In New York, freedom looks like too many choices

Pop quiz! Did this summer fly by
(a) faster than a speeding bullet (Superman),
(b) swifter than the coursing river (Mulan), or
(c) quicker than a ray of light (Madonna)?

I'm mostly sad about summer's imminent demise because I feel like I wasted the first half of my summer being anxious when I should have been enjoying New York City. So allow me to console myself with a list of good things about my summer that I managed to do even though I worked nearly every weekend:

1. I set personal records in the 5K (24:08), 10K (54:46) and half-marathon (2:05:10) distances, and I got to run in Prospect Park (Brooklyn), Central Park (Manhattan) and Forest Park (Queens), with Marissa and Hannah.
2. I spotted Luke Wilson in Columbus Circle, and Alan, Maria, Gordon and Bob from Sesame Street at work.
3. I ate (sometimes multiple times) at the following fabulous New York eateries: Peanut Butter & Company on Sullivan Street, which serves all kinds of fun peanut butter sandwiches; Dip on 3rd and 29th, a fancy fondue restaurant with $5 Cosmopolitans during Happy Hour; Rocking Horse Cafe in Chelsea, which makes tasty Mexican food and amazingly strong gigantic frozen margaritas; Grimaldi's in Brooklyn, famous pizza; Gray's Papaya on the Upper West Side, famous hot dogs; Serendipity on 3rd and 60th, famous for their "frozen hot chocolate" (but don't bring it up around Marissa and Hannah, or a fight will break out); Ferrara in Little Italy, my favorite Italian pastry shop; and of course Magnolia in Chelsea, the best cupcakes in the city.
4. I walked over the Brooklyn Bridge with Hannah to eat at Grimaldi's and the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory, and then we took the water taxi back over to the South Street Seaport.
5. I attended one Mets game (go Mets!) and one Brooklyn Cyclones game, where my dad bought me a brown and pink (my new favorite colors) Cyclones T-shirt.
6. At Coney Island, I rode the Cyclone and the Pirate Ship and ate fried clams.
7. In one weekend, I went to historic Governors Island, two Manhattan street fairs (I bought a necklace for $2), had frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity, bought like a pound of candy at Dylan's Candy Bar and then ate dinner at Dip.
8. I went to Jones Beach on a perfect beach day.
9. I took a ballet class. I still can't dance, but I might be more flexible now.
10. I saw J.K. Rowling, Stephen King and John Irving at Radio City Music Hall.
11. I saw Kelly Clarkson at Jones Beach.
12. I had a birthday bagel picnic in Central Park that reuninted lots of my old friends.
13. I met my baby cousin Tyler.
14. I saw the New York Philharmonic in Central Park.
15. I visited with Caitlin, Jared and Dianne in lovely Setauket.
16. I received the following free things from my job: a pair of Elmo flannel shorts that say "Tickle me" on them; a Sesame Workshop calculator; a Sesame Beginnings calendar; a little stuffed Bert; an Oscar the Grouch T-shirt (actually, I won it at the intern luncheon when I knew that the only two Muppets with built-in smiles are Kermit and Ernie); and a Grover stuffed animal, Grover bookmark and Grover mug (I told them Grover was my favorite Muppet, so I got the Grover gift bag on my last day).
17. I read some terrific books (among them, Case Histories) and saw some great movies (among them, Little Miss Sunshine).

So you see George, I really had a wonderful life! Now it's time to get down to the business of packing, errand-running, haircut-getting and pumping myself up for Somerville Showdown: The Final Epic Battle Between Rachel and a Master's Degree in Child Development (coming to a resume near you this December).