I had an interesting conversation with my friend Sarah (and soon to be future co-worker at Johnson & Johnson) about my girlfriend, Caroline. Caroline’s in Seattle right now vising her parents, and won’t be back till Sept. 3rd.

Eddie: yeah I miss my baby…
Sarah: awww
Eddie: hehe
Sarah: Haha… for the first time you’re talking about a girl, and NOT your car…
Eddie: you know, you’re right… LOL
Eddie: the ever so battle between the mistress (my car) and the gf has been won by Caroline…
Sarah: hehe

And so it goes, that the ever so battle between every guy with the car that he loves and the significant other. Those battles usually last for a while, but the novelty of my new car has worn off. It’s 6 months old with over 15,000 miles on it. Yeah, I drive a lot… I stopped hooking up my car awhile ago. It was just the stereo I wanted to be nice, since I drive much

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As some of you people know (or could probably see from my photo gallery), most of my friends are female, especially the closest ones who know me best, and vice versa. Because of this, I have the opportunity to really understand them because nearly every problem they have with guys they usually rant to me. From there, I’ve sat back and observed what they’ve ranted about and can verify what they notice. On the other hand, I also have the advantage of giving them advice back, especially if I notice that a guy is being sketchy as hell… This doesn’t mean all guys are assholes. The handful of guys that I’m friends with are quite respectable, and for good reason too. After all, people do make judements about you through the people you hang out with. Anyways, I had an interesting talk with my friend Jenny on the topic of guys, who referred me to her blog on her site. Here’s an excerpt:

“Guys are @ssholes, they have no respect for women. It doesn’t matter if he is seeing someone or not, all they want is some action and no strings attached (granted, not all men are dogs, but most are). I mean, what is this world coming to? All you nice guys out there how can you allow the reputation of your gender to trashed by a few obnoxious immature males??? (Let me let you in on a secret: girls like it when you call them after you get their digits, girls are more sensitive and we have feelings, don’t take advantage of that? I hate those b@stards that take advantage of the ladies after the girls got a few drinks in her system. yes, we like some action, and just know that we are giving you a chance because we’re not completely ourselves after a few martinis, so play along, and be a gentleman and don’t disappear from our lives after one make-out session. THERE’S MORE TO COME if you’re the right one.”

Generally she’s pretty much right. Time and time again, I’ve observed (and so many other people have) that at least 80% of the guys out there are assholes. Of the remaining, 1/2 are either psycho or super puritan. That leaves only 10% of the male population that are actually dignified gentlemen. Of course these numbers are pretty much guestimates, but from what I’ve noticed from party promoting, talking with people, and living in Manhattan. Basically, I get a lot of opportunites to really observe large amounts of people’s behavior. Makes you wonder why I didn’t finish my minor in psychology… LOL

On one of my older websites, I think version 2.0, I wrote about my theory on Chakan Namja Syndrome (”chakan namja” is “nice guy” in Korean) and the Asshole Virus. Since I can’t find my old website in my box of old CDR’s I’ll just write the stuff here.

-=::[ The Asshole Virus ::]=-

My theory on the asshole virus is fairly simple. It just my reasoning on why so many assholes exist. Essentially, it’s impossible to have such a large population of men being assholes, and psychology teaches us that such behaviors are generally learned or programmed. Meaning, that they picked it up from someone else. Yes, another asshole.

Ever notice that there are guys that other guys consider “the man’s man.” Basically its that one guy out of the group of guys that all the guys worship and want to be.

Pretty much you can consider this guy the “uber-asshole.” He’s the one that rants about ever sexual conquest, flaunts cash like a mofo, drives a hot car, is rude to anyone working in the service industry (ie: retail cashiers, waiters, etc.), and he always thinks he’s money. Their story is the same: “Yeah I used to be this loser guy, but then I realized that I had the power to be better than that by doing this and that, and look where I am now. I’m da man!” Blah blah blah Essentially, this is the mothership that infects the others, and he teaches them to be assholes. The alpha dog trains the pack. This is why when you put a group of guys together, they always follow the actions of that ONE guy. Assholes breed more assholes. Although I do have to admit, at one point in my life, I wanted to be just like that uber-asshole. Since then, I know better.

