September Update

I realized this week that it has been forever (over a month) since I posted a blog.  So I thought I would update my loyal readers (LOL) with some things that have happened in my life.

A.  I went on a terrific trip to NYC with my long time friend AL.  It was a great trip and I got to see and do many new things.
     1.  On our first day we took a cab to Harlem to have lunch at a Soul Food restaurant.  We gave the address to the cab driver and he had a general idea of our destination but he didn't know the exact location.  So...he dropped us off at the entrance of Columbia University and said we should walk to our right.  OK??  But,  we did have a nice walk through campus and then through a little park before we found the restaurant.  It was a good thing my GPS was able to give us directions otherwise we would have never found the restaurant.
     2.  We also walked through the infamous Hells Kitchen and AL had terrible dinner of fried octopus while I drank Sangria.
     3.  We visited Bloomindales and I gawked at the very expensive clothing.  BTW...the plus size clothing section was awful. 
     4.  The great plague started while I was on this trip.  Ugg...the sickness slowly descended upon me over the four days I was there.  The first major indication of being sick was that I was never hungry.  AL would go into a bakery and I would wave my hand and say I didn't want a cupcake or Cookie.  SERIOUSLY....when do I ever turn down a sweet?  A few months ago I would have said NEVER but now I say only when I get the great plague.
     5.  The best part of the trip was the musicals.  Basically, seeing multiple shows was our main objective in NYC.  We planned them all in advance and purchased them online.  Neither of us was interested in waiting in Times Square to get the cheap half price tickets as we both do better with a specific plan.  I made a list of my favorite to least favorite shows...but honestly the were all great.

          A.  Memphis
          B.  Billy Elliot
          C.  How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying
          D.  Catch Me if You Can
          E.  Phantom of the Opera

B.  I caught the plague while I was in NYC.  Sigh...basically I was really sick.  I cannot recall ever being so sick for such a long period of time.  I was seriously sick for a week, moderately sick for the next week and and mildly sick for two more weeks.  However, I don't really think I am fully recovered yet and the sickness started over the Labor Day holiday.  When DM picked me up at the airport she was hesitant to let me in her car because I looked so awful.  She told me that she sprayed the entire car down with Lysol as soon as she got home.  In week three of the plague I was in a meeting at work with three of our executives and I had to excuse myself twice because I began to cough so hard it sounded and felt like my lungs were trying to exit my body via my mouth.  Not cool.  After the second time I didn't even try to go back to the meeting. 


C.  I learned that Unicorns suck.

D.  Biking season is slowly winding down with darkness coming earlier and earlier each day.  The BGI weekly rides have ended and we had a great group dinner to celebrate.  About 12 people showed up for the dinner and it made me so happy to look around the table and realize how many new friends I made over the summer.  Not just acquaintances but new friendships that have grown beyond biking.  It was a good summer.

E.  I did some cool events in September.  I visited the Propylaeum and painted a picture with a good friend.  I went on a chilly but fun bike ride in Carmel.  I helped my brother move.  BTW...two story homes suck!  I attended my first baby shower in at least five years.   I made a new tradition of biking and eating dinner with friends every Wednesday night.  We often stay out to late talking and drinking beer.  Good times.  Also, I got another root canal.

F.  It is now October my favorite and least favorite month of the year.

G.  I am going to Europe over Christmas.  Woo Hoo!!!!  AL and I just made our lodging reservations for Dusseldorf and Paris.

Music to my Ears

The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra was kind enough to send me an email advertising this weekend's classic concert tickets were buy 1 get 1 free.  Score!  I emailed my favorite symphony companion and asked her if she had room in her schedule for some classic music on Saturday night.  After a few texts and a phone conversation we decided to get some tickets.  The regular price tickets range from $30 to $90.  In an effort to save money I suggested we get the second cheapest ($38) ticket available as we were there to listen to music and not to see the orchestra.

This is what happens when you buy the second cheapest tickets.  Yea....we were in the third row from the back.  I think the oxygen was a bit thin up in the second mezzanine balcony.  I felt like a commoner having to sit up in the nosebleed section.  I vowed to never let this happen again.  I much prefer the cozy chairs on the main floor in the middle.  As a matter of fact I had never even gone to the second floor until tonight. 

OK....there really wasn't much to see and we the acoustics were great upstairs but I think once you get used to a certain seat you don't want to be downgraded.  The answer is to buy more tickets when they are on sale in January and you can choose any seat for $21.

