TV, signs and "twitter-pated"?

Hello everyone!

I hope you're all well in your parts of the woods. Life in NYC is now reminding me of life in Ohio: the weather has been changing every five minutes! Seriously, in the last week I've worn shorts one day, then jeans and jackets the next day, and back to shorts the day after that. I mean, WTF, yo?! And on top of that, it's not just that the temperature has changed, the humidity is so extreme it's almost completely useless to shower--don't worry, I still shower, Mom... But, it's all good, my friends, I'm still living the dream!

Last week, I was paid a visit by some members of The Cheezies. They came into the city last Wednesday night and I met them at their hotel on the Upper West Side and grabbed some pizza and some out-of-date beer. Good times were had and it was nice to just hang out with a few friends and have a few laughs. The next day, I had to work, but I met them for cupcakes at Magnolia Bakery and took a little stroll around midtown before having dinner at HB. The main event of the evening, though, was catching Next to Normal (my 3rd time). Jason was wanting to check out In the Heights, but someone how the rest of the group talked him into seeing N2N, which I was all for, but was totally up for seeing In the Heights again. Flash-forward to 10:20 PM and the feeling among the group was sort of in different. Naturally, I loved it and was overjoyed to see it again. It was one of Bobby Spencer's last performances with the show before he ended his run and ushered Brian d'Arcy James back into the role he originated at Second Stage two years ago. I will definitely be seeing N2N for a fourth time sometime soon to check out my boy BDJ in another role he plays that I want to play at some point in my life (Dan, a father/husband trying to keep his family together while dealing with his wife's mental illness). It was nice to see the guys for a little bit, but naturally, it just wasn't enough. I can't wait to get back to Oxford next month for Alumni Weekend and see everyone again.

Saturday came around and it was time for another Friend Day! This time it was with Shannon. We met for brunch at Nook on 9th Ave. Let me tell you, if you have the opportunity and are in the city, definitely check it out. Regardless, a good brunch and good conversation later, we made our way up 9th to the west 60's and cut east to Central Park. Immediately the search was on: for swings! We both knew there were swings that weren't located in a "Children Only" playground. Unfortunately, the park is quite expansive and it's difficult to find the ONE playground with swings to fit our butts. Oh, well. We explored some of my favorite spots in the park: Belvedere Castle, the Great Lawn, the Mall. From there in the 80's in the park, we made our way back down the city to midtown, picked up smoothies at Jamba Juice and sat in the plaza at Columbus Circle. For dinner, we went over to another restaurant in our chain and visited with one of our former managers and had another good meal with good converstaion. However, the main event that evening was: Shannon's FIRST BROADWAY SHOW! Now, a few things you need to know about Shannon before we proceed: she's a dancer, a ballerina to be exact, however, she's very modern and Rock 'n Roll-ish. Her ideal job would be to be part of an edgy ballet company that constantly pushes the envelope. Another thing: she doesn't like musical theatre... She thinks it's too "cheesy". So, what show do you take this person to? Green Day's AMERICAN IDIOT!!! We got to the theatre around 6 and put our names in a bucket for seats in the first and second row. And, ya know what? WE WON! So we sat second row for that evening's show which was AWESOME! Seriously, from the minute the curtain rose, you could feel the energy of this cast. They were all unbelievably talented and did NOT disappoint. Seriously, check it out.

So, it's spring and for lots of people, especially those that are into Disney movies, this typically means "love is in the air." The Disney classic Bambi patented the term "twitter-pated", which takes on a whole new meaning in the new millenium with the emergence of Twitter, but I digress... This term basically means people are falling in love with love, etc. However, oddly enough, I feel the opposite has been happening lately. So many couple I know have either broken up or had dormant issues arise in their relationship. What happened to "twitter-pating"? Spring is supposed to be a happy time, but I've seen more tears recently than I know how to deal with. Moreover, they're not my tears, and you all KNOW how I like me a good cry (i.e. owning all six seasons of Dawson's Creek on DVD...). Hey, Spring! Get your shit together and get to it; make people happy, not sad!

As we are now in spring, quickly approaching summer, it's the magical, mystical, totally exuberant time of year we all look forward to: SEASON FINALE TIME! The only show left on my plate to air a season finale is Glee--which doesn't air until June 8th. In the meantime, I have caught up on all my favorites: How I Met Your Mother (restoring my hope in "love in spring"), Brothers & Sisters (Dear writers at ABC, STOP KILLING OFF MY PEOPLE!), Modern Family (God bless you, kids), Grey's Anatomy (Shonda Rhimes, please have my babies), The Office (Andy Bernard, you're the poo), 30 Rock (future set of employment (fingers crossed)), and the series finale of LOST (beautiful).

SPOILER ALERT: IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE ABOVE FINALES, DO NOT READ!!!

First, let's talk about 30 Rock. As if this show could get any better or more perfect for me, the writers found this season finale to introduce Liz Lemon's (Tina Fey) soulmate in the form of a 39-year-old pilot played by none other than my boy (and man-crush) Matt Damon! Fo rizzle, y'all, how awesome is that!?!? If my 3 year plan works out correctly, I may be on set with Matt Damon!!! Hellz YEAH! (OK, that was a lot of exclamation points) If that's not a sign that the universe is aligning for me, I don't know what is.

The only other finale I really think I need to talk about is LOST. But first, can we just have a moment of silence in honor of the brilliance of this show? [Moment of Silence...] OK, thanks. Six years ago, Oceanic Flight 815 crash landed on an island somewhere in the Pacific stranding its passengers without any resources of working communication for rescue. This island turned out to be more than anyone had bargained for and the story of their journey took six years and 114 episodes to unfold. The result: the most emotional and spiritual resolve to a show EVER! In this final season, the writers introduced a "Sideways" world in which Oceanic 815 did not crash and the passengers lives' went on, but were somehow intertwined. For the entire run of this season, every viewer has wondered what this parallel universe was all about. Well, in short, it's kind of like purgatory: the castaways died and this is where they all communed in order to be together because the time they spent on the island in which they mended their wounded souls and became better people was the most significant times of their lives. To me, this was simply beautiful. I'm not a very openly spiritual person, but this ending put so much in place for me. Yes, there are mountains of questions to be answered, but I don't care about that anymore. Throughout my years of watching and being engrossed in this show, I became more attached to the characters than anything. I can come up with my own answers to those lingering questions. But for me, I think a multitude of Losties out there, this was a very satisfactory ending that reveals the true meaning of the show. If you are one of those people that never watched LOST or stopped watching at some point, do yourself a favor and get back to it. You WON'T regret it!

BIG (CAREER) NEWS!!! If you don't also follow me on facebook, this may all be news to you. For two days this week I was on set as a background artist for the HBO series Bored to Death. To be honest, it was pretty boring just sitting around waiting to be called down for a couple takes and then head back up to holding to wait for the next call. But it was also so incredibly cool to FINALLY feel like I am an actor! Furthermore, it didn't hurt that I spent the majority of the time standing within an arm's reach of Ted Danson, Jason Schwartzman, and only a few feet further away from Zach Galifianakis. The scene was a Comic-Con in Brooklyn where Zach's character is signing copies of his comic book based on his love for a girl named Leah. I don't really know much more about the show, because I don't have HBO and the first season hasn't been released on DVD yet, but I will be sure to check it out when it does. If any of you have seen the show, let me know what you think about it.

Anywho, this has gotten to be pretty long, but I hope you enjoyed reading. There really isn't any sense of normality in my schedule anymore, so I'll just continue to write when I can. Hopefully, I'll have more BIG NEWS coming soon. You never know!

Happy Adventures!