All the cool kids have this hipstamatic app on their awesome iPhones. 
I'm scared of iPhones (and iPods, and hairdryers, and alarmclocks, and irons, and anything else that was invented after 1923) so I have to rely on good old fashioned photo flops that look like they were taken ages ago.

Fuzzy off-kilter timeless skewed up pics.
Like this one.

That's Jake.  Waiting for me to figure out the new camera so I can take a picture of his toughness.

So tough, right?  Run or you might get smoldered.

When I saw Jake on Sunday afternoon for the first time since Wednesday morning, he looked so big.  His voice had changed a little.  His hair was longer and curlier and lighter from the sun.  He was tanned from his Jersey Shore adventures.  He said new things like "nevermind" and "are you serious with this?".  

I like reconnecting with the boy.  

***

There were a few people who I really wanted to be sure to meet at the conference last weekend.  Of course my phone crapped out of me (first the air conditioning, then the camera, then the phone.  I have a bad habit of just letting things go until it's too late.  The oven is next, I predict.) and I couldn't get a hold of anyone until they got a hold of me first.

I wanted to sit down and have some one on one time with Theresa.  Check.  And Kristin joined the mix, which is nice because I always thought they'd like each other.

And KC from Under the Influence and I had it all planned out, but she fell and broke her arm.  Boo to that, yay to that we got a chance to meet each other at one of the parties before it all happened.  I'm pretty sure that she wasn't too much Under the Influence when she fell, but I have yet to hear the whole story!

Nadine and I made a point to meet up between giant gatherings, and I'm so glad we did.  I've been stalking her for years now.

And Shelly.  Shelly, Shelly, Shelly.  We had the best laid plans and neither of us had access to one another's phone number or email so we spent days wandering around and looking for one another to no avail.  I'm still not convinced that we aren't the same person.  After all, I've never seen us in a room together...

And the City.  I love cities.  I love trampling my feet all over them so we get to know each other well.  I'm really good at cities and cities are really good at me.  I'll bet I walked 30 miles last week.  I wanted to be sure I knew my way around Manhattan by the time I left and the only way to do that is set out and learn it.  You can't get lost in the city.  You can get turned around, but you always know where you are.  I'm in Manhattan.  On 74th and 7th. 

I'm not good at country.  And country isn't good at me.  You can get lost in the country.  And eaten. Or worse. You never know where you are.  I'm in the country.  On a hill and near a tree.  No one can give you directions home based on that. I saw Deliverance.  That's all I need to know about the country.

And food.  I was hellbent on making sweet sweet mouthlove to some halal, and there was a fantastic cart right on the corner next to the hotel.  53rd and 6th.  Best truckfood ever.  And cheap.

I am also a sucker for those hot street nuts.  Vacation isn't vacation until you've sucked down an entire 

sweet

sticky

shady

salty

savory

nutsack.

Sorry.

It's just those bags of nuts smell so good and taste just like they smell.

Some people prefer to get their nuts in a can.  

Sorry again.

Nuts.

Sacks.

Cans.

I don't like to spend more than $100 in a week on stuff.  The challenge holds on vacation too.  $99.  That's what I spent.  Not including hotel or busfare.  My meals came from that halal truck, fruit trucks and nut carts.  All easy, fresh, and cheap.  The only thing I had a hard time with is coffee.  Coffee is hard to get in New York.  Well, harder to get than here but probably easier to get than in most.  Plus I hate waiting in line for things.  My bad joke is that "my people have been in this country way too long for me to have to wait in line for food".  It's not a joke.  My people have been here way too long for me to have to wait in line for food.  I can't wait patiently for something I'm addicted to so I run around like a crazed person until I find someone willing to sell me coffee immediately.  That's so sad.  Even more so that I consider it blog-worthy. 

Back to people.  I am so bad with who is a "famous" blogger and who isn't so much the famous.  

It's just nice being near thousands of people who like to write and like to share their lives with the general public.  I saw the Pioneer Woman, but didn't talk to her even though she was my first non-family member reader and commenter here.  (I'm pretty sure she's not reading this anymore.)  I met Amalah, and she's just the sweetest.  And Greeblemonkey who is super friendly.  Also the Bloggess, who is like, the famousest blogger ever.  She's every bit as sweet as people say, and she really does hide in the bathroom.  It's also true that she has some sort of weird photographic memory and she knows everyone in the whole wide world.  Or else she's really good at pretending and guessing.  It was pretty powerful for me to be near someone like her.  Not because she's famous on the internet or wildly hilarious, but she's about my age and she knows what it's like to be a mom to an only child and wake up in pain every day and have her hair fall out in giant clumps.  And to have her throw her arms around you and hug you and tell you that  you're beautiful despite the crippled up joints and bald spots was just what I needed to hear from someone who is beautiful despite the crippled up joints and bald spots.  And Schmutzie, who does so much for networking us all together with her Five Star Friday Awards and for all her Cervical Cancer is not an STD awareness work.  She is gorgeous and gives good hugs.

Gush gush gush.

I like the internets because it puts me in touch with people who talk about things that we aren't supposed to talk about in real life.

I also like the internets because there is an off button.