From the get-go, this show is EPIC. The music is loud and sweeping, and I’ll be honest, from our seats in the rafters, it was hard to understand what people were saying. I’m sure they have decent diction, but the Palace is a large theater, and with such a sweeping score, wordy lyrics don’t travel as well. Not to mention, the ushers were letting people in through the full first scene. It meant that I missed a lot of went on. It’s kind of a big deal when you have no idea why the eff Jean Valjean is being persecuted or what he even did because people were standing in front of you and making noise as they clamored into their seats, five full minutes after the show started. Dudes. Not cool.

I know a lot of the music from this show. More than I realized, actually. That made some of the scenes easier, as I was able to process all of the lyrics that had flown in one ear (and ostensibly right out the other, in some of the scenes). It was nice to have context for the music that I did know. The show did give me that, since of course only the show-stoppers are played. Nobody needs the set-up when the rest of the world presumably knows where the song came from and why it is being sung.

We had some problems with talkers, and then there was a long period in which I was mesmerized by the enormous shadow of the conductor that was on the wall. It was at that point that I realized that the show was simply not holding my interest. I think part of the problem was that it started out with such high drama that it was hard to keep my interest. The high drama became the norm, and then it had to top itself to make things that much better. And it didn’t. So perhaps Les Mis is just not the show for me. The songs that everyone knows are, of course, sweet and nice and sweeping.

I got through the show with a minimum of heavy sighing and foot-tapping, which makes it better than some of the movies I saw at the film festival this year, so there’s that. Les Mis is a little too overall epic for my taste. I like variety in my shows – give me slower, lower moments to temper the more dramatic moments. Not a fan.

The theater was pretty full for a Wednesday night, probably owing to the celebrity draw and the well-known and loved show. The seats are still tiny, but I’m working on becoming tinier so that it’s not quite so much a squeeze. There was a family next to me, and thankfully they were willing to seat their small-ish son in the seat next to me so I didn’t have guilt for being fat and taking up a little more space than a normal sized person. He was too precious during, too, taking in so much of the show as well as the mechanics of it. At one point, he had a conversation with his dad about how it would be a nice place to take someone on a date. I just about melted after hearing that. Yes, little boy. Take someone to the theater on a date. That is a fantastic idea! I didn’t jump into the conversation, but it was very touching.

Harvey Fierstein is an interesting Tevye. He is not Topol, that’s for sure, and his voice… took a little getting used to. The actresses who played Tseitel, Hodel and Chava were very good. They had reasonably strong voices that blended very well together. The acting was pretty strong, which was nice. All in all, what is there to say about Fiddler on the Roof? I love it from start to finish. It’s long, emotional, and entertaining. Harvey Fierstein’s portrayal of Tevye is very interesting in that it is much more loose than I am accustomed to seeing. There was a certain… flair to it that is a bit hard to describe.

Johnathan says he was unable to get past Fierstein’s voice as far as the gravelly sound and really low pitch. That did make him hard to understand on occasion. At least I already knew what the lines were supposed to be! This could usually be a disadvantage, in that I could get bored, but he delivered the lines differently than Topol did in the movie, which made “old” jokes new again. It was, for me, a different version of the same thing, and I loved that. There have been other shows that I’ve seen twice or three times and it has been the same experience each time, because the roles are played in exactly the same way. I think it probably takes a truly good performer to take an established role and perform it in a different way, while still maintaining the core of the character.

I loved the show. It reminded me why I love Broadway and the theater to begin with. I had those thrills of the “curtain” going up, of the orchestra starting and just in general of enjoying a musical. I sometimes forget exactly how much I love going to see shows. It was a wonderful “gift” for my birthday.

As a side note: the spell check in Firefox really doesn’t like anything to do with this show! Lots of red.

This time around, I came into the show with the expectation that while I adore it, not everyone will understand it on the same level as I do, and some might not even like it. As we waited for the audience to fill in at the Stocker Arts Center at Lorain County Community College in Elyria, it became clear that the theater was almost entirely filled. From early on in the performance, it was clear that the audience was enjoying it. There was laughter at all of the parts where I expected, and even some where I wasn’t. An older lady two seats down from me almost lost it over the gay marriage joke, which in turn gave me the giggles. The audience was terrific for the most part.

The cast, though… I hate to say things like this, but the cast was mediocre. Just average. Many of them seemed to be cast more for dancing ability than for singing, which detracted from their performances. My other impression of the cast was that they were very young. I scoped them out on the tour website beforehand and they all looked young in their headshots but I’ve known that to be somewhat misleading in the past. In this case, it was smack on. The oldest cast member was Patti McClure who played the Chaperone, and in saying she’s the oldest I don’t think that’s saying much as the rest of the cast was easily all under 30. I think the youth of the cast may have also affected their skill. I’ll say that they certainly had room for improvement, and I feel confident that many of them will get better. Their acting was solid and the dancing was quite good. With some training, the singing could improve, and then perhaps we’ll see some of them on Broadway proper someday.

Something that I didn’t find out until after the performance was that this was a non-Equity production. That doesn’t mean much to me other than that it means that they’re all working very hard without the guarantees that the union offers them, and that they’re still new(-ish) to the theater world.

The set was noticably more simplified than the one we saw in 2007, and the cast was certainly not as good nor as polished. I had a great time, but I think most of that was the show itself moreso than the cast. The cast were the vehicles for the great text, rather than actors participating in it and making it their own.

I have to say that my biggest disappointment, however lame that it might be, was the slight alteration of Kitty’s joke regarding the gangsters. “Holy Cats, Mr. Feldzeig! They’re gangsters!” just doesn’t bring as much humor as “Holy Cats, Mr. Feldzeig! They’re gangsters! From OHIO!” Was it changed because someone decided it wasn’t funny, or was it changed because they were in Ohio? I don’t know and I probably never will, but of all the unnecessary changes of script, that was the most disappointing to me. I have my priorities straight, right?

