Adrian

eternalmusings and I went into DC today and saw Company. It was a filmed version of a *very* limited run done in NYC in April and whose cast included Neil Patrick Harris, Stephen Colbert, Jon Cryer, Christina Hendricks, and Patti LuPone.

And it was awesome.

The showing was sold out (granted, it was in a small theatre), and it was a pretty responsive crowd. (And the lady sitting next to me was a lot like my dad, which made me smile.)

I really hope it gets released to DVD, because I think everyone should enjoy its awesomeness.


We watched Tangled this evening, since eternalmusings hadn't seen it before. We both enjoyed it, even though her suspension of disbelief didn't cover the whole movie - to my amusement.


Tonight was also the premiere of "Leverage" - which was quite good. I'm glad the team's back and the con is back on. :-P

After my voice post last night (which mostly went through :-P), we hung out in Penn Station as we waited for our train and got a snack.

Once phoenixnj13, Sean, and I got back to her place, we ended up chatting for another three hours about fannish stuff (mostly SGA and SG-1) and I ended up showing them some vids of David Hewlett on YouTube.

phoenixnj13 and I ended up getting about three hours of sleep before we had to get up so she could take me to the train. Thankfully, it was easy to navigate. And we have a promise for me to go back up in the spring again so the group of us can do more sight-seeing in NYC.

Once I got home, I grabbed my laptop and headed to Panera for some caffeine and food. I watched Chuck - which was awesome. And I got three-quarters of my writing done for the day (aka 2400 words) while there. (Write or Die is awesome.)

While I was out, I got some Christmas shopping done, as well as a few personal errands.

Tonight was The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice - which was so bad it was good. (And Noah Wylie is adorable.) And also "Leverage" - which is awesome. I can't wait for the next episode on Tuesday (TNT - 10pm).

So it looks like I'm going to be joining phoenixnj13 and her crew in NYC on Saturday to spend the day in the city and then see the 8pm show of Spamalot. :-D This should be a lot of fun and I'm actually intrigued to see Clay Aiken in the role of Sir Robin (the part created by David Hyde Pierce).

There are still a few details to iron out (like how I'm going to get to the train Sunday morning and where exactly we're meeting on Saturday), but I'm sure we'll have no problem getting those things ironed out.

And I don't think my dad's too happy about my plan to go to NYC. Mainly because he doesn't know phoenixnj13 and, well, *NYC*. (Which, I can see his point.) But I did do the "Well, mashfanficchick knows her and you've met *her*" which usually works with other people (especially people that eternalmusings knows). The other part of the reason being that Sunday's the day we'd planned to get our Christmas tree and now I won't be going. And, I can understand there too, because that's a standing tradition that we have, but I've gone every year since we started and I don't think I've missed a year. (If I have, it was *once* and a long time ago.) So I played that card and did the whole, "Chase has missed a few times - granted, he was usually working, but still...."

It feels like I can't win either way. But I'm still going to have fun.

I think today just might go down in the annuals of history.

nakedwesley and I went to NYC to see Alan Tudyk in Prelude to a Kiss and nothing bad happened.

Usually with us, something bad always happens when we go on a trip. And you have no idea how many times I was biting my tongue from saying something that would jinx it.

nakedwesley showed up yesterday (Saturday) evening and we ended up going out for dinner and to see Music and Lyrics - the new Hugh Grant/Drew Barrymore movie. It was really cute and actually quite good and Hugh Grant actually did all his own singing for it and he's quite good. Might actually have to buy the soundtrack. And there was a trailer for a movie called Knocked Up - which is another romantic comedy, that Alan's got a part in.

In any case, we actually got out of the house early/on time - which for us is a feat in and of itself. We did our normal thing of driving up to Trenton to get a NJ Transit train to go into NYC. (Though, I will admit that I did my normal thing of "*flails* Where am I supposed to get off 295 and onto the NJ Turnpike? Why does it just say for me to get back onto 295 from the Turnpike when it never had me get off 295 in the first place?" /*flails* Which is really stupid anyway, since I don't think getting off 295 and onto the Turnpike and then back onto 295 really saves anything and it's much easier to just stay on 295.) In any case, we got up to Trenton with no trouble and had enough time to park and make it through the construction they're doing on the train station with no trouble. And here's something I don't get - why is the parking garage $3 cheaper than the outdoor parking lot?