-=::[ Chakan Namja Syndrome ]::=-

Then there is the nice-guy turned asshole. Essentially this is the nice-guy who’s been burned so many times by women. He has high ideals, and after each bad relationship (ie: kongjoos, gold diggers, users, pyschos), he becomes a little bit more disillusioned about his ideals and loses faith in women. This may continue until he either:
1. Hates women completely and swears them off
2. Goes through a whole phase of self-destructive behavior (recklessness, excessing drinking, drugs, risky behavior)
3. Holds loyal to his beliefs and waits, then eventually finds the right girl.
4. Gets so fed up, that he believes the propaganda that the uber-asshole has been preaching and joins the asshole minions.

#3 is extremely rare, and in my case, I was extremely fortunate to reach that point with Caroline. However, I did hit point #1 for quite some time, and was approaching the brink on #4, which would suck bigtime, since I have a few kharmic gifts (ie: I can gain most people’s trust relatively quickly) that would be insanely exploitable if it were used for evil purposes. Fortunately for me, my values stayed strong, and these gifts have NEVER been used for evil purposes. So if you notice, the rest of the options don’t leave much room for a good result. This is why so many assholes exist. It is the combination of these two phenomena that make the asshole population grow and infect.

I know that there’s bound to be comments on this, so I encourage you readers out there to post some comments on this topic.

PS: that Edward Song article on >iistix.com isn’t me. My name is Edmund Song dammit! Plus I don’t smoke and crap like that.

Nina is Caroline’s roomate for the summer session. She’s originally from UPenn (Wharton to be exact), who also happens to share the same last name as me. Who knows, maybe we’re distantly related or something… LOL Anyhow this weekend was Nina’s last weekend in NYC, so we took her out to Bar 89. Yup the famous one with the amazing bathroom doors that are completely clear, but fog up after you lock them when you go inside.

Caroline and I ordered a our usual drinks, and we got Nina something easy, a blue-hawaiian. She only drank 3/4 of the drink and was totally gone. See the pics below.

Progression of Nina getting Drunk:

Well, some have found out this weekend, some haven’t, but if you haven’t here’s the news. Caroline and I are now a couple. Yay! We just simply get a long so well together, and personally I feel extremely comfortable around her. You know when how those pauses of silence are usually uncomfortable, but with her, its not. It’s just peaceful. My sis came to visit this weekend, and she likes Caroline too. She and I also share mutual friends since that is somewhat how we first met. It’s the classic best-friend gone significant other… Simply wonderful.

More pics in the gallery…

Man… it seems that I’ve been getting into a lot of run-in’s with the cops and judicial system ever since I got my new car, whether it’d be my fault or not…
First, there are all those friggin parking tickets, then the incident of racial profiling up in Connecticut, then the incident where helicopters tagging with laser, and now I get a letter in the mail from the City of Poughkeepsie, NY where someone apparently has stolen my old plates that I had turned into the DMV to have destroyed and has been racking up speeding/parking tickets up the wazoo. If I don’t pay them, the letter threatened, they will have the NY State DMV revoke my current car registration and serve a warrant for my arrest. WTF?!!

Fortunately, I friggin keep every official piece of paper, and have the receipt that the DMV received my old plates and marked them to be destroyed. I wrote a letter to have everything wiped from the record becuase clearly it’s impossible for these charges to have been committed by me since I sold the car that they were originally on, and turned in the plates. This means some jackoff is going around with stolen plates and crap is getting put in my name. Dammit. I wrote down my case, photocopied all the paperwork, and said that if there’s a problem to call me directly. I also motioned that they arrest the person that’s driving around with stolen property, which my now that car should be impounded since its racked up quite a crime spree.

Back in June till July, I went up to Boston and stayed at an awesome hotel at the Sheraton in the Prudential Center. Top of the line stuff, and signed up for their Starwood Points program since I was staying for 6 nights. Becuase it was for so many days and the stay itself cost 2 grand, they were supposed to give me double points so I could have 2 free fridays at any Starwood resort. I go to use them today, to book it for Atlantic City next week, and it says ZERO points… WTF?!