I’ve historically been hesitant about Spring Awakening because I had seen a bootleg of it and read the plot summary and just didn’t see the appeal. The music wormed its way into my affections to the point where I now know all the words, but I was still slightly hesitant about seeing the show live.

It was totally worth it. We got there very early so we were in one of the first groups to get seated. After what seemed like a requisite warning to essentially behave ourselves (don’t stand up, don’t leave your seat until an usher comes to get you, no singing along, etc), we just sat and waited. (On really hard, rather uncomfortable seats, actually.) A few people seemed to straggle in just a few minutes before showtime and then I think all the patron seats were actually filled.

There were a few empty seats throughout, and some of them were without numbers, so the few of us chatting on our side speculated that at least the people next to those seats would have visitors. We were right! What we didn’t know was that all the seats lacking in patrons would be filled by cast members. That was kind of cool. I had a cast member on my left and Johnathan had one on his right. It was cool to be sitting there enjoying the show (albeit from strange angles), and then to hear the person at my side start singing as part of the chorus. It really made me feel like I was in the thick of things.

The cast seemed to start out a bit mediocre, and then after the first song, things turned up. There were a few times that the tempos seemed inconsistent, almost like the band and the singers couldn’t find the right sweet spot, but I’m not sure how much of that was my altered perception due to being on the stage instead of in the house. All of the cast was good, though, and it’s clear that everyone was well-cast for acting and singing ability.

One of my biggest shocks came in the middle of “Touch Me.” The cast is doing what they do, wandering about the stage in choreographed semi-chaos, singing the song (which was both lovely and amusing), and then I noticed that there was a girl in the patron seats across the way. She was on the top row, in the back, and she was standing up. Wait! We weren’t supposed to do that! What’s she doing? Then I noticed that she had a spotlight. And a microphone. And then it dawned on me that she was not actually a patron – she was in the cast. I felt totally duped, but not in a bad way. It was actually kind of fun to talk to the other people who were sitting on the stage to see who else knew it was going to be that way and who didn’t.

Overall, I found the experience very pleasant. I loved being so close to everything, to see the cast members actual tears and the very little elements of what was happening on the stage. I loved being able to feel the vibrations from the band and how the stage shook while the cast was jumping around and stomping. The energy on the stage was absolutely electric in a way that I’m not sure could be felt quite as much from the house. I really enjoyed the whole experience. If I could tell the cast members anything, though, it would be that I wished they would lay off the choral diction a bit. I’m not sure how much of my perception of the exaggeration was being so close to it and how it came through in the house, but it was my only complaint of the night: some people were pronouncing their consonants too hard. Horrible, right? I know.

We decided, since I picked a Thursday night, to try sticking around for the post-show Broadway Buzz chat. It seems that we weren’t the only ones with complaints about the format of the chats, and the man (whose name is Gary, I think) who ran it did a much better job than the previous ones we’ve been to. He  didn’t even tell the story of how Jacques Brel saved Playhouse Square! I was very impressed. He let the audience ask the questions and only interjected once in a way that was totally nonsensical. I think we may actually start going to the Broadway Buzz again!

I do think I’d like to see the show from the house if it comes through (or nearby) again, just to have that different perspective for contrast to what I saw last night. I would so recommend this show to pretty much anyone of high school age or above. It’s very relevant.

Thinking about it in the abstract, it seems like lately things have been pretty much the same as they have been for several months. In the specific, though, we’ve been doing quite a bit.

So far this theater season, I have been to or have tickets for ten musicals or shows. In the fall, I traveled to Indiana to visit Allison and see Hairspray with her at Indiana University. I drove back and that night saw a local production of Into the Woods. The night after that, we saw A Chorus Line at the Palace theater. Later we saw Legally Blonde with “Smart Seat” tickets (the nosebleeds for really cheap, basically). In January, we saw RENT. Not a month later, we went to see a high school production of RENT (which wasn’t quite as bad as I thought it might be, but certainly not the best production, either). Allison came up to visit last weekend and we went downtown to see Cinematic Titanic, which is essentially Mystery Science Theater 3000 done live. I’ve enjoyed all of the things that we’ve seen so far, and I had, at one point, intended to write about each of them individually. Procrastination reared its ugly head and I just don’t think I could do them the justice that they deserve.

Coming up, we’re seeing Spring Awakening from the stage next week. The week after that we’ll be at a Lake Erie Monsters (hockey) game, which should prove to be entertaining. At the end of that week, the film festival starts and we’ll be seeing fifteen movies over the course of two weeks. We went to the film festival last year and I’m really hoping that we’ll enjoy this one even more than we did the last one.

Johnathan and I may not be writing much but we’re keeping busy enough to write tonnes of entries. If only we would motivate ourselves to actually do it!

That’s it, I’m resolved. I’m bringing my mishmash journal (as opposed to my book journal) to work with me from now on and I’m going to try to write out some entries while I’m sitting on my lunches in the coming weeks. Perhaps I can retrieve memories about the various shows I’ve gone to see, and maybe I can manage to rekindle my love of blogging and of writing and breathe new life into this poor, neglected blog of ours. We’ll see, right?

It’s so sad to watch old movies like Singin’ in the Rain and think about the actors and actresses who were in them.

Gene Kelly was in so many good movies (and not-so-good movies) and has an undenyable talent as well as a great deal of charm. He died in 1996 from complications from two strokes. He was 84.

Donald O’Connor was also a fixture of the 40′s and 50′s musicals. He died in 2003 from heart failure at the age of 78.

Jean Hagen, who is most well-known for playing Lina Lamont in Singin’ in the Rain, died in 1977 from throat cancer. She was 54.

Millard Mitchell, who played R.F. Simpson, died in 1953 from lung cancer. He was 50 years old.

Douglas Fowley, who played the over-exuberant director in the movie, died in 1998 at the age of 87.

Cyd Charisse, whose legs are not only gorgeous but iconic, died on June 17 at the age of 81 from complications from a heart attack.

