Wednesday 13th June

I went for an alumni-organised Garden Party on Tuesday evening. Notwithstanding the fact that the weather was crap yesterday and that they ran out of Pimm's everytime I got to the bar, I had a great time. First of all, the party was held on the rooftop of the New York Athletic Club which had an amazing view over Central Park. With the post-rain mist hanging low around the treetops, it made for a soft and dreamy effect. (Pictures to be posted when I can bully my friend for them.) I didn't get a chance to speak with too many people, but it was heartening to see that the alumni is pretty strong/active. New Friend tally from last night - probably zero. But I'll keep trying! :)

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I met another neighbour from my floor yesterday morning. He's Australian. His wife is not only also Singaporean but shares the same surname as me! I definitely need to bring them more cake! Although, as a neighbour, it is easy to tread further into their personal space than they would like. At least with an acquaintance, you can drop out of touch if you didn't like someone. But with neighbours, you're bound to meet them in the hallway and stuff like that so they can't even avoid you if they decide they don't like you. So, how does one get friendly with one's neighbours without coming across as too keen?

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I went for opera in Central Park yesterday evening. I have always loved the ideas of chilling out in parks, be it picnics in Hyde Park or outdoor movie screenings on Lake Geneva. I think yesterday's show was La Boheme, although we were too far away from the stage to warrant serious concentration on the music. Unfortunately, the weather conditions weren't exactly made for being outdoors and it was COLD!!! But still we made the best of it with our mishmash of chocolate TimTams, bananas and raspberries. Fortunately, it looks as though there will be quite a few outdoor movie screenings in Bryant Park and Hudson River Park over the whole summer. I'm looking forward to those already!

To make a point about how small the world is, I was hanging out yesterday with L. We went to university together, knew of each other but probably never spoke more than 5 sentences to each other during the whole time. Out of the blue, I was out getting lunch a couple of weeks ago, I bumped into her. We exchanged numbers and promised to hang out. At university, I'd always had the impression that she was rather unfriendly, but actually she's a really cool chick. Definitely has the characteristics of my best girl friends. New Friend tally - 1. Yeay!

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I'm off to the OC this weekend to see Emma and her folks. Yeay!