July 4th Weekend

July 2, 2009
Katie leaves work early and I do the same. I pick her up from the station at 4:00ish. We get back and nap because both of us are tired. She finally get up at 7-8:00ish. We decide to go to Sushi Palace on Middle Neck for dinner. I get the breaded chicken with Japanese steak sauce and she gets tofu and vegetable tempura. We plan on going to the 9:50 Public Enemies at Squire, but there’s a fire alarm issue and the fire department has to come.
We end up deciding to go to Blockbuster on Lakeville and get Tokyo! and She’s Not That Into You. When we get back, we find out that people are going over to Alon’s. Katie and I walk over with some liquor. We hang out drinking and watching TV. Afterwards, we get Wendy’s.

July 3, 2009
We wake up at 12:00ish and go with mom to dim sum in Flushing. However, it’s late for dim sum by 1:00ish and it’s seriously lacking. They don’t even have our favorite, steam pork buns. We leave in a storm because there’s so little stuff around. My mom has to drop something off in Main Street Flushing so Katie and I get off there to hang around. We get two of the $1 Peking duck buns. So good and such an incredible value. We also get Quickly Bubble Tea, though I found out that a new one opened on Roosevelt.
We walk around Old Navy and see that the store “runs big.” Even smalls are too loose on me. We go to Macy’s looking for underwear for me, but it’s pretty pricey. A single piece of underwear really worth $16… The Men’s section also runs large. While looking around, we see that the Boy’s Section has cool shirts that fit me. Their large is actually just right for me. Score! I get three awesome graphic tees for $40. We then go to Morning Glory where Katie buys two necklaces, a bag, and a wallet. We quickly grab the N20 back to Great Neck.
At night, we decide to make some dinner instead of going dinner. Cooking is the bombdizzle, especially when Great Neck only has so many options and it’s late for restaurants (9:30). Katie decides to make a Mediterranean style pasta. We go to Stop and Shop for whole wheat spaghetti, artichoke hearts, feta cheese, and asparagus spears.
We then find out that Jeremiah is having people over. We go over with some alcohol. Alon, Kenny, and Caroline are there. I get some mad drinking done while Katie works on some leftover jungle juice. I sit on the computer for a bit and we end up leaving early.

July 4, 2009
We wake up late and watch Tokyo! because it’s a new release and has to be returned today. We had plans to have a full day in the city, but Katie’s friend hasn’t gotten back to her, we have the movie, and plan on going at night for dinner and fireworks. Tokyo! is a cool concept of three shorter films directed by three different directors (Michel Gondry, Leos Carax, and Bong Joon-ho). The first one (Gondry) is the best. It’s a story about a couple, ambition, and a woman turning into a chair…
The second one is about a sewer monster, but it’s dragged down by translations between a fake language, French, and Japanese. The third starts off well about a hermit that has stayed in his house for 10 years, but it gets confusing when a human/robot girl gets involved. We then return the movie and go shopping at H Mart for CNF’s BBQ. It’s a great day at H Mart because there are so many samples. They have stands outside with drinks, noodles, and meat. Inside, there are noodles, dumplings, rice, juice, shrimp, and more. It’s like an awesome free appetizer. We end up buying pork for the BBQ and sides (dried squid, kimchi, and seaweed salad). For tomorrow, we get ingredients for sushi rolls and spicy cold noodles that we sampled.
When we get back, she makes the cold noodles. We bring the food and find out that we only have the sides and the noodles. Darnit, I left the marinated pork butt in the fridge. Either way, there’s a lot of food. Kenny and I do a lot of the cooking and serving. Basically everyone is at this BBQ and it’s good fun all around. I go through a bunch of hot dogs, burgers, and sides. After a lot of beers and a few whiskies, I’m feeling really full and tired.
By the time that I get home, with Katie driving, I simply pass out from the large amount of food, alcohol, and not sleeping much. We were planning to go to Scott’s, but I nap for almost two and a half hours, waking up at 3:30. Katie tells me that I was sleep talking. I would say things to her all mumbled and then change into an angrier tone when she didn’t understand me. I also spoke in a different language too, but she couldn’t tell which one.

July 5, 2009
Katie makes the plans for the day that we should go into the city with the food we bought yesterday and eat it at Central Park. We make sushi rolls (tuna, cucumber, rice, and avocado wrapped in seaweed) and have the cold noodles. We wake early for this day at 10:00ish and have a few eggs with feta with garlic Ciabatta bread. We stop by at Katie’s apartment so she can change and drop off her stuff from the weekend. We then walk around Central Park for a while near the 80s. After we find somewhere to sit and have our picnic. We somehow end up near Columbus Circle. We go to the shopping center in there and it’s a pretty cool place. Then again, it’s pretty much all really expensive stores, like the cooking accessories store with a $70 tea kettle…
We then walk around and find a market to get sandwiches and fruit. We have dinner waiting for the subway down to the AMC Theater near 42nd. Up is playing at 9:55, but we have extra time, so we walk over to TGI Fridays. I order a Diet Coke because a beer wouldn’t really get me anywhere and she orders a Mudslide. It’s a yummy combination of vodka, Kahlua, Baileys over ice cream. We then go back to the theater. It’s a 3D movie so you have to wear glasses during it. Up is probably my favorite of the animated films, along with The Incredibles. From what I’ve heard from people, everyone has said that it’s a sad movie with tears all over. I didn’t cry, but I really do understand that. There aren’t many cheap laughs and has an endearing, emotional story.
After the movie, Katie and I walk to Penn Station and I catch the 12:19 back.