we gathered for more drinks in the back before calling an end to a lovely Friday night (but not before more drinks at the Ritz Carlton Bar. Of course, right?!)

Saturday, after resting in the most comfortable bed I've ever slept in with more pillows that I've knew what to do with (and of course, using the comfy bathrobe), I woke up and they took us to brunch at Matitos in Uptown Dallas where we were treated to tastey breakfast tex-mex items! After brunch, and catching some of the UT vs Baylor game, we headed to the Dallas World Aquarium for an afternoon getting to see interesting animals and to mingle with everyone else. Some of the group went off to play soccer instead, but of course, I choose the aquarium instead. That aquarium, while cool and interesting, is so small, and it left me feeling terrible for the animals! It was nice getting to interact with the other offeeres and chat about the different offers everyone was considering. Of course, me being biased, I tried to do some convincing of my own to get people to accept their offers. It's pretty interesting that despite the different backgrounds we all come from, I have truly enjoyed chatting and meeting everyone. I am really excited about those who accept an join my entering class! After the aquarium, it was about 2:30pm and dinner wasn't until 6, so we went back to the Ritz Carlton where I took a nap, went to the gym (it was a really nice gym!), and then took a relaxing bubble bath (haven't done that in AGES), before getting ready for dinner. Post dinner, we had a western chic themed company party for us, so I had to get ready for that, then went to Cuba Libre, a nice cuban/tex-mex resturant in Dallas that they also have in Austin. Dinner, of course, was delicious! A round of appetizers included nachos, calamari, a ceasar salad, guacamole, and fried plantain chips. I ordered a grilled mahi mahi (I definitely had my share of red meat after the steak from the night before) and of course, I had a mango mojito. For dessert, we ordered chocolate brownies a la moda and banana pudding a la moda before finishing with coffee and Baileys. Yes. Clearly Wine and Dine is a way to describe what I did this weekend. After dinner, we headed to the location for our western chic party where I played a game of doubles pool with another offeree and two consultants. I was terrible but got a few balls in AND won the game (by dropping the 8-ball into the corner pocket). After night of mixing and mingling with offerees and current employees at the firm, I was exhausted. Everyone sang happy birthday to me and I met someone else at the firm who was also born the same day as me! It was pretty cool. I cabbed it back to the Ritz with some other offerees before crashing into the bed of pillows at the Ritz!

Sunday, I woke up, got ready, and went downstairs for the final weekend brunch at the Ritz Carlton with my fellow offerees and several managers and partners at the firm. After relishing over the great weekend we had over fresh fruit (cantaloupe, honey due, raspberries, strawberries, pineapples, and blueberries), french toast, muffins, bagels, eggs, bacon and sausage, we called it a weekend. I went back up to the Ritz for a quick 45minute nap before catching a cab to Dallas Love for my 2pm flight. After landing in Austin, I drove home, chatted with my roommates for a bit, had dirty martins for the first time (which is a crazy greasy burger). and then took a nap before, getting up and going to trudy's to celebrate my birthday some more with my roommates and friends. Afterwards, I spent the remainder of Sunday night watching Finding Nemo (which NEVER gets old) and watching The Hangover before retiring for the weekend.

If you've read this far, give yourself a pat on the back! Thanks for reading! Here are some quick pictures before I run off and take a nap. This Tuesday is killing me and it's still not over! One of my other roommates JUST turned 21 and got into medical school so I'll be celebrating with him!

Look at that bed! Ritz Carlton! =)

The Ritz Bathtub. The walk-in shower and toilet is on the left and the right features a Jack and Jill sink with granite counter tops!

Of course we're in Dallas, and that's my dream car, an Aston Martin... but take  closer look... what does his license plate say? No, your eyes are not kidding you.. he's a "FLYMAN"

Freakishly Large Fish at the Dallas World Aquarium

The big manatee at the Aquarium!

All right, that's all I have for you! This week I don't have much going on. I've got a Mortar Board event I'm planning for Thursday, a plan II paper to work on, my physics paper to work on, and the Kansas vs UT game!

