Ok, as some of you may know, I’ve been working and negotiating with Acura dealers in a 100 mile radius of New York City to get a good deal on the Acura RSX. Now if you know my haggling skills, you know I’m really diplomatic and aggressive when it comes to pricing.

Heres the low-down. The base model, with automatic and leather, dealer invoice price costs $20,408, while the MSRP is about $22,800. I managed to haggle this price down to $20,900 which is a mere $500 over invoice. Sweet hagglin skillz, eh?

Basic breakdown comes down to this, with 4k down payment and 2k for my car trade in value, monthly payments for 60 months come to $325 and insurance full with extended warranty and glass $279 a month. This is ontop of the $80,000 I’m taking out of my apt’s equity to help my parents pay for my sister’s college tuition. Yeah, I’m gonna be strapped for cash for a bit, but hey, it’s for the betterment of both the family as a whole. Not a bad accomplishment for a person that’s not even 23 yet. Heh. And remember, I’m working -=BACKWARDS=- on the equity from a fully paid apt. mortgage in Manhattan - an accomplishment that most don’t achieve during their lifetime!

Anyhow the car is damn sweet. They styling alone is something to drool over. This car does 0-60 MPH in a mere 6.1 sec. It does a quarter mile in 15.2 sec @ 92.7 MPH! It brakes from 60-0 in 128 ft Oh man, this is so unlike me to nearly gizzz over a car. LOL And its friggin mine mine mine! Comes standard with alloy rims, cd player, 6 speaker stereo, alarm, remote door locks, sunroof, auto climate control, 4 disc abs, and tons of other stuff. Whoooowie.

Heh - maybe I don’t need a significant other after all… I’ll have problems peeling away that smile on my face after driving this thing every day on my commute.

Had a great convo with Tammy on the phone today. Of course I was a bit buzzin from drinking a 6 pack of Mikes hard lemonade with buffalo wings with a few frinds over 4 player game of Unreal Tournament on PS2. Heh. Its funny how fucked up the game gets and how silly you run past each other without realizing it when you’re slightly buzzed. Anyhow, we had a talk over dating habits, cool places to chill in NYC, and conferencing Uma in about her job situation. Yeah… Party line on my cell phone. LOL Whole time I was, as Tammy put it, “giddy as hell” as I pretty much laughed my ass off at every little thing.

Tammy also noticed that I say bye in a “very cutesy short way,” whatever that means. I told her next time to imitate me or point it out. LOL

Also got a chinese lesson from Tammy: “wo yao nyu pung yo” LOL! Although I’m not sure if its applicable now, but maybe after I stop gizzing in my pantz over the car… LOL

I went skiing to Mountain Creek in NJ during the snow storm. LOL. It was pretty decent, and they had plenty of trails and a decent amount of snow on top of the ice. Granted the ice was really annoying, but it was fun nonetheless.

The event was organized by the Union Squares House church (to some other christians, this is what you’d call small group fellowship). The trip was Richard’s but just got bigger and bigger as more and more people wanted to go.

The trip was pretty good up until the snow storm hit and it really started to come down. While skiing you literally couldn’t see 10 feet in front of you!

Also near the end, this snowboarder clocked me at high speed twice within 60 seconds apart. I pulled my right quad as my leg twisted in a direction that it wasn’t meant to go. I got up, saying, “WTF is your @#($* problem?!” The guy gives me one look look and takes off. Damn punks… LOL

Anyways, we left at 4 since the snow was coming down harder and driving would be dangerous. It took us only an hour and a half to get there, but nearly 2.5 hours to get back near NY. Our car decided to get some nice Korean food at Fort Lee. From Left to Right, Top to bottom: Melanie, Me, Helen, and Pat

