These past two weeks were spring break for my college kiddos. The boys had the same week off, then the girl had the following week. It was a grand time all around. I picked River up last Friday night and Lex drove home Saturday.

Project Hail Mary

On Sunday we all went to a sneak peak of the movie Project Hail Mary. I was ridiculously excited for this showing. We all had read the book when it first came out, then I read it again with my sci-fi book group last month. One of the members of that group told me about the free showing. Apparently the directors are Dartmouth grads and they always doing advance screenings of their movies at Dartmouth. I don’t remember their names (and I’m not going to Google them now), but the kids knew who they were and we excited. We got there half hour early, and found a HUGE line!!

I got sad thinking we weren’t going to get a seat, but we decided to wait anyway, just in case. I’m glad we did! The line moved fast (easy when there are no tickets or money changing hands!) and we got in easily. I looked back when we got to the door, and the line was STILL as long! Turns out the theater seats 792 people and the place was packed! They even had people raise their hands if they had an empty seat near them and they sat people individually to make sure every seat was full.

The movie was a lot of fun. We spent the remainder of the evening talking about how much we liked it, then the remainder of the week talking about all the ways it was not as good at the book. LOL.

For the remainder of the week Lex hung out with me (in between playing video games), River hung out with his friends, and the birds at work attacked my window. It seems to be a seasonal thing.

Robotics

Lex also had the great idea to attend the FIRST Robotics meet happening the following weekend. Their old team, The Grasshoppers, were competing and he wanted to watch. I forgot how much I enjoy these events! Alan came along and we had a great day! The team is really good this year and the game is super fun.

Lex headed south that evening and Alan and I headed north, catching a few more matches when we stopped to charge.

NYC with the girls

After a week with the boys, I dropped River off at his bus and continued on to meet Espen and my sisters in NYC!! We had tickets to see John Oliver and Seth Meyers at the Beacon Theater!! It was an awesome show! I knew they had a residency there, but I didn’t really know what to expect. It turned out to be an opening comedian for 20m, then an hour of John, then an hour of Seth, then another 20m of the two of them on stage answering audience questions. The whole thing was hysterical.

One thing I’m really enjoying on these recent trips to NYC is the beautiful architecture and design in the older buildings. The theaters, Grand Central Station, the NYPL, etc. There was so much thought and detail put into them. So much work. Buildings these days are so boring and plain. There’s an interesting plaque in Grand Central dedicated to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and the work she did preserving Grand Central and other buildings in NYC. (apparently I’ve hit the “reading plaques” age. lol)

Rose and Joyce had a hotel in the city, while Espen and I took the train back to LI. The next day we had a whimsical drive home, stopping at the mall for awhile to charge the car, and a Starbucks or two to charge me.

Finn

Unrelated to anything there is a cat that lives in the neighborhood by the library. His name is Finn and he LOVES the library! He is a free spirit (his owners recently put an airtag on him because people kept “adopting” him into their houses. lol) He likes to sneak into the library, through the front door and the back door. This past week he was particularly persistent. He even made it all the way into my office one time. He’s pretty bad at being sneaky, often just sitting out front until some kind patron opens the door for him. LOL.

This morning Alan picked Espen up and drove her back to school. I spent the day getting caught up on past newspapers, finishing a puzzle, finishing an audiobook, and enjoying the silence again. For a few weeks, until summer comes and I get them all back home again! :)