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It is 1:40 in the morning and I can't get to sleep. I know that isn't too late on a Friday night for a lot of you part animals, but for me it's absolutely brutal.

I am restless and my stomach is upset and I want nothing more than to just go to sleep.

Wah. Wah. Cry. Whine. Moan. :(

I'm behind on blogging. Surprise, surprise right? I'm just got to type some key points in here and I'll try to get into a blogging routine starting tomorrow. :)

- The Democrats have taken control of the House of Representatives. The Senate appears to be a possibility as well. Rick Santorum is out (though he is replaced with an anti-gay marriage Democrat, but one step at a time. Excellent news!

- Kelli O'Hara has been announced as Dot in the REPRISE production of SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE in January. That thrills me to no end. My friends Clay & Sara were already planning on coming out for this production, but this thrilled us all. Excellent tickets in hand already. Can't wait to see if the rumors about Neil Patrick Harris as George are true.

- The DREAMGIRLS film opens on Christmas Day, but in LA, New York and SF you can see it in a "Road Show" format one weeks prior. I just ordered my tickets for the first show and it's apparently quite a special event. The one-week engagements begin December 15. New York's Ziegfeld Theater, Los Angeles's Cinerama Dome, and San Francisco's Metreon will host the special engagements of "Dreamgirls." Each theater will hold displays on the making of the movie, including designs from Academy Award®-winning production designer John Myhre and Academy Award®-nominated costume designer Sharen Davis. In addition, moviegoers will have the opportunity to purchase exclusive merchandise and the film's soundtrack in the lobby. The $25 reserved-seat ticket also includes a limited edition program. Following the limited engagement, the film will open in theaters everywhere on December 25.

- The New York trip is getting close.

- A special get well to my friend Lyndsei who was in the hospital recently. Glad to hear you're doing better Lyndz!

Hey guys.

We're leaving dark and early tomorrow morning to head to NYC for the week. I'm going to try to post daily blogs (Yeah, right) and we may even record little frosted mini-eps of Sunset & 42nd throughout the week if you're so interested. So, make sure that you check your feed site if you want to hear me ramble about what I'm doing and what I'm seeing.

Well, I made it. That is the biggest piece of news to report in this blog. I started freaking out a bit on Thursday night and I felt the panic attack coming on, but this time I cut it off at the pass with a wonderful xanax and knocked myself out.

Anyone of you who know me personally know that I we are notoriously early people. We always have been and likely always will be. I think that might be part of what gets me into trouble in terms of the panic attacks. If I could just get where I am going and the event start immediately, I think I'd be much happier person.

That is essentially what happened yesterday. Our flight was 7:00 am and we didn't leave our apartment until 5:30ish. It worked out very well though because we got to the airport, checked in (no line), went right through security (line, but moved quickly), stopped at a store and bought some water, walked right up the gate, got right onto the plane and then it basically started moving. It was absolutely perfect for me to keep my freak outs at a minimum!

The flight was good. We were sitting by a nice lady who was chatty, but not too chatty. She was a nervous flyer as well, so it helped me to go from focusing on my own issues to help her stay calm. I've always been able to forget about my own issues by helping people with theirs. :) Truthfully, I am not a nervous flyer...once I get on the plane I am more or less fine. It's just the anticipation of getting to that moment that freaks me out and sends me into a downward spiral of freakage.

....ugh, I just typed a lot more of this that somehow disappeared so I'm going to "quick type" the rest.

I love the biscotti on the flight. I told the flight attendant this and she brought me about 10.

I absolutely love jetBlue.

Our flight arrived nearly 30 minutes early and Clay's train was late. The JFK baggage claim isn't that interesting.

Cosi was so much better than I remembered.

We played poker at our "secret Lair" and I got sick from eating too many sweets. :(

Long night due to illness.

Bed is INSANELY comfortable. Seriously considering asking the hotel if we can buy a set of sheets and comforter. :)

The feeling of illness extended into Day 2, so none of us felt to adventerous.

That didn't stop us from setting out there. We didn't feel like going to the theatre, so we started out having a terrible lunch at Leo Lindy's.

T-E-R-R-I-B-L-E!

Let's go play by play on what we ordered...

Stephen:
I didn't feel well so I ordered a Turkey Sandwich. Apparently, despite not asking for it all, I paid extra for Rye bread. Which I don't really like.

Anji:
Potato pancakes. What came was 4 McDonalds-esque hash browns. Disappointing.

