tammy loh

Food seems to be the theme of my New York experience. Food, pretty strangers, good friends, and a very healthy lack of sleep. As is obvious from my weekend update post, Vienna Teng is here, hanging out in New York during a rare day off. Yesterday, she played at the Borders in the Time Warner building at Columbus Circle; I wanted to go, but that whole “work” think got in the way. Pat went, with some Microsoft buddies, and in the evening, the three of us ate dinner at a nice Indian restaurant in the West Village, where we had a very nice, spicy okra dish. I really like okra, and eat it whenever I can. Vienna had never been to Magnolia Bakery, so we went there afterward for cupcakes. :)

I’d like to take a moment to point out that with regard to television programming, Vienna is even worse than I am. As we were leaving Tower Records last night, she turned to me and asked, “hey… what is the O.C.?”

Even I know what the O.C. is!

I turned to her and replied, “It’s a TV show! You know, there are, like, pretty people on it, and they uh… sleep with each other and stuff.”

Granted, I only learned about the show a couple of months ago, and have ever only seen one episode, but it still was a triumphant moment, as it’s not often that I get to tell someone what’s on TV. ;) And near her section of the CD rack, she remarked, “I seem to be near some band called ‘Tesla.’” I used to love Tesla, back in the day.

Fusion Food: I had lunch with Jason Heller today at Asia de Cuba, a restaurant that had a really neat vibe. The food is really good — but very expensive! Jason and I are very different people, but our lives and interests are in many ways parallel. Some of the things we have in common are underwater photography, our music backgrounds, CRM, and the drive to pursue interests regardless of their acceptance in the “mainstream” idea of what work is.

The food saga continues. I met Tammy Loh tonight! We had dinner at an Italian restaurant near her place in Nolita. The earliest e-mail have from Tammy is dated March 22, 2001, so we have been online acquaintances for some time — long enough for our first meeting not to be awkward (I thought. :). Meeting online folk can be a bit strange; I never know how much the other person knows about me already, and if I talk about something they might have read on my site in the past, do I sound like I’m repeating myself? In any case, I had a good time getting to know her in person. :) I should note also that I saw no less than four beautiful women as I was leaving Tammy’s building. Using statistical sampling, I can only assume that 100% of women in Tammy’s building are beautiful. Furthermore, her entry way is lined with mirrors, so you get to see them everywhere you look! One of the woman said (as she walked by), “every time I walk by these mirrors, I feel like sucking in my stomach.” I felt the same way! But she was super-thin, and I don’t think she could have sucked in her stomach without displacing vital internal organs. Anyway, that comment ruined the moment. Anyone that thin who thinks she looks fat is psycho. [see some photos]