A Weekend in the City

Buckle your seat belts, folks - this is gonna be a long one. This weekend was just a bucket of fun, so there's lots to report.

First off, you may have noticed a brand new addition to my blog - The Failed Hair Lottery list. Kelly and I have thus far attempted to see Hair four times (once in May, and thrice this semester), and none have worked out. I can only assume that this will happen several more times, so feel free to check the list frequently for fun new updates!

Going all the way back to Thursday...after losing the Hair lottery once again, we decided to head to the TKTS Booth for some happy people-watching. On the way we passed Jamba Juice, where I experienced a true test of character. Kelly wanted a delicious smoothie, but I decided that I did not need it - so for the first time in my life, I resisted the temptation of a Jamba Juice! But the story doesn't end here...no more than 15 minutes later, while walking down the street, I could no longer resist. So I turned around, went back to Jamba Juice, and shamefully purchased myself a smoothie. The overwhelming pride I had gained now diminished as quickly as it arrived. I guess I simply cannot resist a delicious, nutricious Jamba. But who can, really?

With Saturday came my first early-morning ticket line of the season. Kelly and I arrived at the Gerald Schonfeld Theatre at roughly 7:45 in the morning to get tickets for A Steady Rain, starring Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig (yes, Wolverine and James Bond). Sally joined us around 8:30 or so, and we gleefully purchased our tickets at 10:00 a.m. Seriously, shows are the only thing I will wake up early for. I'm excited for the next outing.

I have to admit, I'm not the biggest fan of either Hugh Jackman or Daniel Craig, and I was only mildly excited to see this show. But they both did a phenomenal job, and the show was very well-written and directed. We were particularly nervous about the accents - an Australian and a Brit doing Chicago accents could be pretty bad, but they both pulled it off very well.

What was even more exciting than the show itself was the stage door scene - we were some of the first people outside, and there were already a good 50 people waiting. These were people who did not see the show, but just wanted to see the stars. Not cool. Even less cool were these two ladies who trotted on over from the theatre next door, where they had just gotten out of God of Carnage. They decided it would be fun to squeeze into the chaos of people. But once they got into the crowd, they would not stop complaining about how little room they had, and how one of them had just undergone physical therapy and it wasn't safe for her to be here - this literally went on for 20 minutes. But Hugh and Daniel were both very nice and signed everyone's Playbills - even better, Diane Sawyer made an appearance. All in all, 'twas a wondrous Saturday afternoon.

And a wondrous Saturday evening. Unfortunately, the New York Arts Program is full of indecisive individuals, so it took us roughly 3 hours to figure out what to do for the night. We finally decided to head down to SoHo and dine at a cute little restaurant called La Esquina (The Corner, if you don't happen to speak Spanish - or have simply forgotten what the word means, like me). I enjoyed some scrumptious and exquisite bistec tacos, and a grand time was had by all. Sure, we may have stiffed the waitress on the tip a little, but what the hey.

Sunday may well have been the best day of all - Kelly, Fallon, Amy, Jessica, and I ventured down to Coney Island, the home of lots of world-famous things: the boardwalk, Nathan's Hot Dogs, the Cyclone rollercoaster, etc. First things first: we rode the wondrous Wonder Wheel. Now this isn't your average everyday Ferris wheel - the gondola was on a track and rolled frenetically back and forth...I would explain more, but I will just let this video do the talking:

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We also visited the boardwalk and the beach before stopping by Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs for some lunch. We went to the original location for our meal - or so we thought...we would later discover that the actual original is located just down the road - but we can pretend, right? Anyway, the hot dog was absolutely delicious - as were the fries, which came with these precious miniature pitchforks for ease of handling.

And finally, we of course stopped by the historic Cyclone for a ride. I have been wanting to ride this rollercoaster for roughly 10 years, so this was an absolutely amazing experience. The Cyclone was built in 1927 and is still running - it's crazy old and crazy fun. Thank you, Cyclone, for making one of my childhood dreams come true.

So that's the weekend - back to work in the morning. I have an interview or two this week, so new things will hopefully be developing.

And one final note: there is a distinct lack of comments on this blog. If you have gotten to this point in the note, you clearly are dedicated and probably have something to say. Hit me up!

Peace and love.