Broadway

Well, I am now sitting in line to get my last pair of Broadway tickets. *sigh* This is what originally drew me to NYC and it is still my favorite thing about the city. I love live theatre. I guess I've already gone over that in previous blogs though. Wait... Scratch that. My broadway post is the one that somehow got deleted from my phone. I remember now!

Okay, so, I have mastered the getting of Broadway tickets at a cheap price thing. I mean, this method isn't the best if you have a limited time in the city but if you can try a couple times then you are fine. What is my trick you ask? Rush tickets and the lottery. Yup, I'm a little gambler now. Haha! JK. So, most theaters have some sort of cheap tickets or student tickets. Some you have to get up early, stand in line and then you get tickets for $30. Win! Other theaters have lotteries where you stick your name in a draw and if your name is drawn you get tickets for $30. Win! And this is how it has been financially feasible(ish) to see all the Broadway that I have!

My first show was Mama Mia. Classic Abba. I was having a bad day and thought, "What better way to be cheered up than going to a Broadway show?" And that is exactly what I did. It was a great show. Sadly, it was a Wednesday so they had some of the understudies performing. The fiancé was horrible. I could sing on Broadway if that's all it takes. I guess I'm not a super tall, good looking man though. That could make it more difficult.

Next I went to Shakespeare in the Park. Not Broadway, I know, but a show nonetheless. And this show was free!! Yay!!! I threw my name in a draw and I was selected so I didn't even have to wait in line. Oh and hilarious story. So, I'm at the theatre picking up the tickets and I sat and took the theatre in for a moment and snapped some pictures and such. As I started walking towards the theatre this guy starts waving and yelling after me. Now, this guy looked a little sketch. He looks a bit like a hippie mixed with a homeless guy. He was in raggedy clothes and had piercing and tattoos and strange hair that was all over the place. Oh and he was old which made a little bit stranger. So, when he started waving me over and screaming and yelling I put my traveling experience and knowledge to work, concluded I didn't really want to encourage him and then kept walking while pretending I couldn't hear him cuz of my headphones. Well, that didn't stop him. He kept screaming and then started to get other people to try and wave me down. Finally I gave in and walked over to him. He then proceeded to tell me how he could just tell, yah know, he could just tell I needed a ticket cuz, yah know, he was watchin' me standin' there and could see that I really wanted a ticket. (insert a ridiculous amount of profanity in there for the full effect.) He then handed me another ticket. Yup, just like that! I was a little skeptical as I was worried it was fake or he was going to demand money or something. But nope, he was just a kind man trying to do a good dead for a poor, wandering tourist. Win!! The show was FANTASTIC! We saw As You Like It and I loved it. Plus it had a banjo band in it. You can't go wrong with a banjo band.

Show number three... NEWSIES!!!!! Yah, they made a Broadway production of my favorite childhood movie. WIN!! Wow... I never used to say that. Hannah, you are rubbing off on me. Anyways, so, I had tried what felt like a billion times to win lottery tickets to Newsies to no avail. My friend Lisa and I had gone a number of times. So, one day we decided to give it yet another shot. I would come straight from work and meet her there and we would both put our names in and hope for the best. So, after work this time I went down to the subway. I had been held up at work a bit but figured I should make it just in time with maybe five minutes to spare. And then I got to the subway platform. The place was PACKED. Awesome. The first time I ran into subway delays had to be when I was trying to see my beloved Newsies. I wasn't too panicked. Lisa would be there so at least I still had a chance. When I left Wall Street finally I was starting to worry. Looked like I would make it there at about ten minutes after the draw was made. Here's the problem. They only accept cash. And I had my cash. And I had no idea if Lisa had enough to cover me and if she doesn't then too bad for me. At 14th I get reception for about thirty seconds. I quickly fired Lisa a text saying I was on the way while I simultaneously got a text saying "I won!!! Randi, where are you?!!?" When I finally made it to Tines Square I got a text from her saying "RUN!!" and boy oh boy did I run. I made it to the theatre literally in the nick of time. Yup, Lisa came running over, grabbed the cash, turned, bowled over some old man, jumped back in line as it filed into the theatre and then we got our tickets. The show was sooooooo goooooodd!!!! I love Newsies. And the set was quite cool. And the music was the same but different and the plot was the same but different so I wasn't constantly comparing it to the movie. It was its own thing and it was awesome. PLUS the show has a bunch of dancers from one of my favorite tv shows, So You Think You Can Dance. So. Amazing. Alex Wong was there. I love that man. Plus, after the show all the actors come out and sign playbills so I got to meet and talk to a bunch of them. Ridiculously cool. Sad thing was that Alex didn't come out!! I was so sad!! They were packing it all up and Lisa looked at me and was like, "He has to come out sometime. We are waiting." And that my friends is why I love this girl! And yes. I did meet Alex Wong. I have pictures to prove it.