Anyhow, so I call up the Boston Sheraton, and eventually get to the guy in charge of the Points program, and he’s like: I’m sorry sir, I’ll have it fixed right away sir, I’m can’t believe this happened, I totally will personally fix this for you, and just in case, here’s my cell #. OMG! Talk about going way beyond the call of duty to get stuff done. This guy could teach people a few things about REAL customer service! Man I love the hotel industry.

So why am I booking next friday in the first place? Well I have next friday off, so Caroline and I were planning to spend the weekend in Atlantic city to get out of the city for awhile. We might gamble a little, but probably just hang out on their boardwalk, sipping on lemonade, and eat funnel cake. Kind of a mini-vacation. Should be relaxing. Oh yeah, plus those points I earned, can be used on room service food, massage at their spa, and other stuff. Who knows, I wanna see how much I can milk my points for. Hehehe…

And since my last post, I’ve gotten at least 7 emails about whats gonna happen between me and Caroline. First of all, honestly, the only reason I even wrote it up there was mainly for her, because I was really confused about how to approach the subject. We talked the night after on the phone, but for some reason I couldn’t figure a way to bring myself to mention it in conversation. Totally unlike me, since I’m a very upfront type of guy. Maybe I was just scared and chicken shit, I guess… Even Tammy commented that the entry was by far the most candid blog entry I’ve put up in the last year or so…

But to make a long story short, she did say there was a possibility, but that she’d have to think about it more. No problem with me, since there’s really no rush, and it should be up to her. But honestly, I don’t think I want to post anymore on this topic up here, because I’m not too keen on posting my life up here like a soap opera. I’ve got to draw the line somewhere. So unless you know me personally, please stop asking. Thank you.

I’ve noticed that I’ve been getting a shitload of hits lately. 1,400 in the last 2 weeks to be exact. Geez. I guess starting the anti-Mackie Tan website does generate some traffic. LOL I’ve also noticed that a lot of people have voted on my poll. Gee, I know what my priorities are now… hehe… Lose weight and migrate my old content up here. Well those were already on my priorities list, so no adjustment needed. Anyhow its getting late and I’m feeling sleepy…

Friday, I went out with Caroline, and met her up to go to Apple, this Vietnamese restaurant downstairs in my building that has been all the sudden THE place for asians to hang out and drink. Eventually, we were getting bored, and a little restless so we wanted to hang out with some more people, and I think to myself, “Hey! I haven’t hung out with Tammy and her posse in over 2 months (due to training and being busy with stuff), why not call her?” So I give her a ring and she tells me shes over at Solas, a hip bar on 9th street in the east village. Funniest thing is, this girl and her people of non-native New Yorkers, are quite good at finding these “hot spots” that the normal person would never find… Amazing…

Plus this was a good time for me to introduce Caroline to some of my west coast friends. Solas is kinda dark, but if you go there, you’re realize that there are like 4 little areas since its a combined 2 bar setup with both having an upstairs. There’s the standup bar, then there’s the sit down in 80’s style car seats bar, then upstairs there’s a simple wood chairs bar, and then the red room, which is really cool. Caroline and I tried to go there awhile back, but the place was so ridiculously packed that we went elsewhere back then. Now that we were all in the red room, she seemed to be enjoying herself.

It seemed that everyone else was enjoying themselves too!

Now as we’re drinking along, Erin notices my Tag Heuer Kirium watch, and says, “Nice watch. I got one for Dave but he lost it!” I nearly choked on my drink at that point. I asked her was it the Quartz or Automatic, she tells me it was the quartz. Either way, its a heavy loss. Let me tell you about my watch. Back in 1998, when I was a trader on wall street, the Tag Kirums just came out. It was sporty, it was sexy, yet it was classy so you could wear it with a suit. Cut from a solid block of steel, it weighed almost .75 lbs. The Automatic version which has the perpetual pendulum engineering found in high end Rolexes, costs 2 grand. Yes, $2,000.00 people! I stuck this puppy up in my office saying that I will work my ass off to get this watch if its the last thing I do. 98 passed, still not enough money. During that time in trasition to 1999, I joined SDR Fund Management. I had a very successful time there. Working from jr trader, beating all other traders in the firm, working up to VP of Derivatives in less than 6 months because of my triple digit percentage returns. End of the year, the firm got 180% in their fund’s growth due to my trades. My boss one day called me out to take a walk. We walked out to Torneau in 59th street and Park. My boss saw the watch at my desk during the whole time and explained how he wanted to get this watch for me. Bang. Right there, in front of my face, he plunks 2 grand for my watch. To this day I have it, as a reminder of my old life in wall street, and as a testiment to my success.

