Night Owling ...

Okay, Vlad, first of all -- major jealousy that you own a Cow Xing sign. That’s got to be a pretty sweet addition to your room décor. My room is pretty “girlie” except for my slovenly sister who seizes every opportunity to try and make it into a pigsty.

Have you always been a night owl? I keep picturing you and Henry on the move, prowling around the neighborhood in the wee hours …your Aunt sounds like a peach to let you just do mostly what you want, mostly when you want. And you’re never dealing with a built-in tattle-tale system, like my sneaky munchkin sis and bossy li’l bro. Vlad, you have no idea how lucky you are …

My Chemical Romance is huge at my school. There’s a group of us who are also into trance music, downtown here in the East Village and parts of DUMBO (stands for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge) has really good our-age clubs for that -- not full-on raves, just a group of us all getting together -- we usually do a sushi dinner before (though I stay away from the fishes, I am all about the bean curd soup and California roll) and my folks are pretty low-key with curfews in the summer, too. Once school starts, that’s a whole different ball of wax. But they get it that I’m more “in my own skin” late-night -- sounds like your Aunt gets that, too. Kindred spirit!

My friend Pete is also kind of an unusual specimen. Let’s just say he is very affected by the phases of the moon -- he’s always been sensitive to it, but this summer he went through a growth spurt, five inches in five months, I swear, and it’s been a little bit trickier for him (sorry if I'm being kinda enigmatic, but I think you know what I mean). His personality can shift significantly with the wax and wane; he never really knows if it’s hormones or ancestry. He’s got these wacky eyes that reflect moonlight almost to the point where they can look clear, but then in broad daylight they are Coca-cola brown.

Pete told me the dumbest joke yesterday -- we were passing by a cemetery near Grace Church School, and he said, “here we are, in the dead center of town.” So lame, but I laughed, so that’s what I’m closing my note to you with … write back, tell me what’s up! When are you going to visit NYC? My folks are getting sick of me talking about you, and I think Pete is feeling jealous -- though he’d never admit it. Mostly, he just wants to hang with you, too.

xx Lexie