The train ride was uneventful - or so I believe, seeing as how I fell asleep probably 5 minutes after we pulled out - what I get for only getting 3.5 hours of sleep the night before. We wandered around the lower level of NYC's Penn Station, trying to figure out where we were going to catch the subway and what we wanted to do for lunch and where the bathroom was, before giving up and just going to get sandwiches, during which we saw a security guard setting up a test for the K-9 unit, and then did a bit more wandering around for the other two items, the finding of which ended up being quite easy.

The theatre was very easy to find and I was surprised to find that it was right down from where I had seen How the Grinch Stole Christmas. I picked up the tickets from the box office and we decided to just hang out in the lobby, even though we had just under an hour before the show started, because there wasn't really anything else we wanted to do, or could do, in that time. We had a relieved laugh that Alan's name was still on the cast board for that day. (Our luck - with how well everything had been going so far that day, his understudy would've been performing that day.)

The show itself was really good, though I'll admit that I don't honestly know if I'd see it without Alan in it (or another actor that I really like in the role of Peter). John Mahoney (the dad on "Frasier" was also in it). And, I'll admit that I was surprised at how big his role was, since the blurb is "Peter and Rita's storybook wedding is visited by an unexpected old man, whose "blessing" kiss of the bride prompts a magical journey." Since the bride and the old man switch bodies, I figured that Alan's role wouldn't be that large. Well, he was on stage for most of the show. And I had to laugh - there's this one point where Peter decides to kiss the old man (who's really Rita), and a lot of people in the audience where giggling and I couldn't help but think "this isn't kindergarten, people". But nakedwesley did have a point of that it wasn't really the fact that two guys were kissing, it was more that one of them was "Frasier's dad". And Alan had to take his shirt off once or twice and both nakedwesley and I were like, "ooh," (as were, I'm sure, many of the women in the audience).

We hung out after the show, to see if we could catch Alan, and we did, since everyone seemed to be coming out through the lobby. (We're not sure if that's a standard procedure at that theatre or if it's just because it was still a preview show.) We did catch him and it was cute because Kath started talking to him and he shook her hand and then he turned to me and shook my and and said, "Hi, I'm Alan," to which I kinda stuttered in replying "Hi, I'm Adrian" (because I was trying really hard not to say, "Yes, I know." But the three of us talked for a minute or two and we thanked him for showing up to the cancelled Flan-vention thing, just as a way to let him know that the fans in general did really appreciate what they all did for that. And he kept touching me on the shoulder. And then he started to leave and was like, "Oh!" and came back and said, "I wanted to tell you about a film I just finished doing - it's called Death at a Funeral and it's really funny and I think they're looking to release it in June and you should really go see it."

After the show, we went to an Italian restaurant that I really like called Da Rosina. Though, we did have the slight mishap of walking one block the wrong way at one point - and it was one of the long blocks.

The train ride back, aside from being rather packed in the beginning and really bumpy, was also uneventful, as was the drive back from Trenton.

McAfee has now been reinstalled and everything's working fine. Though, my dad spazzed yesterday afternoon when he found out that I had been online on my computer without McAfee, because, apparently, all it takes is one virus, then I'm going to have to throw my laptop in the trash. (He basically said that.)

And then he spazzed last night while we were eating dinner. He had made some turkey chili and I decided I wanted to have two pieces of light multigrain bread with the one bowl I had. And it's like, dude, I *know* I have to lose weight, but, really.... And he told me that if I wanted to spite him to pick something else and not use food.

Later on last night (after I had cooled down some), I was really tempted to tell him that I really am a lesbian (because I have a feeling he's thought that I am off and on for a while now) and that the two women I'm involved with and I are planning on moving to NYC to see if we can make a go of it. Now, I am really not a lesbian, nor in any sort of relationship, nor do I intend to go to NYC for anything more than the odd day trip, but I would *love* to see his reaction if I did that and then left and went to a friend's for a few days.

In other news, things have been rather crazy at Casa de Adrian.

-- I moderated my first Deacons meeting last Tuesday and, according to the other Deacons, did a really good job. (The Deacons are one of the upper boards/committees in the Presbyterian Church.) And I've been doing assorted things for that job, which I will more than likely be doing until I finish my term which will be at the end of next year.

-- I'm also on the committee for the Women's Retreat at my church, which will be March 9 - 11. So, we're obviously really getting into it and getting things ready.

-- I've also been volunteering at the local community theatre - Chapel Street Players (CSP), so far running the light and sound boards. I just finished my second production this weekend, A. R. Gurney's "The Old Boy". I've been having a lot of fun with it and getting to meet a lot of new and interesting people.