From this one movie, four of the actors playing main (and memorable) roles have since died. It feels like we’re losing legends of the screen, and our only way to keep remembering them is to keep watching the movies and seeing the interviews that they gave.

I, for one, was sad to find out that Cyd Charisse died this year, but was even more sad when I decided to investigate the health and well-being of her former co-stars for the first time. The only two who remain alive and well whose credits are significant are Debbie Reynolds and Rita Moreno (who played Zelda Zanders). It was a sad thing to realize that most of the cast of one of my favorite movies have died. I know this is the way that life goes, but it’s still a hard realization.

I guess all there is left to be said is: May they all rest in peace.

We got to the theater fairly early, and I must admit, I don’t mind standing around in the theater lobby because it is a beautiful lobby. There was a flautist playing, which is fairly standard – every time we’ve gone, there has been someone playing some instrument. It’s nice to stand around and hear music before we get to see a show. Unfortunately, being a flautist (or at least a former flautist) myself, I wasn’t able to stand and enjoy her playing – I had to listen critically. Her low tones were lovely, but her high ones were thin and shrill. She fluffed quite a few notes and I was able to tell all too well when she made mistakes, even though I’d never heard the music before. It’s possible that she was nervous being around all those people who were milling about, though, so I imagine that was the cause of some of the tonal inconsistencies.

We originally had seats very close to the front, but they were for the week before, when I was initially scheduled to work 10-7, which would mean that I wouldn’t be able to get to the show in time for curtain. Johnathan called the theater and got our tickets moved to a week later, when I was working 8:30-5:30, giving me time to get down to Playhouse Square to see the show. As a result, our seats were moved, but instead of the usual moving far back into the rear of the theater, we were moved closer. As it turns out, we were in the front row on the right side. It was really great how close we were to the stage.

The cast we saw was excellent and funny. I had no complaints about them whatsoever. What was even more great was that two of them were Cleveland natives, and that always gives some energy to both the cast and the audience, increasing enjoyment of the show. Just like last time I saw it, I laughed, I cried and was thoroughly impressed with some of the improvisational moments that went on between the cast members. One particular thing worth noting, other than the two Clevelanders in the show, was that the boy who played Leaf Coneybear was Andrew Keenan-Bolger who is the younger brother of Celia Keenan-Bolger, who was in the original cast of this very show. Talk about keeping it in the family! That was a neat factoid (which many people may not have known or been able to put together unless they were fans of the show before seeing it on tour) and it was neat to see him act out that character. Leaf Coneybear and Olive Ostrovsky are my favorite characters in that show, I decided after watching it this time. It’s hard to really choose a favorite, though, because the characters are all so very lovable.

After the show, there was a Broadway Buzz just like we were lucky enough to experience after Avenue Q. There were three cast members scheduled to join us for it this time, but as they came out of the dressing room, most of them stopped to say hello and share with us. It was really neat seeing most of the cast members there, willing to talk with audience members about the show, about their experiences and other things. I was hoping it would be as enjoyable as the one after Avenue Q, and it had the potential to be, especially with so many amusing people, but thanks to a rather large group of private school students, we had the experience somewhat marred for us. They asked questions like “How long did it take to make the show?” and “Why do you make it so inappropriate?” That really bugged me. The show comes with a parental advisory that it isn’t appropriate for kids under a certain age, and to be perfectly honest, very little of what goes on in the show is misrepresentative to what goes on for kids that age. Adolescence isn’t exactly a smooth experience for most people. At any rate, I do rather wish that the students had been taken on a different night so that we might have enjoyed the Q&A session a bit more.

Overall, our experience was a good one. If it weren’t for precocious children and a theater director who is far too long-winded (we wanted to hear the cast, not the theater director), I would say it was an excellent experience.

Work on Friday was seriously, seriously frustrating. It was our last day of training and boy, did I want to get the heck out of there. 5PM finally did come, though, Johnathan picked me up from work, and off we went. The drive out was absolutely pleasant. We were smart enough this time to think of actually combining our music, rather than having a CD or two of each of our music. He has a 20GB iPod, and we both picked out a selection of our favorite music and put it onto his iPod. From the start, we kept it on random with a few instances of specifically picked songs. The song of the trip ended up becoming (inexplicably) Code Monkey by Jonathan Coulton. We both enjoy the song and think it’s hilarious, which is about all of the logic that went into the repetitive playing of that song. We stopped for dinner at Subway after about an hour or so of driving, and otherwise just hung out in the car. There were stops for drinks and pit stops, of course, but mostly we kept on the trip.

Getting into New Jersey was the most difficult part of the trip. We got ever-so-slightly lost trying to get to the hotel proper. Our GPS is lovely, but when we miss a turn, it doesn’t recalculate fast enough which can often lead to missing several turns in a row. It’s a bad thing to happen since it can just snowball from there. We did eventually get there by about 1AM. The man at the front desk was very nice and very helpful and I think all by himself he redeemed Econolodge from our previous poor experience. The room was nothing to shout about, but it had a king bed and there was hot water in the shower. The hot water was an improvement over our last Econolodge experience. We quickly went to sleep because, since we’re both on a very strict 8-5 type schedule, our bedtime is usually between 9:30 and 10:30, and 1PM is definitely outside of that window. We were exhausted. I slept pretty well, though there were only two fairly flat pillows. I sleep with two fat (though squishy) ones at home so it was something to get used to.

First thing in the morning we were up, showered and ready to go. The shower was annoying because the water pressure was poor and it had a water saving head, so it took about twice as long as normal to watch the shampoo and conditioner out of my hair. No matter, though, we were quickly packed and out the door to breakfast at Perkins and then to the airport to get a bus to a train into the city.

