Dear Sister,

Sorry it's taken me so long to write-- It's been too hot. Seriously. All I can do these days is sit in front of my fan, stay perfectly still to avoid any unnecessary forays through the hot sticky air my limbs...well, lets go with unpleasant, and hallucinate that I have AC. So, in case you're keeping track, -2 Summer in NYC. Both the ridiculous heat and the lack of AC deserve minuses. Weather like this sans AC is why I chopped my hair off freshman year of college. Ughh.

I've been thinking about your last train of thought, and well:

1) Pluto hasn't been a planet for awhile...Where were you when there was a Facebook outrage/movement about it?
2) There is a reason adult supervision is required for children at museums. It's so that they don't come out thinking things like birds are dinosaurs and reptiles don't exist. 'Cause just to warn you, crocodiles do most certainly still exist. And dinosaurs do NOT.

Okay, seriously. I'm working up a sweat just typing this to you. And my computer is burning up too. So, its time for me to go grocery shopping! Yay! (The excitement comes from the fact that the grocery store has AC...see, summer in NYC makes even errands seem better in comparison!)

love,
your bubble-bursting sister

the "museum of things that have changed since you were in elementary school"

Hi NYC sister,

I was in your fair city a few weekends ago and went to the Natural History Museum for a birthday party. Now, as you know, this is not always the safest place for you and me to be. Blessedly, our group was meeting at the T-Rex skeleton, which was far away from all the creepy things-behind-glass (floors 2 and 3).

Full disclosure: all the other groups there had small children. We did not. However, we did have blow-up dinosaurs which (incredibly) the guards did not take away from us and which we then gave to the small children. Also, we learned a lot.

It turns out science is not what it was when we were kids - not even science for the little ones. (I know you're a biology major, but bear with me as I fumble my way through this explanation of what I have recently learned about science.) Apparently, so many things have been disproved and/or contested that they have these stickered disclaimers everywhere, reminding us that some things are just theories or educated guesses or conventional assumptions ... In case you were wondering, here's some of the things that make the saying "Everything I need to know I learned in Kindergarten" just flat out wrong:

One - Pluto is no longer a planet.

Two - Birds are dinosaurs (and thus, dinosaurs are not extinct).

Three - "Reptiles" is no longer a word used in the scientific community.

So, to sum up what has happened to the world since we were children: we lost Pluto, gained dinosaurs, and reptiles no longer exist. I'm sad for Pluto, but otherwise I think it's a pretty fair deal.

Love,
your just-left-Boston sister

Hellloo Summer in NYC

Dear Morning Sister,

There is something I’ve been meaning to tell you. When you text me at 7am on weekends I AM NOT AWAKE. And if I am awake, it’s because my phone vibrated, woke me up, and I’m silently wishing death upon you. (Temporarily…I’ll stop once I go back to sleep until 11am).

In other important morning related news: the coffee stand man is back. I repeat, the coffee stand man IS BACK. This is, quite possibly, the best news I have received all summer, which has most definitely started in NYC and which is most definitely as miserable as I remember it being. But, he was there yesterday, and today, so I'm pretty sure it's not a fluke. I don't know why he left, and I don't care, so long as he is back. There is something about having my coffee perfectly prepared (medium, milk, no sugar) without me having to ask AND being called beautiful that really just starts the morning off right. I'm telling you, if I woke up that way every morning, I'm pretty sure I'd be- well, not a morning person, but not so anti-mornings either. We should invent an alarm clock that wakes you up by saying "Good morning beautiful" and bringing you your coff-- oh, wait. I think that's called a boyfriend. Hhmm. (Note to self: look into getting one of those.)

The return of the coffee man is definitely a point for summer in NYC, and it got me thinking about other things to make the summer bearable. For instance, running. As I discovered on Monday, running at 4pm in the summer is, well, totally insane. It's crossing an insane line I'm not willing to cross yet. Also, it's crossing a dehydration line that is dangerously close to the passing out line, which I'd like to avoid. SO, despite the fact that waking up at 7am makes me want to catapult myself out a window, I set the alarm for 6am this morning. Turns out, 6am, 7am they're all awful. Not a big difference. Also, it turns out if I get up at 6am I can leave by 6:30am, whereas when I get up at 7am I can't seem to leave until 8am. Okay, fine, that maaay be related to my refusal to actually get out of bed until 7:15 or 7:20. (Second note to self: fix snooze so that it goes off every 10 minutes instead of every 5. Hitting the snooze 4 times is a pain in the butt. Or, again, get a boyfriend. One that wakes up early.) Back to the point: I got up at 6am, got up to campus by 7:40 and WENT RUNNING. At 7:50!

Things I learned:

· There are way less baby strollers and small children in Riverside Park at 8am compared to 5pm.

· That’s because they are on their way to school. Which is on 95^th street. Right before the GIANT hill, and when they all wait outside the school building there, it’s a little hard to navigate the sidewalk.

· It is not as hot or humid at 8am, but it is still hot. So drinking water first was a good idea.

· BEFORE running 5 miles an hour from your apartment right before work, you should really double check and make sure the locker room/showers on campus are open.

· Having friends that live right near work is very handy when you realize the showers are in fact NOT open and you are soaked in sweat ten minutes before work starts.

So, let’s recap.

Return of the coffee stand man: +1 summer in NYC

Not being able to run after work: -1 summer in NYC

6am wake up not being worse than 7am: +1 summer in NYC

Having to wake up at 6 OR 7am: -1 summer in NYC/real life in general

No AC in a 4^th floor apartment: -1 summer in NYC

Steady paycheck: +1 summer in NYC

So far it’s breaking even. But stay tuned, this is far from over. Although, if the coffee stand man continues to call me beautiful every morning, I may just never leave NYC. (Finding a boyfriend is a lot of work, what do you want from me?!).

Love,

Your naturally night owl sister