This weekend was probably one of the best weekends I’ve had in a long time. On Friday night I got Chinese food, and my mom and Ben and I watched the opening ceremony for the Olympics from 7:30 – 11:00 PM. It was really interesting to see how many athletes each nation had (the range was from one to two hundred something). There were different indigenous Canadian tribes that did a dance before hand, which I thought was interesting. They all had really elaborate costumes. I love to watch the opening ceremonies of the Olympics because you really get to see and learn a lot about whatever country is hosting them.
After the parade of nations there were performances by Nelly Furtado (with some guy whose name I can’t remember), and Sarah Mclachlan (sp.?), two artists that I like a lot, and then a dance that portrayed what the different seasons were like in Canada (I mean, they’re not different from the U.S., but it was interesting to see how the dancers interpreted them (I apologize if this is boring for those of you who were able to watch the opening ceremony, but I wanted to share my perception of it). I did not get to see the whole thing (I don’t know how much longer it went on after I went to sleep) because I was tired.
Saturday I went to see Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief with Ben and one of his friends from school, a girl named Sarah. My mom and Sarah’s parents went to see A Single Man. Percy Jackson was really good. Chris Columbus, who directed the first two Harry Potter films, directed it and it had Pierce Brosnan, Rosario Dawson, and Uma Thurman in it. It’s about a kid (Percy Jackson) who is the son of Poseidon and a mortal woman, which makes him a demi-god. He doesn’t realize it though until he goes on a school field trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and his teacher takes him aside because she says she wants to talk to him, but then she turns into some kind of crazy flying creature, and she attacks him. The gods think that he has stolen Zeus’s lightning bolt, and they want it back. He goes to this special camp for demi-gods so that he can stay safe and protected, and a Minotaur steals his mom from him. We later find out that Hades has gotten a hold of his mom somehow, and the only way that Percy can get her back is by going to the underworld to get her. Because there is no way out of the underworld once you get there, Percy and his friends have to find three magic pearls that when stepped on will essentially free them from the underworld. Most of the movie chronicles the adventures of Percy and his friends on their quest to find the pearls. I don’t want to reveal much else in case you guys decide that you want to go see this movie. I thought it was really cool. It was one of those kinds of movies that are action packed and keep you on the edge of your seat throughout the whole thing, at least in my opinion.
After the movie our parents came to pick us up, and we went to our favorite Italian restaurant in the area, called Basilico’s. I ordered caprese (pronounced capri-say; it’s mozzarella and tomatoes with some kind of oil…maybe truffle oil, I don’t remember, but I feel like I should know this because they serve it at Arturo’s too) as an appetizer and gnocchi bolognese as my main meal. It was really good, but very filling as gnocchi usually is. After the movie we went back to Sarah’s house to play some Wii (Ben and I got one for Chanukah and now we’re addicted so we have to play it almost everywhere we go that has one i.e. friend’s houses, etc. It’s a pretty cool game console and I suggest that if you’ve never tried one out you should at some point). Sarah likes Wii Sports (it has tennis, baseball, bowling, boxing, and golf. Ben and I love the bowling and have gotten REALLY good at it) so she and Ben played tennis and bowled, and then I bowled with her as well (I’m really only good at the bowling, boxing and golf…I suck at the tennis and baseball, and I’ve never been a huge fan of sports in general anyway, so I don’t really care). After Wii we had some ice cream and then came home.
This brings me to Sunday; Happy Valentine’s Day to all and to all a WONDERFUL day. : D The valentine that my mom got me was really sweet. It’s pink and says daughter on the front. On the inside left it says; “A push in the swing, a storybook read, a kiss on the cheek. A chat in the car, a hug at the door, a laugh on the phone”. Then on the right side it says: “So many little moments have made me so very lucky to have a daughter like you—a daughter who’s transformed from that little girl with the big smile to the young woman with a big heart. Happy Valentine’s day with love”. She wrote a little message underneath that which says; “I’m so glad you’ve been here for me. It means more than you’ll know”. I know this is true, but at the same time, I don’t think it would have worked any other way. If I had gone to school this year I would have had to quit school and come home again anyway. For more reasons than one I am glad I did not go straight to grad school. As much as I wish that I was back in school right now, and as much as I complain about living at home again, I really think that I made the right decision.
