Perpetual Anticipation

I am super duper excited for this weekend - my mom and brother (Scott, that is) are arriving in la ciudad tomorrow afternoon, and the lovely Beka Kroesing is dropping in on Saturday. We have a cornucopia of fun things planned. And by "cornucopia", I clearly mean "empty chasm", as I have done little to no preparation. We'll figure something out...

But for now, back to the past week. Last weekend was actually packed with a cornucopia of fun (and mostly free) things. Friday brought the off-Broadway production of Blind Lemon Blues (comp tickets of course - I love my internship). The show is about blues-folk singer Blind Lemon Jefferson and is basically an excuse to sing his songs - no plot really, but mostly strong performances and some stunning music arrangements.

Saturday brought rain (of the steady variety, of course). Kelly and I ventured to Union Square and then north to Times Square, where we once again met up with her friend Michael...who ironically lives near Union Square. We ate a scrumptious meal at the Applebee's in Times Square (which is not too ridiculously overpriced) and got some complimentary desert shooters. We then pranced around H&M for a while (because the Disney store was sadly closed) before returning home.

Sunday was extremely eventful. I pretty much spent the whole day at the Friedman Theatre, home of MTC's The Royal Family. I got trained to work in the Patron's Lounge (abbreviated P.Lo for some reason) during the matinee. That is, I got trained until 20 minutes into the performance, when Tony Roberts (an actor in the show) experienced a minor seizure and the show was subsequently cancelled. Well after this I promptly headed to Central Park, where the New York Arts kids had a fun picnic. We ate. We drank. We played frisbee. We hit people with frisbees. We danced. We got weird stares from other people because of our dancing. 'Twas a wondrous time. And after all this hullabaloo, I finally got to see the night performance of The Royal Family! The show was absolutely hysterical, the set was gorgeous (it even got some applause), and the performances were very strong. And, of course, our tickets were generously provided by the Manhattan Theatre Club. Love it.

And guess what? More comp tickets! Tonight we saw the off-Broadway play Circle Mirror Transformation. I kind of loved this play - it was very simple, but very funny and moving. The dialogue was very realistic, and the all of the performances were pretty much perfect. This may be my favorite off-Broadway experience thus far. And another great experience: I ran into Bridget Martin (sister of Claire) today! We just happened to pass each other on 8th Avenue - small city, no? We agreed to meet up some time soon, and I am real excited about it!

So there's the lowdown. I gosta got to bed - I have 3 long hours of work tomorrow. MTC was kind enough to let me off at 1 so that I can pick up some folks from the airport. Tomorrow's a big day, and it will be amazing. (Don't tell Scott, but we're seeing Billy Elliot tomorrow night - it's kind of a surprise). Alright, good night. And good luck.