The show was called "Classically Cinematic" and featured classical songs from movies.  It was fantastic.  Let me say that again IT WAS FANTASTIC!!!!  I loved it and I am so happy that I was able to go this weekend.  I recognized most of what they played, and my favorite piece was their second selection, Wagner's "The Ride of the Valkyries".  It was beautiful and uplifting.  There is nothing better than live music done well.  It doesn't matter the genre (except for country...yuck), if it is done well it is awesome beautiful wonderful great and superfantastic.

The music program described the music and composers as well as the movie that highlighted it.  They included a piece from Aram Khachaturian, "Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia" that was utilized in Ice Age 2 and 3 as well as Caligula.  Yes, they mentioned Caligula in the program and on the stage.  The 13 year old girl in me couldn't stop giggling.  You may remember this post I wrote about that movie.  Just one more thing to love about the ISO.

After the show we headed out to the 4th floor of the parking garage to get my car and go home.  When we arrived at my car the person who had parked next to the drivers side was waaayyyy too close and I couldn't get in my car.  However, I lucked out and they were in their car preparing to leave.  I just hung out talking to my friend while I waited the ten minutes for the traffic to clear and my badly parked neighbor could pull out.  Guess What....that little boy scraped the side of my car as he was pulling out.  I yelled out to him, "Dude, you hit my car."  He gave me a blank look.  I don't think he believed me at first but then realization dawned on his face.  By now he was backed up in the traffic and holding up all of the cars behind him.

He was about 20 years old and he gave me a scared look and asked if he could give me his phone number and could we work this out later.  I gave him a look of dismay and I said I wanted to verify he was giving me his correct number.  I got his number and called his phone to verify that it was his.  I also got his full name and his license plate number.  This was a really shitty way to end my spectacular evening of music.  I am just glad that I was there when it happened and I caught him in the act.  I am sure if I hadn't been there he would have been long gone by the time I returned and I would have been stuck paying for the repairs.  I think my poor little car has had a tough life so far.  At least she responds well to repairs;)

Thank you ISO for another great evening of music!

PS....Symphony on the Prairie will start soon.  I am especially excited to see The Sci-Fi Spectacular with George Takei in July.

Random Stories

I went to dinner on Friday night with a group of ladies from my meetup.com group. There were two women whom I met for the first time, one women whom I would consider an acquaintance and another who is a friend. Dinner was delicious but the evening had a very weird vibe to it. I decided early on that I really didn't like one of the women. Her mannerisms and her speech bothered me and her conversation topics were uninteresting. I don't remember what we were talking about, but towards the end of the evening the women grabbed her phone and began to try to find something on it. She brought up some pictures and handed the phone to our end of the table and told us to scroll through them. I was shocked to discover that these were pictures of naked women with giant breasts. WTF!!! Why would she pass this around to a table of women she just met. Can you say awkward? We tried to give the phone back after we saw the first picture but she insisted that we kept scrolling through them. There ended up being about 3 or 4 pictures of naked women with fake breasts and one of a man with a abnormally large penis. After this incident I decided I couldn't wait for the evening to end and so could go home and play Oblivion. It took forever to finish things up and pay our bills, but I did call my friend as I was driving home and we laughed over this incident for 10 minutes. Outrageous!!!

I made up a limerick about the evening (I am aware that it doesn't exactly rhyme but I still found it amusing).

I went to a Meetup dinner
the food was not bitter
out came a phone
that should have been left at home
because it contained some raunch

I went to see Romeo and Juliet at the IRT a couple of weeks ago and a disgusting thing happened while I was there. It was the end of the play and Juliet's contemplating taking the vile of magic drug that will make her appear dead for two days. The stage is dark and her tone is serious then all of a sudden we hear something akin to a drink spilling on the floor. I look over to my right and I see some commotion and then I hear it . The sound of someone vomiting. The person was located on the other side of the theater and you could see them moving. Remember there is an extremely important and moving scene on the stage but all attention is on the person vomiting. A women comes in and ushers the sick person and family out of the theater and then moves the people in the row directly behind them the empty seats at the back of the theater.

The commotion dies down and I try to refocus my attention on the play but I keep glancing over and I see the people in the nearest row using their shirts to cover their noses and making gagging noises and faces. I really tried to ignore them but I couldn't. I just kept looking over. Then about five minutes later I started to focus on the play again when a manager guy comes in with what looks like a giant baggie and proceeds to clean up the mess. Again distracted Candy. I don't believe that the remaining portions of the play ever got my full attention. I just couldn't stop giggling in my head. Someone vomited in the theater. Gross!