Next show I saw was Jersey Boys. I didn't think anything could be better than my newsies experience but this one just might have done so. I actually went and saw it a second time I loved it so much. It's a play about the Four Seasons, a band from the sixties. I really had no desire to see this but my friend Mel was in town and she wanted to go so I joined her. Soooo glad I did. It is hilarious. It makes you laugh, it makes you cry. The acting is fantastic. The accents are fantastic. The singing... Holy crap. Seriously, everyone should see this play. I loved it sooooo much. That being said, there's a bit of language in it. They are from Jersey after all.

In the internship program I am in there are a couple perks. One being free broadway shows. I got to see Memphis and Nice Work If You Can Get It for free!! Well, "free" seeing as I paid his company a lot to work out my internship and such. Memphis was great as it has the guy who played Roger in Rent as the male lead. I love that guy's voice. Overall, I didn't really connect with the show or the music though. I really have no idea why. It was still very good. Nice Work I LOVED though. It has Matthew Broderick in it and you can't go wrong seeing Matthew. The female lead stole the show for me though. She is a little fire cracker and the plot is just so well written and happy and fun. I loved it. I feel like I am loving everything in this blog post and I also love that.

What else? I think that might be it. I am about to buy tickets to see Bring It On: the musical. Judge away but I like horrible teeny bopper movies and the cheer leading will be fantastic. So I'm okay with it.

Seven Broadway plays and Shakespeare in the Park all for under $140. Don't think I did too bad! Wow. I can't believe I only paid that much. Maybe I'll go see another one tomorrow! Haha!

Just another day in NYC.

NYC Quirks

Here are some random and awesome quirky things or people I have found in NYC.

Grocery stores - I have mostly done my grocery shipping at Trader Joes because it's convenient. This is a two story grocery store. How does that work you ask? Well, there is an escalator for humans and this escalator contraption thing that will take your cart up from one level to the next. Hilarious. Oh and this place has over 25-30 checkouts and the line up will still wrap the entire store. That's not an exaggeration. When you walk into the store, the checkout line is right there with a guy holding a sign saying "end of the line".

Metro newspaper guy - this guy cracks me up. When you get off at Wall street on the 2/3 line there is this guy handing out free Metro newspapers. He is hilarious because of his enthusiasm. Man, I need to get video of this guy. Okay, new goal, get video. Every morning he's standing there in his booming voice yelling, "Happy Monday! Good morning! Happy Monday everyone! Good morning! Happy Monday!" Oh, he makes my day, everyday.

Crazy homeless guy - there's this homeless guy who goes around wearing a dress. This isn't just any dress. It's like the bridesmaid's dress from hell and is frilly and has toule to spare. Pretty great. Not only that but he has his regular shopping cart and a pet parrot that sits on his head. Class act. I'm telling you! Haha!

The smell of rain - in Canada, the smell of rain is fresh and fantastic. In NYC it accentuates the smell of garbage. Not the most pleasant thing.

Subways - subways really do have the strangest and quirkiest people on them. My recent finds are the chick with a pet rat and the guy with the world's ugliest pony tail. Oh and one of my favorite things is watching people try to lean away when people fall asleep and start leaning on them. I love watching people be awkward.

Walking on the road - okay, this is just awesome. In Times Square the sidewalks are nuts and you have to deal with tourists taking pictures and randomly stopping and not knowing how to J-walk properly and it is mostly just super annoying. BUTTTT I have discovered the fantastic sidewalk on the road. Apparently NYC didn't think the sidewalks were wide enough and could hold everyone, so they just painted the road next to the sidewalk blue and made it a pedestrian walkway. Soooo awesome. You can totally skirt all the annoying people... If you can make it through the crowds to the blue zone that is.

Shake Shack - this is a famous burger and shake place. They have one location that is this tiny little shack, hence the name. It became so busy and famous that there is actually a camera installed so you can go online before heading over to see how long the lineup is at that time. Cuz I guarantee you there will be a lineup.

