Monday, April 23, 2007

Cooking and College

I was late to my cooking class today. I went in expecting to get yelled at for being late and I also expected to be able to do my government homework but, when I walked in my teacher was not there and the chairs were in a circle. Yes, a circle. I was more than a little shocked because I have not seen chairs set up like that since Elementary School. After the shock wore off I looked around and realized that everyone was sitting and I was standing and looked like an idiot. So then I started looking for a seat but, with my wonderful luck, the only one left was right in the front. I hate sitting in the front but I didn't want to look stupid for any longer so I just sat down and let go of the idea of being able to do anything productive.
I kind of just sat there for a minute really confused because one, my teacher wasn't there and two, on the days we don't cook we literally do nothing. Then a guy walked in with a bag of food in one hand and a rolling backpack in the other. He walked right in front of me and then put the food down and started unloading his backpack. This was like a magic bag because except for Mary Poppins, I have never seen one person pull so much stuff out of such a small bag before. First he pulled out like literally a travel stove, then two bowls, then spoons, then an electric mixer, and then some more really random stuff. I just sat watching him because I had no idea what was going on and then out of nowhere my teacher came back and said he was a student Chef and he was going to give us a demonstration.
The Chef (I forgot his name so I will refer to him as "the chef") introduced himself and and before I could even blink he started telling us about his college. He wasn't even talking about food. He was cooking but he was not giving us a demonstration. A demonstration is when someone explains what they are doing while they are doing it, a demonstration is not a person does something and talks about college. Basically, I was pretty annoyed. I hear about college all day from all different sorts of people. The last thing that I wanted was to hear someone endorse their school for forty minutes.
As I was listening to him talk, I began to get more annoyed. The Chef kept talking about Johnson & Wales. I felt like I was on the part of a college tour when the tour guides talk for 30 minutes straight telling you how good the school is. I didn't know why I was getting so annoyed by this guy, but for some reason he was just really getting on my nerves.
About after 10 mintues more of The Chef's talking I realized why I wanted to murder him. I was jealous of him. Here he was, barely 2 years older than me, and he knew exactly what he wanted to do with his life. Not only did he know what he wanted to do, he knew what he wanted to do since he was in high school. His first day of college he started training to be a chef. When I start college I am not going to be training for my job. You want to know why? Because I don't know what I want to do when I grow up. I have no clue what I want to do and before I thought that I was fine with that, but after today I realized that maybe I am not.
My Dad keeps telling me that it is fine if I don't know what I want to do. Actually, everyone keeps telling me that it doesn't matter, as long as I know by my Sophomore year. What really worries me though is that I won't know then either and I will just pick something randomly and end up hating it. I don't want to hate my job and I don't want to hate my major. I am sure that it will all be fine in the end but I wish that I knew that it would be for sure.
You know what, it probably doesn't even matter if I pick now or later. I bet half the people in my grade who declare a major freshman year will end up changing it by their junior year. You know what, I would even bet money that The Chef goes back to school for something else in 5 years.


Thursday, April 19, 2007

The Great Guide to Binghamton, NY (mostly food)

I went to Binghamton University, formerly SUNY binghamton a couple of years ago. Every year was very different for me, different friends, different extracurriculars... Freshman year sucked. but after that, I started to have a lot of fun diverse experiences.
Something that really helped me was having a friend who knew the ins and outs of the school and the city of Binghamton (and vestal, and Johnson city). He showed me all the secrets of the school and the city, and really advanced what I knew about the school.
I am the type of person to keep exploring in order to find the best of everything available. The best places, to me, are not the student hangouts. You want to go to the places where the locals hang out. You want the best food, the places that are hard to find, the little known places, and the best deals. This post has been 6 years in the making. Here is what I've found in Binghamton:



FOOD:
the Dugout in appalachin. Great Pizza and Wings. rarely crowded. townie like bar, but friendly to students too - there arent many there. You get there by going on Vestal Hwy, towards vestal. past everything. once you think you are too far, go about 5 more miles and its on the left.

Wegmans! If you don't love wegmans you are not human. the greatest supermarket in history? possibly. They have great quality foods. comparable to whole foods, but not as strict with the organic types. I dont even think they mention organic there. But thats the type of standards they have. Plus they have great ready foods : subs, pizza, wings, chinese, soups, sushi, and others. Most times I went there just for dinner. My favs were the buffalo pizza, hot wings, and danny's sub with the sub sauce. might as well.