Now for my shiny eyed musings. This was one of the best productions of Romeo and Juliet I have ever witnessed. They changed the setting to be 1940 racially charged America. The Montague family was an affluent black family and the Capulet family was an affluent white family. They did an extremely great job of adapting the familiar story to this new setting. They still utilized much of Shakespeare's original script and anything they added was written in traditional Shakespearean style. Bravo! I am not a huge Shakespeare's fan mostly because if not done well, the language confuses me. But, this version was outstanding and kept me enthralled the entire time (except for the vomiting).

I am a Patron of the Arts

I had a full weekend of several Arty activities. I listened to some Opera on Friday night, I viewed various types of Art on Saturday and I saw a play on Sunday. In between those activities I managed to go on two hikes. I visited Eagle Creek on Saturday evening and Fort Harrison on Sunday morning. I felt like I packed in a variety of social, physical and mental stimulus in the past few days.

I shall start at the beginning. I remained friends with a co-worker who has since moved on to a fantastic job at IUPUI and she received two free tickets to a concert by Angela Brown at the Madame Walker Theatre. Angela Brown is a world traveled Opera singer. She preformed a concert at the theatre in honor of IUPUI's 40th anniversary.

Most of the patrons in the audience were very well dressed. I am glad that my friend advised me because it was very likely that I would have wore my jeans and T-Shirt. I am glad that I didn't go with my first instincts and brought some clothes to change into.

The concert consisted of a full two hours of singing and commentary. Angela Brown is a very charismatic person. When she spoke she captured your attention and made me want to listen to her. The first hour of the concert she sang a variety of Opera songs that I have never heard of and were mostly in other languages. The second part of the show she created a duet with a Broad Ripple HS Choral Ensemble and then she brought out a guitar player.

Ok...here it is....I don't think that I am as cultured as I thought I was, because I didn't like this show. I don't like it when I cannot understand the songs and the high pitch was hard for me to listen to. I am extremely leery of attending any future Opera shows. In the past I have considered seeing one of the simulcasts that play in the movie theatres presented from the NY Met. I may have to pass on this future endeavor. I am glad that I had the opportunity to experience this type of music but once was definitely enough.

On Saturday I was invited to the Penrod Arts Fair. I have attended this once before about two years ago and somehow I was able to get in without paying. I am not sure how that happened and that wasn't our intention. Which comes to my biggest problem with this event, it's cost! They charge $15 admission at the gate to see vendors and purchase their products. Why should I pay admission to make an art purchase? Isn't the art expensive enough as it is? I enjoy the art and seeing their variety of wares but I would have enjoyed it more for free.

I enjoyed my time at the fair but I think it will be low on my future entertainment choices. BTW...I was able to leave the fair without buying any art. I feel extremely lucky to have made it out with my bank account intact. However, I did purchase some fantastic popcorn. It was the best popcorn that I have ever tasted and it was called Rupert's Tye-Dyelicious Corn. It was multi-flavored and was reminiscent of Fruit Loops. The bag was gone pretty quickly. I am sure that I don't want to know the nutritional information.

The final event of the weekend was the first show of the season presented at the Phoenix Theatre. It was called, "The Most Damaging Wound" and was utterly fantastic. The show held my rapt attention the entire 90 minutes. These types of dramatic shows really appeal to me and it was very well done. All of the actors were extremely believable and cast well. Also, the costume design was spot on. You really got a sense of the character and their personality by their clothing choice.

The show was very funny and dramatic at the same time. At one point ems covered her eyes during the show. I was confused as there was no nudity on the stage but just funny sex talk. She said when it was done that she was embarrassed for the characters. I cannot recommend this show enough! Everyone GO AND SEE IT. Click on the link and make a reservation! I am so glad that I decided to purchase my season tickets and I look forward to their future shows.

So every one of these experiences had something to offer but the best was the show at the Phoenix. I am glad that I have so many friends who are interested and willing to enjoy these activities with me.

Cats at Beef and Boards

What a stupid musical! How could it make so much money?


I went and saw the musical "Cats" at the Beef and Boards dinner theatre last Thursday (03/12) night and it sucked! I was not impressed with the venue, dinner or the musical. However, I did enjoy the company.


Dinner was the ultimate horrible gross typical nasty buffet! They had a small generic salad bar, BTW this was the best thing about the dinner. They had some carrots and mixed vegetables that looked as they had been cooked for the last twelve hours. They were definitely dead. They included three meat choices: baked salmon, baked chicken wings with mushrooms and roast beef that was in the oven for thirty years. The roast beef was so tough that I needed to add some cheese spread to make it palatable. Unfortunately, I have been to this venue a few time about four years ago and my current assessment of the food matches my memory.


