it is so absurdly hot. even franny can't get comfortable. all evening she's been stretched out in bizarre positions in obscure spots all around the apartment. like me, it's as if she's restlessly saying to herself, "this can't possibly be as cool as it gets." i'm insisting that we hold off on air conditioning, as it's still just may and it's only going to get more and more brutal in the next few months, but this ceiling fan in the living room is just not cutting it. perhaps i should buy one of those industrial fans they have at the gym and turn the apartment into a wind tunnel. of course,what with the strain on the power grid, we may as well just put the AC on.

the holiday weekend proved pretty fun but relaxing. saturday my sister and i went to ikea, where they had a face painter (susanne got a flower on her cheek and i opted for the diabolical curly mustache and pointy goatee) and i bought a bunch of crap i probably don't need. then onto target for some awkward stares from other shoppers, to whom i explained in an embarrassing tone "i'm having a bit of a hormonal problem right now". saturday night after initial ambivalence toward the evening, we walked downtown for dinner and stopped to sit in the park on our way home. this time of year is nice, because the evenings are perfect and the streets are social, but the cockroaches haven't caught on yet. sunday i went with casey & josh to this fabulous flea market and antique mall out near lancaster where i bought some goodies (perhaps i'll post some photos tomorrow) and last night we picked up some pizza and watched a movie. today was an ill-fated attempt to play miniature golf in NJ, until we realized that the reason we've only ever played down the shore, and at night usually, is because inland it's hotter than hell during the day, the only breeze coming from the windmill. so instead we got ice cream and came back to attend amanda's barbecue.

i'm feeling very contented having hung out with some new people this weekend. to me, making new friends is always almost as good as courting with a new crush. it normally takes me forever to feel comfortable enough with people to invite them out, which means they usually give up on me before we've officially become "friends." i had so much fun at the flea market with casey and josh, and i dare say they seemed to enjoy themselves too. and today at the party greg and i got on well with everyone, with promises to hang out soon. it's just always good to increase your arsenal of friends, especially when the ones you already have start to become busy with things like careers and marriage.

today's haiku, in honor of this hot sticky may weekend:
grime sticks to the dew on my forehead
this is only the beginning