I was woken up this morning by a marching band going down Nassau Ave. My roommate informed me that it was a Little League parade. Huh. The weather is absolutely amazing for a second day in a row. Last night was perfect and was the first time in the year that I was able to be outside in a tee and shorts without being uncomfortable. We biked back from a party and Brandy commented how it was warm enough to not be cold, but not hot enough to make us sweat.
It's the end of the semester and things are very stressful right now, although my magnanimous stats TA extended the due date of our problem set so that I don't have to be spending hours on that at the same time I'm trying to write my term paper, which relieved me enough to actually be able to enjoy the day yesterday.
Friday night Eric came by "for a quick drink." Of course, we ended up playing Puerto Rico twice and drinking two bottles of wine and a bottle of Ommegang, which is probably my favorite beer on the East Coast thusfar. I won both games by employing my 'amass victory points early and buy a wharf' strategy. In the first game I didn't even buy a big building and Eric had three. Needless to say, getting up on Sat was a bit difficult.
We got up around 11:30, in time to go pick up our CSA share - I injured my knee so I didn't have to go to practice. We were excited because we got a ton of salad greens. Spring is truly here.
We planned to go to the park where I could work on some papers I needed to read, but we didn't get there until about 5. That didn't stop us from staying several hours. It was super crowded and there were some random musicians hanging out playing. In New York, nice day + park = party. We sat around watching the hipsters, beautiful girls, and weirdos. I got a little work done and then Eric joined us, work stopped, and Boggle commenced. Eric was on and he somehow beat me every time. I suspect practicing.
We stayed until after 9:30. At home I had to wait for Brandy to get ready, which was taking longer than usual. After she was finally ready there was a debacle with my socks since they were "blinding" in contrast with my clothes. After a bunch of time wasted looking, we realized that I didn't have any socks that were appropriate and I left with the same as before. Pros of dating a fashion designer: you become fashionable but still don't have to spend money or care. Cons: reread this paragraph.
We biked down to Larisa and Jason's house, which is in our old neighborhood. Larisa is one of the first people I met in NYC when I lived here two summers ago. Jan and I met her at a party in Clinton Hill and we all ended up hanging out together throughout the summer. It was funny because we would always ask each other if Ji, this Korean girl we also met at the party, was coming whenever we all hung out, like she was part of our little group, even though she only hung out with all of us once or twice.
Anyway, the gathering was a going away party for the two, who are moving to Jason's hometown, Melbourne next month. It was small, but nice. I met a guy who is very into the biking culture here and told me that the really shitty bike lanes that exist in NYC, which force you to ride in the door zone, were originally designed as hashed, no-entry lanes to assert that bikes have the right to take the lane and not ride in the door zone, but were changed at the last minute. I also learned that the police dept had unilaterally passed a law that says that any two people traveling in the same direction and breaking a law could be arrested and charged with staging an illegal demonstration. This was meant to give reason to arrest Critical Massers. City Council eventually overturned this law. FOA requests regarding the pending class action lawsuit against the police for illegally arresting hundreds of Critical Massers showed that in advance of the IMF protests the police had updated the police handbook to prepare and it indicated that anyone on a bike is probably an anarchist and is a likely threat. Anyway, enough about our illustrious police force.
I also met a guy doing his PhD in math at SUNY Albany. He was impressed when I asked him if he had an Erdös number. He did not, but apparently he knew a guy who had both an Erdös and a Kevin Bacon number.
We went to bed earlier, and with less booze, and waking up today was not as difficult. Now that I have finished a delicious breakfast, I must work.