We All Fall Down

Man, when it's hot, it can be exhausting. Today's heat was nice, but maybe a bit too hot. In a few months from now, at the same temperature, I wouldn't think twice. But when the first day it breaks into the 80s, it almost reached the 90s, it is definitely an adjustment.

I am tempted to turn on the air conditioning, but I am going to try to avoid doing so as it will cool off very soon. It's a funny thing, the air and heat, and how I view it. My parents try to only turn them on when they can let it run for a long period of time. I don't mean hours or days, but if it is not going to become consistently cold or warm for at least a week in a row, they don't see the need for it.

Even though I think this a strange and ridiculous stance to have, it seems to have rubbed off a bit. It won't take a week of hot weather for me to turn the air on, but if its going to be more bearable in a day or two, I won't bother. Is that normal, or do people turn on their air or heat soon as it becomes necessary?

Anyway, I did not hide from the heat today. Instead, myself and a pretty decent crowd of friends who I don't see enough of (some of them) spent a large chunk of our day light hours out on Eddies parade, the campus quad. Days like today are ones where you are all sitting there, knowing you have hours, if not days, of work to get done but if you are going to be distracted by how nice it is outside anyway, might as well just soak it up and worry about the school work later. It's why the attendance rates in classes once April comes around seem to never be full capacity.

Field trip tomorrow is cancelled. The deal we get is day-specific, and so all the parents would have had to okay paying more money for their kids to go on the same trip. I'm guessing by the email I received a few hours ago saying it was not happening means enough parents were not up for that. Bummer, but I can understand the logic - why would you pay double what you were initially meant to pay for the exact same trip? I guess I will have to find time on my own to go see How To Train Your Dragon.

Maybe I Am Getting To Be Redundant

This weather is amazing and spending it outside just makes coming home at the end of the day and getting in bed more satisfying. Today, I didn't actually make it outside until 4 but pretty much from then until about 30 minutes ago I was outdoors. Met up with some friends and played soccer for a bit. Returned home to take a quick shower and headed into the city.

We got into the city and walked. A Lot. We were dropped off at 59th and 8th. We walked from there to 65th and 1st. Which is a decent walk as avenue's are about 3.5 blocks each. After meeting some friends at a bar, we decided to head to meet other friends at 50th and 8th at a place called Blockheads. In route, however, we found out that they were already announcing last call and so we'd have to find somewhere else. That place would be on 50th and 10th - adding two more avenues to walk. So this walk was from 65th and 1st to 50th and 10th - basically the width of the island. After our night here we walked back to Rockefeller Center.

I'd say as much time was spent at the destinations as it was spent walking and that is fine by me. The fact that at 1 am I was walking around in the city with a light jacket, unzipped, and comfortable, even on the verge of warm, was awesome. It was so pleasant to be there.

Tomorrow I go to the daycare, and then heading into the city to hopefully check out Top of the Rock and maybe even dinner in Brooklyn. Excited about the school because its warm enough to start going outside with the kids again for their activity instead of arts and crafts.

Ignore The Weather

Sometimes you just have to forgo. Today, my sisters and a close friend came to visit. They are here for 2 days, and the two worst days NY has seen in the past 10-14 days. We were especially spoiled after last weekend and the start of this week. As this weekend approached and the forecast was telling nothing but bad news, there were brief talks of trying another weekend. Ultimately it was deicded that, despite the bad weather, this was the most convenient weekend.

Sure, there was a lot I wanted to do that was 100% dependant on good weather like walking High Line Park, eating lunch in Union Square, walking the Brooklyn Bridge and spending some down time in Battery Park, but you do what you can. Today we hit a bunch of places and were in the city, and on the go from 1 pm until 11 pm. Fortunately for us, not until we reached the final part of our night - searching for a restaurant for dinner, as well as the trip home - did we really battle the elements.

Tomorrow is looking to be a bit worse, but after spending a few hours online we came up with a few options, keeping in mind the volume of people in the city on a Saturday and that many will be looking for similar indoor activities. Hopefully something works out, and if not, we already have lunch reservations in the city, and the plan to have some quality down time in my home, capping the weekend off with a trip to Arthur Avenue for Little Italy before heading to Penn Station.

Highlight of the day was the boardwalk at Southstreet Seaport overlooking the river with a view of the Brooklyn Bridge. They really loved it - everyone had their cameras out taking pictures. If you haven't been to this area I would check it out - the mall/shops combined with the restaurants are all great entertainment in an area with such an impressive view as this.

A day to be spent outside

That's all that needs to be said about today. Was able to, for the first time in 2010, have lunch sitting on the steps in Union Square. It was beautiful today. Only regret is not making it to Central Park before dark. Luckily it is supposed to be this nice for a few more days.

Risky Business

We played our second game of RISK tonight. I need to stop trying to conquer Asia. I end up spreading myself too thin and everyone is afraid of someone controlling all of Asia because of the number of extra armies per turn so I end up wearing a bullseye.

Fingers crossed for two beautiful weekends in a row. Plan is to go to Montauk this weekend and then my sisters are coming up to visit the following weekend for, hopefully, two full days in the city.

