You know what feels amazing?

When a Tony nominated actor winks at you during curtain call, then remembers that you were sitting in the front row at the stage door, and then reaches over people to shake your hand.

What a good day. Best day (sans Kayleigh/family) since I've moved here. First of all, I'm finally starting to make friends. Second of all, I ate sushi. I crave sushi like nothing else sometimes. And you know what makes sushi better? Miso soup. Third, I saw Rob McClure and Jennifer Barnhart (from Avenue Q), David Alvarez (one of the other Billy Elliot boys), and Betty White (ROSE FREAKING NYLUND) on the street, and I saw Jenn Damiano, Kyle Dean Massey, Adam Chanler Berat, and Louis Hobson (all from Next to Normal) at the sushi place I had dinner at. Fourth, I actually won Hair lotto, for once in my life. Of course, I wasn't planning on seeing the show and was helping a friend, but she lives on Long Island and can't get into the City much, so I'm glad I could win for her. Fifth, I talked to Alice Ripley's (the star of Next to Normal and a TONY WINNER) hsuband for like five minutes. It was pretty cool.

I start class tomorrow. I'm nervous and hoping that I'm a.) prepared, and b.) making the right decision.

Hey, Dad...

If you're reading this, go to this website.

http://peopleofwalmart.com

I know how much you love Walmart customers. This will cement that.

You were the first person I thought of when I saw it.

Disgusting.

This story is appalling.
http://www.breitbart.tv/kennedy-friend-recalls-how-much-he-loved-to-joke-about-chappaquiddick/

"One of his favorite topics of humor was indeed Chappaquiddick itself."

It's not a joke. Someone died.

Wisdom from Bruce. And others.

And the sages of the subway sit just like the living dead
As the tracks clack out the rhythm, their eyes fixed straight ahead
They ride the line of balance and hold on by just a thread
But it's too hot in these tunnels, you can get hit up by the heat
You get up to get out at your next stop, but they push you back in your seat
Your heart starts beatin' faster as you struggle to your feet
Then you're outa that hole and back up on the street
...It's hard to be a saint in the city.

Also, found this online and I wanted to share it. It's just a bunch of random thoughts that someone compiled. I omitted the ones that weren't relevant to my life.

I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.

More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can't wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that's not only better, but also more directly involves me.

Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

I don't understand the purpose of the line, "I don't need to drink to have fun." Great, no one does. But why start a fire with flint and sticks when they've invented the lighter?

Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you're going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you're crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk. (this is the story of my life).

I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

The letters T and G are very close to each other on a keyboard. This recently became all too apparent to me and consequently I will never be ending a work email with the phrase "Regards" again.

Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn't work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards or FAQ's. We just figured it out. Today's kids are soft.

There is a great need for sarcasm font.


I think everyone has a movie that they love so much, it actually becomes stressful to watch it with other people. I'll end up wasting 90 minutes shiftily glancing around to confirm that everyone's laughing at the right parts, then making sure I laugh just a little bit harder (and a millisecond earlier) to prove that I'm still the only one who really, really gets it.

How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet? (ahem, Keena...)

I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

The only time I look forward to a red light is when I'm trying to finish a text.

Was learning cursive really necessary?

Lol has gone from meaning, "laugh out loud" to "I have nothing else to say". (this is so freaking true).

I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger. (hence my weight).

Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron test is absolutely petrifying.

Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart", all I hear is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart".

How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear what they said?

Every time I have to spell a word over the phone using 'as in' examples, I will undoubtedly draw a blank and sound like a complete idiot. Today I had to spell my boss's last name to an attorney and said "Yes that's G as in...(10 second lapse)..ummm...Goonies"

What would happen if I hired two private investigators to follow each other?

While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and instinctively swerved to avoid it...thanks Mario Kart.

MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower first and THEN turn on the water.

Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.

I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired. (oh my god, yes).

Bad decisions make good stories

Whenever I'm Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got the Red Ryder BB gun that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don't mind if I do!

Is it just me or do high school girls get sluttier & sluttier every year?

If Carmen San Diego and Waldo ever got together, their offspring would probably just be completely invisible.

Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I'm from, this shouldn't be a problem....

You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you just aren't doing anything productive for the rest of the day.

Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don't want to have to restart my collection.

There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far. (this happened to me the other day. i was on the phone with jamie. bad news bears.)

I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

"Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this ever.

I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people watching TV. There's so much pressure. 'I love this show, but will they judge me if I keep it on? I bet everyone is wishing we weren't watching this. It's only a matter of time before they all get up and leave the room. Will we still be friends after this?'

I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Damnit!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?

I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

When I meet a new girl, I'm terrified of mentioning something she hasn't already told me but that I have learned from some light internet stalking.

