it's my birthday! actually, it's not. it's monday 7 july, but i didn't get an entry posted yesterday. i changed the date (lie about when you write! whoohoo!), though, because 7 july don't mean squat to me. so anyway. it's my fake birthday!

but lemme start with the fourth. karl and i went to nyc to see cirque du soleil, my birthday present. there was, get this, NO TRAFFIC getting into the city. i guess everyone was leaving. literally, there was a zero-car wait at the lincoln tunnel toll, which is simply unbelievable. we parked near times square, as usual. ambled through times square and up towards central park. bought a mediocre hotdog and ice cream as we walked. we were headed up to the 90th street pier on the east river, which is a fairly long walk. we got there with time to spare and sat on a bench in the shade. not that the shade was cool, mind you. our ferry was supposed to depart for randall island, where the circus was, at 3.45 at 4.25 we finally left. bastards. but we got there in time, and even had a moment to buy 2 $3.50 bottles of water at the concession stand.

the show was incredible. i'd seen bits and pieces of shows on t.v., but in real life it's even better. those acrobats! those contortionists! they are moving, changing sculpture. wow.

so we took the ferry back to 90th street and walked south towards 34th street, where the fireworks were going to come from. we got as far as 49th street before we were stopped by the crowds. there was simply no more room to move. we stood for half an hour in the crowd, with a cranky guy behind us saying to everyone who tried to pass "there is NOWHERE to go." most people said "we're just passing through, we're not going to stop in front of you" but one couple did actually stop. cranky guy said "i've been standing here for a LONG TIME." new arrival said "so?" cranky guy explained "i haven't been standing here for so long to have your head in my view." he was apparently failing to notice three important things: 1. that there were already lots of heads in front of him and one more wouldn't make a difference, 2. that new arrival was shorter than he was, by a lot, and wasn't going to be blocking his view, and 3. that fireworks take place up in the sky, well above all the heads.

so the crowds and the heat were awful, and cranky guy was not making things better, when the fireworks started. i LOVE fireworks. and these were good fireworks. and even though we couldn't hear the music that was supposedly accompanying them, we did have a running commentary by a nearby black woman, who kept shouting out, like a gospel preacher, "happy birthday, america! two-hundred and twenty-seven years old to-DAY. let's hear it for america! uh-HUH! lemme hear you shout!" she was the lone salvation in a crowd that seemed to consist of every living soul in manhatten, all packed onto FDR drive within 100 feet of me.

for my birthday, mom and dad came up to philly, as usual, and stayed here. they finally got to stay in the christmas room, which is fabulous. christmas in july! yay! there's a tree (of course) which has, among other things, bubble lights, as well as the expected red and green furniture, santa statues, christmas-themed books, etc.

saturday, mom and karl and and i sat around in our hot apartment trying to stay cool by drinking iced tea and doing a puzzle. dad came in, by way of cincinnati, on saturday evening, and successfully navigated the R1 train to 30th street station, changing to the #13 green line trolley (really, a tram, but don't tell philadelphians that). by sunday afternoon, i was already sick of my dad's CONSTANT references to quakers. i mean, i like quakers as much as (maybe more) than the next guy, but DAD, give it a rest, k? had i heard of so-and-so singer/songwriter who was a quaker? no? well, he's really good, and dad saw him in concert at a retreat recently. what retreat? a quaker retreat near johnstown "the flood's over" pennsylvania. did i know about the white building in front of longwood gardens was a historically important quaker meeting house? also, my mom should really put her name and phone number inside her camera case, just in case she loses it and a quaker finds it, they can return it to her. he often changes the conversation topic, seemingly just so he can bring up quakers, like when he asked if anyone (perhaps karl? an englishman?) knew the date of the end of the protectorate/beginning of the restoration in england. i ventured a date of 1670 and dad mentioned something about how that seemed about right because the quakers were founded in 1652 or some such. ARG! all RIGHT already! and this is after i had to invoke my birthday priviledge and say we weren't going to drive to swarthmore to walk around the grounds of the college, which dad only wanted to do because of the college's quaker heritage (nothing against swarthmore college, which has a lovely campus, though really no more lovely than many small wealthy northeastern colleges). if i didn't know that quakers are actually a decent, SANE, group of people, i'd think dad was in a cult.

so, on sunday afternoon, we sat around on the gables' porch reading the paper and sipping lemonade. i had opened most of my presents already (total tally: from karl, cirque du soleil tickets, a sandman comic, a bowl and vase that he painted, chocolate covered espresso beans, and the "chasing amy" dvd. from parents: half chaps, a cover for my riding helmet, a sandman comic, a nifty black metal watering can from rest*ration hardware, pistachio nuts, stroopwafels, a watergun like thing for blowing bubbles, a gift certificate for a pedicure before i go to tenerife, a tatted bookmark made by a quaker (packaged inside a box handmade by dad, which is actually pretty cool), and a little whisk with a egg-shaped handle. from my sister: belgian chocolate. i am SO going to miss her being in belgium...). we headed downtown to azafran for dinner. even though we couldn't sit outside in there cute back garden, i have nothing bad to say. the food was so good that the 4 of us spent the meal forcing each other to taste all the dishes. i got a salmon filet, cooked wrapped in a banana leaf with tomatoes and onions and served with coconut cashew rice. dad got a tuna filet, marinated in a citrus sauce and cooked perfectly medium rare, served over mashed plantains. mom and karl both got citrus marinated chicken in a lime sauce, served with foufou (a sweeter-than-potato south american root vegetable) and plantains. it was amazing. we're SO going back.

after dinner, we adjourned out our house for birthday cake and ice cream, and the last couple of presents.

so generally, it's been a good year. let's see... went to st. thomas with mom and sis, spending 5 days getting tan and relaxed. karl and i went to england to celebrate karl's granddad's 80th birthday, and karl and i took a drive through the cotswalds. i spent the fall working as a waitress, which meant i got basically no work done on my dissertation. karl came home with me for both thanksgiving and christmas. it was the first time i'd brought someone home for christmas, and it caused a brief family tension (well, just with my sister). in january, i found out that i got my NIH grant, and promptly stopped working at the restaurant. karl's friend e.i.r.u.n came to visit for 3 weeks in february, and we went out to steamboat springs to ski, for the second year in a row. also for the second year in a row, i lost a toenail. after much snow, and seemingly even more rain, we got rid of the drought and winter skipped right over spring and went directly to summer, with the accompanying heat and humidity. karl and i are approaching the one-year mark of living together and the two-year mark of being together. my sister is finishing up her masters degree in international conflict analysis from the university of kent in brussels. mom and dad are still separated (over nine years), but friendly (sharing a hotel bed, even).