Theos - southern style fried chicken, ribs, cornbread, huge wings. This is real southern style food. Go to the buffet - I think its either on fridays or every day. and there is a Sunday brunch which I've always missed but sounds great. maybe I did go...

Walmart deli section. You don't get these supercenters downstate ( that is a word I never heard before going to Binghamton) They basically have every food you could want - crappy, but cheap and they use a lot of salt. I liked the sweet and sour or hot chicken nugget type things at the deli section. No, I love them.


indian restaurant on main st pretty much sucks. but what other choice do you have for punjabi?

J. Michaels - This was IT for me when I was a sophomore. Its right off main street, but hard to find. You open the huge door, and you have to go downstairs - into the basement. They have a piano player sometimes. Its real italian style. The mafia had a big presence in the area for a while. I could see this as an establishment frequented. Its not too nice that you would feel uncomfortable, but its far from the rest of binghamton. If you bring a date here - things will go well.

Southside Yannis - my friends got hustled there recently, because one 28 year old forgot her ID and they wouldnt serve a drink to a 24 year old. They are pricks about IDs. Dont bother drinking if you dont have a good ID. and if you have friends underage, they may give you a problem. This is an upscale townie bar. they wear hawaiian shirts often. The food is inexpensive and passable. Very few students go there (something which I personally like). The atmosphere is great though. I liked it there (before my friends got into a fight with the manager) . I am hoping that if enough students pack in there, they will change their ways and grow up. Age has nothing to do with maturity.

Tonys - Best pizza in Blinghamton? yes, best pizza. yes. the best. Its not in binghamton, technically. its in endwell. Their mussels in white sauce are amaZing! Seriously - capital Z.


Lost Dog Cafe - if you are female. just go and be sex in the city.

Pepe's - drunk food. good food. famous. experience.
he is the only one in the picture that does not look like a douchebag. and has a mustache.

Ice Cream Corner and also Pat Mitchels, but he died, sooo....

Belmar and Sportsman bar for wings. but its annoying to eat wings while people are macking it in back of you. the other bars have wing nights. Monday - thursday you can eat wings well downtown.
Tom and Martys is having a resurgence. Good for them. I like that place.

Whole in the Wall - earthy food. all natural. wheat grass. pitas. you know the deal. Its very good. welcoming environment

Nut Shop on main street - next to the indian place. its small. family owned. try it. you will probably like it, but might not come back. no one really needs nuts in the first place. they need to expand or something.

Foliage. This was my first real chinese food discovery in Binghamton. Across from the cemetary on Riverside. Its legit. It won't make you sick like Red Wok, sodexho sponsored wok or China One. I am critical about my Chinese food. Those places suck. Foliage is good.

Moon Star - in Endicott or Endwell. I cant remember. Its the same road as tony's though. This is the closest thing to china town within 150 miles. Seriously. its good. legit. I dont think they serve sesame chicken there. This is probably not the best for the highly allergic or squemish because the people don't speak english and the food is not typically american. after bubble tea, this is a very real asian experience (near binghamton). Why the hell are they where they are though?? its strange.

Mei Kong, Vietnamese. its nice there. There are a few of them.

endicott Cortese. People love their pizza. I respect it.
Along those lines, Nirchi's. They are very unique. A nirchis pizza is distinctive. Dont bother with the normal NY style there. Go with what they do best. squares. You get about 4 different kinds at a time. I recommend the italian style wings, and the garlic are great - I was obsessed for about 2 months. The sandwiches are good too, surprisingly. Im hungry.

Grotta Azura- good REAL italian and crazy woman. Mama, I call her, but not to her face. She is blunt, she owns the place, she serves the food, she will tell you stories, shes big and shes a lovely person. What makes it is probably half about the experience, and a third the food.

Reveiller - johnson city -This is a little coffee shop style place. Its a bunch of middle age to old ladies running the place. The food is passable. its more of a fun experience though. They have good natural lighting, from what I remember. Also a coke is good. The diner across the street looks appealing, but Ive heard many bad things about it from the locals. It is called - green owl.