I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it's on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.

Why is a school zone 20 mph? That seems like the optimal cruising speed for pedophiles...

As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.

Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

It should probably be called Unplanned Parenthood.

I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn't know what do to with it.

Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I'd bet my ass everyone can find and push the Snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time every time...

My 4-year old son asked me in the car the other day "Dad what would happen if you ran over a ninja?" How the hell do I respond to that?

It really pisses me off when I want to read a story on CNN.com and the link takes me to a video instead of text.

I wonder if cops ever get pissed off at the fact that everyone they drive behind obeys the speed limit.

I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lites than Kay.

I have a very important announcement.

Attention everyone,

My apartment is about twenty degrees cooler than it was when I left.

Good thing. I bought another fan at Target after orientation. I took it out of the box. It's broken.

Breathtaking.

Billy Elliot was pretty good. I laughed, I cried, I enjoyed myself. Will I run out for tickets again right now? Probably not (especially since there's no student rush, lottery, or TKTS discount). Would I go again if I wasn't 100% sure Kiril was on for Billy? Eh, probably not. Is it my new favorite show? No. But I'm really glad I went. The choreography was brilliant, and I swear, I could watch Kiril dance forever. He's amazing.

That's me with a TONY WINNER. Awful picture of me, actually. First of all, it was one of those days where everything seemed to take longer than usual. I sat on the subway for like, 10 minutes before it left the station, plus the bus to the subway station took forever. so basically, I had to haul major ass to get there in time to get my ticket. My hair got a little roughed up in the process. Then I cried, so my makeup ran. Bad news bears. But it's a great picture of him. He's amazing.

Also, on an unrelated note, today I saw someone eating potato chips with chopsticks on the subway. I just wanted to put that out there.

Remember me?

I've been MIA for a few days. Sorry.

So, first things first, and most importantly...

RIP, Molly. You were the sweetest, nicest, best dog ever, and I'll miss you so much.

So that kind of put a damper on my week, but I'm actually doing okay with it. I'm sure she and Raider are frolicking together in some big field somewhere, and that they're very happy together. I guess it was just time.

On Monday, I went to see Matt Doyle's concert at Joe's Pub. Matt was in Spring Awakening. I'm sure I've mentioned him here before. He had Blake as a guest on one of his songs. There's nothing quite like two of my favorite people ever on one stage. They both have such gorgeous voices, plus they're both gorgeous, so it was like sensory overload.

Yum.

Tomorrow I have a ticket to Billy Elliot, where I will see...

...this...

...gorgeous...

...TONY WINNING ACTOR.

I'm excited. I hear he's brilliant in the role, and the best of the three Billys. Plus he's leaving soon (damn puberty), so I'm glad someone was kind enough to figure out the Billy schedule for the week for me. I think it will be a good show, and it will be good to get out of the apartment. I haven't really left all week. I'm not sure what the stage door is like, but hopefully I'll be able to get a good picture of me and Mr. Kulish.

So that's tomorrow. I have orientation on Wednesday. I think this will be a pretty good week, and I have something up my sleeve for Monday and Tuesday that will definitely help in my quest to make this a good week. And hopefully things work out with Kayleigh for the weekend. I'm dying to both see that Spring Standards show (one of my favorite bands) at the Bowery Ballroom, and to take Kayleigh to Next to Normal. I know she'll love it (plus, I want to go againnnn). I need a better stage door picture with Kyle. And ones with Alice, Adam, and Louis. And if things don't work out with Kayleigh (and Mariah, too. Kayleigh wants to bring her), I have tentative plans to do something with Hilary this week.

I found a new home.

I'm pretty sure that if you don't know how I feel about RENT and Spring Awakening, you've either not been reading my blog very closely or living in a cave for the last three or four years. I was devastated when RENT closed, but I told myself I would have Spring Awakening when I moved to the city, and I'd be okay, because I may talk a good game about liking RENT more, but they're pretty equal in my book, and RENT is a little more emotionally draining than SA anyway, and it was harder to get cheap tickets. I prefer rush to lotto. With rush, you are pretty much guaranteed a ticket if you're willing to work for it. Like I wanted to see Next to Normal today, so I dragged my ass out of bed at 5am so I could get there before the line got long. With lotto, it's the luck of the draw, and we all know how my luck is. Anyway, SA had rush, RENT had lotto, so SA would have been more convenient.

But I digress. Anyway, what I'm getting at is that the fact that I would still have Spring Awakening softened the blow of RENT closing. Then a month or six weeks or so after RENT closed, Spring Awakening's producers posted a closing date. Laaaame. Okay, it wasn't actually lame. I was devastated. But I went to the last show, and it was epic, and sometimes I still see Blake Daniel (we have another date next week, haha), so it's okay. Actually, it's really not. My random and not-so random run-ins with cast members and TGOers lately have made me really miss the show, and I've been struggling with it being gone more than I'd ever admit to anyone, even though it's been seven months.