Anyhow back to the main story. Dave’s Tag is the Quartz. Which is still $1,400-1,500! To lose that, ouch. Dave, my friend, you are so forever in her debt, that no matter what arguement you get into with her, she’s always right. PERIOD. LOL

I get up to go to the bar for another round of drinks for Caroline and me. She wanted another Mojito, and I wanted something soothing, so I went for a toasted almond. Erin comes up to the bar for another round, so we start talking as we wait for the bartender to tend to us.

Me: You’re one hell of a generous girlfriend to buy your boy a Tag Kirium!
Erin: Well, I wanted to surprise him by buying it with my first paycheck.
Me: Holy shit. Your -=FIRST=- paycheck on him? Most people would go buck wild and spend their first paycheck on themselves
Erin: Yeah, and I told him that when I gave it to him, that this will be the only watch he wears for the next 20 years.
Me: As opposed to a few months in which he had it… You know, he’s now forever enslaved to you. No matter what the arguement is, you’re always right.
Erin: He was already mine… I’m ALWAYS right…
Me: *hearty chuckle* Damn… first paycheck… Geez. How long have you two been going out?
Erin: 2 years…
Me: Geezz… 2 years? Like I said, you’re one heckofa generous girlfriend. *Thinking to myself: their love for each other must be strong to do something like that*

We casually converse, and Jane comes in and out bopping about, manages to get the bartender to tend to us and runs away back to the group. As the bartender prepares our drinks, Erin and I continue our to chat,

Erin: So is Caroline your girlfriend?
Me: Unfortunely, no. *thinking: doh, how the heck did that one slip out*
Erin: Ohhhh… So you’re just friends, but…
Me: its a long story…

#### Movie-Style Flashback Transition ####
I met Caroline back at NYU. We share are lot of common interests and get along really well. There were times that we’d be up all night till the wee hours of the morning just talking on the phone about anything and everything. My close friends knew I liked her, but at that time I didn’t tell her, although I’d kind of hint at it from time to time. Eventually, I finally told her that I liked her, and she simply said she didn’t see me in that way. At the time I guess I could deal with it, and though we could be friends and continue on. However, I remember one night going out with her and my friend Mark to a few bars, and he could see it in my eyes. At the end of the night he drove all of us home, dropped her off first, then leaving me with him alone in his car. He pulls the car over.

Mark: Dude, I can see it in your eyes, you still like her, don’t you?
Me: What?
Mark: Stop playing dumb, dude. I’m doing you a favor and telling this to you because I’m your friend. Drop it and move on. Don’t waste your time. Your in the prime of your life, and you’re just waiting around?
Me: Uh….
Mark: Look man… if you don’t stop yourself from getting hooked like this, you’re gonna burn yourself. Just move on, and find someone else… Find other things to do. It kills me to see you like this. I remember you freshman year, you could literally flirt like crazy. You threw those partys with the promoters. You were IN dude… Now you’re this lump that just waits. Fuckin’ get up on your feet and get back to the way you were!
*he kicks me out of the car*

This is where I go weird on Caroline, and start being a dick and started avoiding her. She started noticing, and I just gave her excuses. I put up this charade for almost a month or so, until I finally came to my senses and realized I’m not in grade school anymore. LOL I basically decided that I’d rather have her in my life as a friend, than not to have her in my life at all… Sounds cheezy, but once you come to this moment, you can finally free your mind. Although it’ll only work with some distraction. And I managed to distract myself really well by doing what I do best: Keeping myself damn busy all the time. Everyone knows it. I avoid by hiding behind my work. It’s the New York way. But honestly, we still get along quite well, although we don’t hang out as much as we used to… Then again, that’s more my fault for keeping myself busy. The only problem with hiding behind work, is that it has collateral damage. You wind up hiding from all your friends. Not good… I’m getting better though…
#### End of Flash-Back ####

