This was the first full week of work. While it was somewhat scary and exciting at the same time, all in all, I ended up being a pretty good balance. I worked a lot – main task being, preparation of a monthly report about the mortgage market. Outside of that, I got to network with coworkers, go out with friends, and explore Dallas. Mid-week I ended up going to a roller rink, trivia night at a bar, and I landed the tail end of the Asian Film Fesitval of Dallas, thanks to Vlad from New Orleans. Moreover, I finally have a bed… but no mattress still. The weekend still retained much of the momentum from past weeks – party on Friday, going out uptown, Saturday and Sunday I spent catching up with my two friends from HS, Mike and La Quenta. Sunday I also went to an Orthodox church, which inevitably had a large Russian parish.
Work Hard – Play Hard. Week 4.
In some sense, I am already getting into a routine. Work pace was picking up, and on Monday I left work at a ridiculous hour – 9:30pm. Granted, it was largely by choice – I ended up chatting with a senior guy on my floor, who shared some very interesting insights about the most complicated part of the office culture – the year end review.
Random Networking. Mid-week I ended up going to this Art Institute of Dallas networking event, predominantly to keep LQ company. After enjoying a Kobe beef burger at the Gordon Biersch restaurant, I proceeded to chat up a storm with all of these graphic designers and the likes. Quite thrilling actually.
Dance Deprivation. In addition to the late hours at work (which were actually more like 8:30am-6pm most days) I ended up going salsa dancing 3 times this week. Certainly a welcome change. I realized how badly I missed it. In the end, I even made a new friend out of the experience. Also quite a thrill.
On Sunday I went to another Orthodox church, and yet again, dozens of Russian speakers – certainly good to have. The weekend closed with an incredible outing to the arcade with La Quenta, during which we really brought back some old school memories – DDR! Yes, Dance Dance Revolution. I felt like a kid all over again. It was pretty incredible. This was further followed by an outing to the movies with LQ and some older co-workers to see “The Other Guys” – hilarious movie.
The Boys Are Back in Town. Week 5.
This was yet another week packed with work – my report was actually due on Friday. First deadline… seemingly successful. Tuesday, I went to another studio for salsa lessons, this time by my self. Wednesday night – saw the coolest concept ever, a sushi restaurant with a conveyor belt. You grab whatever you like and they charge you $2 per plate. So effectively you can get a quarter/half of a roll or single piece of sushi pretty easily. Quality of food was decent, but service was great. I don’t know what is it with me and theatrical girls, but something just clicks.
The weekend was quite epic. Patrick and Aaron came in at 4:45am on Saturday, unbelievably unprepared in terms of packing, but in good spirits. We spent most of Saturday dining out, driving around Dallas, and catching the Dallas street car for fun. Come night time – we hit first Greenvile, in hopes of landing a spot at one of the most intense sushi restaurants without a reservation… and to my great surprise, we got in! Of course we did have to wait 45mins, but that’s quite alright – we got to explore Greenville, the club/bar row in Dallas (reminded me of Bourbon a bit) and ended up at a really killer hookah lounge, Kush. Mike joined us. So by the time we got to Teppo, the Japanese restaurant, we were starving. Bad combination since it was a particularly expensive restaurant (as we learned once we got the check). We enjoyed ample amounts of exotic Japanese dishes, in my case I was all over the sashimi and with great difficulty refused the yaki-tori (since Saturday was the first day of the Dormition of the Theotokos fast)… and we coupled it with 2 bottles of sake. Then we headed out to Deep Ellum – effectively the French Quarter of Dallas. Very sketchy looking area, biker bars and country/blues lounges all over. After realizing that it was already past midnight, and Dallas closes at 2am… we learned that many venues are already winding down. Therefore, we just picked what sounded good – no cover and live music. CC Cross was the artist – a solo vocalist with a guitar. I thoroughly enjoyed the show.
Sunday, after going to Church, me and the boys got lunch. This time – econo $8.99 mongolian grill at Ghengis Grill. I still feel a little guilty eating there… but price point does not get better than that. You can effectively get 3lbs of meat/seafood with noodles for that price. Nothing can match. We were all still in mild shock after the $400 bill from Teppo last night. Shortly the boys rolled back to NOLA.
Later that evening, I realized that I have an aching for DDR again – so I met up with LQ for dinner and another awesome DDR session at the local arcade complex.
That would be all for now - more to come later and I'll be sure to include more pictures next time!! Thank you for reading =)
//A
