| (no subject) |
[Jul. 9th, 2009|11:35 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | dan, entertainment, friends, games, gaming, genevieve, george, life, michael, movies, shows, tv, white elephant burlesque, work | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  rambly | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Regina Spektor - "Machine" | ] |
So, again, I've let posting lapse. I remember a time when I was posting every day. Multiple times. That was likely a much more annoying time rather than entertaining, but still. Even if I have a hard time reading what I sounded like in 2001 over again now, it was nice to have a record.
So here's another go at picking it up again. Let's see if I can sum up the recently of things, yes?
A couple of shows have happened. George, Genevieve and I went to see Fuerzabruta in May which is this wild show off Broadway (a birthday gift to Genevieve from me and Michael). Action happening all over, above, on the walls, on treadmills. The audience moves around with the show. Crazy lights and building music. It all ended with a rave dance party under indoor rain. Thoroughly enjoyable show; quite the worth it experience.
Only other notable experience in May was more festivities for Genevieve's birthday. Lots good food and lots of friends.
June came and went almost as though it didn't exist. Many things happened, but it was one of those months that felt like it was over before I'd realized it started. To kick off the month we had a performance in Asbury Park for a ::insert many different sexualities and lifestyle choices here:: benefit. Our very first outdoor (and on asphalt, no less) show which went swimmingly but far too quickly. I did "Fuck You" again (which I absolutely love) and almost bought chaps. Damn my slightly too big (but beginning now to slim) thighs! I'm determined to have a pair by next year. This was followed by Dan's graduation party which was mucho fun and my introduction to a great family tradition of theirs: celebrating important milestones with lots and lots of crab.
Around the same time I got to enjoy both a boys' weekend and girls' weekend (one while Genevieve was in Virginia and one while Michael was in south Jersey). Boys weekend included much geeking out (including seeing the new Star Trek for the second time), much drinking, and a great deal of laziness. Girls weekend started by seeing the rescheduled Bailout Burlesque Charity Auction. (The first of which was cancelled, uncancelled, cancelled, moved, and finally cancelled the first time around - all on the same night. That experience included hanging awkwardly in the new Indian restaurant which was appalled to have us there in the first place, then move up to the scary soon-to-be clothing store which was falling apart, boxes and furniture - and rat pellets - strewn everywhere, only to discover performing there as illegal, almost moving the the gay club down the road, and ultimately turning away the whole audience and going home completely unfulfilled. Although in retrospect not a bad story to have.)
The rescheduled show was much fun to watch, some for tragic and some for very talented reasons. Parts made me very much want to collaborate, and other parts made me cheer (slightly inappropriately) as one act was dragged off stage. Overall and very fun night. I would love to see the auction aspect revisited now with lessons learned.
Saturday continued our girly-fest starting with some shopping, where I spent money I didn't have on clothes I _really_ wanted. Next we saw The Proposal which I liked a lot, followed by Appletizers and an impromtu stop at the club Switch to have shots and dance until close. I hadn't had a girly weekend in a long time; lots of fun was had.
Following the fun and leading up to the first of two full weekends of gaming, I got very sick, although nothing compared to the red death rash of earlier this year. Fortunately, my health returned for my weekends of gaming. You see, many times in the past we've started talking about RPGs and playing and I've said something like, "Oh! We could play now!" and everyone laugh and pats me on the head and we move on. But several weeks before, this happened while Dan and Katie were over only instead of laughing and patting, Dan, Michael, and Joe said, "Okay!" and Katie and Genevieve went shopping. This in and of it self was a geek-dream come true for me. And even moreso, as wee talked further, spawned into a plan to do full-on gaming weekends while Katie was away in Texas for a couple of weeks for a wedding.
This gave us (Michael, Joe, Dan, and I) a chance to plan an awesome D&D campaign Michael's been working on for a while on weekend one. Last weekend we tried D&D 4th Edition Friday night and then George joined us for Saturday and Sunday where we played card and board games and watched some geeky British comedy. (Best way to celebrate Fourth of July ever!) Completely enjoyable weekends and I absolutely want to do similar for every celebration that's for me. And many weekends in between.
Besides these gems I've remembered to mention, I'm sure many other really great things have happened, and for those things I forgot, I appologize. Much of the rest of my life has been exercise, shower, work, shower, dinner, sleep, repeat. Much with the work. But things are pretty okay right now.