My hair looks nuts since I was wearing a bandana the entire day. LOL

Later that night I got a call from Uma, who says, “We gotta discuss your dating habits…” Essentially, she basically was reaming me up the wall for the first time saying that I’m simply too nice when I meet people and just give too much of myself in general. Unless they really know who I am prior, most people wouldn’t understand. On top of that, becuase in general I’m just nice to everyone, there’s really no distinction between good friends and a significant other. (Well actually there is the emotional level, as well as the whole exclusivity level, but I guess she’s referring to more visible issues)

So what am I to do? Well, it means that I need to be more of an asshole… Ever notice how asshole guys get treated like gods when they do the slighest bit of thing considerate for once? Essentially if you’re nice all the time, it makes it 10X harder to top yourself for those special occassions. Basically, if you’re eating steak everyday, it takes a filet mingion to feel special, and at that sometimes even filet mingion gets boring…

Now I’m not saying I’m gonna turn into a jerk… I’m not about to return to the arrogant conceited asshole I was in 98 and 99… It’s just that Uma makes a valid point that I really need to tone down being nice and sweet to everyone all the time. Plus I should be less giving of myself and hold back things about myself… Ugh, I hate the dating scene - its the ultimate test of game theory.

Anyhow, this is probably not gonna be an overnight thing anyways… Every time I work on fixing a character flaw of mine it usually takes at least a few months. That’s ok with me anyhow, I’m single, focused on work, financing for a new car, preparing for the GMAT and MBA admissions, as well as pushing for a promo soon. I need to focus on myself for a change and be selfish for once.

One thing is true (at least from the people that I encounter), however, only older women appreciate a guy that’s genuine, sweet and nice. Maybe that explains why I get along with older women so well in general. Most females my age are just looking for that good looking guy who’d be a wild hookup. Just look at what goes on during Thursday Happy Hours! That’s why I don’t go looking for numbers when I go, if I meet someone as an aquaintence that I only see at the parties, its all good. If we have the chance to meet outside of the party scene or get introduced by someone I trust (George for example), then I’ll let my iron walls down. If this offends any readers out there… GOOD! Prove me wrong.

Also it’s my personal policy to not even consider anyone from work or church. PERIOD. It’s just bad policy, in that if anything by chance goes wrong, it’s your entire reputation on the line. Time to find a new job or a new church. It only takes one bad thing to completely ruin a good thing. You see how bad the collateral damage can be? If any of you out there are even considering doing either one, you better be damn serious about dating this person, maybe even to the point of marriage. Either that, or she better be THAT special to you to risk it all. Simply put, these are not the places to go about casual dating. You better be in the mindset to settle down…

People say I act a lot older than I really am. What doesn’t help is that I have this baby face that makes me look 12, but once I start talking, people know they’re not dealing with a typical guy in his early 20’s. Even Richard was suprised to hear that I was 22 (23 in March), since just the things I talk about are non-typical of people my age. I’ve been hearing this all throughout college, and the best quote was from Violetta, and investment banker at Merrill: “Eddie is the only 30 year old that is 20 years old that I know…” That pretty sums it up. Granted I had to sacrifice much to gain all the experience that I have, and build the equity that I have. Do I regret it? In some sense yes, in that I sometimes feel robbed of the party times of college. But then again, these “party times” do nothing to further your personal development. So in that sense I don’t feel that bad… But honestly, I do feel that my chronological age is the biggest hinderance of me maximizing my capacity. If I were 5 years older, people would take me more seriously, and I wouldn’t have to constantly prove that I can do the same things (or exceed) a guy 15 years older than me can do. It’s one of the reasons why I don’t let anyone at work know my age, but let them know of my experiences in life. Judgement comes on a different level. Once that respect has been established, my real age won’t make a friggin difference…

Anyhow, I’m ranted enough now… I’m off to Excel to work on how to finance my new car.

Feeling: a bit pissed and in pain (from that jerkoff snowboarder)
Wanting: to disappear for a bit
Needing: something to distract me
To do: clean my apt, laundry, call a few friends

I know this is late as hell to post this up, but hey, better now than never! =P

Anyhow all the pics can be seen HERE

We were damn close to the ball, at Bar Code. Of course, George with MAX Happy Hours had me sub-promote the party, so we got in all cheap. People who got tickets before Thanksgiving got tix for $40. The highest priced ticket sales were $200 that night. =)

3 floors, 2 dance floors, open bar from 8pm-2am, Moet Chandon bubbly at midnight, hors de vours, and all you can play video games all night (to keep the guys busy while the girls play) hehehe.

