Yin

To catch you up a little bit, I saw three shows last weekend: Entertaining Mr. Sloane – Roundabout’s production with Arec Barwin. He plays a gay guy and has many of the same mannerisms he had in the SNL where he was Charles Nelson Riley on “Inside the Actor’s Studio” STOMP – Screaming at the band geek instincts in me, I had a lot of fun watching it. Blue Man Group – Even without Dr. Tobias Funke, this is probably my favorite off-Broadway show. Also last weekend, visity touristy goodness. Katie and Travis came to visit us! Amazing visiting friends are not only amazing on their own, but they give other amazing people who live here a reason to get together. Long story short, we have: Chelsea, Katie, Travis, JZ, Chelsea, Bethany, the Cava, and myself. We met in Lincoln Center, where I would never go on my own. We went to the MoMA (free on Chelsea's VIP pass). We walked around looking up a lot. It was the first time since I moved here that I had real New York pizza. We hung out in McDonalds when it got too cold. We went to Serendipity and I had icecream even though I was freezing. Food, friends, fun. Yay. Pajama Game premiered Thursday night! This means a lot of things. The reviews came out on Friday, so at work nobody could get a line out of the building because ticket services tied up the entire company with the overwhelming calls for tickets. Yay! Opening night as an event made for a long but fun day. My work day went from 8 hours to 13 and a half. But at 11:30, it was a party. For the two hours before the show, I was in the elevator keeping people who weren’t VIP’s from getting to the VIP party in the lounge with Longine. That was supposed to be my only task, but I inevitably had to tell everyone where their seat was. I did meet Ana Gasteyer, though. She’s tall and blonde. Later, at the Marriot Marquis in Times Square, it was my job to stand for a few hours and herd people to the party, remind them to keep their passes out, and to weed out crashers. The party was a lot of fun. Lots of free food and an open bar. There was a dance floor on the stage, and after a visit to the bar, I had fun on it. I found out that Michael McKean is married to Annette O’Toole, who plays Martha Kent on “Smallville.” I also saw a lot of Chris Carmack, who’s in "Sloane," because he spent a lot of time dancing with an intern friend of mine. Sweet. I didn't hyperlink like crazy this time. Look stuff up for yourselves.

How Many Licks Does it Take?

To love is to suffer. To avoid suffering one must not love. But then one suffers from not loving. Therefore to love is to suffer, not to love is to suffer. To suffer is to suffer. To be happy is to love. To be happy then is to suffer. But suffering makes one unhappy. Therefore, to be unhappy one must love, or love to suffer, or suffer from too much happiness. ~Woody Allen Growing through the course of yesterday, my throat has become increasingly irritated. When I woke up this morning I seriously considered calling in sick. Instead, I doped up on cold medicines and vitamin C. Three hours later, I’m about as loopy as Alan Cumming in his dressing room before each show. Luckily, I haven’t been ordered to drive or to operate heavy machinery. Actually the morning mostly consisted of more envelope stuffing. Now there’s nothing, so I’m back on the interweb. So the day after I met Jason Bateman, Arrested Development ended. Somehow I missed this entirely. I was even watching TV! I was just sitting there agonizing about the commentaries over the Olympic Opening Ceremonies, oblivious to the two-hour special. Fortunately, my dear dear friend, Neil, who updates all-too-frequently, let me download all four, plus the one I missed before it. So sitting alone in my apartment, sore throat, just off the phone with my mom, I finished the best show of all time. To be honest, I cried when it was done. Not because it was bad, or that I would even miss watching it that much. But it was just one more closing ceremony that marks the end of an era with the people that mean the most to me. ::sniff:: And of course, it was one hell of a show. I guess in order to remain part of the world I should say something about Valentine’s Day. It’s a totally Hallmark holiday, doing nothing but further commercialize our horribly shallow culture. It’s also my parents’ 25th anniversary. Personally, this holiday has nothing to do with me directly, and I agree that everybody who are single should just celebrate love itself. And that’s what I did. Dan and Lindsay are getting married. So are Rachel and Hans, but that’s old news. One of my best friends from highschool is planning her wedding. Beth and Neil…? The point is, everyone’s happy, love is in the air, and I’m a big enough person to appreciate it without being bitter. My friend Brittany G. called me from Chicago and asked to be my valentine. That was pretty special; we talked on the phone for a long time. I called my parents to wish them a happy 25th, but didn’t talk long just in case they wanted to discuss their sex life. I went out to a little bar downtown and met new people. Then I found the most wondrous of all cuisine phenomena: Taco Bell + KFC in one restaurant. I had a Chalupa and Popcorn Chicken. I truly discovered love, as it comes in many forms. This year, it is either deep fried or covered in nacho cheese.