So the food was bad, but I don't generally go to Beef and Boards for the food. In my prior experience I have LOVED the shows. I saw a performance of "The King and I" a few years ago and it was terrific. I have fond memories of that experience. However, I did not enjoy Cats.



I saw "Cats" in London in 2000 and I didn't really enjoy it then either. I just think that it is the show and not the actors. I don't think that the show has a point or even a story line. I just let my excitement over having a coupon cloud my memory of my prior experience with the show. The music is not memorable and doesn't hold any appeal. I would not recommend this show to anyone.



I now have a dilemma. Beef and Board is presenting "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" in August and this is one of my favorite 1950's movie's. I like the songs and story line. Should I go? I would like to see it but the food is so very BAD. Can I buy a ticket for the show only? What do you think loyal readers?

Mauritius at the Phoenix Theatre

I really LOVE the Phoenix Theatre. They always have great productions and great stories. This theatre specializes in contemporary and independent productions. I have a season pass with my friend GH but she was unable to attend this month so I had to find another willing companion.

I thought of SH a friend from work, although, she is no longer employed at KBA. I thought it would be a fun thing to invite her to and to find out what is going on in her life. It was nice to reconnect and pursue a friendship with someone that I have so many things in common. She even lives in Noblesville near me, unlike most of my other friends who live far far away.

We meat at the Hamilton Town Centre mall at Houlihans for dinner. It was fantastic! This was the first time that I had eaten at this restaurant and I was impressed with their menu and their food. We ordered the Salmon Salad, Spinach dip and three mini desserts and shared it all. I especially enjoyed the salmon salad, it was very crisp and tasty.

This play was just fantastic! It was very suspenseful and the dynamic amongst the actors was very good. They worked really well together and had great chemistry. There was some dark areas explored in the story as well as loads of cursing. This doesn't bother me but someone who doesn't like cursing probably wouldn't like this theatre. I just appreciate that they try to make the characters real and interesting.

They even have bargain shows on Thursday nights for $15. Anyone who likes live theatre should go and see this play.

What is inappropriate attire at the ISO?

What should one wear out to an evening at the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra? I think that there are plenty of good options but I did see something on Friday that is best left at home; Pajama Pants! I was flabbergasted. The performance had ended and I was standing up clapping when along came two women trying to leave. One was wearing printed pajama pants and the other was wearing sweet pants. I looked over at N and we both lifted our eyebrows and cracked up. Now I know that I am not the person one looks to for fashion advice and I often miss the mark on what an appropriate outfit should look like, but I do know better than to wear my PJ pants out to the ISO. There are only two places that I can think that are appropriate: CVS after 11pm and anytime at Wal-Mart!

I had the opportunity to go to the ISO the past two Friday nights. Last Friday (02/20/09) night I saw a performance by a classically trained pianist Jonathan Biss. It was very beautiful performance. This was the first time that I experienced classical music and I really enjoyed it. I could not imagine listening to this type of music on a regular basic but I found it quite enjoyable for an evening’s entertainment. I did find it odd that the theatre was only about 1/2 full that night.

A funny thing happened at intermission while I was at this show. We were clapping forever and I thought that it was time for intermissions, so I hurriedly got up to beat the rush to the ladies room and when I came back out Jonathan Biss was still playing. I guess he was giving an encore performance, but they wouldn't let me back in so I had to stand outside and listen through the door. That is what I get for being in a hurry.


On Friday (02/27/09) night I saw "Sounds of the City" a Latin inspired classical type performance. The orchestra played a piece by Gershwin and some music from West Side Story by Bernstein. The evening also included the world premiere debut of the composition "Pereginos" by Gabriela Lena Frank based upon the Indianapolis's Hispanic community. This composition had five pieces and each piece was based on some type of Hispanic theme. I didn’t really get it. There were long pauses between each act and I couldn’t put together the story and the music. I didn’t find myself wanting to purchase the music or listen to it again. But I found the second act portion with Gershwin and Bernstein very enjoyable. I even went to the library this weekend and got a copy of West Side Story and Yo-Yo Ma to listen to. (BTW...I am listening to Yo-Yo Ma's, Simply Baroque as I write this blog.)

The Gershwin piece was performed on the piano by Gabriela Montero, who recently performed at President Obama's inauguration. She was magnificent! Her hands flew along the keyboard. I was fascinated by watching her play. It was amazing! At the end she gave us a bit of an improvisation and this is something that she is know for. I am glad that I had the opportunity to see such a talented artist.