Relaxing and Chilling

Music: Joe- I Wanna Know
Mood: 90's Weekend on 94.7



Post tests last week, I've been relaxing again! After my tests, I went out to celebrate on Thursday night. I cannot believe I had 3 tests in the course of 24 hours, but I survived and cannot wait for Thanksgiving and for the semester to end! I actually did pretty well on my STAT and LEB test, so that's good news. I find out my grade in the ACCT class on Thursday, so hopefully that brings good news as well. On Friday, my roommates and I did dinner were we (ie. they) made pasta in bread boxes and homemade Tres Leches cake. We watched Paris I Love You, which was an adorable movie but at the same time, it was sort of depressing not being in a relationship. Haha! Then on Saturday, we woke up, had brunch, and then went to the football game at 11am against Central Florida. Though the game wasn't that exciting, I really enjoyed it because it was pretty empty in the student section so we had a bunch of elbow room AND my friends and I were on the jumbotron for a couple seconds!! We were on the jumbo-tron sophomore year and it was exciting being on again senior year! After the game on Saturday, I really just relaxing and hung out with friends. I went to bed early because I was going to run the Gazelle Foundation Run for the Water 10miler at 7am.

This was my first big race of the semester and I was pretty nervous about it, especially since I hadn't run for so long in about a week, and my left foot always goes numb after about 3 miles. I ended up running the 10 miles in 1 hour and 30 minutes, for a pace of 9 minutes per mile. I left foot went numb around mile 4, and I had to pause to massage it and let the blood return. Then my right foot started going numb as well and I was pausing for about 30 seconds every mile. It was extremely fustrating, and I am very happy about my time, given the numb-foot delays. Big Shout-Out to Vicki and Shyam for driving me to the race around 6:30am and then waiting at the finish line for me and then going to brunch at Upper Crust Bakery after the race!

Now, I'm debating wheter I should sign up for the half-marathon on Dec 6th. I am most likely going to do it, but I'm going to wait a bit to see what the weather is going to be like. Decker Lake is known to be a very hilly race (with long, rising hills) that can be killer when it's cold and windy. I am for sure going to do the 3M Half Marathon in January and the Austin Full-Marathon on Feburary 14th. I know I can do 13.1 miles (even if my foot goes numb), but I am worried about the full-marathon. I have no idea what to expect and I don't know if I can make it. I'm still going to run it because it's been my goal since high school, so it's something I'm gonna do regardless! I know for sure that it's not healthy for me (in terms of the wear and tear on my joints), but I'm still going to do it!

Beyond preparing and training for the races, I haven't been doing much of anything else. I am going up to Dallas this Friday through Sunday for the Offer Weekend with the consulting firm I recently signed with. I am really excited about this trip because the firm is essentially going to wine and dine us and treat us very luxuriously (we're staying in the Ritz Carlton and have an executive sedan driving us all around). Not only that, we are going to tour and enjoy the office on Friday followed by a nice dinner and happy hour. On Saturday, we have a brunch followed by a trip to the aquarium followed by dinner and the firm-wide recruitment party. Sunday will be brunch again before flying back to Austin. It'll be a great opportunity to meet more people at the firm and meet other people who go offers with the firm (ie. my starting class), so I'm excited to get to know them!

Also, on Sunday, I will be celebrating my 21st birthday right when come back to Austin from Dallas. My flight lands around 3pm, and I've got activities plan with friends for the evening! This weekend should be very exciting and I cannot wait! =)

Also yesterday, I was able to go onto the field at the football stadium because they passed out field passes at the football game on Saturday. It was cool exploring the field and seeing the stadium from the perspective of the players. I took a picture with the E in TEXAS in the north endzone and with the H in LONGHORNS in the south endzone! =) That was exciting! And I ran into a fellow blogger and friend, Brendan!

Running with Stress

Music: Body Language- Jesse McCartney
Mood: Good, Lazy Stress




This new Jesse song has been stuck in my head!