Sara:
Chicken fingers. Her order was actually perfect, but I think it's because she held the fries. Otherwise, it could have been a disaster.

Clay:
Chicken fingers. He made the mistake of ordering a side of broccoli and cauliflower. Which of course came as over cooked carrots?!?

To top it off, this meal was ridiculously expensive. I'm not a fan of Leo Lindy's for a meal, needless to say.

After this - we marched over to the NBA store where I found a nice Kobe Bryant #24 tshirt. I have to say that the employees over at the NBA store are top notch. Extremely helpful!

Then we hit Central Park and walked around for a couple of hours. We hit "The Ramble" which was a very nice "off the main drag" kind of trail. It was a lot of fun. As many times as I have been to NYC, I haven't really taken the opportunity to just wander around the park. It was absolutely beautiful.

In fact, since I've been here so many times in the last year, I was feeling a little "blah" about NY initially. I didn't have that spark that I normally have when I come to the city. Hanging out in Central Park made that come back three fold. The magic returned!

We finished off the day eating at the very safe, very affordable and far better than Leo Lindy's - THE RED FLAME! ;) (insert jokes here)

I'm about to get up and starting preparing for today. We are shooting for a two show day. I want to get my "Hanke" on at RENT and then see SPRING AWAKENING this evening. Cross your fingers!

Day 3:
Won RENT lottery for the matinee. We all decided that we felt too old for it and didn't claim our tickets. Walked around the city. Hit some Old Navy to get some long sleeve tshirts and in general just hung out.

We went back over to the RENT lottery to help some friends from BWW win for the evening show and chatted with them for a while. It was great to meet you! All 4 of them got in because 2 out of the 3 of the won the lottery so that was pretty cool. We went over to SPRING AWAKENING where Clay, Anji and Sara saw the show. I had a tiny little episode and didn't feel like sitting through the show and standing room wasn't available since the show is still in previews and the production team was working back there. I will say that the staff at the Eugene O'Neill theatre was extremely helpful and I was just flustered or else I could have made it through.

Anji, and Clay loved SPRING AWAKENING and Sara liked it a lot and was still processing and I think the plan is that we go back on Thanksgiving night and this time I WILL see it. :)

Day 4: (even faster quick run down beacause I have to get ready)
- Went down to Battery Park and saw the Statue of Liberty
- Took Clay to get him a new coat.
- Went to Mars 2112 and their food actually didn't make me sick!
- Went to Theatre Circle and got a SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE window card and a few librettos.

and the big event...

CLAY GOT A HAIRCUT! :)

Film at 11.

Oh, TeKay - to answer your question, we fly out around 4:00 on Friday.

...we got our LES MISERABLES tickets!

We've tried on two separate occasions since arriving and it didn't work out. Today Anji and I decided to get up early and march over to the theatre in order to ensure we got them.

We get there at 8:45 am and we are the first people in line! There was a very nice lady working there who let Anji walk in and make sure she could see over the high Standing room wall. She can just barely peek over, but she can see over it and we head back out to the street.

9:00 roles around....still the only people in line.
9:15 comes...still the only people in line.
9:30 hits...still the only people in line.
9:45?...still just us.

10:00 am. The Doors are unlocked!

Finally, someone else walks up behind us. We get our 4 standing room tickets for tonight. The other couple that comes up behind us asks if they can buy a LES MISERABLES tshirt.

Sigh. ;)

Ah...two things that so frequently go together. :)

After the ticket buying experience of Les Mis that I blogged about yesterday, we decided to get on the train and head up to Columbia to hang out with Clay. Basically we played multiple sports games. 1 game of NBA 07, 1 game of Madden 2006 and 2 games of MLB 2006

I went 4-0!

We then grabbed a cab back to mid town to have dinner at Cosi and catch LES MISERABLES. It was a little bitter sweet because we had been planning on going to Kerrie's show at Pace, but Anji really wanted to see Les Mis and this was the only time slot in which it would work.

After only a minor league freak out about seeing the show I went in and saw the first show of my trip on Day 5. Not too shabby if I don't say so myself.

I am not really going to get into the specifics on what I thought about the show just yet. I'm hoping to put my thoughts in the podcast or perhaps type out a review on the plane or something. All in all, I liked it a lot. Gemignani was fantastic as Valjan and Norm Lewis was absolutely spectacular as Javert. I enjoyed Celia Keenan-Bolger more than I thought I would from what I had seen/heard so far, she actually very good. Not surprisingly, the weakest part of the show for me was Daphne Rubin-Vega. I'll get into more of that when I have more time to process I think.