Friday night after the ISO N and D introduced me to Nicky Blaine’s bar. Except for the smoke smell this place was right up my alley. They had individual seating areas set up with couches, chairs, and coffee tables. The music was nice and low enough to allow conversations to flow. My only objection was the price of my drinks. I ordered two Lemon Martinis and my total bill was $22.00, they were very tasty but not worth the price. We stayed there talking for about two hours and my coat still smells like smoke. I have to say that there are not very many bar type places that I enjoy visiting but this would be at the top of my list.

Overall both were very enjoyable evening's out with my friends!

Crime and Punishment

I went to see this dramatic play based upon the classic book by Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. The play was ninety minutes long and very intense. Uncharacteristically, we arrived 45 minutes early....this was due to our confusion on what time the event started. We have been having trouble with this lately. Due to arriving early we were lucky enough to hear a reading about the author and a bit about the book since neither of us has read it or were familiar with Dostoevsky's life. This was extremely helpful in understanding the action and the plot of the play. The author who adapted the book focused specifically on two parts of the plot, one on the action between the police inspector and Rodion (the lead character) an the other between a prostitute who lived nearby and Rodion. This play was very intense, and when it was over I just sat in my seat for a few minutes to absorb the action. It seamed that most people felt the same way as the applause was very subdued. I really enjoyed this production and I am glad that I went.

After we were done I was thinking to myself that I wouldn't have a story about this event. I was WRONG! Before the play we met near Wishard hospital at a parking lot that has multiple restaurants. I rode with GH to the IRT on Washington Street and we parked on the street about three blocks from the theatre. After the play we have a very long and cold walk back to the car. I don't normally complain about being cold but the wind was really blowing in our faces and my feet were freezing. About a minute after we started driving back to my car we heard a loud noise and the entire car started to vibrate. WTF...what happened to the car. We assumed that she just got a flat tire. I would like to mention now that two weeks ago GW was able to do the impossible. She sent in the final payment on her car and she now owned it free and clear. Three days later some bozo hit her and caused about $4000 worth of damage, and put it in the shop for several weeks. So on this cold and windy night we were riding in her rental car.

When we got back to the parking lot she parked under a street lamp and we got out to inspect the damage. The tire was completely flat and the rim was very damaged and bent up. This part is our conversation on what to do about the flat tire:

GW: What should we do?
CS: I guess we need to change the tire.
GH: Do you know how?
CS: I think so.
GH: Have you ever done it before?
CS: Once, fifteen years ago.
GH: I think I know a boy in the area, maybe we should call him.
CS: No! We can do this!

We opened the rental car's trunk and found the dingy tire and jack. I am proud to say that between both of us we were able to change the tire in about 40 minutes. During this event there was much laughter! I am glad that GH is a good natured person like me and sees the humor in this crazy situation and wasn't mad. You should have seen both of us trying to get the first lug nut off, it took both of our arm strengths. Then I couldn't figure out how to work the jack. I tried for several minutes and we had to change jobs because I just didn't understand it. GH finally figured it out and up the car went. It took us several tries to get the new tire installed. Apparently, we were trying to put it on backwards...I guess that is why it wouldn't fit.

After the tire was changed GH wanted to go and look for the missing hub cap. So we took her car out to drive on our previous path to see if we could find the missing part. We couldn't find it but it was a good test of the newly installed tire. We were talking as we were driving and I said that I just couldn't understand how the rim got so damaged. When we looked at the car again all of the pieces suddenly came together. It now appeared that someone hit the rental car and took off. There was also damage to the back panel. It is horrible how unethical people are. To hit someone and damage there car and then leave the accident scene.

What a horrible thing to happen to GH cars in a two week period. I am glad that we rode together and she didn't have to be out there alone.

The Sea Farer

I went so see The Sea Fare with GH on Thursday night at the Phoenix Theatre. We met at our usual spot at 6:30 and we got there at the same time. She asked if I wanted to ride with her and I said yes but I wanted to eat first. I headed into When Harry Met Salad and ordered dinner. GH didn't eat and acted antsy while I was eating...I wondered why she was rushing me and acting anxious. At one point I asked her to stop rushing me and that we have plenty of time. She gave me a funny look and looked at her watch and then said, "Do you know the play starts at 7pm and it is 6:45". I was like "holy crap we are so late". I was under the impression that it started at 8pm...I am not sure why as all of the plays we have attended on Thursday nights always start at 7pm.