"Parlez vous francais?
Konichiwa
Come and move in my way
Hey, little chica from Guadeloupe
That thing you got behind you is amazing

Now, I don't speak Spanish, Japanese or French
But the way that body's talkin' definitely makes sense
It's her, her body, her body, her body language
It's her, her body, her body, her body language
The way she moves around
When she grinds to the beat
Breaking it down articulately
It's her, her body, her body, her body language
It's her, her body, her body, her body"

Let's be honest, I'm stressed. And I admit, I've done it to myself. I did this last time during my first round of tests, but in my defense, that was the week right after I got my full-time job offer. Now, about 4 weeks later, I've done the same thing. After watching a lot of Glee (I'm still one episode behind), socializing with friends more, and just relaxing, I find that I have an accounting test on Wednesday and a statistics and business law test on Thursday. I finally started studying yesterday, so it's my own fault that I'm stressed, but I'm definitely okay with that because I put it upon myself. Hence, my mood is a good, lazy stress.

Don't get me wrong; my grades still somewhat matter. And I'm still confident I'll do well on my exams. But I'm just waited till the last minute to study for these exams. I did okay during the last exams, but I definitely need to turn it up a notch if I want to pull out with a decent grade in my classes.

So I registered for classes last Wednesday and I totally got NONE of the classes times I wanted. I got all the required classes I needed, but I was on waitlists for 3 different classes. As of today, I got off 2 waitlists, so my schedule is now MW 11 to 2pm, T 12:30 to 2, 5 to 8, TH 12:30 to 2. I'm trying to move that Tuesday class from 5 to 8pm to TTH 11 to 12:30, but we'll see if that works out. It's the senior level FIN 370 capstone finance class, and I had the last day of senior registration, so obviously I got stuck with the worst timeslot.

This past weekend, I went to Houston on Saturday and Sunday to see a good high school friend who goes to rice, to go to an Owl City concert, and to celebrate Halloween at Rice's (in)famous Night of Decadence (or NOD). Let me say that I had an amazing weekend. Thanks to Chaya for letting us crash at her place and to Shyam for driving! The concert was not really what I expected. It was at the Meridian in downtown Houston, which was a terrible venue because the stage was pretty much on the floor, so you couldn't really see that much. The opening acts were TERRIBLE, but Adam Young (of Owl City) has great songs, so it was fun seeing him live. However, I must say that he is not an entertainer at all. I'm sure he has a lot to learn, but he literally just played through all the songs without any transitions or telling us the background or the meaning behind the songs. In other words, he didn't really captivate us with his personality, though the songs were still fun. He played for about 1 hour, which was about as long as the openers played. Also, the concert was full of high school/middle school students, which Vicki noted some of their combined ages was equivalent to her age. It was funny seeing the parents pick up their kids after the concert. While it seems like this post was full of complains, I definitely enjoyed the concert overall!

And halloween weekend was amazing! I spent Friday night celebrating in Austin and spent Saturday night at Night of Decadence (wikipedia it!). I was a sailor on Friday and a captain on Saturday because I had 2 different hats that I paired with a bandana around my neck. I wasnt sure what to expect of NOD, but I had a blast, though a Rice party is definitely different from UT parties.

As many of y'all know, I've been training for the Austin Marathon since the summer and meant to do the Austin Distance Challenge, but that didn't work out. I've still kept up running, and I just registered for the Run for the Water 10 miler which is on this Sunday. I've been putting of registering for it because I wasn't sure if I'd be able to do it (and because it was $50 to register.) My left foot has been going numb after 3 or 4 miles, which is really wrecking my time. My goal for the 10miler is under 2 hours, but I'm not sure if that'll happen if my foot goes numb b/c I have to stop and wait for the blood to return. I'm planning on running the Marathon, but I haven't registered for it yet. It's $110 dollars, and it's not about the money (though the race money added together could probably buy me the iPod Nano and a new camera I've been wanting). I'll probably register for the marathon after I run the 10 miler on Sunday.

So, I guess I'll continue to run with (good, lazy) stress! =)