Enough rambling; hopefully another two months will _not_ go by this time. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jan. 12th, 2009|06:24 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | booze, engagement ring, friends, genevieve, george, michael, movies, nyc, shows, video games, world inferno friendship society | ] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | work | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  cold | ] |
And in funner news, I had a fantastic weekend.
While not quite so glamorous and show-ful as Genevieve and George's, I did get to see World Inferno Friendship Society perform Peter Lorre's 20th Century again on Friday night at Webster Hall. We were given details that this was to be a taping for a DVD, although that may or may not actually be true. We arrived in the city at around 7:30 only to find out that the 8:00 tickets really meant 9:30. Jordana was able to get us in protected from the cold a bit early and then we hung around chatting and taking in the atmosphere until 9:30.
Genevieve found herself a perch in the corner of the balcony where she could see some of the stage and all of the audience and George and I found what turned into choice spots in the center of the balcony. First few songs had us struggling a bit to see, but as the crowd shifted, we were able to move up to the railing and have an absolutely perfect view, of stage and mosh pit. The mix of punk, ska, rock, and jazz is something that's pleased me from the beginning and this show was even better than the last ones. They added some material and were spot on with the numbers. It was hilarious, sad, uplifting, and really fun. It's a great show, and I hope one way or another it ends up on DVD. They played six or seven songs from other albums after the scripted show, all of which I liked quite a bit. I've got to start collecting more of their music. I danced practically the whole time and enjoyed myself more than I have fro a concert in a long time. My feet were not so pleased with me when the evening was over, but it was worth it. I also finally picked up a real copy of the album the show is for.
And as much as I love cheeseburgers, I rarely enjoy them as much as I did the one I got at the diner on our way home. But that was mostly because it'd been 12 hours and a whole lotta dancing between meals. We got home around 3 AM, I took a very relaxing shower, and then spent another three hours chatting with George, which was really nice since we don't get to as much anymore.
Saturday, with the snow and all, forced and not-very-opposed lazy day on us. We did make it out to the jeweler to see about getting my ring fixed (which should hopefully be ready this weekend) and the supermarket, where we should never go when we're hungry. After that we settled in for much drinking, food, many episodes of The Simpsons, Working Girl, and National Treasure (which I liked quite a bit!).
Sunday was similarly lazy for Michael and I. We ordered Chinese, played video games, vegged, watched some Star Trek,and talked. Very nice, relaxing, day. Definitely the kind of weekend I needed.
And now, back to work. At least for another 10 minutes and then back to home for today. :) |
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| (no subject) |
[Oct. 21st, 2006|12:41 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | amy spanger, birthdays, broadway, carmines, genevieve, genevieve and michael, kevin cahoon, shows, stephen lynch, theatre, wedding singer | ] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | work | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  grateful | ] |
| [ | music |
| | The Wedding Singer -- "Somebody Kill Me" | ] |
So, Thursday night was the dinner and a show portion of my birthday present from Michael and Genevieve.
Genevieve and I left early to make a few stops before heading into the city. We got in at around four o'clock and made our way to 44th street to Carmines. We had a little time to kill before our reseration so we checked out one if those "Official Broadway" stores. I ended up getting a really nifty RENT christmas ornament. It's either new or they've never sold it at the actual theatre before. After that we figured out where the theatre we were going to was (on the next block up) and then went back to the restaurant.
We were about fifteen minutes early but they were able to seat us right away. The place was fairly empty when we got there, but less then a half an hour later the place was filled to capacity.
Genevieve had not been kidding about the portions - they're huge. We got fried calamari as an appetizer and spent almost an hour picking away at it. It is the best fried calamari I've ever had. We finished a little over two thirds before we just couldn't take anymore fried food. For the main course we had ravioli. Fresh ravioli. As in they fresh rolled it in the kitchen. It was amazing. The ricotta was laced with crack and mozzarella. The sauce was delicious and garlicy. For desert we had tiramasu, which came out the size if a pie. It was the best thing I'd eaten all night, and that's saying something. Best everything. Seriously. I'm picking about my Italian food because I usually figure I can make everything better then the chef. But in this place, didn't feel quite like that. We spent over two hours there talking and eating slowly. One of the most amazing meals I've ever had.
We still got out earlier then we needed to head to the show so we stopped at another Broadway themed gift shop and looked around for a while. Then, it was on to the theatre to see The Wedding Singer. When we got into the theatre there was a disco ball spinning pink lights around the room. The stage was set fairly plainly at first with a blue background with Saved By the Bell! like squigglies in all different colours. You could clearly tell where the way overprices seats ended and where the less overpriced seats began. We were in the mezzanine, and there were like twenty rows in the front that were practically empty. We were in the very last row, and even there were could see the stage and all the actors' faces perfectly clearly.
