Day 318: fun party, more plans for NY.

Today my sister Anna and brother-in-law Dean threw a burger and ribs party to celebrate my big brother Nic's birthday. It was really cool. Apart from my not being able to eat Dean's famous burger patties or ribs (which definitely looked delicious), everything was awesome (and anyway, I brought a vegie burger along so all was well). In fact the daytime party soon turned into a nighttime party and eventually rolled around to my big bro's house (but that's another story). I really like parties like these at Anna and Dean's because they have a relaxed and pleasant rambling quality. There's always one group of adults chatting on stools around the bench in the kitchen, another group lolling around on the big sofas in the living room, and kids scampering up and down the stairs and everywhere in between. It's a nice atmos. Anyway, on this occasion, being the chatters in the kitchen, we got to chatting about how I might get to New York. And not only did my sister-in-law Kate come up with a very clever idea (save up enough to go check it out for three months and talk to people while I'm there), I also remembered a contractor exchange programme I'd totally forgotten about. So good results all round, and a very enjoyable time, and now I need to sleep.