So the moral of the story is that I lost my shows and my homes on 41st and 49th. When you see shows as much as I saw those two, and develop an emotional connection to them, the fanbase, and the cast members, the theater does actually start to feel like home. It becomes familiar and comforting, and when I accidentally walked by the Eugene O'Neill last week for the first time since January(yeah, oops), I hated seeing it without the Spring Awakening signs. So what I needed was a new show and a new home. So here it is...

This is the Booth Theater on 45th St. Right next to Junior's, Dad and Keena, where we ate. Currently, my new show, Next to Normal (not a new show, it's been in workshops since 2005 I think, but it's new to me), is playing there. I went on Thursday night and I LOVED it. I needed to get out of my apartment today, so I did rush, and got a front row, center ticket. Totally different angle on the show, and it's exponentially better from there. The content is really really heavy, and I was pretty much shaking and convulsing by the end of it. Sure, I cried the other night too, but being that close to the actors made it worse.

Next to Normal was nominated for the Tony for Best New Musical. It didn't win (stupid Billy Elliot), but it probably should have. And Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey DID beat ELTON JOHN for Best Score. Alice Ripley, the lead actress, also won.

This is J. Robert Spencer, who is one gorgeous older man. Honestly, and I have friends who will kill me for thinking this, I think his performance is the most powerful in the show. He slayed me tonight. Alice Ripley is a great actress, but Bobby really does me in. He was actually nominated for the Tony for Best Lead Actor in a Musical, but lost to the three kids who play Billy Elliot, which I'm bitter about (although not that bitter. Kiril Kulish is some lovely 14 year old jailbait, and I want to see Billy Elliot, but only if he's on for Billy that night. Otherwise, no desire). I understand why the Billys won...young, triple threat, blah blah blah, and they're adorable, so it's fine, but this man gives one of the most compelling performances I've ever seen in any musical. This is also my favorite non-Blake stage door picture ever.

This is Kyle Dean Massey. He's um, good looking. And I'm pretty sure he's gay, but it's fine. We'll ignore that. He's not actually the original actor who plays Gabe. Aaron Tveit took a leave of absence to work on Catch Me If You Can: The Musical (yeah, I know...). He'll be back Sept. 7, and I'm looking forward to seeing him in the role, but I love Kyle. Kyle will be going back to Wicked when Aaron returns, so I suppose it's time to bite the bullet and see Wicked, because he's awesome. He was also on fire tonight. He's a great, underrated, up and coming actor, and he plays a haunting and complex character brilliantly.

Those were all of the stage door pictures I got tonight. Louis Hobson came out first, and it always takes me a minute to warm up to asking people for pictures, Jenn Damiano didn't come outand Alice Ripley wouldn't do posed pictures tonight because she was too tired (understandably: a show on Friday and two yesterday and today), and she was blocking me when Adam Chanler-Berat came out. I'll get them eventually (and a better one with Kyle where my chin isn't cut off).

So anyway, Next to Normal is brilliant and amazing, and everyone should go see it so it never closes. All of my shows leave me. So I should pretend to hate this.

Next to Normal sucks. I hope it closes soon.

Valium is my favorite color.

Kayleigh came to visit! We had a blast, as always.

On Tuesday night we went to our favorite bar, which is always fun, haha. Then we wandered the East Village for awhile and went up to Union Square.

On Wednesday it was up early for Shakespeare in the Park tickets. We got our tickets around one, then went back to Brooklyn to shower and whatnot. Apparently I have no oven, so my frozen pizza plan failed miserably. But we figured we would find pizza somewhere, so we wander the Upper West Side for awhile, and like a shining beacon of hope, we saw a sign for Ray's Pizza. Ray's always saves our lives. They once came to our rescue at 2am in the East Village. So we ate pizza. Then we spent some time in Central Park waiting for the show to start.

On Thursday we went to Broadway in Bryant Park. I've always wanted to go, and I'm glad I finallly got the chance.

The Bacchae, the Shakespeare in the Park production, was okay. It was great seeing Jon Groff in a play again. I've missed him since he left Spring Awakening, and he really is a brilliant actor. He owned his role. The show itself was just okay. There was A LOT of Greek Chorus, and it got old really fast. It could definitely use some work. The thing with The Bacchae is that it really is a compelling story. I mean, Dionysus-the God of wine and debauchery. How could you go wrong with that? I really wanted to like this production, but I think they cut out too much of the actual dialogue and put too much Greek chorus in. However, the choreography was brilliant.