The PATH train that we were on took us to the World Trade Center station. It wasn’t necessarily on my list of things to actually do, to see the World Trade Center area, but I wasn’t going to say “No! I don’t want to see that!” The station was actually pretty cool, and what was interesting is that it’s a temporary station right now. The temporary station was awesome enough, so I’m not sure how they’re going to make the proper one look better. It’s a little rough, I admit, but it’s nicer than a lot of places that I’ve seen. We didn’t stop for long because it was really just a construction site at this point, and as callous as it might sound, I don’t want to relive the feelings from then. I know I wasn’t as directly affected as those who lost someone in the event, but still. At any rate, we had a plan originally, and then it seemed like the second that we got off the train, we decided to change it. Since I miraculously realized that it was Saturday and that it might make things a little bit more complicated if we tried to get tickets to a show for the evening, we decided to head over to TKTS in the morning and get tickets for a matinée. We got tickets in the mezzanine for the Curtains matinée, and I was very glad about that. The rest of the afternoon was spent getting some food and wandering around the block nearby to the Al Hirschfeld Theater, where Curtains is currently.

At 2PM, the matinée started. Most of the original cast is still in the show, and we only had one understudy – not for a person who I was hoping to see, either – so I was very excited. The inside of that theater, idly, is very beautiful. It has a certain character to it that a lot of the more ornate ones lack. Aside from the lack of leg room (our knees were pressed against the seats in front of us), the pre-show waiting was actually quite pleasant. The show itself, oh. It was so good. Johnathan kept repeating what a good show it was afterward, too, and since he didn’t know that it would be something that he’d necessarily like. I knew I liked it; I’ve listened to the whole cast album as well as an audio boot of it. Anyway, I am so glad that we got to see it before the show actually closes in June. If I could, I’d go out and see it again. That would be silly, though. I hope they go on tour; I’ll definitely see it when they do… if they do.

After the show, we finally were in a close enough vicinity to meet up with Astra and Aurelia from HogwartsMOO. I’ve talked to these people for years, so it was really great to meet them in person, to be able to put a face to a name and all of that. We went to a Thai restaurant a little way outside of Times Square which had excellent food. It was exactly the kind of thing I was hoping to be able to have for dinner, since it isn’t something we can necessarily get in Cleveland on a regular basis, and if we could, it would be unreasonably expensive. We hung out at dinner for a bit, and then Aurelia and Astra had to get back home, and we wanted to get out to Coney Island, so we parted ways en route to the subway stations.

The trip out to Coney Island takes about an hour, so we were well set to wait around. Johnathan was disappointed because the train we caught on the way out was not a new one. Unfortunately, by that time we really needed to find a bathroom, so that was our first goal. It took longer than planned to find one, and in the meantime, we discovered that the bathroom area on the boardwalk was closed, and that Astroland was closing at 7:30PM, so the second we walked in, they closed. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to ride anything there, though we did snap some pictures of the signs there. We headed back to Manhattan, originally intent on going up the Empire State Building. We got a new N train on the way back, which was seriously cool. It was quieter than any of the other trains we’ve ridden in NYC, and it was cooler in terms of how much information it gave than any MAX train that I’ve been in. Aside from feeling tired and dirty, the trip back was nice. Once we started on the way back, we decided that it would just be worth it to head back to the hotel because we were tired and my feet were blistering.

We caught a PATH train from downtown and headed on the way back. It was at that point that we discovered that I walk strangely. Apparently I put the balls of my feet down first instead of my heels. It meant that my heels were fine and un-blistered, but right next to my toes was pretty much an entire blister. Ouch. They’re a bit better now, but on Saturday night, my feet were very, very unhappy. At any rate, we made it back to the hotel at about ten minutes to 11, and since we were hungry (since we’d eaten dinner at about 5PM), we went over to Perkins. It was practically attached to the hotel, so it was very convenient. Unfortunately, the convenience wasn’t worth the cost at that point. Once our server (who never told us her name) finally came over to us, we ordered everything at once. We got two glasses of pop, two glasses of water, a piece of pie and an appetizer sampler platter. It wasn’t a complicated order, but we had a problem even with that. We had to ask for silverware, for more water once we’d drained our cups (which I did very quickly), and then she gave us our check without A) asking us if that was all or B) ever getting us our appetizer platter. We did mention this to her and she didn’t get moody with us, but it was frustrating. It took so long to get almost anything that it was frustrating. Almost an hour later – and it isn’t as if we were ordering full dinners with lots of complicated variations. Appetizers generally come quickly, and she got us our pie right away since she was the one to cut it. It was unacceptable service and not a great way to end the evening. However, we were able to get back to our hotel quickly and a king size bed, even when the pillows are flat, is a good, good thing (particularly when your current bed is sagging like crazy).

The next morning we got a reasonable start at about 10:30AM. We did not go back to Perkins since we were still sore over the service from the previous evening. We drove for a little while and ended up at a Panera for breakfast. I got a Chai latte and then we were on our way. On Sunday, I was almost immediately plagued by car sickness, where on Friday night I hadn’t felt it at all. It didn’t seem to get better for the rest of the day, but it wasn’t bad enough to really complain about. Around 2PM, we stopped at Knoebels, which is an amusement park in the middle of nowhere, Pennsylvania. Johnathan’s friend Matt had said he would be there all weekend, so we met up with him and hung out at the park. The first thing we rode was one of the roller coasters which left me feeling somewhat woozy as a result of my still-persisting car sickness. We were going to go ride on the Flyers after that, but Matt broke them, so Johnathan and I went to get some lunch. We had lunch at the Alamo restaurant in the park which had reasonably good food for very reasonable prices. The Flyers were fixed afterward, so we got onto those. After my first time, I felt ill, so I sat for a little while before being convinced to ride again with everyone. The second time went better; I felt less ill afterward and less woozy, but I was ready for something calm. After that, Johnathan and I walked over to the haunted house ride. It wasn’t really very scary; it had a couple of shocks and other than that, Johnathan accidentally scared me more than anything on the ride did. It was fun enough, though, and had me giggling when we got off. Matt gave Johnathan a ticket for the Sky Ride, so we went up on that. It is basically a ski lift set up so that folks can ride up the hill, see a really pretty view, then ride back down and see the view of most of the park (where the trees aren’t obscuring it, of course). The only thing we did after that was ride the carousel, which was enjoyable. By that point, I was getting very tired, so we begged out and got back on the road.