Sharky's - Binghamton is famous for their spiedies. Im not sure why, to be honest. Its originating from the area, yeah, but I really dont care. Spiedies are good there but so are perogies. they have good specials I hear. Its a place I wish I would have explored the menu more. You can also go to Lupo's for spiedies (there are a bunch of locations, slightly out of the way). Sharkeys has a better dive bar kind of experience.

Kampai is great for the special night out. Its habachi. its everything you can expect. They do the tricks with the volcanos and the hats and shooting shrimps, you know the rote.

its fun though. bring a 20. and call ahead to get your friends name on the sign.


I cannot vouch for these, but my friends like them...
java joe's, buffys burritos
dannys, rolandos, chris's, park diner, the spot
- I am from LI and these diners are by comparison greasy shitholes. but a lot of people go to these every day.

NOT FOOD, but things to do:
Laurel bowl - mondays are cheap, probably other days too. You can drink there cheaply.
Cinema Saver in Endicott - 2 dollars - you can make a mistake and not feel so bad about it.
Salvation army!
Speedway gokarts
Nathanial Cole Park. free kayaks, rowboats for the lake. there is a beach there too.
First Fridays is a great thing to check out if you want to get cultural. blah blah. but it really does seem cool
the zoo - ive heard the animals are sad though.
I went to a hockey game at the arena last year. It was great! its a really small arena, no bad tickets. and they are very reasonable. so, why not? go at least once in the year.
Along those lines, the baseball games at the stadium are fun too. In a small town kind of way.
Clinton St. antique row
Harpur Film Society

I recommend getting a car, and exploring off campus. I also recommend getting into some club or social aspect in Suny. I was in the tv station and the student govt. dont stay in your room, and don't join a frat or sorotity if you want to have a variety of friends. Every town has something to offer. There are the triple cities around Binghamton, and even the neighboring towns are nice too. This is a list Ive been meaning to create for a long time. I want to pass what Ive learned on. Give back some places that you love by commenting here! I want to hear. I tell myself I will never come back to binghamton, but every 6 months or so, I find myself there somehow. I usually go to Weggys at least once, yannis, and tonys.

If you want more information on what Ive given you, go to this site, I created it, it has all the information you ever could want to know about anything. type the name of the place, and binghamton and you are there.


thank you matt, dene, chet, and gail for refreshing my memory

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Virginia Tech

I have been thinking about college for over a year now. I have been thinking about where to go, what classes to take, how am I going to meet people, and so on and so forth. I thought I had thought about everything there was possibly to think about but as the last few days showed me, I didn't. I never ever even possibly thought that there could ever be a shooting like there was at Virginia Tech. To me, the shooting came out of nowhere, as I am sure it did to everyone else. Who could ever even imagine that anything like this could happen? Even after Columbine, September 11, and the ASU shooting a few months ago, things like this are just not expected. They take everyone by surprise and devastate a community, a nation. When something like this happens it makes everything else seem so small in comparison.
I still can not believe that this happened but as I have been reading all the articles and watching the media coverage I can't help but think if this could have been prevented. When Columbine happened I was very young, but as I got older I learned more about it and I wondered the same thing. Cho Seung-Hi is very similar to the two killers from Columbine. In both cases, the killers were depressed and teachers and peers wondered if they needed psychiatric help. In Cho's case, teachers even reached out to him but he just denied that anything was wrong and refused to even go and talk to a counselor. There has to be a way to reach out to people like Cho, even when they do not want to be helped. I know you cannot put people away just for seeming depressed and disturbed, but how else could you ever help someone with that type of personality?

I can't even imagine going through what the students at Virginia Tech went through over these last few days. Only in my worst nightmare could something like this ever happen. Their reality is my worst nightmare. The idea of that is horrifying. I am very sorry to everyone who was affected by the shooting and I offer my condolences to you all.

Monday, April 16, 2007

Does Anyone Know How To Make A Decision???

Decision making has never been my thing. I am always the last to order at a restaurant, I always buy at least four different flavors of gum, and I spend the whole night picking out a movie because I can never decide what I want. Its even worse when I need to make a decision for other people because then I not only feel the pressure from myself to choose what is right, I have to deal with making sure I choose something right for them too. It’s so annoying because it wastes my time but no matter what, I can never make a decision.