Kids sports days on Wall Street - this was the most random thing I've seen over lunch. I came out one day to find the area around the NYSE all blocked off and it was filled with kids, lots and lots of kids. They were playing soccer and basketball and having hula hoop contests and running around like crazy. Not something you expect to see in front of the stock exchange.

Harlem Hangout - this isn't really quirky but I love it. Harlem, as you probably know, is approximately 90% black, 9% Hispanic, and 1% white. Nope, there aren't even that many white people in my area. So, it's just a tad bit different than things back home but I have loved it. When you walk down my street it is like you are on parade because everyone just likes to sit out on their front stoop and hang out. Sometimes they BBQ together. There are often block parties that happen right out there on the street. At one point they rented a blowup bouncy house and blocked off the entire street so they could use said bouncy house.

Emergency Exits - apparently in the New York subway system, emergency exit doesn't mean emergency exit. It means, hey, here's another door you an exit through if you want. And bonus, if you come through this way loud, super annoying alarms will go off and then you can let people sneak through without paying! Win!

There are so many other quirks in NYC that I love but here's s start at least.

Improv Everywhere

Improv Everywhere. I looooove Improv Everywhere. They are a fantastic group that likes to make scenes in NYC. They do random stuff like ride the subway with no pants on or get hundreds of people to randomly freeze for five full minutes in Grand Central Station or have a bunch of men walk around Abercrombie without shirts on. Hilariously awesome things. I have aaaaalways wanted to be a part of one of these. I thought it would be FANTASTIC!! Buuuutttt it is based in NYC. And I didn't live in NYC. But I do now!!! Annnnnddd they had an event while I was here!! AND I participated in it!!!!!!!!!!

I participated in what they call the MP3 experiment. This is where hundreds and hundreds of people all show up at the same place together with their iPods. This time it happened to be on Governor's Island. I really like that place. It's a happy little family focused place with really strange art and I like it. So, we took the fancy ferry out and hung out for a bit until the moment came. Ahead of time everyone downloaded this app and at the exact same moment everyone's iPods started to play this track. For the next 45 minutes we all just did what the track told us to and ooooohhhh man did it tell us to do some hilarious stuff.

Ahead of time I knew it would be the most epic time ever since the list of supplies requested were a white bed sheet, a musical instrument, a shower cap, something hard and flat, something soft, and a water gun. Yah. Only good things can come with a list like that. It all started with everyone simultaneously falling to the ground. Then we all lay there together breathing deeply for a good couple minutes and then everyone stood up quickly. Can you just imagine being people not in on it and watching a couple hundred people suddenly falling to the ground, lay there for a couple minutes and then suddenly getting up again at the same time? Oh, it was awesome!

We were split into two teams. Anyone with a birthday before July was to wear a solid color and anyone with a birthday after was to wear black or white. We then participated in the olympic games; an epic battle of the color team vs the monochrome team. Anyone not participating (not listening to the track) was considered a fan. At one time we were all to go and find a fan and follow their every move. There would be a man standing there and a line of twenty people standing behind him copying his every move. We also high fived the fans, obviously.

The actual Olympics were hilarious. We did improvised synchronized group interpretive dancing. Oh, and there couldn't be a group leader either. We walked in slow motion. We walked in super slow motion. It was hilarious. And got more and more funny. We all put sheets over us and walked around like ghosts. If you ran into someone you had to immediately turn 180 degrees and kept walking. Those sheets were also used as capes, obviously. Everyone had their capes on and had to run to the meeting point. Cali and I were already there so we just ran around in our capes when all of a sudden, an extra couple hundred people came running over this hill wearing capes! It was seriously a sight to see. We took the sheets and got into teams and shot stuffed animals into the air using the sheet like in water balloon volleyball. After that, we use the sheets to create one giant canopy. A giant giant canopy of sheets with hundreds of people underneath. Oh. It was just soooo much fun!!

The grand finale was the water gun fight. We split into our two teams. Okay, picture this. Hundreds and hundreds of people. On one side of the field you had everyone wearing colors. On the other side everyone was wearing black and white. Suddenly, they all are putting on shower caps. When everyone has their shower caps on they all pull out musical instruments. First, the colorful team screams and yells and plays their instruments. Then a short moment of silence followed by the black and white team playing their instruments. Once the battle cries are over, the two teams all hold their colorful water guns above their head and march in silence towards each other, a determined, angry battle march (filled with giggles of anticipation). Once they reach each other, they all suddenly turn and shoot their own teammates. Mass mutiny!! Hilarity. Sooooo ridiculously hilarious.