Things only seemed to go downhill in terms of how I was feeling. I started feeling very sick by about 8PM, which was at least three hours before we could manage to get home. By about 10PM, my head was throbbing, so I slept most of the rest of the way home. We’re not sure what was wrong with me, because I have never been that car sick before, not even when I used to read books in the car, against all better judgment. It could be food poisoning of some kind, but it would have to be something that I ate that Johnathan didn’t eat, because he was more or less fine. I don’t know. It was nice to be home, even though I enjoyed the trip. The cats, who we thought might misbehave while we were gone, didn’t even seem like they’d noticed we were gone, though they were more affectionate and attentive than usual.

So, now we’re home, and aside from having to miss Monday due to still being very nauseated and feeling like my head was going to explode, things are pretty good.

I will say I’m rather glad to be home, though not overly thrilled to be working now. It was a good trip.

This is the view outside of the World Trade Center station.

More of the same buildings. I have to take about six pictures of anything just to make sure I get a good one, it seems like.

Same buildings, again.

Curtains! I love the marquee for the Hirschfeld theater.

Better lighting of the same.

David Hyde Pierce? Yes, please!

I love the architecture in New York City. So much of it breathes personality.

Trying to get some good angles of the buildings on the street that the Hirschfeld is on.

Same buildings. I don’t know what it is, but I find them so lovely.

And again.

These ones are a block down, on a busier street.

Same buildings, more traffic.

Buildings and traffic.

I ignored the guy, but Johnathan took these tickets from a guy standing on the corner past the theater. Free Starbucks for going to church! And yet, we still didn’t go.

And there’s Johnathan.

The street was mostly clear, it was beautiful, and I just plained liked the view. That’s why.

This one has a better angle than the previous one.

This is the underside of the awning over the Hirschfeld theater. It has mirrors!

After we took our pictures, people started making faces at it while others with them took pictures. It was funny.

This one is way better than the previous two; Johnathan took this one, while I took the other two. I’m saying that the reasoning is that he is taller than me. That’s my excuse.

Here we have the Atlantic ocean just before sundown.

More of the ocean. I think the colors turned out better this time than last year.

More ocean.

More ocean. I really like this one, and I couldn’t say why.

The boardwalk at Coney Island.

We made it to Astroland, at least, even if we didn’t get to ride anything.

Astroland again.

Final view of Astroland as we headed back to the subway to go back to Manhattan.

Seriously cool screen on the N train.

It gave a lot of information!

The cute coloring book menu at The Alamo at Knoebels. I almost asked for crayons.

I wanted to get some cool action shots of the flyers.

Unfortunately, it’s hard to capture the awesome things that they can do without taking video.

If I’d managed to snap this about a second earlier, it would have been really cool.

We really didn’t end up having a lot of pictures because on the one hand, we forgot, and on the other, most of the things we might have taken pictures of, we took pictures of them last year. I’m not much fussed. I really like the one of Johnathan, though.

And that’s that! You now know the ins and outs of our trip to New York City this year.

For the first part, it’s Johnathan’s birthday! He gets older tomorrow.

For the second, we’re leaving for New York City as soon as I get off of work tomorrow. I’m pretty pleased about that! We are planning to see Curtains while we’re there (since it closes in June), go to Coney Island (since it’s Astroland’s last season), and do some other touristy type things that we didn’t do last year when we went. I won’t promise a blow-by-blow update of the trip while we’re there because I don’t know exactly how long we’ll be out and about and how tired we’ll be when we’re done traipsing about the city.

New York City, here we come!

On to my real reason for posting. Since Spring Awakening debuted in late 2006, I’ve been trying to decide whether I like it or not. I know, that’s a really long time to be up in the air about something as silly as that. On one hand, the music is nice. It’s catchy and memorable and despite myself, I get it stuck in my head. Believe me, it doesn’t happen purposefully. On the other, it’s definitely the new RENT, and while the songs are nice, they do nothing for the story. I had the good fortune to come upon a fairly good quality bootleg of the show (shhh!) and I did watch it through. It seemed to me that there would be story, then song, then story, then song. It didn’t blend together at all. The plot basically stops entirely for a song to come up, and then starts again once the song is over. It’s all well and good to have good music, but what’s the point if they do nothing to enhance the plot or further it? I still haven’t decided. I like the music, I think the kids are cute (and to me they do look like kids), and otherwise, they seem fairly nice (though who can really tell?).

This, however, is hilarious:

In January, I went back to Scattergood MOO for the first time in probably almost a year. I went back at just the right time, it seems like, because when I did, I met Johnathan and after a series of really unusual conversational circumstances, we started talking quite a bit. My mom and I went to see The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at the Keller theater. I loved it.

In February, I went to Kansas with my stepmother and my two half-sisters to see my dad. It ended up being a trip to see the inside of hotel rooms while I worked on homework and my dad lavished attention on the two little girls. I was the babysitter, they were the daughters. I came back sicker than I’ve been in years because my stepmother had the forethought and consideration to take two sick little girls on an airplane trip and expect someone who was not their mother to wipe snotty noses, change diapers and generally play mommy for the weekend. I do not have fond memories of the weekend. That month, Johnathan and I calculated that we logged approximately fourteen hours on Skype.

In March, I broke up with Jimmy, who was my boyfriend at the time. It was a long time coming and I think I put it off far longer than I should have out of fear and uncertainty. It had been over for probably six months already at that point. In late March, I flew out to Ohio for the first time to spend a few days with Johnathan. The trip was planned on a lark, but it ended up being one of the better vacations that I can remember.

In April, I was still in Ohio. We went to New York City and it was the first time for both of us. I met some of the original cast of The Drowsy Chaperone (which sadly closed on December 30 after a year and a half on Broadway), we rode the Cyclone at Coney Island and the Wonder Wheel in Astroland. We saw Avenue Q. It was a wonderful day, and let us both know that we travel and vacation well together. I went home to Oregon and took classes up again, only to have to drop them about a week later in order to move back in with my mom. My mom and I went to see The Light in the Piazza at the Keller theater. In late April, I started work at Comcast.

