Photo Update

Washington photos are up on Flickr. Enjoy!

Week(s) in Review

Ah, missed a week. Things in review:

1. Washington DC with Bec, Des and Jen was fantastic. I loved the spaciousness of the city, and the fact that all the museums were free! We had one seafood dinner (at Oceanarium) which was pretty good. Getting out of Manhattan added another 1.5hr to our trip, but for $40 for a 4-hour trip to a new city, it can't be beat. Oh, yes, I bought myself one of those space pens, the ones used by the astronauts. Now I can write upside down!
2. Poker night at a friends place, first time playing with them. Tournament style, came third out of 7. Annoying thing was second place got their money back, so I got nothing! Got beaten by a pair of 7's, when I had the flush draw and two overcard pair draws...not impressed. Will be going again, that was fun.
3. Some perfect storm of visitors to NY. We had Tax, Bei, Dex, Alan, Dave, Jo, Andrea, Gordon all coming to visit at once! Lots of drinking at our fave establishments, with a steakhouse and Korean fried chicken wings to supplement the alcohol. Good visitors are the ones who have done the touristy stuff already, are willing to go to new places and provide some service to us (thanks Dex for the BitTorrent setup :))

To top it all off, summer is definitely here. I'm walking around in my flip flops!

Good Friends

*I'm getting later and later on my Sunday post!*

We've had the privilege of having Jen and Des over for a few days before they embark on their "Across the USA" tour. It's been great to catch up with them, and once again reminds me how hard it is to establish good friendships in a foreign city.

I was comparing with Des what it would have been like to move to UK instead of US, and the amount of events that I would get to go to with friends would have been quite high from the start. Whereas here in NY, there are times where we wouldn't have that much to do on the weekend. We would sometimes have to think hard about things to do. Whilst that gives us a great level of freedom, there are time when it's just the two of us.

From that perspective, Bec and I have come to rely on each other a lot more. It has been said that NY can be a lonely place if you're here by yourself, so I'm very happy that our relationship has gotten stronger with this increased "togetherness", for want of a better term.

Slowly, we're making better friends, and I'm glad to say that I actually have one or two decent American friends. It really is about effort and time to establish that bond with people. Perhaps that is why it takes a year to really settle down into a place.

Playing volleyball definitely helps with the socialising, and now that Bec is "in" with these funky bars we go to, perhaps we might finally get some free drinks!

Truly Settled

I was asked by a colleague the other day about what I had done on the weekend, and I believe we have truly hit the settled phase of our New York stay by saying to her "oh, nothing much".

No trips to Miami, no big shows. But doing a regular weekend things, things that I could very much see myself doing in Sydney. I did some volunteer work delivering meals to elderly, dinner with friends, karaoke, lazy brunch, playing touch football, afternoon drinks with friends and late ramen Sunday dinner.

It's relaxing and enjoyable to walk around in the spring weather, and when I feel tired to go for an afternoon snooze at home.

New York, with all the glitz and glamour, still has a time and place to be worry-free.

For your enjoyment, some more flower photos.