NYC Revisisted

I can't believe how time has flown - classic summer. Well, since my last post, work has been busy and draining. I have purposely not been working extra hours but since it's been so demanding it feels like I've been putting in 60+ hour weeks. Last weekend I had popped over to Vermont to visit dad and Barbro and Sunday evening had a nice relaxing evening having dinner, playing hearts and knitting at Cece's with her husband and Amanda.

This past weekend, I visited NYC. I had gone a month ago in the hopes of seeing my friend, John's musical, but no luck getting tickets. Even though I didn't get to see the show I still had a great weekend reconnecting with old friends I hadn't seen. I realized that I love visiting places, but much more enjoy catching up with friends. Anyways, this time I was going to be prepared and buy tickets in advance. Except, the show is pretty much sold out - only the VIP $300+ tickets left. I realized I wanted to see the show but also wanted to catch up with John as well. So, in preparation, I emailed John as well as Matthew, another friend of mine I had lost touch with, back from my days in California. John was busy, so no luck there, but Matthew was in town and I was staying with my highschool friend Ankan. On the aggenda was trying to get standing room tickets to the musical, catching up with Matthew, hanging out with Ankan, seeing the Richard Serra exhibit at the Moma and wandering around some more neighborhoods of Manhattan.

So my journey began when I bought tickets for the greyhound. I had decided not to drive since I love driving but hate sitting in traffic - it kills my knee - clutch-shift. I was going to take the train, but the bus was cheaper and took less time. Plus the Fung Wah I had heard so much about, I thought it would be a fun summer adventure. For $30 roundtrip, it goes from chinatown to chinatown. Except in the end I chickened out and went with greyhound as I thought they would be more reliable, less accidents, and more likely that I'd get on the bus I wanted.

Well, I was wrong. I show up at the bus terminal in Boston and it was packed! I realized I had never taken the bus in my life before. I find my gate, and trace the line back to the end. Except it keeps going and going and going. It was snaking out of the gate area into the food court area. It turned out there had been a fatal accident on the Pike that afternoon and it had been shut down. No traffic. No buses coming or going. Normally I think I would have been a bit pissed and maybe would have called the whole thing off and gone home. But I've gotten so worn out from work, I just ended up standing in line to see how it would play out. I made friends with the group in front of me, two guys (I think from MIT) who had taken the buses before, a guy from India trying to get to Jersey (I swear he looked just like our driver from Kerala) and a girl who was from New Jersey. We hung out and talked and shared in our misery. In the end, I was only delayed two hours, getting on the fourth bus to come - which isn't that much different than what you get with planes sometimes. So I didn't get in until late Friday, after midnight. It took me a while to get a cab, and than of course, I didn't realize but the big steam pipe fiasco that happened last week, is over near where I was staying, so that was a bit convaluted.

Saturday, frankly I was undecided how to spend the day. I was on the fence about really standing in line for two hours to get ticktes. But, than that morning, while getting ready, on the TV was an ad for Jersey Boys, and there was John performing. I knew than that I had to go. So I headed over towards the Moma, enjoying the New Yorkness of NY. So many people and tall buildings, the energy on the streets - there really is no other city like it. I was still a bit tired, so took my time and ended up window shopping a bit, which than turned into full out shopping when I realized that if I was going to see the musical, I couldn't go in jeans but would need to dress up a bit - any excuse to shop in NY. Fast forward and I realized that if I wanted to get tickets, I would have to skip the Moma and head over to make sure I didn't miss my opportunity. I knew before you had to get there about 2 hours prior to when the tickets go on sale. But they don't sell student tickets anymore, so wasn't sure, if that meant the start time was earlier. To be on the safe side, I headed over at 3:30. I checked one last time that I couldn't buy a ticket - they were sold out. But that was fine. I had my book. I had my knitting. I had some work, my phone to catch up on calls, some Fresh Air episodes on the MP3 player, some new music and even some food. I was definately equiped to spend 2.5 hours in line. And I was first! In the end all I did was knit. I ended up having a lovely afternoon with Carol, who joined me in line soon after and was this wonderful character. She used to live in Manhattan and was a day trader - some crazy stories. She was now quasi retired, still dealing with the death of her husband from 3 years ago and worked for the cruise ships. It was a nice day out, and tons of people watching while we talked and I knit. Again, waiting in line for several hours, you definately get to know people. By the end, I knew the front half of the line pretty well.

