Happy Half-Birthday, 1109B!

So what might there be to celebrate today, hmmm?

It just so happens (and I only remembered this in the shower, so that proves how attentive I am to the date ---- but oh, the new Herbal Essences Strengthening Conditioner is so distractingly terrific! give it a shot, why don't you?) that today marks the six-month anniversary of our moving in to University Hall room 1109B, and thusly we've been college kids for an entire half-year.

This gives me an excuse to use the speech I wrote for the Academy Awards but never got to use: Thank you to Julia, for being a fantastic roommate and a wonderful person. We've said it before, but DANG! someone in the Housing Department sure got it right when they put us together in this ole room. And I'm not the only one who thinks she's awesome. An anonymous subject (drunk? drugged? leave it to your imagination) declared on Saturday night that I was "yeah, cute....yeah, but Julia's the HOT one!" And that was all the compliment I needed. Next to her, I'm shocked I even qualified for "cute!" And I don't mind that she was horrified (seemingly) when the cashier at Trader Joe's asked if we were sisters. "No! We're roommates!" she gasped.

In more urban news, New York is as it was six months ago: overwhelmingly but undeniably fabulous. As close to Europe as America can get. And it's finally seeming appropriate to begin hoping for spring. This despite the fact that it snowed flakes as big as toast two nights ago. I've been going outdoors with no coat! I've had dreams of daffodils! They've set up a miniature beach complete with lifeguard's chair and towels at Union Square! It's nearly time to start picking out sandals for late April nights and early May picnics. I took my coffee out to Washington Square Park this evening, sitting on a chilly bench but remembering how close we are to the tip of spring --- when the Strawberry Festival will come and stain the park juicy magenta, and when those traveling circus performers will come back to perform with their little dog, and when they'll turn the fountain back on, and we'll reclaim the sovereign republic of Greenwich Village just as those illuminated Bohemians did at the turn of the century.

So there's certainly much to look forward to. Spring break in two weeks? It sounds inconceivable. Home for summer vacation in two months? Beyond belief. But today and tomorrow and the hours after that will be entertaining and exasperating in the way that only Manhattan manages to be.