And now for the random:

It was amusing going out Saturday night with most of the cast and crew (~15 of us) to Homegrown and, because of the live music, using American Sign Language with the guy sitting across from me to have a conversation. And I got a chocolate martini and tiramisu - both of which were very good.

Friday after the show, I tripped coming down the steps from the booth (they're really narrow and they have a turn in them with no landing), and stumbled against the top of the back of one of the chairs. Well, now I have a bruise on the lower left of my stomach that's larger than my hand, is black in some spots around the edges and the rest of it is a purple that I had previously been unaware could exist naturally on the human body. It's still a bit tender, but otherwise doesn't hurt.

I got a package in the mail today from my maternal grandparents. It contained two old books - a two volume printing of The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot. I gently leafed through it and on one of the front pages is a name and the date Dec. 25, 1895. So, my brain is at war as to whether I should read it, or find a temperature controlled room.

I'm excited about this coming weekend. I'm going to a Phantoms hockey game for my granddad's birthday. (It's a tradition, plus - hockey!) And then nakedwesley is going to be coming up Saturday and Sunday we're going to venture into NYC to see Alan Tudyk in Prelude to a Kiss.

Urgh. It seems like every time I've tried to post over the past few days, something's come up.

Saturday I went up to New York City with a group from Curves to see Andrew Lloyd Weber's new musical The Woman in White. Prior to the show, some of the ladies and I went to Rockafeller Center and saw the tree and the ice rink and then wandered over to St. Patrick's Cathedral (which was really pretty). I wonder what it says that they had to put up a sign next to the Nativity scene to not throw money at it.

The show itself was really good, the seats were great (center orchestra below the mezzaniene) and the projection screens that were the sets were really cool.

Afterwards we wandered around trying to find a place to eat dinner. I had told the other two I was hanging out with that I didn't care where we ate, so first they decided that we were going to an Olive Garden which was supposedly near the theatre. Well, after wandering around for a while, we asked for directions and found out that there actually wasn't an Olive Garden near where we were, so we decided to try this Italian place that was in the Playbill that advertised home-made pasta. So we trekked from 49th Street (and bethynyc is probably laughing at me because there is an Olive Garden near there, sort of) back down to 46th Street and over a couple blocks to Da Rosina, where we ended up waiting about 30-45 minutes for a table (and the place is *tiny*). But it was *so* worth the wait. The food there is *amazing*. (bethynyc - it's on 46th between 8th and 9th - you should try it out.)

Sunday night I got sick. *Not* fun. I don't get sick very often, but when I do, I know two things are going to happen - a) it goes through my system quicker than most people and b) it's going to hit me like a ton of bricks. So, after cleaning out my system completely within the space of about four hours and hardly getting any sleep, I called out Monday morning and I'm glad I did - I had *no* energy and hardly ate anything. I couldn't go in the first day of finals week/buyback sick. And my dad (who had woken up in the middle of the night because of my brother coming home) had the gall to say that I should see how I felt in the morning before deciding about calling out. Dude. I'm one of the *last* people to call out. If I call out, you *know* I'm sick.

So Monday I ended up watching a bunch of SG-1 season 1 episodes and now I think I'm hooked. (Even if I haven't seen the first three yet because I haven't gotten that disc yet.) Jack/Daniel is *so* canon. I love it! But I also want to see stories with either Jack/Teal'C, Jack/Teal'C/Daniel, or an SG-1 version of CotW with Jack/Daniel. (And blame the Jack/Teal'C stuff on this really cool songvid I've seen.)

And I had this really anxiety-filled/bad dream this morning that also had one of my managers and his family (who I've met) in it and his wife and I were both really depressed and anxious about something and then I found out this morning that he had to call out because he had to take her to the hospital because she fell the other day or something. (I didn't get the whole story.)

I'm feeling much better now, though not quite at full capacity. I really need to get on holiday stuff.

serafina20 and luvxander - Thank you *so* much for the cards!

You all *MUST* go read rageprufrock's SGA AU fic "Bell Curve". It is *so* amazing. It's got angst, it's got humor, it's got a kitten! You don't need to be in SGA to get it. (Lord knows I wasn't/am not and I'm getting it.) The first 8 parts are here and the 9th is here.

Okay. *takes a deep breath and tries to hold brain together for at least a little while longer so this post can be made*

So nakedwesley got here last night not long after I got offline. After we went to get some dinner, she proceeded to try to pimp me into SGA using songvids, which, I will admit, weren't completely without effect. I now know that McKay has a very good angsty face, Joe Flanigan has a very expressive face, that they've got great chemistry, and that I need a new fandom like a hole in the head. So, I may just end up being sucked into it.

