I can't be the only one who thinks that keeping up with a blog is impossible when faced with holiday weekends and the lack of a day job, can I? I'm back from my trip up to New York & the gIsland (Long Island), it's late, and I think I used up all my vocabulary during my many drunken binges over the weekend.

Okay...they weren't binges.

New York was the same as usual, which is something I never thought I'd say. We went up to see the fam for the weekend, to hang out on Long Island a bit, go to the beach, see friends, etc. Did a little bit of all that.

Saturday was an all around perfect New York day. We went to the Mets-Yankees game at 1pm at Shea Stadium. And, to quote a Met fan sitting at the picnic tables near me at Gate A, "This place is a dump." Shea is one big parking lot, with no vendors or nothin' on the outside. I'm so used to Camden Yards, where you can buy a dollar dog just feet from the ballpark entrance. We couldn't go inside until our friend showed up with the tickets, so we just sat there in the sun and melted.

Luckily, once inside, we didn't have to melt. Beauteous seats. Section 1, Row F, Seat 17 to be exact. Up in the mezzanine right behind home plate. The green of the park unfolded in front us. Really spectacular. There were some loudmouth drunk fans of both teams on either side of us, but they didn't ruin the day (too much anyhow).

The game was great, too. Both teams scored at least one run in every inning. Too bad about the outcome...Mets won 10-9. I do think there was some fishy officiating, but that's an argument for later (like when I'm on another drunken binge...I keed!).

Saturday night after a full family meal on the Island, we headed into The City and went to a few bars. Very low key. We went to the White Horse Tavern, which, I knew from a few years back, is a stop on the New York Literary Pub Crawl. All the waiters were in a bad mood, unfortunately. After that, we tried to go to Chumley's (one of my favorites), but oddly it was closed. Guess they 86'd everyone before we got there...

Can I just take a moment to say how magical New York is when it's empty, quiet, and cool? One can still have tranquil moments in cities like Paris or Rome, but I've always found it to be an impossible task in New York. I think it was the first time I've ever been in the city when I didn't feel I needed to buy something or do something NOW.

So...we moved on to a pool hall/ping pong joint with a cheesy jukebox, relatively cheap beers, and nary a hipster in sight. Ah...how New York should be! I felt like Serpico could walk in at any moment.

Anyway, in a slightly tipsy stupor I learned how to play ping pong. The alcohol made me fearless and less self-conscious, while the ping pong made me more alert. I don't know why I've never tried that combination before. Suddenly, the idea of the Hash House Harriers doesn't seem so strange.

Hmmm...I thought I was going to tell a short story. So I'll wrap it up.

Sunday
The 4th. Went to the beach all day. Went to a friend of a friend's house that night and was able to view the fireworks over Jones Beach. Would have been much better if the hosts had left the radio off and let us watch in ooh-and-aah silence. Souza would have been one thing, but Celine Dion (or her doppel-diva) doing the Star Spangled Banner? No thank you. A lot of hyper kids running around, too.

Monday
The 5th. Shopping. It was raining, I had some gift certificates. I'm now the proud owner of a pasta maker, a knife set, and yellow tea kettle. Yippee! Also celebrated my 2nd wedding anniversary yesterday with my in laws. My husband stayed back in NY for a couple of days, so we'll celebrate the day (actually today) later on. No big whoop.

Well...that's about it. More later about my first day of Hindi class (which started today)! But before I go...

How many hipsters does it take to change a lightbulb?
You don't know??

Haha. Have a good day or night, wherever you are.

Namaste.