In May, I did very little outside of work at Comcast. My time was spent packing, cleaning, talking to Johnathan on Skype and on Gtalk, and working. It was in May that we decided that October would be the ideal month to move. I saw Chicago at the Keller theater with my mom.

In June, Johnathan came to visit me for my birthday. I turned 22 and we had a cozy few days. He explored Portland all on his own and discovered that it is nearly impossible to get lost as long as you can get to a bus or a train. We had dinner at Gustav’s, one of my favorite German restaurants and wandered down 23rd street, taking a detour into Moonstruck chocolates. Pear truffles are to die for. My brother, my mom and I saw Spamalot at the Keller theater.

In July, I worked. I did little else outside of work. I packed boxes and kept working toward the cleanliness of my room. I got very sick toward the end of the month and had to take time off of work for the first time. Johnathan and I created Bits of Existence and I revived The Golden Road for the second time.

In August, I went back to Ohio to visit Johnathan again. We stayed at a bed and breakfast in Amish country and it was there that we got engaged. We toured a two-bedroom apartment on the first floor of the same building he was already living in, and by the end of the month, Johnathan had secured it for us to move in on October 1. At the end of August, I began shipping boxes of my things to Ohio. I bought a new car – a 2003 Chevy Malibu – and traded in the Jeep Wrangler that I had driven for five years.

In September, I continued to pack and clean, and by mid-September, I had cleared out all of my things and shipped everything that I knew I could live without for the rest of the month. I began to clean up the bedroom and pack the things that would go into my car. I purchased cat carriers, had the cats checked up at the vet – Beethoven was 19lbs and Isabella was 12lbs at last weigh-in: proof that my cats are fat! – and finished up most of the final preparations for the move.

In October, Johnathan flew out to Portland. We had lunch at Todai and spent the afternoon finishing up final preparations for the move. We played Mario Party 8 on the Wii with my family and at 5AM the following morning, we drove out of Portland. After three days of driving – during one of which we spent 21 hours traveling – we arrived in Ohio. Three days later, I was fully unpacked. The job hunt began in full force. I had one interview which came to nothing but continued to search. I met Johnathan’s dad for the first time.

In November, I met Johnathan’s stepmother for the first time. Allison and her brother stayed with us for a weekend and were the first overnight company we had. I met Johnathan’s friend Matt from Iowa who now lives in Pennsylvania. We had Thanksgiving dinner on the Saturday after Thanksgiving with his mom. I continue the very discouraging job hunt.

In December, I continued the job hunt. I had an interview at Borders which came to nothing. I had lunch alone with Johnathan’s mom for the first time. We decided that we were definitely getting married in April of 2008. A bunch of friends of mine from livejournal, namely Hogwarts_Elite at livejournal, sent me a large package of Christmas decorations, candies and other Christmas-themed goodies. Allison sent a small artificial tree and we had Christmas decor in the apartment where we had feared monetary limitations would prevent our being able to have any. We spent Christmas day partially at his mom’s house. We had lunch there and I ate homemade pirogies for the first time. We spent the evening at home, hanging out and playing video games together. On Christmas Eve day, we picked out engagement rings and ordered them. New Year’s Eve was spent playing video games, eating Chinese food, drinking a wonderful Riesling and some French sparkling wine. We rang in the new year by drinking wine and watching Toy Story 2.

And here we are. We have twelve months ahead of us, just waiting to be filled with memories. Overall, I would say 2007 was a good year. I found a man I love very much, someone with whom I have a great deal in common. I found new interests and continued to cultivate old interests. I made the biggest move I’ve ever made without my family and am now living farther from my family than I ever have in my life. I learned a lot, I grew up some, and I’m generally happier now than I was a year ago.

My resolution for next year? As Johnathan would say: to suck a little bit less this year than I did last year.

I wish everyone a happy new year, and I hope nobody got so smashed last night that they don’t remember what happened to them.

The long of it is so: I’ve been applying for jobs left, right and center and still have nothing, not even retail. I think after the holiday is over, I’ll contact a temp agency and get the ball rolling that way. I vaguely tried a few weeks ago but it came to nothing and I didn’t really follow up. That was my fault. It’s not a lot of fun, this job searching thing, and honestly it’s a bit frustrating for me overall. I will prevail, though. Somehow, I’ll prevail.

What I’ve been doing since Allison left is trying to keep up with the housework, and doing so poorly, fighting off several colds (Johnathan working in a hospital and all, and me not having any immunities to the exact cold strains that will have gone around over the years in Ohio, I’m very susceptible to basically anything that comes home), and reading books. I’ve gone through several over the last month or so. I’d say six or seven, at minimum. I don’t know.

Let’s see, Thanksgiving happened in the meantime. Johnathan’s mom came over the Saturday after and we had dinner and played Mario Party 8. Not a big to-do, but fun nevertheless. Christmas is next week, obviously, and we’re going over to her house for a couple of hours, but spending the majority of the evening on our own. We’re going to see his dad and step-mom on Friday, so that’ll get all the holiday stuff out of the way, and then we’ll be able to coast until the new year.

As far as Christmas, due to a constrained budget, we weren’t thinking we were going to have any decorations and certainly no splurging on gifts for one another. I bemoaned our lack of festive decor on my livejournal and some of my friends from there, particularly the people I knew in Hogwarts Elite stepped in and sent a large box filled with sweets, cookies, ornaments, lights and a few knickknacks like a reindeer with teeny bells on its antlers and some poppers which I put into the stockings that we put up. Allison sent a tree and a bunch of ornaments as well so we’re done up quite a lot with lights and our adorable three-foot tree. Incidentally, here are some photos of what we were sent:

So, we’ve got a fair amount up now. I haven’t taken pictures of the rest of it all done up yet, but I will before it comes down and I’ll share for sure. Unfortunately, we had to take the tinsel off of the tree because the cats decided it was incredibly tasty and I know that’s no good for kitties. So, we have a huge bag of tinsel that we’ll have to sort out something to do with for next year. Obviously we can’t use it because of the feline buttheads. Ah, well!