The other problem is I always ask people what I should do because I can never decide for myself. I rely so much on other people's opinions and it always influences my final decision. My parents definitely do not help me either because when I ask them, they give me half an answer (if that is possible). They try not to tell me what to do, so that I will “make my own choices,” and then at the same time they manage to tell me exactly what they think I should do. They truly have a talent. All they end up doing is making the whole situation worse because they both have two completely different opinions (which has me try and make them both happy, which never happens).

My lack of decision making capabilities is having me choose a college be like 20 times harder. Sometimes I feel like I have a million choices and then sometimes I feel like I have one. I think people with a lack of decision making skills also have the tendency to make things into extremes.

I am so frustrated with college I am almost ready to make a poll and ask people what they think I should do. You know what, here it is: Choice A is that I go to Buffalo; Choice B is that I go to Buffalo and transfer to Binghamton in the spring; Choice C is that I go to college at home for the fall and transfer to Binghamton in the Spring; Choice D (only possible if I get off the wait list and in to Binghamton for the fall) I go to Binghamton; or Choice E (my personal favorite at the moment) I skip college and join the circus.

I wish someone would just tell me what to do but I guess it’s just a part of the "college picking experience". It really would not be the same if someone just said to me, "do this, it’s the right choice." As annoying and stressful as deciding is, I bet I would be even more annoyed if someone decided for me. I am probably better off this way; maybe I will even learn how to make a decision.


Monday, April 9, 2007

The Secret of a Big Envelope

For months I have been back and forth on where I should go to college. Everyone has been constantly asking me where I wanted to go and I think every time I have answered with something different. First I wanted to go to Binghamton, then I wanted to go to Delaware, after that I wanted to go to Buffalo, then I decided I wanted to go to college in Boston, then Delaware again, and then my Dad told me he wanted me to go to a SUNY so then I was trying to decide between Buffalo and Binghamton. About a month ago I finally decided to go to Binghamton but when I decided, I hadn't gotten a letter from them yet. Even though it wasn't official, I was really excited because I thought that now when people asked me where I was going to go, I could actually give them a definite answer.
About two weeks later, a few of my friends got there letters from Binghamton and they only got in for spring and they got wait listed for the fall. Not to sound horrible, but I was actually happy because I thought that meant I would get in for fall. I began to get a little to obsessed with the mail and I started waiting for it like everyday.
Finally, after all of my waiting, my letter finally came. When I got it, it was in a huge green envelope and on the envelope it said "Your the one that we want." I was so relieved and I ripped it open right at the mailbox so I could read it. I started to read it and then I did a double take. Not only was my letter an acceptance letter, it was at the same time a rejection letter. I bet you never heard of that before.
After all of my cockiness, I too only got into Binghamton for the spring and got wait listed for the fall. At first I was devastated because I just was not expecting this to happen, especially after the stupid letter came in a huge envelope. Its not the end of the world, I guess I could be much worse off. Other people I know got completely wait listed and others got flat out rejected. The only part that really is annoying is that I stil don't know where I am going to go. I don't know, maybe I would have been better off being flat out rejected, that way I could at least make a decision instead of waiting around to see if I get taken off the waiting list.

Wednesday, April 4, 2007

Senioritis

Senioritis. I never thought that I would get it. For all of those who are unfamilar with it, Senioritis causes Seniors (in high school or college) to become extremely lazy. Seniors with the disease either a) put off all of their work until the last possible second or b) do not do their work at all. The disease is supposedly caused by a lack of motivation due to graduation.

In my case, Senioritis did not hit me all at once, it kind of just appeared gradually. One Monday I was about to start a project andI thought, this isnt due to till Friday, why do I have to start it now? And then the rest of the week just went by and before I knew it, it was thursday night and I had not written one thing.

At about 11:30 that night I finally started my project. I did alot of it but then around 1 I started to get tired. I decided to do a little bit more of it and then to go to sleep. I set my alarm a little bit earlier than usual so I could finish it when I woke up. In the morning when my alarm went off I didn't even realize it and I slept right through it. I woke up at an hour and a half later than I was supposed too late for school with my project not being done.

I ended up missing the first few periods of school because I had to finish my project. It wasn't the end of the world but I did happen to fall under Senioritis' wrath. Since then I occasionally skip a homework and I sometimes "forget" to study for a test but nothing too bad. I wish I could do something that could help to fight Senioritis but unfortunately I am just too lazy.