The people watching in NY is fabulous. It was perfect being able to sit and relax and talk and knit and watch people go by. The tourists were funny, always with a dazed look on their face, walking around a little lost. It was funny when people would ask for directions. One lady asked came up to me and asked me how to get to 42nd street. I don't think she understood the idea of consecutive numbers and how they applied to the grid of Manhattan. Then, there was this one guy with the avaitor shades, jeans and jacket walking along. I wasn't really paying attention, until he walked right up to me - it was John! I totally didn't recognize him at first as I didn't expect to see him on the street. He was impressed I was first in line and he had brought a bag of water for the people standing in line - isn't that great?! He said he'd put my name on the list so that I could come in through the stage door after the show (i've never been on a list before, so that was fun). It was so good to see him and when he headed into the theater I got bombarded with questions from people in line. It puts a smile on my face just thinking back on it. I mean he is the star of the show. Crazy.

Well, a moment later he comes out and grabs me out of line. I got the tour of the theater, back stage, we even went up on the stage and looked out at the seats that would be filled in a few hours. It was great being able to chat and hang out a bit. He's the same old John I grew up with which is great. Such a great guy and very grounded which is good for this industry. He had to get ready, but had hooked me up with an emergency release ticket. Except, I had to pick it up right before the show, ten minutes before 8. I was a little worried that meant I might not get a ticket in the end. I had been first in line, so didn't want to miss the show. But should have had the faith. I ended up sitting in the best seat ever - fifth row center. I was giddy throughout the whole show. There was John, up on the stage. I would sometimes forget it was him and than it would dawn on me that I knew this guy. It gave me goosebumps and I have to admit that I got teary eyed at times (granted, there are parts of the musical that make you teary anyways). I couldn't stop grinning through most of the show. He was amazing. The story follows the life of his character, Frankie Valli, who begins as a naive teenager just wanting to sing to a mature, wisened Frankie decades later. Seeing John evolve on stage was great - and he had an accent the whole time which was so fun to watch. He's the second one from the left in the picture here.

Well, the best part, yes, it gets even better. I'm grinning ear to ear right now remembering. At the end, you have the wonderful climax as they finish up the show with the big number and the crowd breaks out in applause. All the different actors come out to get their recognizition. And finally it's the four guys, the four seasons. Standing ovation of course. And finally John steps forward and the crowd goes crazy. Did I mention he was amazing, he did win a Tony for a reason. He takes his bow and as he's backing off stage he does one of those double points, right at me. A bunch of people in the audience turn around to see who he was pointing to. It was amazing and I was so happy to be able to have shared that performance with him. It completely made my day. My weekend.

So it was a good weekend. I had brunch with Matthew on Sunday and we talked for ages. He's another great guy I'm glad I reconnected with again. He's working in urban planning now and we were sharing stories about work and life. He was quite impressed with all that I do for my job - it is a good position I am in, a good place to effect change. I just need to get a better game plan. We had brunch at this place in the West Village off of Greenwich Ave. It had fabulous food. The heirloom tomato salad we shared was so full of flavor. I love good food. I had forgotten that I knew Matthew originally because we worked on a project together in California. (He was good friends with David that I dated, so ended up knowing him more socially than professionally). This was back in my early engineering days. He was telling me how impressed he was than on how I held myself. I had mentioned later that I had had no idea what I was doing, but he said the impression he got from me was qutie the opposite. It was great positive feedback - don't we always love that. I was such a youngin back than though.

So all in all the weekend was great. The ride home I slept for almost 3 hours - I really didn't sleep well - coming down with something, and visitor beds are never the same as your own. I had a great time catching up with John and Matthew, hung out with Ankan, got to see the show. Never did get to see the Moma but that's fine. The guy I had met last time was a bust, so that was disappointing. But I love that I was able to reconnect with old friends. I really can't believe how many this year I've met up with. I really am taking stock of and appreciating what I've got now. And now, I really need to buckle down and crank on work. I vow this week will be overly productive. Of course, only time will tell.