Halfway through the show we ended up moving up like 15 rows, with the management's approval. We'd've moved sooner, but I _hate_ when people get up and are standing in people's way. Whether it's to go to the bathroom or sit in a seat they didn't pay for, it really bugs me. When you pay that much to see a show, or even if it's a free show, having people standing in front of you and walking around so you can't see is rude. So as much as I wanted to sit closer, I didn't want to be rude. And since we could see perfectly well, we waited for intermission.
The show itself was awesome. The major reason Genevieve and Michael got me the tickets is because of Stephen Lynch. They got me tickets to see him in "concert" last year, which I also loved. He had mentioned that he was doing The Wedding Singer when we saw him and ever since I heard that I'd wanted to see it. But I had prepared myself for the possibility there'd be an understudy. Kevin Cahoon (who was in the RHS Broadway revival - usually a phantom but I saw him as Riff once) is also in the cast as George and Amy Spanger (who I've learned to really love since Reefer Madness) as well playing Holly, Julia's cousin. Luckily, none of them were understudied. We also saw Constantine Margolis, who did a surprisingly good job as Sammy. Genevieve pointed out that he was trying a little to hard to be John Travolta in some parts, but he was still very good.
Stephen Lynch was brilliant and very adorable through the whole thing. It's weird seeing him so nice for that long. But it was really sweet. And when he was able to be all angsty and angry it was hilarious as usual. Amy Spanger plays the most adorable and lovable skank. And Kevin Cahoon was great in the role. My favourite part with him was seeing him wearing a Hedwig t-shirt that I assume he got back when he was playing Hedwig. The whold show was full of eighties references, all of which could have been awkward and forced, but most of them weren't at all. It was a really fun show. The music was good and not overbearing, and there were some backup dancers/singers that made me drool.
I didn't stop smiling the whole time. It was a fairly long show, too. It started almost exactly at eight and we didn't get out until almost 10:30. I'd say more but anything I explain won't do it justice. If I ever get the chance to see it again, I'm totally eighties-ing it up.
I love my birthday. :D |
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| (no subject) |
[Aug. 27th, 2005|04:59 pm] |
Brookhaven!
Brookhaven good. Much fun was had. Busy, and slightly smaller then usual (which was apparently due to a lack of advertising budget and other events going on in the area), but also lots of fun. I love getting to see people I don't get to very often. The setup and practice before is always fun to me. And it always feels great to be a part of a show this huge.
I had a great time doing Transie with Genevieve, Willow, and George (who doesn't often Transie). It was cool to see Genevieve's aunt able to make it. The theatre employees were absolute assholes though. One in particular kept on crudely asking me to flash him. I really wanted to punch him. The trailers were different this year, too. As in, there was only one, and it was more like a house then a trailer. And the stage was huge and expanded, which led to some fun blocking changes, but probably ended up being better since we had a larger space for the ass load of stage Transies we had. The glow sticks and toilet paper again made me want to try. I never thought toilet paper could be so breathtaking. The evening ended with some pushiness from the staff at the ampitheatre and som less then fun reloading of the truck. But overall, I'd say it was a pretty good time.
As always, I can't wait 'til next year. (Much more detail would usually go here, but I'm tired, and don't really feel up to the effort of going through all of it and typing it out. And since most of the people that read this journal were there anyway, no real need for a play by play.)
We checked out of the hotel and got food with George, Matt, eLiz, and Richy (where we heard some wonderful stories, as did probably some of the wait staff) before heading back to New Jersey. By the time I got to work, technically I was five hours late. But, Bevan did say I could get here whenever, as long as it was before seven ('cause of the tounrament). But usually I'd have to be here at eleven. Instead, I got here a little after four. But, that means a nice, short, easy day. Which I appreciate and very much need. I got very little sleep and I'm kinda cranky today, so a full da of work is not what I'm really up for.
The store's pretty quiet. A bunch of the kids want me to run a mini adventure of Star Wars for them. I have no idea what I'm doing, but I told them I'd try to fgure out something small. Now they're all in the game room working out their characters. Hopefully I'll be able to come up with something interesting for them by next week.
Right now, though, I'm looking forward to getting out of here, going to Rocky, and spending most of the rest of the weekend relaxing. |
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