Okay, I'm not sure if we are seeing the matinee of anything today, but tonight is EVIL DEAD: THE MUSICAL which I am so beyond stoked for. ;) Details tomorrow.

We got up early on Wednesday morning to head over to the Walter Kerr Theatre to try and get Standing Room for the matinee of GREY GARDENS. We waited for approx 30 minutes to find out that they won't be doing SRO for the day and you can only do 1 student ticket per ID. SO....Grey Gardens was out.

We then decide that the best course of action is probably just to go hang out at Clay and Sara's until time to head back midtown for EVIL DEAD: THE MUSICAL.

So, we get on the train at 50th and learn that it becomes an express at 96th and the next stop is 145th or you can go to 168th and cross the track and come right back downtown and hit all the local stops.

Everyone on the train apparently heard this and was perfectly fine with it. Everyone except this self absorbed old lady who was livid that the train didn't stop at 116th.

After being told by 3 different people that the next stop would be "1-4-5 Street" she started ranting throwing out these wonderful lines:

"WHY DIDN'T THEY TELL US?"

Train Guy: They did. 3 Times.

"I DIDN'T HEAR! WHY DON'T THE POST IT IN THE STATION?"

Train Guy: They did. I saw it in at last 2 places.

"THEY NEED TO DO MORE TO MAKE SURE PEOPLE LIKE ME WHO AREN'T PAYING ATTENTION CATCH IT. IT WASN'T ON THE RADIO."

Train Guy: Well, why don't you chalk this up as a learning experience and pay more attention in the future.

Homeless Guy: It's not that big of a deal, you can just go up to 168th and catch the downtown.

"IT'S NOT A BIG DEAL TO YOU BECAUSE YOU DON'T HAVE A JOB TO GET TO."

Homeless Guy: It's hard out there lady.

"YOU COULD GET A JOB IF YOU WANTED ONE, INSTEAD YOU BEG."

Homeless Guy: Lady, I worked for 50 years and I ain't asking you for a damned thing.

"NOW HE WANTS TO TELL US HIS STORY! SHUT UP!"

Homeless Guy: You're just a bitch aren't you? Next time why don't you skip the train and ride your broom wherever you need to go!

::everyone cracks up::

"I DON'T HAVE TO TAKE THIS"

::the train stops she gets off opposite end of train from Homeless Guy. Homeless guy gets up and walks to door of train::

Homeless guy: See ya sweetheart. ;)

--

We got to Clay and Sara's and played some video games. Then headed downtown for EVIL DEAD.

I really enjoyed EVIL DEAD, but I figure we'll podcast about it at some point, though as with Les Mis, it's possible that I'll type up a full review as well.

Today, we are going over to the Eugene O'Neill at 12:00 to get tickets to SPRING AWAKENING.

As we sit here I am watching the Parade as I couldn't deal with going ou in the water to watch.

We're back in LA. I didn't blog for a few days, but today is our first day back in the office. Ugh.

You have to admit though, I did really well on the blogging for the first few days of our trip. I'm going to try and have that carry over. ;)

One of the things that I am hoping to do is add some pictures from NY. One a day for at least the next couple of weeks. That'll force me to actually do something with them unlike the gaggle of pictures in a folder on my computer called "NY Thanksgiving 2005" that I haven't really touched. ;)

We are going to try and put a podcast up tomorrow with some details on the 3 shows I saw while in the city (LES MISERABLES, SPRING AWAKENING & EVIL DEAD: THE MUSICAL).

Okay, I'm eating lunch now. I will get into the blog routine though, I promise.

I've been insanely productive so far this morning. I'm trying to schedule EVERYTHING that I want to do in a day in order to actually ensure that I do it. I've got a lot of things accomplished already and while my list may be a little optimistic for today, it looks like I am going to get a lot of the stuff that I most needed to get done, done.

Yee haw!

I'm still expecting that a podcast will be up at some point today, but I am not exactly sure when. I'll post here with a streaming link as soon as I have one.

Here is my NY picture of the day. The mandatory "Cheesy Time Square Tourist Shot".

Hi everyone,

The new podcast is up. I can't seem to find a streaming link because my server service has changed, but you can go to iTunes and subscribe to Sunset and 42nd.

Sorry for the inconvenience.