The party was damn good, except that some people really went too nuts with the alcohol. Especially the girls. Never saw so many girls so pissed drunk and puking all over the place.

My friend Charles ran into his friend’s ex, who was there with her date. She was so pissed drunk at midnight, and when the new years kiss came, they went to french, and wham! She pukes right into this guys mouth. Probably the craziest and sickest thing I’ve seen in a long time. But at the same time, i couldn’t help but to feel really bad for the poor guy. Geez, I’d classify that worse than getting snowballed! LOL Plus he’s walking around in a puke covered shirt.

My date was great, and we danced all night. I even got a new years kiss… Whoohoo! Although around 1AM, she drank a little too much bubbly and hurled. Guess who had to take care of her after the party? Exactly. I spent that night removing her makeup and sitting next to her to make sure she didn’t puke in her sleep. When she finally woke up, that’s when I went back to sleep.

But hey, it was a fun night, with friends and co-workers. Everyone enjoyed themselves, and it was memmorable. All except the puke swallower!

I got the following forward from Ruthie… It’s pretty interesting:

They call it the “Quarter-life Crisis.” It is when you stop
going along with the crowd and start realizing that there are a lot of things
about yourself that you didn’t know and may not You start feeling
insecure and wonder where you will be in a year or two, but then get hot and
scared because you barely know where you are now. You start realizing
that people are selfish and that, maybe, those friends that you thought you
were so close to arent exactly the greatest people you have ever met and
the people you have lost touch with are some of the most important
ones. What you do not realize is that they are realizing that too and are
not really cold or catty or mean or insincere, but that they are as confused
as you are. You look at your job. It is not even close to what you
thought you would be doing or maybe you are looking for one and realizing
that you are going to have to start at the bottom and are scared. You miss the
comforts of college, of groups, of socializing with the same people on a
constant basis. But then you realize that maybe they weren’t so great
after all. You are beginning to understand yourself and what you want and do not want. Your opinions have gotten stronger. You see what others are doing
and find yourself judging a bit more than usual because suddenly you
realize that you have certain boundaries in your life and add things to your
list of what is acceptable and what is not. You are insecure and then
secure. You laugh and cry with the greatest force of your life. You feel
alone and scared and confused. Suddenly change is the enemy and you cry and
cling on to the past with dear life but soon realize that the past is
drifting further and further away and there is nothing to do but stay
where you are or move forward. The stupid ones plateau, the smart ones rise.
You get your heart broken and wonder how someone you loved could do such
damage to you or you lay in bed and wonder why you can’t meet anyone decent
enough to get to know better. You love someone but maybe love someone else too
and cannot figure out why you are doing this because you are not a bad
person. One night stands and random hook ups start to look cheap and getting
wasted and acting like an idiot starts to look pathetic. You go through the
same emotions and questions over and over and talk with your friends
about the same topics because you cannot seem to make a decision. You
wonder what in the hell is wrong with you. You worry about loans and money and
the future and making a life for yourself and while winning the race would
be great, right now youd just like to be a contender! We are making a lot
of mistakes, but helping one another learn from them. We will piss
one another off, and laugh at the end of a conversation that started with
angry words. We are a group that talks behind the backs of the same people we
call to meet up with on a Friday night, but we are sorry about it and we
know that we were just being insecure like they have been. What you may not
realize is that everyone reading this relates to it and we are all in
this together. We are in our best of times and our worst of times,
trying as hard as we can to figure this whole thing out. We are friends,
and in 10 years we will be friends who have figured out where we fit in
this world.

Promise Yourself: To give so much time to the improvement of
yourself that you have no time to criticize others.