While we’re on the subject of Christmas, it’s been an interesting year what with our plans to get married in April. We want to get married this year, which means we’d like to go on our honeymoon this year, so all we’ve told anyone that we wanted for Christmas (with the exception of my drooling over a Kitchenaid Stand Mixer…) is money toward our ideal honeymoon trip. So far, my mom has pitched in, which I’m really grateful for, as has Allison. So as of right now, we’re at…

$210 / $4000

Super impressive, I know! But hey, a start is a start, right? I’m hoping we can afford it by April, but if not, we’ll have to put it off until September or so, or maybe as long as next year. I know his mom has something up her sleeve so we’ll see what happens. I’m really excited about all of that, too. (Of course, if anyone wants to contribute, you’re more than welcome. )

I guess I should mention that we’re officially getting married on April 25 of this year. It’s going to be very small – his parents and anyone important to me who can manage to get out here. I’ll be inviting my mom, step-dad and brother for certain – inviting my dad and step-mom is a bit more iffy because I haven’t heard anything from either of them since before I moved and really, I mostly don’t care – but I don’t know whether they’ll be able to get out here this April for a one-day, very small and unassuming situation. I’m planning to invite Allison as well, because I figure she’s close enough to come to it so long as school or work doesn’t interfere. It’s exciting to know that in about four months, we’ll be married. A Smith no more, hurrah! So, there’s that.

Recently, I picked up the His Dark Materials trilogy because I read about all the controversy surrounding it from religious groups. I want to write about it, but I haven’t sat down and done so as yet. Honestly, I loved them and I really don’t see where the controversy is coming from. Of course, after I finished reading, the immediate thing I thought of was how awesome it would be to roleplay in the world that Philip Pullman presents. Go figure, huh? Geeky ’til I die! That said, I’ve jumped in – well, not jumped so much as eased in – at HisDarkMaterials.org which is honestly one of the most attractive websites I’ve seen. It’s set up nicely and the graphics are pretty without being overwhelming. It’s not often I find a black-themed website that suits my fancy, so it makes me happy. Oh, incidentally, they’re having a book giveaway for a book about the Golden Compass books and I put in for it on a whim, because who doesn’t like winning, right? Well, I got notice today that I actually won! So I’ll be getting a free copy of the book, autographed by both the author and illustrator as well as a pack of Golden Compass cards (which are movie-themed, I believe).

Another new interest of mine is the Young Frankenstein cast album, which I recently acquired. The cast is very talented, and the songs are very amusing. I’m glad I have the soundtrack, and I think if it were to tour, I’d probably make an effort to see it. Oh, speaking of musicals, awful news! The Drowsy Chaperone which is by far my favorite musical right now (I say ‘right now’ because it’s always subject to change, but it’s been ‘right now’ for almost two years now…) is closing on December 30th. When it closes, it will have played 32 previews and 674 performances. It’s so sad that it’s closing after only a year and a half on Broadway. I’m sad that I won’t have seen it on Broadway before it closes, but I did get to see it on tour and loved it. Can’t be too choosy, right? I’m just saddened that it’s ending. Who knows, though. Maybe it will pull a Les Mis and have a revival in three or four years.

I’ve also thrown myself into the groups and talk area over at LibraryThing. I’m really enjoying that as well. I finally got my whole library catalogued there, and it’s interesting to note that even after parting with a fair number of books to make the move, I have 160 books. I’d very likely have over 200 if I hadn’t parted with some before moving. There are others that I’ve made the decision to part with as well, since moving here. So, I’m impressed with my own numbers. Of course, there are people with upwards of 10,000 books, and many people have between 2,000 and 5,000 in their libraries, but I’m still fairly young and just moved across the country as frugally as I could manage. I know I’ll get more books together once I’m fully settled and employed. At any rate, if anyone wants to friend me, I welcome them to do so!

So, really, I’ve been keeping myself busy, I think that’s plain to see. I finally met some more of Johnathan’s friends, including his friend Nicole, who we wanted to see when she was performing in Forbidden Broadway here but unfortunately we didn’t manage to do it before it closed this month, and his coworker Dennis. I think we’re going to start doing more social things – meaning more things outside the apartment that don’t necessarily involve computers or gadgets of any kind. It will be good for me, even though it still gives me a fair amount of social anxiety.

I think I’ve made this entry long enough, don’t you? So, I leave you with my dæmon and go back to … whatever it was that I was doing before.

Johnathan did a little bit more unpacking the other night, which helped clear out our living room. Now all that’s left to unpack is in the corner of the dining room, and really, there isn’t much of it. We put up my corkboard (again) – this time with nails, got my wooden Lion King poster up as well as two of his small framed photos. We need to put up my Waterhouse print in the bedroom but keep forgetting. Otherwise, we’re well on our way to a fully organized apartment, at which point we can focus more on the decorative aspects of it. First priority, though, is to get a new bed, because this bed isn’t in bad shape, but it’s only a full, and we’re not small people, so it’s really quite a snug fit. That’s certainly first on our list of big expenditures.

I met Johnathan’s dad last night. He seems like a really nice guy. He was a bit high energy last night, but he raved about my cookies, my candy, the pumpkin seeds… that can’t hurt, right? I swear, sometimes I think that if you just show up with a full plate of sweets, people are more disposed to liking you. Maybe that’s why I keep baking all of these things. That, or I just like baking, go figure.

While his dad was over, Johnathan mentioned culinary school in passing. It wasn’t the first time I’d considered it, but definitely the first time it struck me to consider it in all seriousness. If I didn’t think I’d make a lousy chef, I’d go for it. At least then I’d learn more skills for my own interests. However, culinary school is expensive and I don’t think it’s an expense that I can justify at this point, given I’m completely broke at the moment. I need a job first.

