Let me count the ways.

New York is great.

GREAT!

Yesterday I helped Trent and Phil and Joe move from my house in north Manhattan to their house in Brooklyn. It took us...TWO AND A HALF HOURS TO GET THERE! I couldn't believe it. It was ridiculous. First, the A only ran to 4th street, so we had to switch to the D. Then we had to switch to the Q. It was the pits. But luckily, they live right next to Prospect Park, so I spent much of the afternoon napping and exploring that gorgeous, lovely park.

Last night was the best! We went to my friend Adeline's birthday party. Addie was an exchange student from France who stayed with my family eight years ago, and now she works for a French company in New York. I have never wanted to drink wine so badly in my life. She had a huge spread of bread and cheese (Oh, the cheese! It was so delicious) and a counter with probably fifteen different wines. We (me, Trent and Phil) were the only native English speakers -- as well as the only non-imbibers -- at the party. Addie lovingly remembered that some Mormons don't drink caffeine, so she got me caffeine free Diet Coke! Everyone else was French, and SO COOL! There was this one guy Charles (Trent and Phil thought he said his name was Jazz) who was very obviously the self-appointed life of the party. This kid was rattling off in French alllllllllll night, and he'd pull one of those "I'm talking loudly is everyone watching me" routines where he'd look around and make sure all eyes were on him. He was great. But France! My love is renewed; my anger at myself for letting my French slip is intensified. I hardly understood anything last night, granted they were all inebriated and talking a mile a minute. But! France!

Today I went to church. It was a great day. A GREAT day. A boy I once had a purely physical relationship with is getting married. Good for him! I don't know the girl, but I pray they'll be very happy. I met many wonderful people, including a girl named Sara who's 29 and moved to New York a year ago after working for a designer lady in Boise, and now Sara goes to Pratt and she's interning with Steinway! Like Steinway pianos! She said I can come play piano there anytime I want to! We exchanged numbers so we can be friends. After church, Chris, Yancy and Lacey came over to my house for a short while, and I heard Yancy's ring tone (DRAGONFORCE!! I heard his phone ring and I actually looked around for Rory!) before we all trekked back to Fort Tryon Park for this boy Collin's birthday party. It was so fun! Megan had her Polaroid and we took photos. She also had her baseball mits, so we played catch. Anne made delicious cupcakes and cake, and she brought games like "Stick the butterfly on Curious George," which bears a striking resemblance to Pin the Tail on the Donkey minus the concise name, and we wore party hats, and flew a kite, and blew bubbles, and later I ran along a rock wall that had a 20 or 30 foot drop down one side. Luckily Yancy held my hand for comfort, and Megan took an amazing photo of it. Everyone walking by was jealous. I would've been too. It was a marvelous evening. The weather was perfect. The mood was perfect. Everything was perfect. Also, Fort Tryon is my most favorite park in Manhattan, if not all of New York City. It is gorgeous. Windy, overgrown, mysterious, enchanting. I will return there oft.

Now I'm at home listening to the Beatles. Maybe I'll update my ipod. I'm still doing the shuffle thing. I'm on song 378 out of 5,150. I'm doing pretty well, eh?

The moral of the story is that New York is a lot of fun, and I will miss it come August 9.

This week for the 4th of July I'm seeing the New Pornographers for free, watching the Macy*s fireworks, and then this weekend I'm going camping in Montauk, meet me in Montauk.

My life is like, so shoes.

Love (truly),
Lisa