Buggy Thai, a sleepless night, three interviews, and back to BCN

I arrived back in NYC late Monday night feeling refreshed and rested after my weekend in the mountains. I spent Tuesday morning running errands, answering emails, and getting a haircut so I'd look somewhat presentable for my interviews and then met Annie for lunch in midtown near Fordham, where she's doing her MBA.

I had a hankering for Thai and we went to a place nearby that didn't look too sketchy... until I found a bug in my mound of rice. Fortunately I'd only had one bite at that point, and it didn't consist of bug. Having never actually been in such a situation before, I didn't know what do to, but finally decided the best option was to walk to the back with my plate and explain that we'd both sort of lost our appetites and would prefer to just quietly leave. The poor waiter was mortified and completely understanding, so we left. As we did, I noticed the girl at the next table checking through her pad thai. I guess you can only be so discreet when suddenly leaving a restaurant after only one bite of your lunch.

Having lost our appetites, we followed the advice of Guinness (it's good for you!) and had two pints at a nearby bar. Hey that stuff is chock full of iron! It's really strange to go into a bar at 2pm on a Tuesday. Who are these people who can hang out there at that time? Anyway we watched the end of the Chelsea/Fulham match and the beginning of Arsenal/Liverpool, and then it was time for Annie to study and get ready for her evening class.

So I went downtown to one of my old neighborhood haunts, The Grey Dog, to meet a friend for coffee. We chatted for a long time (during which Hugh Grant stopped in and then my first boss from Miramax happened to sit next to us) and I ended up having three cups of coffee I think. And this is strong coffee. So by the time I met my friend Michael for dinner at one of our regular spots, The Miracle Grill, I wasn't feeling very well. Might've been nerves as well, but whatever it was, I couldn't eat much.

So I got back up to Annie's by 10ish and was lying in bed, feeling nauseous, ready to fall asleep before 11. Unfortunately I was awakened only an hour later by the neighbors amorous exclamations and couldn't go back to sleep due to the afternoon's intense caffeine intake. Oops. When I finally did fall asleep I had a weird dream, woke up again, and couldn't fall asleep for another hour or so. Then around 5am I got a phone call on my Spanish phone, which would normally be off at night but which was on because it was serving as my alarm clock. It was Movistar, a Spanish phone company, calling to ask if I'd like to switch my mobile service provider. I was so confused at first, I thought it was part of my upcoming interview... I was sure they were checking to see if I could really speak Spanish. Then I realized it was a telemarketer and explained that I was in the US and really not interested in changing my phone plan at 5am.

An hour later, my alarm went off and it was time to get ready for my interviews. Which went well, or as well as they could have gone. It's done now and all that's left to do is wait and see! At the very least, it has been a great experience and it has gotten me to NYC twice in a month, so I can't complain. And maybe tomorrow I'll get some good news.

The good thing about not sleeping much the other night is that last night on the plane I barely kept my eyes open for more than a minute. I had a whole row of seats to myself so I was able to stretch out and really sleep. The bad thing is that now I have to prepare a case for my first class at 2pm, Social Entrepreneurship. Hard to believe the last term is already starting!