It was honestly one of the best 45 minutes of my life. And I want to do it again. Right now. When the video and pictures come in I will be sure to share :)

Looking down on the city

There are many things that I have come to hate about New York and I could probably make you a decent list of reasons starting with tourists and the smells. that being said, I really don't look down on this city in anyway except literally.

On Thursday, Marilyn and I had a touristy adventure. After work we met up and went and wandered the High Line. This was an old elevated railway station that has been converted into a city park. It is a really neat little concept as it still has some of the track there and has a very railway feel to it even though it is this gorgeous park. I was a fan. You could see out onto the Hudson and into the city. There were a lot of views you wouldn't normally get just wandering the city. After we had made out way across the park we went to Top of the Rock to see the city. We chose going up Top of the Rock over the Empire State building cuz 1) I hate crowds and 2) I wanted the empire state building in my pictures.

It was soooooooo cool!!!!! I was worried it wouldn't be worth the $25 but I TOTALLY loved it. The view was gorgeous. We decided to go right as the sun was setting so we could see the city during the day and at night. Best decision ever. I seriously wish there was some way I could describe how great it was to see this beautiful sunset, nature at its finest, setting over this iron jungle. The contrast just hit me. I love nature and sunsets and being surrounded by trees and grass and flowers and animals and the changing seasons like we have back home. But I equally love the amazing manmade things that fill this earth. I love observing people and their creations and how the two interact. This moment was just a completely perfect meeting of both.

Just another fantastic day in NYC.

Happy Fourth!!

July fourth. So much has happened since my last posts but we will skip all that for now.

So, up until the evening of the fourth I had zero plans for this national holiday. I was quite disappointed actually. On Canada Day we have big pancake breakfasts and celebrations and food and festivals and street performers and parades and there is always something happening that you can go to. I honestly couldn't find anything here. No ward breaky, nothing. Maybe I just wasn't invited. Who knows?

Anyways, finally, on the evening of the third plans started to form. There were beach trips and movie goers and broadway plays and such. In the end I went with a combo plan and it was AWESOME!

I woke up first thing in the morning and met up with Travis, one of the guys from the apartment upstairs. We jumped on a train and met up with his friends, Carl and Bradford, and off we went to Coney Island for Nathan's Annual Hotdog Eating Contest. My last experience at Coney Island was less than ideal so I was quite hesitant to go back.

Actually, let's talk about the Mermaid parade right now. So, a couple weekends ago, my roommates and I and a couple other people all went to Coney Island for the Mermaid Parade. It is exactly what it sounds like. A parade of mermaids. A THREE HOUR parade of mermaids. Now Coney Island is a small and curious little place. It reminds me of the island where the little boys go in the movie Pinnochio and then they all turn into donkeys. It is seriously just like that. There's a carnival and a beach and little shops and bars and such. Cute little place with people that are strange and a little sketchy. They kinda remind me of the strange carnies in movies. So, the mermaid parade attracts an... Interesting crowd. Basically anyone who wanted to be in the parade could. It was disorganized and weird with lots of scantily clad women. Don't worry, they had pasties over their nipples. Haha! Anyways... This three hour parade meant that all the roads were cut off for three hours and people really couldn't come or go. Every once in awhile the cops would let people cross the road and mass chaos would ensue. We made the ridiculously stupid decision to place ourselves right by one of these cross roads. It was horrid. We had worked hard to find us a place where we would be able to see and then all of these people would try to push their way in and people wouldn't let them in cuz they were determined to keep their spot and then there was yelling and the cops were yelling to get in but people wouldn't let them in and it was mad chaos. After the sun had heated everyone up even more racial slurs started flying and yelling and pushing and it was completely horrible. I hated it. I was done with it so we tried to escape and find food. It took us two hours to fight through the crowds and crowds of frustrated people and blocked of roads and find food. Not. Cool. We eventually climbed through a whole in a fence, crossed a sketchy field and then ran across a street when the cops weren't looking in order to get to a burger. Mmmm food. After all that I bought a candy apple at the carnival and we hung out on the beach. It was good and I was able to take pictures and calm down a little but overall not a good experience. I mean usually I love crowds but not this one. This day was probably the turning point in my love for crowds. I have never been around people who would be that rude and jump in front of you and push and just have no respect or even acknowledgment of anyone around them. It just got a horrible vibe from it. For the first time I second guessed my decision to try to come back to NYC permanently. Oh well. It was an interesting experience and some of the costumes were suuuuper cool (like the unicycle riding sea monkeys!) and I got some cool pics!! I'll post those later.