That night went on. From Solas, we went to Tribe, this place in Alphabet City that played good Hip-Hop music and old school. From there we hit another bar afterward with a place to actually sit. At this point people were noticibly getting tired and stopped drinking. Most of us had already found a cosy spot on the square coushion seats to sit down. It was at this point where Caroline’s head had found its way to my shoulder and our hands met and held. Interesting, given the circumstances of my conversation with Erin and the flashback…

More pics in the Gallery…

I’m one of those guys who keeps secret hitten places around the city that are beautiful or good finds. I usually only share these places with out of town people and really close friends. They vary from beautful gardens, scenic views, perfect place to take a photo, nice places to think/get inspired, or quaint place to eat. One of these places is my beloved genuine French Crepe Cafe called “Le Gamin.” Uma first showed me this place shortly after I came back from my trip in Greece, where I had spent much time at the cafes in the Mediterranean Sea, island hopping for a week. What attacted me to Le Gamin, was its untained purity in that it wasn’t AMERICANIZED. It was pure and geniune–the way it should be. Crepes were traditional, lemonade was freshly squeezed where you needed at least 8 packets of sugar to get it at a palatable level. I came there to eat, chat with friends, or just relax. It was nicely hidden away from any commercial district, buried along a tiny block where then end of King Street starts from MacDougal. You’d never find it there unless someone showed you. I am usually there with Uma or Caroline, although I’ve been there twice with Tammy’s friend Susan. It was a beautiful day, you’d probably see me there with a “bananae et chocolat” crepe with a huge glass of freshly squeezed lemonade. I’d lay back in my wicker chair, lean the chair slightly back, and feel the cool breeze across my face as I smell the freshly melted chocolate from my crepe. On Tuesday night, I hung out with Caroline. We at dinner on my roof deck, relaxed on the hammock up there, and decided to drive down to Battery Park to get some fresh sea air (okay, maybe not THAT fresh). On our way down we were horrified to see this:

Our beloved cafe is out of business. My stomach weeps at this event. I have never been able to find a crepe shop that even came close to the quality of Le Gamin. To my beloved Le Gamin… I’ll never forget you… *sniff*

Anyways, Caroline and I went down to Battery park and looked around and sat by the water. Something about the park at night brings out a larger charm that you miss during the day. Funny thing is, only 3 years ago, you wouldn’t DARE go there at night. The place was known are a rough neighborhood at night. But thanks to Guiliani’s boys in blue, they totally cleaned up the place (not to mention post 9/11 police prescence). We followed the boardwalk up past Stuyvesant Park, and eventually hit this really high class area behind some luxury aparments that had pagodas, wooden bridges, and a great tower where I took a picture. I anticipated taking some nice night shots, so I brought my tripod and made sure my camera was set to nightmode. Amazingly, it took this spectacular picture. I’m still amazed at what my tiny little Canon S110 Digital ELPH can do:

It’s quite a beautiful spot. This one definitely goes on my secret location list, and it seemed that Caroline was nice enough to share this one with me (since it was her find on an excursion with Monica).

It’s Wednesday now, well actually early Thursday morning, and I’ve got to gripe. Uma calls me up around 10PM, and goes hey, lets go to a bar… I need a drink. I said, sure why not, I don’t have work tomorrow. She says she’ll call me when she gets down here. 11PM goes by… WTF? I call her cell… Voicemail… WTF! 11:30 and 11:45… Call her again… Voicemail… Midnight… Call her again… Voicemail… WTF?! Okay, I can understand if you change your mind, but at least call me to let me know… WTF. I friggin waited around for this girl. Grrrr… You know what its like to sit in Apple Bar for over 2 hours alone… Well, I didn’t stay that long… Left after the first 45 minutes past, and stayed at my apt. This is one of the few pet peeves I have… I only ask for common courtesy, especially from my best friend! Geez, and to think I was going to spend some time with her before she leaves for the Peace Corps. Grrr…

My friend Min Young, who’s at Westpoint came to visit this weekend. She brought down Lana, her mother’s friend’s 15-year old daughter from upstate NY who’s never seen the city, and her friend Leann, another Westpointer…

We went to Baden Baden to order some tongdak, but they wouldn’t serve us because none of the girls brought ID, despite the fact we were eating chicken, and the fact that I’m there every week and the bartender and waitresses knows me. Plus I was there with Caroline and Monica the night before! WTF?! So we went to Blue instead and had some dukboki and nakji bokkum. Yum!

