Shots of summer

Cool wall in the Lower East Side

Cool cemetery (that is normally closed to the public) also in the LES.

Evening views from Liz and Josh's house on Long Island.

Driving back from Liz and Josh's in a car (first time! we usually take a train) with very pregnant Kaylan in the back seat. 

Enjoying frozen custard during the Mermaid Parade in Coney Island. Tabitha was there too!

Seymour looking adorable literally seconds after he attempted to attack Ari's foot. 

Megans nails combined with the cactus lemonade = perfect summer colors (taken at Smorgasburg).

Nice sunset in Queens last night. 

Good Monday

Yesterday Ari and I went to Brooklyn Bridge Park to enjoy the sunshine and visit the carousel that was relocated there from Youngstown, Ohio (Ari's hometown) originally. 

This was my third attempt at riding the carousel. Third time's the charm!

Just realized you can't see our ponies in this picture. :(

After we rode the carousel, we got a "Fudge-ettaboutit" chocolate concrete at Shake Shack and then Ari had to leave for work. I stayed in the park and lay down on the grass to read my book, with this pretty great view.

Just wear black

I immediately noticed, upon moving to New York City, that people really do wear a lot of black here. This article summarizes a few reasons why that might be. But I like the quote at the end most, which the author notes describes both the typical New Yorker and the reason why people might choose to wear black: "Black is modest and arrogant at the same time.... But above all, black says this: ‘I don’t bother you, you don’t bother me.'"

On this, the day of (OK, a few days after) my birthday

I meant to write a post on my birthday (6 days ago) reflecting on the past year and making goals for the next year. I didn't do that, obviously. Mainly because eating pizza and gelato took priority after I got home from work on Friday.

I am now 31 and weirdly feel like I should be more of an adult than ever. I am officially out of my twenties. This is the year when there aren't really any more milestones coming up, right? Until...I get to join AARP?

Anyway, these are the things I want to focus on more in the next year of my life. They don't change that much from year to year, but it makes me feel more productive to write them down once in a while. These are listed in a rough order of importance to me.

1. Spend as much time as possible with people I love -- friends and family members.
2. Show the people I love that I love them (remember their birthdays, hug them, say "I love you" to them, etc.)
3. Be compassionate. Try to be nice to everyone. *
4. Try to keep listening to new music (apparently most people stop listening to new music at about age 32...I'm almost there).
5. Keep traveling, but don't feel obligated to make "big" trips. New cities, new states.

Those are the top five. I have a couple more, but I don't think they're quite interesting enough to post (e.g. do my taxes before April). Let's see how this year goes. I am optimistic.

------------------------

*I listened to the Death, Sex, & Money podcast on my birthday and heard the wonderfully frank Lucinda Williams talking about her father's poem, "Compassion."

Compassion

by Miller Williams

Have compassion for everyone you meet,
even if they don’t want it. What seems conceit, 

bad manners, or cynicism is always a sign 

of things no ears have heard, no eyes have seen.
You do not know what wars are going on

down there where the spirit meets the bone. 

Good mail day

Came home from a long day of work to find: a pin I ordered online from Black Friday (in the pink envelope), makeup samples, a Xmas card with beautiful lettering from dear Hannah, and an advertisement for Fun Home (a show I hope to see in 2016). Hooray!

P.S. Tomorrow's my last day of teaching for 2015!!

Cinephile

Can you tell I like to go to movies?

I carry all of these things around in my wallet because you never know when you might have time to pop into a theater and catch a good movie.*

*To be honest, I haven't actually been inside a movie theater in weeks! Thanks to the projector we now have at home, it has to be a pretty big deal for us to go out to watch something. But I will be taking my class to see the new Steve Jobs movie on Monday, so there's that at least. 

This multicultural city

Today, I went to the Brooklyn Public Library to apply for "ID NYC," a government program where you get a New York ID card (it's different from a drivers license) and can use it to get benefits all around the city just for being a local. If you have the card, you can apply for free membership to some pretty awesome institutions, including the Natural History Museum, the Bronx Zoo, and BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music, which is nearby us and always has cool live music and indie movies).

Anyway, I'm pretty excited about it. And I still enjoy being reminded of how freaking multicultural and awesomely diverse the city is. You can request someone who speaks your language to to interview you for the card, and these are all of the languages the brochure comes in: 

That is all for today. Sometimes you're really awesome, NYC!