Just In Time

So, walking around yesterday and today I am realizing that the recent warm weather is finally reminding me what color the ground used to be. That's right, the snow if finally melting to the point where the grass is visible once more. And then I read the 5 day forecast and realized there is another snow storm (or two) on the horizon.

Maybe it is the adult in me, maybe its the amount we have gotten this year, but I think I am done with the snow for one year. I don't even think a snow day could convince me otherwise.

Been doing some reading for a test I have tomorrow. Did you know that Sigmund Freud had some pretty strange ideas about mankind? I mean I will give the guy credit for laying some ground work for the field I an majoring in, sure, but there are some ideas of his that just make me laugh because of how absurd they are. For my class we have to know Freud's theory for the origin of religion which includes the first parricide, the beginning of incest taboo, the urinating on a father by his sons, all of which lead to the first civilization and origin of religion. It is definitely a good story.

What I did find interesting was Freud's concept of understanding man in terms of the history of man. Freud theorized that any individual organism in its species was genetically linked to its ancestors and thus that species in the present carried with it, the history of its species. Freud believed that the modern day man contained in him the history of mankind and we could learn history of our ancestors and the history of mankind by extracting this from the modern man via examination by psychoanalysis. Curious.

Positive Weather, Positive Outcomes

I am not a big fan of summer weather. I know - you might think based on my readiness for the warmth that I am a big fan of the hot sun and such, but you would be wrong. I am a fan of the middle ground (not to sound dull). My favorite seasons are spring and fall. I would much rather be in jeans and a t-shirt or a hoodie than anything else. Preferred temp range: 50-75.

This might seem odd, but it's something I like. I am a fan of comfortable weather. I feel like, just as the severe cold can be debilitating, the heat can be the same way. Long strings of, or just individual days of 90 degree temperature makes people unpleasant. You sweat more, you get stressed easier, everything you do is an effort because it is exhausting in that climate. What temperature is a pool typically set to - 60s. Why do people like the pool? Because it is refreshing - I rest my case.

That being said - temperature is relative to adjustment. When it is summer, 50 degrees feeling like freezing and likewise when it is winter, 40 degrees is a breath of fresh air, and that it what I woke up to today. After feeling really out of it last night I slept until about 12:30 pm today, went to breakfast at the local diner with friends and ultimately decided that it was a day meant to be outside. It had been awhile since I was able to walk down the street with my coat unbuttoned and I was more than happy to stay outside in such weather and it led to an incredibly productive day. I was able to spend all of the remaining daylight, and even some dusk hours in city. I became a member of the New York Public Library (long overdue - no pun intended), as well as spending a gift card from my parents, picking up some things at Border, and finally getting some produce that was both a better selection and better quality than what the local grocer's have to offer.

All in all I'd say that is a great day. Homework? Well isn't that what Sunday is for?

Cravings

You know how it's easiest to decide on a restaurant or type of cuisine when you find youself 'in the mood' for something. I think, at least for me, that mood is based on a conjuring up of a taste - you mentally create the sensation of a type of food or dish that correlates with say 'italian' or 'mexican'. Those words carry memory flavor that helps you decide if you are in the mood or craving that type of food.

Tonight, we headed into the city to do dinner and spend some time walking around. We really had no planned destination even a type of restaurant we were looking for although, because of our proximity to Little Italy in the Bronx we all pretty much agreed no Italian food. Eventually the idea for Thai food was suggested. I was absolutely in the mood for Thai after hearing the suggestion. What is rare about those moods is that you satisfy that craving - more so when its a more abstract craving. You might crave McDonald's french fries, or an Auntie Anne's Pretzel and those are more consistent foods so that your craving will be matched by getting that food. But having a desire for Thai food is more vague.

So to say that I was able to order, sort of blindly, from the menu and get a meal that was so satisfying and so perfectly accurate to the exact taste I was craving is impressive. I finished my meal and was so pleased I was almost baffled at how exact it turned out to be. The food was delicious and included more vegetables that I failed to identify, but couldn't care less about because of the flavor. In addition one thing you can never be sure of is spicy. People's tolerance as well as restaurants rating or ranking of spice is tough to gauge. I did not want something dull but I also did not want to regret my decision. Even the spice of the food was perfect - not too dull but not too much to handle. The place we went to was called Boyd's Thai and was on Bleeker and Thompson.

The night was followed by a quick stop at the record store which was right next to the Thai place where I picked up Cursive's The Ugly Organ and the new Album Leaf records. From there we hit a really cool old coffee shop down two blocks and just hung out and chatted over some pretty great coffee.

All in all a great night. I can't wait for warm weather when I can just go sit somewhere and not feel rushed by the temperature to make a plan or just get inside. Plus once it gets warm I plan to explore Brooklyn a lot.

when websites break

while twitter is absolutely the biggest culprit of this it seems like recently i have been running into alot of sites that just go offline without warning or are 'too bogged down - come back later'. its funny how much of an impact, especially with twitter, these minor hiccups can be for some people. anyway its late and now after the point where this will count for today and will come up as tomorrow but let the record show that i was here when i mattered and the internet failed me.

today was probably the last day for a long time where the temp will break 75 deg. should have spent it on eddies.