So, yes, the thought of going back seemed stupid. Especially on July 4th. But Travis convinced me so I went and I am sooo glad I did. First off, those boys are good times. We laughed and laughed and had a grand old time. Second, the crowds were not bad at all. I think not blocking off strees and the flow of people really helped. And third, they have the Nathan's Annual Hotdog Eating Contest. Hilarious. That's a lie. Disgusting. Haha! But it was something to see at least once.

They had the women's competition first. Girl Power?? The chick who won weighs 100 pounds and ate 45 hotdogs and buns in ten minutes. Gag me. Way to promote eating disorders!! There is no way she keeps that all down. She is the world champ and we watched her beat her old record. I saw history being made!

In-between the women's and men's competitions they had some entertainment. There were trampoline trick performers and a game of HORSE with one of the players from the new brooklyn basketball team against some guy from the crowd. And then the men came out. *Cue manly music*

This was the strangest group of men I have ever seen. Guys came out wearing tiny, gold, shiny booty shorts and dressed as leprechauns and wearing giant bling and on and on. And these guys were the champs in potato wedge eating and hotdog eating and chili eating and spaghetti eating and wing eating and fried asparagus eating. So weird!!! Seriously I cannot even describe to you how weird this was. The guy who won the men's competition ate 68 dogs and buns in ten minutes. He tied his record from last year. He ate more than six hotdogs every minute. It was disgusting. He has a bite that is stronger than a German shepherds and he is kinda nuts. Seriously.

I think the best part of it was how into it these boys I went with were. They were going crazy as to how cool it was and how they should take up competitive eating and on and on and talking about stats and reliving the experience. Hilarious.



After I had been thoroughly disgusted we moved on and went out for lunch. Cuz if watching two hotdog eating contests doesn't make you hungry, i don't know what will!! We went to this Indian place my roommate had told me about. Sooooo funny. Before I get into it, the food was faaaantastic. Good food, decent potions, great service. For 15 bucks we got dinner, an appetizer, soup, rice, naan, and dessert. It was wonderful. And now to talk about the decorations. Panna II. Everyone needs to go. It honestly looks like someone let a five year old decorate this place. There is this blanket like curtain of lights that hangs from the roof. There are Christmas lights and chili pepper lights and Halloween lights and snowflake lights and pretty much anything you can think of was there. And then amidst all the lights there are beach balls and streamers and shiny things and Christmas decoration. And if that's not enough, on the walls there were super hero stickers, just stuck there. It was just fantastic. I want to go back at night when all the lights are lit and the place is packed because even without all the lights and people it was still fantastic.


Once my belly was full and I was feeling great I went to meet up with Joanna Dick and her mom who were in town visiting NYC. We wandered Central Park for awhile and then made the trek downtown for the fireworks. I am so sick of crowds. And not like small crowds, like millions of people. I used to love crowds and being surrounded. Now I have a panic attack when grocery shopping (apparently I am my mother's daughter!). The crowds are just too much.


We got down near the pier and decided we should probably pee before we faced the crowds so we headed into a McDonald's. Worst. Idea. Ever. Really it was our only option but still. WE WAITED AN HOUUUUR TO PEE!!!!! I waited less time to ride rides at Disneyland and this line didn't even have an exciting ride at the end!! It had a toilet. And I didn't even have to pee bad enough that it was relieving when I finally did get there. Seriously. Not cool. But we made it. And we peed. And I'm sure I would have regretted it later if we hadn't waited it out.

The Macy's fireworks were great. They have four boats out on the Hudson that fire off fireworks. It was like being able to see four identical shows all at the same time. We could see one big one right in front of us but we could also see the other three shows over these trees. It was sooooo good. They even had planet shaped fireworks and wart shaped ones and even a couple happy faces!! So fun!!

Then I fought the crowded subways and made my way home to sleep. Because apparently fun is exhausting.