I had an interview on Friday, and the lady who interviewed me said I’d know by midweek about whether I got it or not. It is now past midweek, in my opinion, so I’m going to assume that I did not get that job. It’s a real shame, too, because it was one that I believe I would have excelled at and thoroughly enjoyed. I’m still at it, though, throwing my resume at any job posting that even vaguely looks like I could do it.

Something that Johnathan and I are considering right now is setting up a home phone situation via Skype. I can’t get any cell phone reception in the apartment at all, and his is sketchy except on his work phone, so we need a place where people can contact us. Obviously, a home phone is in order. Johnathan already subscribed to SkypeOut so we got a SkypeIn number that I could put on my resume and in the job applications so that nobody had to go straight to my voicemail anymore.  We’re going to try to figure out a situation where we can plug in an actual phone and have it ring anytime someone calls on Skype, that way we’ve got a phone that we can hear. His dad has called both of us several times in the last week and gotten voicemail every time because of our reception issues, and I just don’t want anyone to think that we’re avoiding them.

On Saturday, we’re going with Johnathan’s dad and stepmom out to the Westside Market, which apparently is a ‘neato place’ according to Johnathan’s dad. It should be an interesting day, given they want to meet at about 8AM and I can’t usually get Johnathan out of bed at 8AM for work as it is. We will see, though. We both got up at 4AM to head out for my move so obviously it isn’t impossible.

I can’t believe it’s Thursday already! My how the weeks do seem to fly.The rest of my week will be comprised of more job hunting, even though it’s been slim pickings so far this week, and I believe I’m going to bake some pumpkin gingerbread with the pureed pumpkin we have. We baked up a pumpkin and now have thirteen + cups of pumpkin puree to work with over the next several months. I kind of would like to do a second one, just so we can have fresh pumpkin pie next may if we so choose. It would be silly to do that with our limited space, though.  Otherwise, Saturday we’re going to the Westside Market and then on Sunday night, it’s The Drowsy Chaperone tour cast in Cleveland! We’ll get to see Jonathan Crombie, who I have idolised as Gilbert Blythe since I was a kid, and Georgia Engel, who was in the original cast of the Drowsy Chaperone. Our Janet van de Graaff will be played by one of the girls who was in the (very, very small) ensemble in the original cast. I believe she was the understudy for Janet, so hopefully she’ll be a treat as well. I’m very excited to see that.

All in all, we’re keeping busy, eating well, and just generally trying to make ends meet while I endeavor to secure employment. It’s not a bad life right now except for the money stresses, which I’m hoping will wane soon. All in all, I feel pretty good about how we’re doing and how things are coming together at home, even if they aren’t so much employment-wise. We are happy!

I have been incredibly worried about what I was going to do about the time that I unexpectedly took off, due to my cold. Yesterday, I was chatting with some of the folks who were hired around the same time that I was, and I found out that we do, in fact, have our flextime already! This saves me not only a ton of time, but a ton of headaches, too. It means that all 29.5 hours that I was out of work last week, mostly spent sleeping, will be paid for by Comcast in their wonderful, wonderful benefits package. We get a lot of crap about our prices, with the occasional person who seems genuinely happy with the services that they’re getting, as well as the pricing they’re getting it for, but for all that, Comcast is fabulous to their employees. There is no doubt about that. It does make me quite sad to have to leave Comcast when I move. But, rest assured, I am still leaving. Hopefully Cox or Time Warner will hire me and treat me just as well as Comcast has done.

It is such a reassurance to know that I can get paid for that time, even though I was sick. My paycheck will not take any blows, except for the possible commissions that I will have lost, and for that, I can work a few hours of overtime to make it up. This takes off a huge pressure regarding the move and regarding my upcoming trip to Ohio. I won’t have to stress about whether I can really justify spending any money while I am there now, since I didn’t take an approximately $310 cut in my pay for this pay period (pre-taxes, of course.) The move is now not quite so frightening as it was last week while I was, in my hazy sick-induced state, stressing over how on earth I was going to make up for the days spent in bed, recovering from whatever that cold was.

Johnathan is helping me by screening the areas of about seventeen apartment listings. If he is so inclined, he may even visit some for me, so that we can get information and narrow it down to a short list of, I’m hoping, around five places that I could live without much issue. The ball is rolling toward my eventual move date, and I am very excited. I’m going to see about calling some places on my days off to find out about the possibility of renting a full sized van, rather than a minivan, for the move, which will be much more reasonable for the move itself. It is such an exciting proposition, if a little stressful, getting this all sorted out.

Johnathan also bought tickets to see The Drowsy Chaperone tour when it comes to Cleveland in October. If that’s not reason to be moved to Cleveland by then, I don’t know what is! (Obvious reasons aside.)

Young Frankenstein.

I would so like to be able to go! However, the only days it would be available are August 22 – 24. I don’t get back from Ohio until August 23, which isn’t as big a problem as the cost. Since I don’t live in Seattle, and I wouldn’t realistically want to drive on my own, it would cost approximately $1200 for me to go. It includes lots of neat features, including a trip up to the Space Needle (I’ve never been), and tickets to several other events besides the show itself. I would just love to be able to see the world premier of this show, and possibly be able to even meet people like Sutton Foster, Roger Bart and Megan Mullally. People whose voices and parts I listen to over and over again… I would love to be able to go.

However. I have to keep my eyes on the prize, as the saying goes. I am saving for a move to Ohio, and dropping $1200 on a trip to Seattle would be highly irresponsible. It just would be such an exceptional opportunity! This is one of those moments where I could just casually ignore what’s responsible and make plans accordingly. I know better, though. $1000 will get me to Ohio. I definitely, definitely cannot justify spending that money on a trip to a city that I hated anyway the last time I was there. (It was worth it to see Norbert Leo Butz on stage, though. It was.)

If only money grew on trees.

Not a very interesting first post. Have a song that I’ve had stuck in my head all day, courtesy of Legally Blonde the Musical. (Yes, it really is a musical now. Go figure.)