I think the title of this entry really applies to Sunday night, because it was indeed a good night. Ashton had been in NYC since Friday because of work, so we decided to have an EC reunion dinner. I met Ashton, Phoebe, Bilal, and Ryan (a man that Ashton had just met on Friday or Saturday night who was from Boston and in NYC for the week for work) at an Irish Pub on E. 43rd street called Annie Moore’s. I took a 5 PM train to Penn Station that got me in at 5:44, and then I walked to Annie Moore’s and got there at like 6 PM. I was soooo not expecting to be the first one there, but I was. I called Phoebe who said that she was just leaving her apartment and would be there in 15 minutes, so I went inside and waited. Maybe about 5 minutes later I got a call from Ashton saying that she was lost so I went outside to try and find her. It turned out that she just hadn’t walked far enough, and we found each other in no time. I was busy turning in circles trying to see her, which ended up being kind of funny. I was glad that I got to spend some QT with her before everyone else arrived. We sat at a table and had sprite to drink while we chatted and waited for everyone else. Once they arrived we sat down to eat. I had a crab cake sandwich that was really good, and apparently I was really hungry because I practically inhaled it.
Ashton was freezing because she had worn a short dress with no tights and heels and a somewhat light coat not thinking that she was going to have to walk so far to get from her hotel or wherever she was to the pub, so after dinner we went back to her hotel so she could change and be warmer the rest of the evening. She put on a scarf and a warmer coat, and we headed out again. This time I got to spend some QT with Phoebe, because we were both walking kind of fast, and Ashton and Ryan were walking a little slower (by this point Bilal had split which was kind of a shame because I had enjoyed hanging out with him. It made me sad that we had never been closer while at EC, but I told him I would find him on facebook, and he said that we should all get together again soon). We went to Starbucks because Ashton wanted coffee, and then Ashton and Phoebe decided that they were going to join Ashton’s coworkers at some club (Ryan had to get back to wherever he was staying because he had to work in the morning, and I had to catch the 10:11 train so that I didn’t get home at some crazy hour and my mom could come pick me up. I dropped Ashton and Phoebe off at the hotel where Ashton was staying so that they could meet up with Ashton’s coworkers, and then headed on my way to Penn Station (this was at like 9:30 PM).
I walked up to the corner of 7th avenue and W. 40th street and tried to hail a cab. The first thing that came my way and actually stopped was one of those bicycle taxis (you know, those bicycles that have like chariots attached to the back of them?? Yeah, one of those…LOL). The guy on the bicycle asked me where I was going and I told him Penn Station (Ok, it was cold, and I honestly really wanted a real cab even though I was only going like 6 blocks, but anyway…). I asked him how much it was and he told me 8 dollars. I’m not really sure whether it would have cost more to take an actual cab or not, but I figured this guy offered to give me a ride and I was tired and cold so it probably would not have been a good idea to turn him down. It was definitely an interesting experience; not as warm as I would have liked for it to be, and REALLY bumpy…probably the bumpiest ride I’ve ever had in NYC. I got to Penn Station with plenty of time, so I bought myself a book and sat down to read for a little while before the track for my train was posted.
When I finally went to get on the train, I realized that a girl that I went to middle school and high school with was walking next to me (someone that I knew and was friendly with, but was never really friends with). She got to the bottom of the stairs before I did, and when I got to the bottom she recognized me and said hi. We ended up talking the whole way back to Maplewood. It was fun. I always find it interesting to see people that I went to school with when I was younger, especially now, because I really didn’t keep in touch with that many people after high school. I had a huge falling out with a lot of people in my friend group around prom time senior year, and then we all went off to college (most of them at Rutgers), and we just didn’t really keep in touch.
I think that’s all for now. More soon.
Emily
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