Just another day in New York.

Concerts: the Hipster Experiment

I love live music. I love live anything really. Live comedy, live theatre, live street performers are all good in my books. Granted does anyone really like a dead street performer? Anyways, turns out my fabulous roomie, Sarah, is a concert goer as well. Win!!

Our concert adventures began on a Wednesday evening, a clear beautiful Wednesday. We had just gone out for dinner for my other roommate's birthday and now we were on a mission to Brooklyn. Sarah had found out one of her favorite bands, Ramona Falls, was playing in a little bar down there and it only cost $12! I'm good with that. Travis, one of the boys from the apartment upstairs, was there to be our bodyguard and so we all got on the subway and off we went.

Of course, when we got down to where the bar was suppose to be but couldn't find it. There was no sign or address on the building or anything. The only reason we found it was cuz someone saw us looking lost and pointed us in the right direction to a sketchy unmarked door. This place was awwwwwesome. Words can't describe it (but hey, that hasn't stopped me before). The decorations were the most hipster thing EVER!! There were boxes screwed to the wall. Yup, flattened cardboard boxes. Don't worry, some of them were painted so they were more artsy. The stage had this flow-y cloud like thing happening. It kinda looked like they had taken a bunch of white plastic bags and swooped them across the roof and wall so they looked cloud like (ish??). There was also a little bar like area that was decorated with different sizes and colors of baseboards. Hilarious. The real kicker for me was that they had cloth cut outs of deer heads and other wildlife creatures all over the walls giving it almost an I'm-in-a-teepee feel. Basically, the venue was fabulously hipster and hilarious. And the music suited the place. Very mellow and chill and well done. Minus the first band. The first band put me to sleep.

We stayed, we enjoyed, Travis took a million pictures, we left and then got super confused with the late night subway situation. Of course by this point everyone's phones had died too and therefore we didn't have a map. Haha! We made it home eventually though and it was great.

Friday, the concert adventure continued. Part one of Friday wasn't very hipster but it was definitely a social experiment. Justin Beiber was on the Today show. Yup. And I went. Every Friday, at least through the summer, they have a guest on and if you show up early enough you can see them perform a couple songs for free. We thought, "JB for free? Why not?" Crazy girls had actually started lining up on Tuesday to see him perform a couple songs on Friday. I guess we should have expected that but we didn't. People are crazy. So, we got there about quarter to seven-ish... In the morning. I really hate mornings. There was no chance we were getting in to see him. Or even really hear him. Haha! We stood around until 8:30 when he came out for real. We did have success! We lucked out and briefly glimpsed his dancers hat! Ahhhh! Look at us go! It was hilarious to see all these girls crying and screaming and the ridiculous signs they had made and the whole bit.

My favorite was this adorable little girl. When we got there this mom and her three daughters were walking, scratch that, running up towards the sound of JB's sultry voice. They were decked out in their JB outfits and the little six year old even had her JB Barbie doll with her. She was so cute. When we finally reached the crowds and the poor little girl figured out she wasn't actually going to be able to see him she started crying the biggest crocodile tears ever. The poor little girl!

I don't regret going. It was an experience and now I know what to expect this upcoming Friday when I go see my great love, Adam Lavigne. Yum!

Friday part two of our concert adventures was about as hipster as they come. I entered into a draw online to go to an outdoor indie festival out in Williamsburg, Brooklyn aka hipster central. I won (yay!) so Sarah and I decided to go.

This was hands down thhhheeee strangest concert I have ever, ever been too. We got there and started searching for the most hipster couple. We found plenty. We ate some delicious pizza. Then the headliner Oh Montreal came on. How to describe these guys? Oh man. The lead singer came out dressed in a frilly, bright red, woman's pant suit. Seemed strange. We started speculating as to whether he had just lost a bet or something. Then we googled the band. Nope. No bets lost. This band is just weird. About the time we made that discovery we looked up through the haze of pot being smoked to see a bunch of ninjas come on stage with balloons which they threw out into the crowd. It was kinda funny but then it just got more and more strange. In every song a different set of people in spandex suits of some kind came out. We had the chick in the white spandex suit with giant red crab like claws doing interpretive dance. We had nacho libre dudes fighting. The strangeness peaked for me when a guy came out dressed like a pig followed by a guy in a loin cloth with a giant spear who kills the pig. Then another pig comes out and attacks the guy who speared the original pig. Then he picks up the injured pig and is mourning his death. Yup. My face looked about the same as I'm imagining yours does right now. Cracks me up.

