As predicted, a good weekend, a great weekend, a very great weekend in which I had very little time in which to be homesick (though I managed to squeeze it in, occasionally, because I am a hell of a multitasker). It was a weekend in which I actually did more or less none of the things I had hoped to do or anticipated doing or planned to do, and that is why, I think, it was such a perfect weekend. Every time I visit New York, I feel like I am expected to do New York Things like eat a hot dog and go to a museum and be cultural and commune with the squirrels in Central Park and go omg totally squee, I am in New York City!

This is not a bad thing, because omg, totally squee, New York City is pretty freakin' awesome, and there are many things to do that encompass every meaning of the word awesome, and taking advantage of those opportunities for excitement and adventure is a wise thing to do. But it is a very nice feeling to say you know, I am not in the mood for feeling imaginarily obligated, I would rather spend time with my family and friends--crazy!--than running around trying to cram everything in, and I'll be back in the fall.

So I got in Thursday night, and my brother picked me up, and I had had a very good flight--got all my work done, and finished the final draft of a proposal and took notes on some other projects. And seeing my baby brother was just as damn wonderful as I expected (he was very apologetic about having provided me with my life-long cold sore tragedy, and winced when he saw how bad this one is) and we got lost in New Jersey somewhere and got on and off the Turnpike and sat in traffic. It took a hundred years to get to Brooklyn. The plan was to go back into Manhattan, have dinner somewhere fancy, have drinks somewhere fancy. Carrie came home and we all walked, instead, to a restaurant down the street and had phenomenal Italian food.

A lot of wine, up watching their wedding video, crying because of the wine, and the late hour, and because I am a big sap and it was a beautiful video. And then I crashed hard and slept harder. All my day's plans had fallen through, so I had planned to maybe shop or go see Central Park or something, but instead I slept all the way through both of them getting up and going to work, all the way through to mid-afternoon. I haven't slept that well in a long time, and I am going to assume I needed it, not that I am lazy or have developed a terrible sleeping sickness. Though I am lazy, and a sleeping sickness sounds kind of nice, actually.

Fast shower, the worst hair in the world since they confiscated my product at the airport, a ride into the city to meet, for drinks, the amazingly good-looking people behind this very website. They are as pretty inside as they are outside, too. Such a good night, and dessert at my brother's restaurant, and me having eaten too much sugar and needing to go home far too early. Saturday, I spent with my friend Rod. Lunch off St. Mark's place, walking down Broadway to window shop and covet, laughing at stupid shit because that's what we do, me catching him up on everything, because I feel like I never have a chance to tell him anything.

My friend Kball's birthday, private room karaoke. Completely ridiculous, and screaming "Buffalo Soldier" at the tops of our lungs, doing that oh my god, I haven't seen you in so long with people I haven't seen in so long, dancing wildly in a tiny room, more shouting, to Madonna and Lita Ford and the Ramones. Carrie can actually sing. My brother actually sings, and does a mean Jump Around. I jump around. We close down the bar, and then some. It's coming on dawn when we get home, and I crawl onto the air mattress one last time. Waking up, I don't know if it's way too early, or overcast. It's both. I'm up for good, checking my email, realizing I'm leaving, tomorrow. I pack.

I'm on New Jersey Transit, even as I type this, on my way to my mother and aunt. My mother is making me a giant batch of the tuna noodle salad we grew up eating, that I crave wildly at least a few times a year but can never make properly. That is not the only reason I am excited to see her. I get to spend the day with her tomorrow. No plans, because that is the best way to spend a day together. Then, because she is very kind, she will drop me off at the airport, and I will say goodbye, for now, and fly away home.