So the summer is eternity for you?

[timeripple]

cadragongirl and I are more or less moved into our Den of Asian Drama Awesome (which really needs a different name) and classes have started. snowqueenofhoth arrived this morning for a reciprocal visit and has collapsed into a nap. The weather is beautiful; I love this time of year, when it's getting cool but things are still green and leafy and just beginning to dry out.


Thursday morning I bade a fond farewell to a4yroldfaerie, braved the LIRR, navigated the connecting station by sheer dumb luck, and was collected by snowqueenofhoth. There were bagels. We drove out to the beach and walked around for a while and ate really dubious pudding. We found the nude beach, which was in fact not all that exciting, and got soaked from frolicking in the waves. (If you call strolling along gently and giggling a lot ‘frolicking,’ which I do.)

The next day we went to see two IMAX shows at the local aviation museum. The writing for the Deep Sea one could have been better focused, if you ask me, but the photography was breathtaking. And it was kind of funny when the narrator (Jim Carrey) said (of a camouflaged fish), “Dude, I can totally see your tail.” The Space Station one was a bit old but still awesome. We both gave a little cheer when Pamela Melroy was shown piloting the shuttle Endeavor. :D SO COOL.

Saturday we went into the city for Cassandra Clare’s Super Sekrit News and Signing Event. There was some time to kill, so we hung out in Kinokuniya and failed to find the Moribito books. Rachel made a beeline for the idol magazines and was disappointed at how old they were. I pretended not to know her, until I needed her to read some titles for me. XD

Out at the event, it totally rained. We squashed under the tents. Rachel made me read the katakana on the Kinokuniya bag (with some success). I refrained from making snarky remarks about the people wearing Twilight t-shirts, and made Rachel watch the Buffy vs. Edward video on my iPod. The line for the signing was insanely long, so I sat around with my copy of The Demon’s Lexicon and let her buy the third book and brave the madness alone. (Before you judge me, you should know that I have gotten the first two books signed for her over the years on opposite ends of the continent.) I also stole her tiny book poster, because she didn't want it and seriously, it is tiny.

By the end of it all it was late lunchtime. We got recommendations for Korean food from Holly Black and Cassie’s boyfriend and a nice man who we think is her agent. (They also confirmed what I have long suspected about New York: namely, that there is NO MEXICAN FOOD WHATSOEVER. The Korean place they recommended was good, though.)

And then we went to karaoke and butchered Johnny’s songs and I did my Disney princess rendition of “99 Red Balloons”, which is about as ridiculous as you’d expect.

(Yeah, we totally did the dance to “Ho! Summer” during karaoke and throughout the entire weekend. My proudest YouTube moment, let me show you its repercussions.)

Sunday we picked up cadragongirl and headed out to PA for a few days of cooler weather and lakeside shenanigans. We made a devil’s food layer cake filled with with raspberry jam and chocolate-coated PopRocks. That’s right. We made a cake that actually explodes in your mouth. We may gotten slightly carried away with the frosting, but it was fun. :D After dark we lay out on the dock and totally failed to identify constellations, and that was fun too.

On Monday morning mousapelli joined us just in time for soggy blintzes and cake for breakfast. Mmmmm. Then we all stood around in our bathing suits (skirt brigade ftw!) getting acquainted via sunblock, and I was utterly and terrifyingly hyper. (I blame the cake.) We made it down to the lake finally, and Mousi was kind enough to go in the paddle-boat with me because I was too chicken to try the kayaks.

See, the thing about water and me is that we love each other very much, we really do. It’s just that all my advantages of natural flotation do not actually result in flotation. Last time anybody got me out on a lake, I wound up on intimate terms with a rescue flotation thing while kayselkiemoon and snowqueenofhoth towed me about. (They were, inexplicably, less gleeful about this than I was.)

This time I did manage to swim out to the floating dock in the swimming area, and back again. So I count that a success. (Unfortunately the dock was less fond of me that I was of it, and I have a spectacular bruise on my leg to prove it.) The four of us strolled along the beach comparing our ages, and I announced to the world, “I’m the baby! I get to be the brat!” Which I hope I did not live up to too much.

We went for another swim, this time at the clubhouse, followed by more or less successful attempts at stargazing.

Tuesday morning Mousi left us, and we sat around playing Taboo and things like that until evening. Drove back that night, tunes blasting on the dark highways.

In the morning I made Rachel watch the first episode of HanaKimi. (Making people watch HanaKimi is evidently my established role in life.) Then she did my nails and lectured me on filing them. They turned out all pink and girly and I loved them a lot. ♥

And then I came home and packed and cleaned frantically.

In other news, I have a new best friend. I love it a lot. I love it more than I love my electric toothbrush. More than my rice cooker. Its name is... Swiffer.