It was strange and weird and I would never suggest it to anyone else but it was an experience and it was free and I wouldn't really take it back anyways. Good times.

Just another day in NYC.

Ps. I have awesome pictures of Oh Montreal on my camera but this is being done on my phone. That just means you'll have to check Facebook later to see all the pics.

Yoga, Cocktails, and a Black Eye

So, I have sucked at actually blogging. Obviously. So, I've decided to abandon trying to blog about absolutely everything and making sure it is all chronological. That's just not going to happen because I'm too busy being awesome in New York.

So, today's tale is the Adventure of Randi's Black Eye.

Yesterday was a faaaabulous day. I got up early and went to celebrate the summer solstice by doing yoga in Times Square with another 14,000 people. It was AWESOME! No, some yogi didn't kick me in the face coming out of some crazy pose. Haha! My roommate Jill came with me. We got there a bit late so all the free gift bags and yoga mats were gone. Sad. We registered, found a spot, and found our zen amidst the craziness of Times Square. It was amazing and just so much fun to be part of such a huge event. I love New York because stuff like this happens allllll the time.

After that, I went to work and listened to musicals while working. Always a good time. That evening for work we attended a big networking cocktail party. Scary!!! Networking is so essential but so scary. Don't worry though. I rocked it. I met a lot of people that do a lot of good work here and throughout the world. Bonus prize: I got to sit and talk in Spanish for awhile too. I could live in NYC forever cuz there is soooo much Spanish! Plus, there were lots of free cherry tomatoes. It was great. We socialized, networked, exchanged info and then we were off.

My boss decided we would take a cab back. Normally I don't take cabs because cabs cost money that I don't have and the subway is always nearby. But, hey, if the boss asks if you wanna come along, you say yes. So, we jumped in a cab and we were in the midst of a fabulous conversation when all of a sudden I was flung forward. The cab driver had slammed on his brakes... Hard! Consequently, my face slammed against the plastic divider wall that separates us from the cabbie. I left my greasy face mark on the cab, my glasses broke, and my eye was cut, bleeding, and starting to swell. The drivers involved immediately got out of the car and began asking "Are you okay? Do you want to go to the hospital?" blah, blah, blah and all I can say is, "Where are my glasses? I'm blind! I really need my glasses! Can anyone see them? Seriously, I can't see without them!" as I am sitting there holding the broken off arm in my hand. I think in the intensity of the moment I really felt I could not accurately determine my wellbeing without the ability to see. In hindsight that's ridiculous. Once my glasses were secured, I got a nice lecture about the importance of wearing a seatbelt. Great timing cabbie, great timing.

So, I went home and was flying on adrenaline. I was totally stoked!!! I secretly have always wanted a black eye! And here I was with the beginnings of my own personal black eye. So exciting! Well, the adrenaline and the caffeine from my Coke started to wear off and I started to crash. Then the headache kicked in. Our friend Alex came down to try and fix my glasses and he asks if I could possibly have a concussion. Cue panicking. I really had a hard time letting myself sleep last night because I was so terrified that I'd go to bed and never wake up again. Don't worry though, I'm still alive and kicking.

I took the day off today to try to sleep off the headache. It didn't work. Eventually, with the persuasion of my program counsellor, I decided to go see a doctor. First, I made my way to a walk-in clinic and they wouldn't help me as I don't have an insurance card yet. I have insurance and I have a copy of the card in an email on my phone but the actual card is in the mail and should be here in 4-6 weeks. Ha! Really helpful. So, I went to work, printed of any proof of insurance I could find and headed to a hospital. Whaaaaaaattttt a gong show. I am proud to be Canadian if for no other reason than our hospitals are organized. And efficient. And not a complete gong show like this place. There's a guy in cuffs with a cop and the cop's gun that has kinda followed me all through this process. It's been funny to listen to them argue about when he goes to court and who gets to decide what his treatment is and on and on. Once I made it through the bureaucracy side of it all it hasn't been too bad. Just waiting for a cat scan and for the all clear and then I get my headache drugs and my black eye and I should be good to go.

Just another day in NYC.

Ps. The story I'm going with is that to get the full NYC experience I have joined a gang and I got it during an initiation... thing. Seems tougher.