Fate...and Goya

Because it is raining and the parks would be too wet to frolic on this Sunday afternoon, I am blogging.

Latest insight:
I decided this city is freakishly coincidental.

There are a ton of people I know (friends and family) who
a) live here or are moving here
b) are living here this summer
c) visiting or
d) serving a mission.

And I will elaborate on item d.

As if enough cool things couldn't happen in my life lately, I was in my lobby today seeing my friend off after hanging out after church, and who else but my cousin Preston, who is serving an LDS mission in New York City, taps me on the shoulder.

He had come by to drop off a letter for me because he was in the neighborhood for meetings.

Unbelievable.

Literally, had I come down 20 seconds later I would have missed him!

It was so good to see him, and I'm so proud of his unconditional enthusiasm about everything. What he goes through on a daily basis would wear me down, but he is so pumped about the positive change he brings to people's lives, it's inspirational. And even though he's a self-professed "Idaho boy," he's been all over the world so it was funny to hear him say he still experiences NYC culture shock every day.

And on top of that, he is such a baller: he plays basketball up there in Harlem on p-days.

More than ever before, I can say there is no place like New York.

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In other news, Spain has just reached the World Cup semi-finals and the NY Times is featuring "A Goya Tour of Madrid" on its online front page.

Almost makes me want to go back. If I weren't in New York with countless museums at my disposal, this would be the part where I would bittersweetly reminisce about days filled with nothing but standing in front of Velazquez and Picasso, audio tour in ear.

But then I remember the gross tapas, and shudder (the food is so bad there I had nightmares about it for weeks when I got home).

Because now I'm in the foodie capital of the world.

What a life.