After Kayleigh left, I went to Next to Normal. I've been wanting to see this for awhile. It was one of the most beautiful shows I have ever seen in my life. I left the theater feeling amazing, yet completely drained on an emotional level. I don't think I've ever cried like that at a show before. And I laughed a lot too. As Ben Brantley, the New York Times theatre critic said, "this is not a feel good show. It's a feel everything show." Every single cast member was brilliant, and the music was beautiful. Alice Ripley definitely deserved the Tony that she won for it. Everyone was also super nice at the stage door. What was really funny was that I was sitting in my seat browsing through the playbill, and all of a sudden I feel someone touch my arm and say in a flamboyantly gay voice"oh my god, honey, you'll never guess who I just saw." Whoopi Goldberg was there. I actually hate her, but it's cool to be in the same room as someone as famous as she is. Anyway, I LOVED Next to Normal, and I will definitely be seeing it again.

Just So You All Know...

If Shakespeare in the Park gets rained out tonight, I will lose my mind and dookie a shooter.

That is all.

Life in Brooklyn

So I've been here for about a week now, and as you can probably imagine, I'm loving it.

The first few days were rough. Countless problems with my apartment made me want to go home more than anything, and I know that if I could have gotten out to do something, it would have been better, but every day I was waiting around for someone to come and fix something. Thankfully Sam got me out and we went to see Dave Matthews Band, and it was awesome. It was really cool to be where Woodstock took place, especially the week before the 40th Anniversary. Politics aside, the hippie counterculture is one that I've always loved and had an interest in, and it was cool to get a feel for that in Bethel Woods.

Everything except my bathroom sink is fixed, and that should be fixed tomorrow. I love my apartment and will post pictures soon. It has come together really well, and it looks great.

Dad and Keena visited on Saturday. It was a rough week, so it was great to see them (not that it wouldn't have been anyway). I had a great time with them and was glad that they both got to see my apartment and the city in general.

After they left, I figured that since I was already in Manhattan, I might as well enjoy it. I've been wanting to get into Manhattan since I came down here. So I headed over towards the TKTS booth in Duffy Square, and waited in line for some discount tickets. I hadn't really made up my mind about what I wanted to see until I was in line. Part of me has been DYING to see both Hair and Next to Normal, part of me also wants to see Rock of Ages, and I also really want to see Billy Elliot and In The Heights. But Avenue Q closes on September 13th, and I love the cast recording, so I thought I should see that. It was a tough decision. Billy Elliot and In the Heights are both still pretty much sellout shows every night, so that was out because TKTS didn't have anything available. Then I realized that Next to Normal, Hair, and Rock of Ages will be here for awhile (plus, I'd want stage door pictures from N2N and Hair, and I didn't have my camera). So I landed on Avenue Q, and I'm so glad that I saw it. I really really liked it, more than I thought I would, and Rob McClure is wonderful.

Today was my birthday. I had already celebrated with my family, and Kayleigh's coming down on Tuesday, but I wanted to get out and do something. As one of the Avenue Q songs says, "there is life outside your apartment." So I sucked it up and bought a ticket to Emma Hunton's show at Joe's Pub. She was one of my favorite cast members in Spring Awakening. I saw the show for the first time around the time she started, and I saw her last performance, and she and Blake were the only two cast members I saw each of the five times I saw the show. Actually, I saw Matt Doyle each time as well, but he was in the ensemble the first time and Hanschen the other four times. So anyway, I wanted to see Emma, and I knew Blake would be singing a song with her (added bonus!), so I went. I had a blast. Her solo music is gorgeous, and I've missed Blake's voice during the last seven months since Spring ended. A lot of the SA cast was there as well. I saw Matt Doyle, Lilli Cooper, Andrew Durand (maybe...it looked like the back of his head), Alice Lee, and...Hunter Parrish, the guy from Weeds! Wasn't expecting that one. Joe's Pub was a great venue, and I love being in the East Village. It's my favorite part of Manhattan, and I always love going there.

Kayleigh is coming on Tuesday. I think after her bus gets in we will go to the Niagara Bar for some Jesse Malin watching, excuse me, to have a drink to celebrate my birthday. Then on Wednesday, up early for the second preview of Shakespeare in the Park's production of The Bacchae, with Mr. Jonathan Groff, one of my favorite Spring Awakening alums. I don't know much about The Bacchae, but Kayleigh says it's awesome, so I'm excited. Then Thursday is the last day of Broadway in Bryant Park, and it ends 1/2 an hour before Kayleigh's bus leaves, so I figured we could see that and then leave a few minutes early so she can make her bus.

Like I said, I love it here, and I"m excited.