"Home"

I'M BACK IN SAN DIEGO!!! IT'S GREAT TO BE BACK!!! RIGHT...? Not really. Spending the last 4 months in New York has made me realize how truly uneventful a city like San Diego is. I can't get Famiglia Pizza at 1 in the morning anymore, or find a place as social and alive as Union Square. News reached me today that it snowed in New York and all I could think of was how boring this 60 degree weather is. No scarves, no gloves, no coats. It's boring. I find the cold weather and dirty streets of New York quite humbling. They remind you you're human and to take advantage of the time you have in nice weather. Living in San Diego is so... safe. I'd have to go out of my way to try and get stabbed here. No thugs here. Lamefullness.


Where is my home now? Is it the wilds of my steel New York jungle? Or Pleasantville, San Diego? Somehow I feel like every first semester college student will ask him or herself this question. The quest of re-discovering where your home is. Perhaps it's both. For me, this is an ongoing Odyssey of trying to find my place in the world where I feel comfortable. Maybe someday I'll view one or the other as "My Home", but for now, I exist only as Bob Dylan would say, "On the Road". Till next time...

Contraband

"FIGHT THE MAN!!! SHOVE IT UP HIS ASS WITH NO LUBE!!", attendees of the "Contraband" party cried. Well... not really. But they thought it! On Saturday night, members of the 7th, 15th, and 16th floor rallied together in a party to protest against the RA's that had written them up for "possession of alcohol" and "excessive noise" the weekend before. In response to the write up, the protesters made a faux-party that created the illusion of a real party WITHOUT the actual "party". "We were making a statement. We wanted the RA's to look like idiots when they came into our room", Bridget Cichello, one of the "Contraband" creators says. There was a turnout of over 20 SOBER people helping to make the "party" a success. Shirts were made, fake joints filled with leaves were rolled, and Smarty's were crushed to create "sweet cocaine".

Everyone drank root beer out of brown plastic bags and red cups to make it look like a real booze fest. "The party began at around 8 o'clock and ended around 9 o'clock when the RA's finally came into the room," Cichello says. The RA's marched into the 7th floor room at exactly 9:03 PM, three minutes after the "Contraband" party was said to begin. The RA's came into the room suspecting the worst as red cups, brown bags, lines of "cocaine", and joints were scattered throughout the room. "They asked us to show them the alcohol and to bring them the drugs. We just smiled at them because we had nothing on us," Cichello says. As the RA's left the room baffled and humiliated, the party cheered and finally ended. They stuck it to the man... and came out with a sugar high. Until next time...

Vomitron and the Aftermath

Just when you thought it was safe to smoke pot after drinking vodka... think again. Friday night was a messy night for my roommate (affectionately code-named "Vomitron") as alcohol, studying, and marijuana led to him to a dirty puke and a miserable hangover.

The "Bro-mance" that consists of 16th floor residents Vomitron, Ignacio Gutierrez, Nacho Libre, and Samuel Morse (whose real names are protected under pseudonyms) had a Friday night study sesh for the upcoming week of finals. "We had decided beforehand that we were gonna do work and not let booze get in the way", Nacho commented on the event. According to Ignacio, the bromance had decided as a group that they would be studying and doing homework, when disaster hit... "We started drinking beers, watching TV, and fucking around. Then Vomitron left to take some shots", says Nacho. When Vomitron returned from his shots of cheap Vodka, he inspired the brethren to smoke ganj with him.

"You can't handle it", exclaimed Ignacio, but reluctant Vomitron smoked. As the bromance got high and continued their "study sesh", Vomitron lost control and ran for a trash bin as puke spewed out of his moist orifice. "He puked on my bed", Ignacio said with a troubled face. As Vomitron stared towards the bottom of the trash bin, his bromance continued to watch TV. "We were watching the Japanase Game Show MXC but Vomitron couldn't see what everyone else was laughing at cause he was staring at the trash bin", said Nacho. That, however, was not enough to stop Vomitron from laughing along with his bros.

"I can't see what you're laughing at, but that sounds funny", exclaimed Vomitron in manic laughter from the trash bin. Until next time! Stay tuned...

Homosexual Warfare

YIKES!! THE GAYS ARE ATTACKING!!! No, not really. But due to recent shenanigans, the once peaceful 1607 has turned into a battlefield of love, deceit, and heartbreak. The lovers John Hard and Jack Hoff, whose real names will be protected under pseudonyms, were good friends from the start of the NYU year. Jack claims he saw Facebook pictures of John even before they met in person and thought he was hot. As time went by and John and Jack's relationship escalated to new heights, alcohol would be the main perpetrator in the events to come.

Overwhelmed by horniness and alcohol, John and Jack hooked up and the love tension between them increased. The two followed this ritual of drinking and hooking up for weeks, when one fearful day... John Hard dropped the bomb.

The dynamic duo called it quits when John told Jack that he didn't like him anymore. Jack was a mess. Things got awkward and their was a split between their shared friendships on the 16th floor. Jack became aggressive, hostile, moody, and depressed while John kept to his normal ritual. BUT!!! Tension runs high in 1607 as the "walk by's" in the suite continue to aggravate the situation. To be continued...

And the party went on...

While some of us choose to stay sober in college, MOST of us do not. My floormates have begun making preparations for what appears to be a massive end of the week party. Finals are approaching, and what better way to kill the stress than to knock back a brew. To the left is a picture of ONE of 3 fridges filled with booze ready to be drunk.

From humble beginnings, my floor has been notorious for hosting Beer Pong games, Hot Box Sessions, Shots, and more. I'll keep you all posted on the aftermath extravaganza of this weekend's party. For their sake, let's hope they don't get written up by RA' s this time!! Drink on! =))

Sober in College...

Life without the bottle is less eventful. I come to NYU full of energy and willing to get crunk every weekend. So I do... And what happens? It backfires. Every weekend I get drunk off my ass and ended up in some strange places... Brooklyn, Queens, Harlem. Living in the Village is nice, but sometimes you just wanna break out of Manhattan when you're feeling lucky and adventurous. I drank every weekday, every week, no exceptions. But somehow... the drink lost its flavor. The wine didn't taste as sweet as it did before. I had to stop. It became an act of self-indulgence. So on October 28th I wrote the following:

I,
Christian Pineda, on
this 28th of October, 2008,
do hereby decree to a vow
of sobriety. This includes
the consumption of alcoholic
beverages and the use of illegal
substances. Underneath is the
signed oath.

X Christian Pineda

Witness: X Doug Miller

I forced my roommate to be my witness. A real give and take situation I put myself in... Things are well tho. My first semester of college is almost done, I'm seeing someone, my Gamecube finally works... life is good.