Yesterday Doug and I took a bus into the city to visit Lauren Hagen who happened to be vacationing in New York City with her parents. Lauren is a charming young lass who plays for Durga (the girls Ultimate Frisbee team at St. Olaf). She's has a bursting personality and impressively adorns dreadlocks. We arrived expecting it to be unbearably hot in the city, but surprisingly it was tolerable. While we waited for Lauren to lose her parents, Doug and I started walking towards Central Park. We walked through Grand Central Station. Before we went in I wasn't expecting to be impressed, I mean after all it's just a train station right? But as I entered I was taken aback by how simple, yet elegant the architecture was. It was also mind blowing to see how many people were going through the building at one time. The only thing subtracting from the whole experience were people doing the whole tourist routine. After going through Grand Central Station we met up with Lauren outside of Central Park. It was kind of funny because Doug and I had our East and West mixed up so we were walking the wrong way for a bit. Central Park is also HUGE so it took quite some time for us to finally run into Lauren. After some catching up we walked through part of the park and found a bench to just relax for a while. We ended up just sitting there and talking about college, Ultimate, friends, and just about everything that comes along with growing up for a couple of hours.
After that we decided an early dinner was the way to go. We stumbled out of the park without any real direction, but after a recommendation from Colin Murphy (one of Doug's friends who has a home in Manhattan) we set off for a Shake Shack. Shake Shack was outrageous crowded, but the food was well worth the wait. Shake Shack sold mouth watering burgers and incredible hand spun shakes. Their fries were also cooked to a crispy golden brown. Now satisfied, we set off around Manhattan and decided to take the subway to Times Square. Times Square was something out of a dream. It was a sensory overload. From the humongous ads, to the flashing lights, to the street performers. Times Square was beyond my wildest dreams. A very strange thing also happened in Times Square. Doug and I were in Times Square with Lauren, which you know is kind of crazy because we all go to St. Olaf, but as we were watching some street performers a girl starts talking to Doug. I turn around and see Tori. Tori was a girl who I had lab with for most of second semester. A very nice girl, but I wasn't really friends with her. She was friends with Katherine which was how she knew Doug. Tori just happened to be in New York vacationing for her birthday. The fact that we ran into her, in New York, in Times Square was just baffling. Doug and I were taken aback and did not recover for quite some time. As it got later in the day, Lauren had evening plans with her parents to see a show, so we walked back to her hotel with her since our bus was leaving from nearby as well. She invited us up to her room for a chance to meet her parents. Lauren's parents were extremely nice. (Quick side note, on the way day to a bar in the hotel, two families got into the elevator with us from different floors and their kids actually knew each other. I can't really fathom how absurd this is.) Very interested in who Doug and I were as people and they were sincere and extremely generous. We quickly talked a significant amount of time away and before we knew, they needed to rush off to their show (that happened to feature Daniel Radcliffe or Harry Potter). Doug and I then boarded the bus back to Shelter Island exhausted but content.
Now to today. Today was Charlie's birthday. He's now 15. Hooray Charlie. Anyway I woke up at 8:20 because Uncle Adam wanted to play some tennis. He and I had been talking smack for a couple of weeks now, but I don't think he realizes that tennis isn't really my thing anymore. Anyway, I only ate a banana this morning because I didn't want to risk getting a stomach cramp or getting sick for some reason. We played on this "Hard True"/Clay court. When I was growing I remember all I wanted to do was play on clay because I wanted to slide like the pros. But this morning I was uncomfortable on the surface and never really felt sure of my footing. I also had to play with a racket that had too much power in the frame, so I really couldn't unload on the ball like I would've liked to. I ended up losing 6-4, 6-2. The second set was a little pathetic because I was just dead tired. After all I haven't played competitive tennis in almost two years! My legs are still feeling the toll from scrambling all over the court. Hopefully next time Adam and I play I'll be using a racket I'm a little more comfortable with and on a court I feel a little more sure on. Charlie's birthday was pretty low key, we just chilled, he and Doug played some tennis, gifts were given, incredible meals were had. For dinner we had some delicious steak with onions, some vegatables, etc. For dessert Susan made this magical strawberry rhubarb crisp. I love rhubarb, but this was like nothing I've ever tasted before. Something funny that I'd like to mention. Lulu and Jojo were over to celebrate Charlie's birthday and very randomly Jojo asks me "if I've put the moves on Katy". This is funny and slightly uncomfortable because 1) Katy is Doug's sister 2) Doug is present when I am asked this question 3) Both Susan and Darrin were also present 4) Katy is going to be a junior in high school this coming fall. I will be a Sophomore. In college. I responded with the only thing I could think of: That would be widely inappropriate. That seemed to ease the awkwardness a little bit.
Anyway, we are reaching the end of July which is hard to believe because that means there's only about another month before school starts again. I really cannot wait to be back.
Best wishes,
Vinh
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