I've also been busier than ever, so I thought it's time for a wrap-up post!
On May 1 I did something I never thought I'd do: Joe Katz convince me to bike to midtown Manhattan, and I didn't get killed! There had been a bike tour planned down the new Broadway bike lane -- which was poorly organized, so it didn't happen -- but Joe and I biked from Greenpoint, over the Pulaski and Queensboro Bridges, to Columbus Circle, down Broadway, onto Second Avenue, and returned via the Williamsburg Bridge. We biked eighteen miles, and I was exhausted!
Here we are in Columbus Circle:
Here I am taking a nap while a Punk Rope clinic was going on in McCarren later in the afternoon:
On May 4 I went to Word to celebrate the launch of Emily St. John Mandel's The Singer's Gun.
On May 8 Robert Reid took Matt Watt, Andrew "Brooklyn Nomad" Hickey, and me on a tour of Billy Joel's Long Island, which we abbreviated #bjtravel on Twitter.
Here's Robert's 76-Second Travel Show of the day; he did a great job editing out all my giggles, as I can honestly say I never laughed as hard and as often as I did with this band of fellow #bjtravel-ers:
I'm hoping Robert will follow up with a similar visit to Joisey in September for #bstravel, that is, in honor of Bruce Springsteen.
Mother's Day was spent with the maternal one. I took her out for brunch:
On May 14 on my way to the Meat Hook, I spotted the fine Men of Rescue Me, and they offered to take a picture with me after I praised the show!
I continued to train for the Punk Rope Games. Having learned doubles in late April, I practiced a little bit every day at work until I could do twenty consecutively and ultimately did thirty-four doubles in thirty seconds the day of (with one trip). This video was taken the day before the Games:
On May 22 my team, Chick Lit, tied for fourth place with Joe Katz's Newtown Creek Toxic Avengers. Joe Katz, who taught me doubles, and I square off early in the competition:
And after some propositioning...
...we make up:
Bitchcakes and I have a pint at the post-Games party at the Gibson:
Not only was the day a major achievement, but many people complimented my athleticism. If they only knew how I despised gym class and used to hate physical activity!
The next day Meredith hosted a brunch, and I didn't feel guilty about all the carbs:
On May 25 Daniel Handler popped some absinthe in my martini at Word:
The next two days I worked at the Book Expo America's autographing area.
Memorial Day weekend was spent with Joe Katz: We biked to Ikea, kayaked with Kristen and Marina, and biked to Manhattanhenge. On Memorial Day proper I made a dent in Justin Cronin's The Passage at the Richardson with two Tom Collinses.
On June 1 I went to Word's event with Joshua Braff and Jonathan Tropper. The latter wrote This Is Where I Leave You, an indescribably hilarious book that similar in vein to the Coen Bros. A Serious Man. I loved it and encourage everyone to read it!
On June 5 I went to the Queens Botanical Garden to celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of my foster family and biked in the Tour de Brooklyn the next day with Joe Katz and Bitchcakes:
And because you can never have enough Joe Katz, on June 8 he joined me for an after-hours event at the Museum of Natural History in honor of its new exhibit, "Race to the End of the Earth," about the two rivals attempting to reach the South Pole first. Look at how dapper he is:
On June 10 I attended the Brokelyn Ball and won a cut and color to Beehive Salon. I had just bought and used a Groupon to get rid of my ponytail -- my hair hadn't been that long since 1997! -- and was disappointed with the cut and service (pretentious hipster stylist), so I was ecstatic:
On June 12 my colleague and I attended our first Gotham Girls Roller Derby bout with VIP seats. The game was amazing, and I'd like to go to the next game.
On June 15 I attended a reading at Teachers College with Neil Gaiman. Joe Hill acted as moderator of the discussion of genre vs. mainstream fiction.
On June 17 I went to Word's fabulous prom for literary singles, which was covered in the New York Times. Though Bitchcakes got to dance with the King, I got his number!
And if that weren't enough, on June 18 I told Arthur Nersesian, best known for writing The Fuck-Up, how much I loved his novel Dogrun. I even wrote the copy for the Skint's listing of the event.
I spent this weekend recovering from everything and look forward to a quiet week. If these two months were any indication, I need all the rest I can get for the summer!