Did you know that the directions that we had (both this time and last time) to get up to the Trenton train station had us do the absurd thing of getting onto I-295, then onto the NJ Turnpike, and then *back* onto I-295. After going both ways (for various reasons) my question is why? It doesn't seem like much of a difference. Though, if you're getting directions to go to the Trenton train station, get them off Mapquest, not the NJ Transit site because their directions are *really* weird and will take you through (and, if you're not careful, drop you off) in the ghetto a couple blocks from the train station.

But we got up to NYC without any real event and after grabbing a bite to eat, made it over to the Shubert Theatre in time for the show. (And, literally, just in time.)

Our seats? Front Row, Orchestra, just off center. GAH!!!

It was *amazing*. Tim Curry kicked ass (but would we really expect anything less?). David Hyde Pierce kicked ass. Sara Ramirez has *such* an amazing voice - wow. And I really loved Christopher Sieber too, who played Sir Dennis Galahad, The Black Knight, and Herbert's Father. (I had seen him a year or two ago in the short-lived series "It's All Relative" and when I saw he was in this, was like, "Oh, look, I know that name." But now I'm definitely a fan.)

Alan was great in his roles (Sir Lancelot, The (main) Knight Who Says Ni, Tim the Enchanter, and the French Taunter). I love the fact that he can do so much different voice stuff too (since the French Taunter is, obviously, French; Tim's Scottish; and the Knight has an odd high voice). And I loved his song "His Name is Lancelot" - which showed me that he has a *very* nice body and especially his upper arms. And my love, in general, for him has been reaffirmed.

After the show, we hung out at the stage door with a bunch of other people (but not *that* many) and waited to see who came out. (But, sadly, not Tim Curry.) David Hyde Pierce did and he seemed adorable, very nice with everyone. A few others in the cast came out and they were all very nice. And I was very excited and happy because Alan (obviously!) and Chris came out. I got both of them to sign my notebook. (It wasn't personalized, but that's okay, because I. still. got. it. signed.)

I had gotten Chris' autograph and then, as I was getting Alan's, Chris left with (I'm 99% positive) his partner, so as they were circling around behind the group, I went and got his attention and told him how much I had liked "It's All Relative" and we chatted for a moment or two and he was very gracious and a sweetheart and not like, "Oh, I should be nice, but I don't really want to." And at one point I briefly, and reflexively, put my hand on his arm and then he put his hand on my arm and when the conversation ended, he reached down and squeezed my fingers. He's quite cute and much bigger than I expected him to be. (Here's a picture for anyone who's interested.) So, yes, am definitely crushing on him now.

Then I went over to where nakedwesley had moved to, on the side of the crowd, and got to meet Alan. He's also a sweetheart. We both got pictures with him and as we were talking, she mentioned it was my birthday, so he was like, "Happy birthday." And I asked if we could take him out to dinner to thank him for everything, but he said no because he was busy. But...

*happy sigh*

After a bit of wandering around and grabbing dinner, we made our way home. And on the train ride back, we finished reading an SGA McShep fic by rageprufrock that nakedwesley had printed out that we had started on the way in. So, if I get into this fandom, I'm blaming you lot as well. (And I may just have to friend her again, so I can get the rest of that fic when she finally writes it and posts it.)

So, we had a *great* time. I wish it wasn't over yet. And I'm going to leave you all with one more pic of Chris Sieber.

And, Kath, I'll send you that vid tomorrow.

Benadryl's been helping some, but the splotches on my arms don't look like they're getting any better. (Though the ones on my legs do.) I'm thinking I might try to go to the doctor's on Tuesday. Though, I can just see it now - I make the appointment and this all clears up before I get in there.

Spamalot in three days!!!

I'm still a bit behind, but I'm pretty confident that I'll be able to catch up by the end of the week. Here' the wordcount for so far this week:

6,419 / 11,000 (58.4%)

Overall count:

19,619 / 50,000 (39.2%)

WW: -.8 (-17.4 total)

Today was the "rain date" (both literally and figuratively) for nakedwesley and I to go up to New York City to see The Boy From Oz.

Kath came up last night and spent the night so we could just leave from my house this morning.

