the aliens are coming and i'm going to new york!!!

either cookie's been watching too much t.v. or she was told something by the kids she was hanging out with at the pig roast, who knows, but she spent a good portion of time telling the other guests, complete strangers, btw, that the aliens' house was next door, that they left something in the backyard of ameloblast's house, and that they were coming for her. this kid is like a sponge, i don't know where she picks up some of the things she says. i really have to watch my mouth around her now, especially when i'm driving.

so it's been 9 months since i visited my old home in the big apple and i've traded enough trips to NY for trips to MI to warrant two place tickets to visit my old stomping grounds. this trip is going to cap off a pretty busy summer peppered with insanse hours at work, barbeques, weddings, and visits from my friends. cookie and i are driving to buffalo to fly jet blue my FAVE airline and the only one i'm convinced won't crash because because it has satellite t.v.'s on each seatback, into JFK. canuck will have the house to himself, free of estrogen for a few days. i'm so excited! i have a list of things to do when i get there, and of course almost all of them revolve around food and shopping. i'm also have to pencil in the tons of people to see, and how the hell am i going to squeeze this all in four days? my sister is also turning 18 on aug 11, and since i couldn't make it for her graduation i promised her i would take her to the beach. ooooh, i love the beaches on long island!!! if i'm going to parade around in my bikini, i should probably do my best to shed those excess 15 pounds in three weeks, which is not bloody likely but still a fantasy i like to entertain. ameloblast's pig roast didn't help much in that department.

here's a tribute list of new york things that i totally miss and will hopefully get to check off when i head over there in three weeks:

white castle a.k.a. "sliders"
grey's papaya - best hot dogs in the city
tasti-d-lite - as seen on sex and the city, who knows what's in there to make it taste so damn good and still low fat
zabar's - mine and canuck's favorite place to shop in dental school
dean and deluca - i used to work there! $55/pound chocolate! and i bumped into stephen baldwin, too.
the subway - the best in the world, rivaled possible only by london's underground
LIRR - we used to live in bayside before we moved here and my folks lived in hicksville (yes, that is the real name of the town)
central park
columbia university main campus

in other recent news, my dad got hit by a car when exiting the wantagh LIRR station (see above map) and is now holed up with a fractured thumb and a possible rotator cuff injury that may need surgery. of course, this happens on monday and i find out TODAY when i called to finalize my trip details, as me and cookie will be crashing with him for part of our trip. he is planning to sue the driver, the owner of the vehicle, and the insurance company, as is the good old american way. thank god he's alright, the chick that hit him apparently ran a stop sign and bolted out of the lot before smacking into him. it will be interesting to see how this pans out.

now i just have to get thru the next three weeks.