Since we were in ktown, karaoke followed, and we finally left there at midnight. The girls stayed over, and again I took the futon couch. They loved the little bird’s nest I have in the loft: 10lb goose down featherbed, down pillows, down comforter, all king size up there.

The next day we went back to ktown and had some popping su.

Afterwards, showed them “the rock” at Cloister Park / Fort Tyron:

Afterwards, we watch Tick and Tack at Washington Square Park. LOL, I’ve mentioned this to the girls before, but I knew that Lana, despite being 15, was going to grab attention. T&T took her to be part of the people they jump over. When that girl is 20 something, she’s gonna get as much attention as that world cup girl… LOL They’re so innocent at that age… Geez, do I feel ooooold! Past me my friggin prozac, depends, and polyefferdent, Sonny-boy!

Min I’ve known for a loooong time, way back in highschool. She hasn’t changed much over the years aside from her step father making her changer her name to Jennifer Sohn. WTF? She’s still Min Young Choi to me… Now, at Westpoint, she’s becoming one tough cookie.

Now Leann is quite a character. But first you should check out her Asian Avenue Website. She is aggressive girl. The type that sorta makes me put up my guard, since the attitude is close to “you know who…” What caught me completely off guard is that she doesn’t take crap from anyone, even if we’re joking around. I cracked a joke and she planted a nice punch square in my stomach. Problem with me is that jokes freely flow from me, and I let one slip out at Pari Pari Ko, and she gave me a hard elbow. Now I know who NOT to take to paintball… LOL! Just kidding *nervous*

More pics in the Gallery…

I went out last night with Caroline and her friend Monica. Went to Baden Baden in KTownfor some good ass tongdak. We decided to take the subway and not my car since I wanted to drink some. We went through an order of one large tongdak (a whole rotisserie chicken cooked korean style) and a side of fries. I went through 3 Apple Jolly Ranchers, while Caroline had a Melon Ball. Monica decided to stick with the water. After that, we saw someone order some apple soju, and we wanted some, so we ordered some of that too. =) Monica had 2 shots, while Caroline and I finished off the bottle. On our way back to the subway, Monica kinda lost it, and dropped the contents of her stomach on the subway platform garbage can. With the heat, you could smell it all over the platform… yeeech. I felt really bad, so brought them back to my place to get Monica cleaned up. Eventually, she felt better and left, but Caroline stayed around and chilled for the night. And no nothing happened you sick pervs! I’m a man of my honor and a gentleman! We’re good friends. Poor girl’s roomate works for Goldman Sachs, and wakes up early and stays up late, and Caroline hasn’t had a good night sleep in days, which is why she asked to stay over. No biggie, my place has been refuge to lots of people. Last one was Uma shortly after 9/11 when she needed a temp place to stay due to the situation. Although, that went on for nearly 3 months. LOL! Feels nice to have a female prescence in the apt again. I’m ruled my own domain too strongly, and its almost like the kharma of the apt has been overwhelmed by me. It’s out of balance. Whatever… Maybe I’m just talking outta my ass, but if you were in my place, you’d probably feel it too. Whatever. And why is everyone telling me I should start looking for a girlfriend? I get at least 2 im’s a day on that topic. I guess the summer love bug is going around, and I’m scrambling to find the bug spray… =P

I saw Min Jung’s site the other day, how she put up audio blog entries… I’m contemplating on doing something a bit more, like a video blog, alhtough I’m not sure how badly it’d eat up my bandwidth. I’ll try it next week, and see how it goes… Till then, TTFN.