"It's a beautiful day, don't let it get away." ~u2

Yesterday my parents and I went to the U.S. Open. It was the perfect day to go; in fact, there were so many matches to choose from that it was hard to decide what to watch. We saw some great tennis. Unfortunately, almost all of the players that I wanted to win ended up losing. I watched Maria Sharapova, the defending champion and second seed, lose in three sets. I really like her so I wasn't very happy about that. I also watched Martina Hingis, one of my all-time favorite players (actually, she's probably my number-one favorite all-time player) lose in three sets. Donald Young and John Isner, two young Americans who have been getting lots of buzz, also lost. Isner lost to Roger Federer, who is considered by many people to be the best tennis player who ever lived. Isner won the first set and I was so excited; then I left the court to go watch another match and Federer stepped up his game. Andy Murray lost in four sets, which was disappointing. I was happy to see Tommy Haas beat Sebastian Grojean. And Andy Roddick beat Thomas Johansson. Anyway, I got to see the best players in the world play some good matches and it was a fun day. I missed going to the U.S. Open. My family used to go every year. Then when I went off to college I couldn't go because I was in Virginia while it was going on. Now that I'm living in NYC, it's perfect; I just took the subway to Flushing Meadows and met my parents there. I went home with them and we're celebrating my birthday tonight (my birthday is on Tuesday and I'm heading back into the city tomorrow). My college apartmentmate Joy has been staying at my house for the past week, and I'm glad I got to come home this weekend and see her.

I have pictures from the past week. First, here's Coney Island:






And here's my classroom: