Life has certainly been a whirl-wind of social events lately. . . just take a look! Not pictured are a good-bye dinner for Augusto at the Westwood Bewery (beer and pizzas galore), a night of southern Mexican food and bowling (okay, more waiting around than bowling) with a score of finance students, and a thrilling, action-packed evening of Star Wars Trivial Pursuit (at which Javier defended his prowess; Jesse, Christina, Robert, and Laura valiently fought back; and Jason demonstrated the preponderance of questions for which "Two!" or "The Millenium Falcon" are correct answers). Take a look at photos from some other exciting events. . .

January 23: Super Bowl party at Christina and Robert's

With the help of Junko's Japanese newspaper guide to football, and with a whopping three (!!) Americans in attendance, we ate lots (sushi, wings, chips, dips, pigs in the blanket, quesadillas, and more) and actually all enjoyed the game, as well as the commercials. Witness Robert's creation: a football-shaped platter of tuna and halibut nigiri, imagined expressly for the occasion.

February 29: Brigitta's "sixth" birthday party

Leapling Brigitta hosted a mini-birthday party for herself on the big day--though the conversations spanned Ikea, CTY, MP3s, Bill Bradley, and "the Valley," for awhile the three Palm-owners in the room took over and began madly beaming things to each other. A III, V, and Visor Deluxe were all represented.

March 18: Italian dinner and (partially) Spanish songs at Alejandro's, co-hosted by Alessio and Javier

Amit, Julio, and Alessio shopped; Alessio cooked (pasta in a salmon-cream sauce with sauteed mushrooms, parsley, and smoked salmon; and zucchini risotto); Alejandro donated his apartment and CD collection for the evening; Javier played songster; and everyone else ate, drank, sang (okay, well, not quite everyone. . . ), and danced (even less than the "everyone" who sang. . . ).

Here are some of the group around the "Italian-style" dinner table; Javier, Amit, and Mette laughing (probably at the brave dancers); a sample of the various levels of participation that went into the singing part of the evening; and a few posed pictures, including a fascinating one of Amit with a Bill-Cosby-like expression and a lovely poster growing out of his head.