Our morning went really well, until we got up to the 295/76 split by Cherry Hill, NJ, so we ended up taking a little tour through Cherry Hill by accident. (I could've sworn the signs weren't so misleading when we went up last time.) So we got up to the Trenton train station just as the 11:30 train was about to leave, so we took the 12:00 train and ended up picking up a bunch of people from another train that had broken down at the next stop. (We have a sneaking suspicion it may have been the 11:30 train that broke down, since our train had switched tracks when it came into the station.) We got into NYC a little late, but easily hopped onto the subway to head to the theatre and got there with ten minutes to spare before curtain. And the show didn't even start on time, so we were very happy about that.

The show itself was amazing. I know that a lot of critics didn't like it, but I'm wondering what standard they were using to measure it, since it seems like it was supposed to be really light and fluffy and not take itself seriously. But, anyway.... Hugh Jackman was *amazing*. (But then we all knew that, right?) A lady came in late and Peter (Allen - Hugh's character) was chatting with her a bit and then a cute guy came in, so Peter went to talk to him and got his number and stuff. It was really funny. Then, at the beginning of the second act, he started chatting with this older gentleman and his wife and had him do a sexy dance for her.

Other ramblings:
- This show just proved why I love the theatre. Obviously, there's the big tacky stuff that only a musical can get away with. Then there's little things where you someone will say something or something will happen and you know the audience is right there with the play, like a scene with a phone conversation between Peter and his mother -
Peter: "Mom, I've met someone."
Mom: "That's nice, honey. What's her name?"
Peter: *slight pause* "Greg."
Mom: *pause, pause, pause* "That's nice too, honey."
Audience: cheers and claps

Now, you've got to remember that theatre's bread and butter of ticket sales seems to be senior citizens (and I'm sure more often than not during a weekday matinee).

- There was a *really* *hot* scene where Peter gets felt up by a trick. (Nothing *major* major, just caresses outside of clothing, but *day-mn*) I happened to be using Kath's binoculars at that point, so that was a really nice treat, though she said it was really hot even without them.

- I loved the whole storyline between Peter and Greg (his companion). But then again, I am *such* a hopeless romantic, so is anyone really surprised by this?


After the show we got some dinner at Broadway Joe's, a steakhouse a block down and over, before heading home - which was rather uneventful aside from the small tour around the nicer residential part of Trenton.

I'm sure that there's more to add, but my brain's half asleep and the other half's still "HUGH!", so... If there's anything specific anyone wants to know, feel free to ask and I'll at least attempt to answer. Otherwise, I'll leave you with this.

Went to NYC today with nakedwesley to see The Boy From Oz. But it didn't happen. Who'd've thought a Wednesday matinee would be sold out with a huge-ass line waiting for cancellations?

We did get *thisclose* to getting cancellation tickets, but after the bouncer-like usher - who was actually quite cool - counted people off and politely told everyone else to go home, a guy showed up that was with a group in front of us. And this is *after* we had been waiting in line for over an hour and a half and he just showed up and got in. So, when we got to the ticket window, there was only one ticket left. We, obviously, let the guy behind us get it, since he was alone. And at least he got to see the show since he's flying home to India either today or tomorrow.

So we went across the street and had lunch and debated what we wanted to do, deciding that we were going to go back to the theatre and see about the student discount (since I had seen them on the site a while back, but then when I checked yesterday, the site didn't say anything about them). Well, they had decided to discontinue the discount, which was a bummer, but we decided to get tickets to see the show next month anyway. And we happened to buy the tickets right when intermission happened, so we snuck into the theatre to see what it looked like and all and from what it looks like, we'll have really nice seats - rear mezzanine, just left of house center. (Which, for you non theatre geeks would be to your left if you were in the audience looking at the stage.)

And I did decide to buy the soundtrack, so I'll have that to listen to between now and then.

While I am upset about the line-butting guy, I don't feel that the whole trip was a complete waste. We now know where we're going, how to get there, how much it's gonna cost - stuff like that. So when we do go up next month, it should be stress-free.

And nakedwesley was kind enough to bring Paperback Hero and the taped version of Oklahoma! that Hugh Jackman was in (directed by Trevor Nunn and performed at the Royal National Theatre in London a few years back) as well as some brownies she made from a low-fat mix she had gotten from Trader Joe's when she was up a few weeks ago. The movies were a lot of fun and the brownies were very yummy.


So, after reading this post, maybe anaidiana is happy that she decided to spend more of her budget than she was expecting to at Otakon. :-P

And now I'm off to bed as I'm still slightly sore from the walking and the standing in line for about two hours. As well as being really tired from that and getting somewhere between three and a half and four hours of sleep last night.