4th of July Happiness!!

This afternoon, me and one of my best buddies decided to go to BJ's to watch the match between Italy & Germany and have a bite or two. The restaurant was so crowded (Hence, The 4th of July's Independence Day) that we have to sit in the bar section of the restaurant. Surprisingly, the Americans' eyes were hooked to the TV sets and were watching the game attentively.

After the game, we ordered a white chocolate macadamia Pazooki: It is a small, hot pan white chocolate macadamia cookie served with vanilla bean ice cream on top. Seriously, it is one of the best desserts ever you can find in an ordinary American tavern-like restaurant.

Afterwards, we went for a walk in Pearl Street (which was also crowded and filled with many "talented" poor people...but their talents are extremely good that it would be rude if you won't able to fork something). We went to Borders and I bought "3 books for 2" on selected paperback books. Here is a list of what I got:

Indecision by Benjamin Kunkel

Dwight B. Wilmerding is only twenty-eight, but he’s having a midlife crisis. He lives a dissolute existence in a tiny apartment with three (sometimes four) slacker roommates, holds a mind-numbing job at the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, and has a chronic inability to make up his mind. Encouraged by one of his roommates to try an experimental drug meant to banish indecision, Dwight jumps at the chance (not without some vacillation about the hazards of jumping) and swallows the first fateful pill. And when all at once he is “pfired” by Pfizer and invited to a rendezvous in exotic Ecuador with the girl of his long-ago prep-school dreams, he finds himself on the brink of a new life. The trouble–well, one of the troubles–is that Dwight can’t decide if the pills are working.

Almond: The Sexual Awakening of a Muslim Woman by Nedjma

Badra is a young Muslim widow who flees the small town of Imchouk to take refuge with her Uncle Slimane's iconoclastic ex-wife. In Imchouk, it was expected that Badra's life should be limited by her husband's wishes, but at Aunt Selma's, Badra begins to think about how she wants to live from now on. She recalls her youthful curiosity about sex -- what other girls' and women's bodies were like, her first attempts to spy on men, her fascination with the two beautiful prostitute sisters who lived outside Imchouk. When she develops a passionate, consuming relationship with a wealthy doctor, Badra remembers and rediscovers her own sexual being, in scenes that are erotic, revelatory, and sometimes bittersweet.

The J.A.P. Chronicles by Isabel Rose

Ali Cohen, an Oscar-nominated filmmaker and former camp outcast, plans to make a documentary about her former bunkmates. The ugly duckling turned successful self-made swan secretly hopes that that her teenage tormentors will have grown into adult losers. Its sex and the city meets Jane Austen. As each woman steps into focus, however, it becomes clear that it is not quite that simple. Sure, Arden can’t keep a job (even as a nanny!), Jessica is stuck in regional theater, and Dafna has lost both her job and her $20,000 per month stipend from her father. But Laura is apparently flourishing as a Los Angeles superagent, and Beth has found happiness by throwing over her dull but successful fiancé for her wedding photographer.

Happy 4th of July to all the Americans out there. Bring on the fireworks!!