Having a laugh

Most people think Summer starts in June. Students generally consider the millisecond after the last bell rings on the last day of school as the true beginning of Summer. But for those of us who’ve been locked up in our homes all Winter and Spring, due to this wonky weather, Summer starts as soon as it gets warm-ish.

My idea of fun is going to the movies. My idea of Summer fun is…going to the movies. It is truly a year-round activity. However, I always feel kind of lazy and ignorant whenever a friend or a tourist mentions a part of New York I’ve never been to. Twenty four years people and all I’ve done is eat at the same places and go to the same theaters. Granted, I didn’t start heading into the city without parental supervision until 7 years ago, but that’s still 7 summers I could’ve been trying something new at least every weekend. The only way I do is if my friends drag me somewhere that I inevitably enjoy, causing me to kick myself yet again for not having tried it sooner.

…which brings me to my first summer activity slash new experience: going to a comedy club. I figured this would be a nice mix of what I love—laughing at the movies—and what makes me a little uncomfortable—watching someone who might humiliate themself. It was awesome! It was so awesome I went again two weeks later. If it didn’t cost $20+, I’d go every week.

I’ve actually been to a comedy show before. NYU had a free taping of two HBO comedy half-hours with Caroline Rhea (the kooky aunt on "Sabrina the Teenage Witch") and Omid Djalili (the ridiculous prison warden in The Mummy), and I enjoyed myself. But I’m pretty sure I only enjoyed myself, because it was free. It turns out if you pick comics that you love, like I did with Anjelah Johnson (the younger sister in Our Family Wedding and the hilarious "MADtv" character Bonquiqui) and Donald Glover (Abed's better half on "Community"), it’ll be ten times more fun, especially since it’s not censored and there are no commercial breaks.

Check out Comix's (353 W. 14th st.) upcoming acts.

N to the Y to the C to the L to the U to the V

Last night, I was reading this blog post on the finance site Bundle.com and one of the writers asked the community: “What do you look for in a city?” After my travels all over Europe, and my subsequent love affair with Seville and Rome, I realized that at the top of my list of must-haves was family.

I LOVE wandering the world, but I cherish my family more than anything else. And if my friends reach a point where I love them, instead of just like them (or tolerate them, lol), they become family too. What I hadn’t realized though, until just this morning, after having a dream about my dad and brother moving to Tampa, was that New York has become a member of my family as well, and I couldn’t bear to leave it either.

We’ve had too many good memories to just brush it aside. We’re about to hit our 25th anniversary together this December, and we still have so much to do. This summer will be the first in 3 years that I haven’t gone on vacation. It’s no surprise. I don’t generally have an influx of cash to pour into a generic vacation spot somewhere in the tropics. But after getting laid off last Fall and hopping onto the never-ending freelance train, I really wanted to treat myself to something relaxing and uninterruptible. Alas, I must be financially responsible and have a (ugh!) staycation. (I hate that word—not just because of the meaning, but also because of its mere existence.)

New York and I are going to get acquainted, like cousins who only see each other on major holidays and birthdays. No more surface pleasantries and ritual hangouts. No more treading the same ground and regurgitating the same information. It’s time to find new favorites and make original memories. The MTA just released the new Subway map and I’m about to put it to good use.

Annnnd since I have the worst memory in the History of Forgetters—couldn’t tell you what I did, said, wore, or ate yesterday—I’ll be recording it on this blog, along with flashbacks/snapshots of what I did the Spring of 2006, when I immersed myself (as much as an American can) in European culture for an entire semester.