Some of my friends recently road-tripped from Houston to stay with me for a week in Brooklyn. Now they're gone, and I miss them so. I would like to say that they are in New Orleans right now, but keeping track of seven people's whims isn't a precise art.
So, when Charles called me a couple of days before his scheduled arrival to tell me that three more people than originally expected would be traveling, I fell into a mild panic for about twelve seconds. I imagined the horror on my roommates' faces when I told them that seven people would be joining us for a week. "But Amanda," I thought, "these are some of the chillest people you know, and your roommates are wonderful, understanding people" and became freakishly excited.
I was right not to worry. Most of these guys live in the co-op that I mentioned in my post about Austin, and they're all gung ho about dividing up cleaning and cooking duties and making sure everyone is taken care of. Except for a couple nights of eating pizza from Luigi's and flat rice sticks in Chinatown, we made big family-style dinners that ranged from spinach and mushroom enchiladas to General Tso's tofu.
Charles, Chris, Arthur, Paula, Alekos, Jackson, and Daniel - please come back and make me more food. K thanks.
Of course we did more than eat. During the day I would go to work while they trotted around town going to museums and whatnot, and at 4:00 I would leave to meet up with them and join the adventure. Our mission: find the cheapest, best things to do. Adventuring with friends who have a similar budget to mine (paltry) is usually my favorite type of adventuring. Things we/they did:
1. Saw the Dirty Projectors play a free, outdoor, riverside show in Williamsburg.
2. Spent hours in the park between the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridge after the sun went down and watched Chris spin fire.
3. Ate falafel at Mamoun's. Three times. $2.50 for a falafel sandwhich. Yes please.
4. Milled about Central Park.
5. Visited the MoMA, the Met, PS 1, and the Museum of Natural History.
6. Caught some shows at the Siren Festival on Coney Island. I had to leave to babysit before Monotonix played, but I was told that they rocked hardcore.
7. I know Alekos and Daniel headed to the Bronx at some point to see a show, but they would have to tell you what it was.
8. Jackson repeatedly went missing.
9. Played MarioKart. I know this kind of goes against the idea of branching out and exploring new places, but none of us cared because we heart MarioKart, and we needed a break from walking.
10. Ate in Chinatown, looked around Little Italy, and walked home over the Manhattan Bridge.
11. Visited shops in Union Square including H&M and the crazily packed Whole Foods to use Charles' employee discount. Thanks Charles. If you find yourself of drinking age in Union Square, we suggest that you head down 14th Street to the Trader Joe's Wine Shop where you can get three buck chucks. Then use them to make Sangria for a Spanish/Mexican meal like we did.
12. Had long chats on my stoop in the cool evening air.
13. Plenty of other stuff I'm sure, but I'm drawing a blank. Charles asked me towards the end if there was anything else that they absolutely had to do before leaving New York, but I think we agreed that they had done a lot of stuff worth doing and were pleasantly worn out.
Also, apparently everyone almost died before they even got to New York when Paula swerved to miss a possum somewhere around Kentucky I think. I'm glad they didn't. And I'm really glad they came. I had a wonderful time. Please send me pictures cause I have none.
On an unrelated note, I would like to publicly acknowledge that a good deal of the music that I listen to was introduced to me by my boyfriend Kelly Marshall. For example, I borrowed the title of this post from a Kinks song of the same name that appears on the album The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society, one of the albums Kelly gave me that I love now as one of my own. That said, I liked the Clash way before he came around to them, and I'm sticking to that claim. ;)
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