Last update from New York

I am leaving for the train station in about 30 minutes, I'm hoping the rain holds off until I make it to the subway station. There is no way to hold an umbrella while pulling two rolling suitcases a few blocks through New York City.

This past weekend was good. I toured the United Nations and did some shopping on Saturday. Sunday was fun since John came down from Boston area. Unfortunately it was pretty rainy, but we still did some walking around and explored different areas of Manhattan. We also went to see An Inconvenient Truth which I suggest everyone see. It's very well done and clear without getting boring and dry.

It's been good to be in New York for the summer but I'm ready to start my senior year of college. It seems crazy that I'll be graduating in 9 months, but then I can head to graduate school and start something new.

Heading into the last weekend

I can't believe that the summer is practically over. I have one more day at work and one last weekend to have fun in New York. I'll have help having fun since my friend John is coming to visit on Sunday. Hopefully the weather will be nice so we can do some outdoor stuff.

The past two nights I've been pretty busy. Wednesday I went to the other opera in the park, Rigoletto. This time I had a program and could see the leads and it was amazing! It's so much fun to be out in Central Park and enjoy wonderful music for free. Just amazing.

Last night I went to the play The History Boys on Broadway. I've never been to a straight play on Broadway before but I figured starting with the show that won best play this year would be a good start. I was right. It was really good. It originated in London and almost all of the original cast are here in New York (all except one and the understudies). My seat wasn't the best, I was one in from the left aisle, but I enjoyed it anyway. The lead actor is Richard Griffiths so it was no surprise that he was good, but everyone was. They made a movie of the play staring the original cast. I don't know when it comes out, but I am very up to buying it.

Opera

Last night I went to the Metropolitan Opera in the Park. They were doing Verdi's La Traviata and I was excited to see it. I was wondering how they would transport an entire opera, set and all, to Central Park. Now I know, they don't. What it really is, is more like a sing-and-play-through of the entire opera. The orchestra was on stage with the chorus on risers behind them and the leads up in front of the orchestra. They were amazing. I mean of course they were good, it's the Met, but I really enjoyed it.

That's even though I missed getting a program so I couldn't follow along with which piece we were on at what time (thank goodness I checked up on the story online before going). I also sat in a place with the sound tent blocking my view of half the stage (unfortunately the half where the leads stood). It ended up for me more like I was listening to the opera on the radio, but that's fine because I was out in Central Park on a really nice night with good food I had brought with me and incredible music. Even without a program I could follow the outline of the story that I knew by following the tone of the music. I really liked it.

Tonight is Verdi's Rigoletto and I think I will go a little earlier to get a better view of the stage. Last night I only got there 2 hours before it started, what what was I thinking ;). I will also make sure I don't miss the person handing out programs this time.

Musicals and Museums

Hello all.

Well it's been a good week here in New York if a little strange. The World Conference for Religions for Peace starts next week in Japan so both the USA and International offices are running around like crazy people making sure everything is ready for the conference and making sure other projects can be left alone for a while. A few people had already left on Friday and more will be gone by Monday. Starting Wednesday there will be four people at the most in the offices when there are normally a good 20 people running around. All of us will be interns so it will be an interesting week without direct leadership since Bud will be in Japan which is 13 hours ahead.

It'll be an interesting week.

So Thursday night I saw Sweeny Todd which is a very disturbing yet good musical. Yeah for student rush ticket prices. Much cheaper. The set was very minimal, and the actors did a really good job placing the scenes. One interesting thing they did was have the actors be the orchestra as well. There were 10 actors and they played instruments, usually when they weren't part of the scene, but sometimes when they were part of it. It was a cool concept but I'd like to see the musical again with a more conventional set-up to see if the instruments took anything away from the show. I liked it, the music was good as should be expected with Sondheim and the actors (Patti LuPone and Michael Cerveris) were spectacular.

