Hey Old Friends, What Do You Say Old Friends

-As much as I value my education from Indiana University, the most important thing that I gained from college is some great friends. Most of them moved to New York after school, so I always have two things on my agenda when I visit the city: seeing shows and visiting my friends. It is interesting how over the years the balance of importance has shifted from seeing shows to making sure that I can hang out with my friends. There was a time when I would not have missed a single opportunity to see a show. Thankfully they have been supportive of my obsessive tendencies, and worked around my show seeing schedule. Well now, I have decided that I do not have to see every show and do my best to make sure that I can see everybody.

-I stayed with Eric Svejcar in Brooklyn again. After my train arrived from Hartford, I took my bags out to his apartment. Suffice it to say that carrying two 50 pound bags on the NY Subway is not fun! Eric does have a great apartment though (and a very comfortable couch). Eric was playing Mary Poppins auditions this week so he was busy during the day. We did get to have Thai food on Wednesday between shows. It is always fun to hear about all of Eric's various projects. Caligula is an ongoing saga, but it sounds like they are actually coming close to making it a reality. He is subbing the first keyboard book for The Little Mermaid. I am waiting for a time when he is playing keyboard to actually see the show. It sounds like I might be seeing Eric here in Atlantic City because he will be playing a gig with the original Jersey Boys here at the Trump.

-Brian had Monday off so I got to spend most of the day with him. I met Brian on his way to the police station downtown. (It is actually not such a scandalous story. He lost his wallet.) Brian took me to Century 21. I had never heard of Century 21 (well of course I know the reality company), but apparently it is a New York institution for high end bargain shopping. I will have to go back when I have the patience (and money) to fight the bargain hunting Europeans. On a side note, I was glad to be in that area of town for a couple of reasons. Firstly, we got off the subway right by the Brooklyn Bridge. Of all the times that I have been to New York, I have never walked across the bridge. I will put that on the list of things to do. Also we walked past the World Trade Center site. The site itself is still a big hole in the ground, but the surrounding area has really rebuilt itself.

-We continued our shopping back in Midtown on 5th Ave. I had hoped to find some really great 80s accessories at H&M. I did find some great socks, but sadly only I will know that I have great 80s socks. The Disney Store did not have anything worth adding to my already bulging bags. Abercrombie had a line out the door to go inside so we just walked past really slowly and gawked at the models in the door. We ended our shopping spree (well mostly looking) at Club Monaco where I found the cute polo (on clearance!) that I am wearing in the picture above. To cool down from the disgusting heat and humidity, Brian introduced me to the Pinkberry yogurt. Then he hopped on the subway and I went to my show.

-On Tuesday, I got to spend time with Melissa, Eric (Jose that is), and Emma. Sadly Emma was not too happy to be spending time with me, but that's okay. I met them on the upper west side for dinner. As some of you know it is a little awkward for me to spend time with Melissa's husband Eric because in the eyes of the Marriott Marquis I am technically Melissa first wife. To explain, in college Melissa, Eric Jose, Eric Svejcar, and I took a trip to New York. We stayed at the Marquis thanks to Uncle Glenn's benevolence (and rewards points!) When I went to check in, the Marriott employee asked me what my wife's name was. So naturally I said Melissa. Now I haven't seen it, but according to Eric (Svejcar) there is an episode of Who's The Boss where a similar situation actually creates a common law marriage. So we try not to rub it in Eric's (Jose) face, but technically in the eyes of the Marriott Marquis, Melissa and I were married for a week in the late 90s.

-Anyway, after dinner we went on a cupcake pilgrimage. For the last couple of years the latest rage in New York has been cupcakes. Well actually I think that they are not nearly as fashionable now, but over the years Eric especially has become quite a cupcake connoisseur. So we walked to Crumbs Bake Shop and Magnolia Bakery to sample some of the city's best cupcakes. I have to say that I preferred my raspberry swirl cupcake from Crumbs over the Magnolia Bakery's more traditional version.

-We ate our cupcakes in Central Park and then starting walking over to the East Side. One of the things that we considered doing was to hear the NY Philharmonic concert in the park that night. As we were walking we heard music so we walked to the source of it. It turned out to be not the Phil, but it was a pretty decent orchestra nonetheless. That to me is one of the most exciting things about New York. There was not only one orchestra playing a concert in the park there were two!

-I also got to eat lunch with Leigh Angel who is not technically a friend from college, but one of the people I try to see every time I am in New York. Leigh is my roommate Scott's former New York roommate. Leigh also came out to be in the RBT's production of The Sound of Music back in 1998. Leigh is also most groovy.

-A very successful trip for seeing my friends, and now for the shows!