Insomnia Returns

A hack writer who would have been considered fourth rate in Europe, who tried out a few of the old proven 'sure-fire' literary skeletons with sufficient local color to intrigue the superficial and the lazy. ~William Faulkner on Mark Twain What do Debra Messing, Tate Donovan, Max Casella, Trey G*lp*n and Jason Bateman all have in common? On Thursday night, they were all in the same room. It wasn’t quite as exciting as you might think. I was just cleaning up after a play reading. I didn’t get to say anything more than “hi” to any of them. Debra Messing is strikingly gorgeous, but has a broken foot and a cane. I only recognized Tate Donovan from Love Potion #9 because I’ve never seen the O.C., so that was awkward. Max Casella = Neat. And Jason Bateman is Michael Bluth. ::sigh:: Right afterwards I went to see Confessions of a Mormon Boy. Small funny story behind that: when I first heard the title, I heard “Confessions of a Muslim Boy.” Already exhausted with everything to do with racial-understanding-anti-war-we’re-yelling-even-though-everyone-around-us-agrees, I was so excited to hear the correction that I signed up for my free ticket without knowing anything about the show. So I went to a show I normally wouldn’t have given a second thought. And I’m kind of glad I did. It surprised me; I thought it would be just a bunch of gay jokes about polygamy. But it was about a guy who was hard-core Mormon with a wife and kids and how he fought and struggled with who he was for years. The acting wasn’t anything to write home about (I’ve seen better one-man-shows elsewhere), but the show was completely personal, acted by the guy who wrote it. I actually spoke with Steven Fales afterwards and told him that he really reminded me of a good friend of mine, and that I really hoped they could find a better way than he did. After the show I got together with Rachel from work and her friend Andrew for dinner. They’re both vegans. That meant we had to eat vegan. We went to this place that was completely vegan and I didn’t have meat for dinner. I didn’t realize until that evening how much I really wanted meat right then. However, dinner was very nice. I had a general tso’s chicken substitute that was made out of sesame gluton. We also had an appetizer made with green beans and wheat gluton. It was surprisingly good, and had I been in a better mood I would probably love it. But I don’t mind being the carnivore of the group. Sure they look down on me for being insensitive. But I’m fat and happy. They’re skinny and grumpy. I was supposed to see RENT tonight, adding to my list of free shows, but it fell through. Actually, it was better than free. They were going to pay me. Hopefully, the same offer is still open for Avenue Q. later this month. Anyway, I just came home and crashed. Now I totally can’t sleep and I’m watching Jack Black in a parody of “Jesus Christ Superstar” on TBS. Am I hungry or just bored? Maybe it’s both.

Would anyone want to smell what the Rock was cookin'?

Join the army. See the world. Meet interesting people …and kill them So it’s been just a little over a month since I moved to New York City. I know I’ve said it before, but it is astounding how quickly you get used to the hustle and bustle. Though I still carry a subway map with me, I haven’t looked at it in weeks. I have perfect timing for getting my metro card out just before I have to swipe it (which I never have to do more than once). I don’t even look up on the train anymore (nor do I count stops. It’s creepy). I don’t clutch my bag with white knuckles, careful to keep my wallet side firmly against a wall. I hold onto the handlebars without thinking about how many sick people have done the same (I still have Purell, though). I’ve even contemplated walking between cars, but I’m not quite there yet. I moved again. Not quite as drastic as it sounds. My roommate, Charlie, the one that talked to me, moved out a couple of days ago, freeing up a room. So I took it. It’s roughly twice the size, has two windows in stead of one, a nightstand, a dresser and a bookshelf (whereas I’d only had a bed and a table). It doesn’t have a closet, but I’m working on buying a standing unit for hanging stuff. It has an AC window unit, an actual furnace instead of the hissing silver pole. It’s close enough to the wireless hub that I actually get a connection in my room instead of having to stand at the kitchen counter. And best of all it has… a TV. Oh, and it’s the same price. I moved into this room under the condition that I would have to vacate it by May 31. This I did pretty willingly because my internship will end around that time. I figured by then I will either have a better job and therefore be able to afford a better apartment, or I would not have a job and maybe go home for a little bit before diving into the real world completely (I’m sure my mother would be happy with that). But just after deciding that I hated the place, after moving into this new room, I realize that it’s not that bad. ::sigh:: Oh well, motivation for bigger and better things. The downside to this is the TV influence over my life. I hadn’t had TV since sophomore year except when I was home, and that was summer stock reruns and whatnot. Now I’m faced with new shows I’ve never even heard of. New episodes of shows I like. Then there’s the fact that I will sit slack-jawed and drooling while flipping channels for hours while nothing’s on. This is a bit of a distraction from the reading habit I was so proud of. I guess I’ll have to practice self-control or something. I just realized that I never posted about Monday, which is a night of note. I hadn’t been to JZ’s place in a while. I felt like I’d stayed and visited a little bit too long and frequently, wearing on the patience of those who lived there, specifically Z seniors. So I waited until I was invited, which was a proud moment for me. Anyway, Kelly called me up and said she and Zungs were cooking and would I like to come over. What with my previous thoughts on sandwiches and my inner chef, I jumped at the chance. After work, we all went to the grocery store (sidenote: Food Emporium has the same self-checkout machine voice as Kroger) where Kelly got stuff to make Chicken Alfredo, I picked up salad ingredients, and JZ cruised the frozen foods section for Hawaiian pizza. We made absolutely everything from scratch, except the pasta, I guess. Kelly and JZ worked on the chicken while I prepared the salad. The Chicken Alfredo was made with cream, parmesan, sun-dried tomatoes, onions, red bell peppers, fresh garlic cloves, and Portobello mushrooms. It was better than anything I’ve had in a restaurant. My salad turned out to be more of a salad casserole* by the time I was done with it. (I’m thinking about copyrighting the name, along with dirty eggs) I had fresh Romaine lettuce, feta, roasted almonds, red bell peppers, Craisins, bacon, and balsamic vinaigrette dressing. Spectacular. So yeah, we ate and were merry. We bonded over food, which is simply one of the best ways to bond. I love my friends. This weekend should be great. I’m going to see Red Light Winter tomorrow night. Then I’m super-excited about the superbowl party at Chelsea’s on Sunday. I hope nobody cares about football. I’m going for the Western PA foods and the commercials. I just got a microwave in the mail. Life is grand.