I was going to try for tickets to Mother Courage which Meryl Streep stars in today, but the line was too long. The tickets are free, you just need to stand in line. No problem I thought, I got there a little after 9am, they don't start handing out the tickets until 1pm, but that wasn't good enough. I'll try again tomorrow and get there earlier. (that means I will definitely need to take a nap or Monday will not be fun(

Instead I read in the park for an hour and then went to the Museum of Modern Art. I was there for about 4 hours which you would think means I'm a huge fan of modern art but that isn't the case. Some of it I did really like, Van Gogh, Cezanne, Monet, the photographs, the architecture, and most of the sculptures, but I'm really not into the paintings the fit into the one solid color with four vertical lines on it category.

I just plain don't "get" those works and I'd rather pay for something aesthetically pleasing or thought provoking rather than a work that just confuses me. I was pleasantly surprised with one work in that category that had an audio description with it. It told you how to stare at certain sections and then you can see other colors behind the solid areas. That was cool.

I did like the museum overall and I did see the only Calder I've ever heard of that wasn't that orangy-red color he always uses. Probably since it was an abstract black widow spider. Anyway I should go since I'm planning on going to bed early (yes, it's a sad Saturday night). I think I'm getting up at 6 and I need to keep myself from throwing the alarm across the room or just plain turning it off and going back to sleep.

Back in the Big Apple

So I went home for a week. Well, "home" means I was home for two days then in an RV for seven and home for another day. My friend Christine got married the first weekend and I was in the wedding party. It was a really nice wedding, she looked beautiful and I know that she will be very happy. Since I didn't have much time at home I squeezed in visiting my friends around wedding activities. I had dessert and drinks with John Friday night which was great since we were able to catch up on each other's summers. He had an amazing experience in South Africa earlier this summer.

I also found time to go to Circle Theatre and see Moby Dick the Musical which was hilarious. Everyone did a wonderful job including my friend Kendra who had a solo song that she completely nailed. It was nice to see the theatre and catch up with people. Everyone who I worked with the past two years that is still at Circle was at the show except for Joni. It was great to see them.

Then the next day we left for a family RV trip through Northern Michigan and the UP on our way to Minnesota for Hannah's wedding. All in all it went very well, there were few times that having 5 people in an RV was just plain to cramped. It helped that all three of us girls got our own beds. We did the main tourist's spots in Michigan, my favorite was Mackinac Island.

Then Hannah got married and she looked beautiful as well and Dave looked very handsome in his tux. She picked gorgeous flower arrangements and it was a very nice wedding. Thankfully she was nice like Christine and all of us bridesmaids looked good in the dresses. I am grateful. Her reception was short but sweet and it was nice to see college friends for a couple of hours.

Then back on the road to get home to return the RV and then to get ready to head back to New York. I'm here for another two weeks and then I'm home for Labor Day weekend before I head back to school. I need to figure out everything I meant to do before I go home and find a way to fit it all in.

That's all for now, hope everyone's summers are finishing up well.

I SAW RENT!!!!!

That's right, apparently 8th times a charm because I won the lottery and saw Rent for $20. It was amazing! I was in the front row on the aisle and it was amazing. The music is of course incredible and being that close meant I really saw all of the acting taking place and they were all so good. The set is very minimal, it pretty much looks like a very wide alley in New York so the different areas of the set are used slightly differently depending on the scene. It was amazing. I've been listening to the soundtrack all day at work, I just love it.

Quick post

Hi everyone,

I realized that I never put in the link for the interfaith Season of Prayer website so I'm doing it now on my lunch break. http://www.seasonofprayer.org I hope the link works, but if not copy and paste it to check out the website. There are lots of prayers offered by different religious traditions for peace and security in the Middle East, particularly Lebanon/Israel.

By the way, I know I posted before that it was really hot, but that unfortunately was not as bad as it is now. The high yesterday and today was 100 with heat index of 105-115. My work and my apartment both have air conditioning, but the fear is that the power will go out. About a week ago a large section of Queens went through a 10 day blackout and Con Ed can't guarantee that it won't happen again there or in other parts of the city. They mayor has called on everyone to conserve as much electricity as possible so that we don't overload the circuits/cables. He ordered some emergency electricity measure and buildings like the Empire State are going dark at night instead of their usual decorative lights. It would be horrible if the power went out today or tomorrow, it's just plain dangerously hot.

But, I am going home on Friday for the weddings and thankfully the Midwest is getting over its heatwave so when I get home I won't be roasting anymore.

Talk to (and see!) some of you soon.