We rushed around, I thru out my garbage and she filled up her iced tea, and we got in to her car. When we sit down she panics because she cannot find her phone. She hands me her large purse to hold and eventually finds it in her lap. We laugh and I try to sit her purse in between us on top of the drinks. She picks it back up and hands it to me, and then picks up her drink which now has a pencil shaped stab wound in the middle and is flowing all over GH lap. I immediately start to laugh hysterically.....ha...ha...ha....I finally composed myself enough to find a towel in the back seat so she can dry herself. All of this craziness and we were late to the show.

We rush in and are immediately shushed because the play has started. We take our seats and settle in watch the show. I didn't have any expectations of the show but it was kind of weird and slow. It was set in Ireland and the actors had thick Irish accents. It was often difficult to understand what they were saying. During the entire first act neither of us could understand the point of the show. We wondered where was it going, what was it really about, we didn't know. I didn't dislike the show but I don't think that I really liked it either. It just was very slow and I feel like I have seen that story in various forms several times. I am sorry to say that this show does not get my exaltation.

Trip to Columbus

When I first moved to Indianapolis I got a job from a temporary agency working at a bank downtown. While working there for two months I learned that my boss commuted everyday from Columbus . I thought this was strange and it seamed very far away, she even told me that it only took 45 minutes for her to drive downtown everyday. I was confused until I discovered that she meant Columbus Indiana , a place that I didn’t know existed until that moment. All along I assumed she meant Columbus Ohio , because that is the Columbus that I was familiar with. So I went on a trip to Columbus last weekend, and to clear up any confusion I mean Columbus Ohio , not Columbus Indiana .

When I went to NYC last summer I saw the musical Spring Awakening and I was super excited to discover a few months later that they were going on tour. I was sad to discover that the tour wasn’t coming to Indiana and the closest location was Columbus . I decided to get some of my friends together for a weekend road trip to see my favorite Broadway Musical. We headed out on Saturday morning at 10 am for the three hour car ride to the hotel I chose in Columbus .

After arriving and settling into our hotel we decided to take a tour of downtown and ended up parking and walking around the art district of their city. The section of town had a similar feel as the Broadripple area with small local shops and restaurants. We wondered around for a bit and ended up in a local dining establishment (The Burgundy Room) for a cheese tasting and a beverage. The ambiance was nice and the restaurant had these great circular booths with circular chandeliers above. It was very visually appealing to me. After our break we toured a small art gallery and enjoyed some small boutiques. I bought a stylish new purple bag that I love and it was even on sale for 30% off.

Moorewrites was in charge of picking out our evening meal and she was successful in picking out a great location. She chose Lindey's Restaurant which is a local steak house. I ordered the duo of steak option and every bite in my mouth felt like heaven. The service was wonderful, when we sat down the server noticed what color pants we wore, and exchanged out the white napkins for black for those of us wearing black trousers. I thought it was a nice touch and none of my well traveled companions had ever experienced this luxury.

After dinner we headed off to the Palace Theatre Columbus to see Spring Awakening. When I was growing up I would often hear radio advertisements for concerts and activities at the Palace Theatre and I never had the opportunity to go, so it was exciting to me to go as an adult. There was tons of people milling about which caused the atmosphere to be very excited. I was so happy to be in the seat to see my favorite show again. However, I was a bit disappointed. This experience was a bit different than my first. First of all I had NO celebrity citing…ok that isn’t important…but the play didn’t impact me the same way it had when I was in NYC. The location in NY was very small and intimate and I had a front row seat, the Palace Theatre was gigantic and it held loads more people. The actors did a great job and the singing was terrific but somehow it was lacking. I guess I was anticipating it too much…but I still love the music.

After the play we ended up at an Applebee's near our hotel for dessert and drinks. While we were there NM made friends with the server who suggested a local Towny bar we should try out. It was defiantly a local place. There was load music and a dance floor and about 100 people inside. We found a table and I got a drink and I proceeded to people watch the rest of the night. Some of my friends went dancing and had fun letting loose. I held back as it makes me nervous to dance. There were a few couples on the dance floor engaging in some serous foreplay. There was also a lesbian couple dancing together having a great time being totally engaged with each other. They seamed oblivious to the rest of the place. It was funny how you could tell the difference between the lesbian couple and the various women dancing together. We stayed till last call at 2am and then went back to the hotel.

We had two connecting rooms for the five of us and it was nice to have all of the space and be able to interact with each other like we were in the same room. About an hour after we went to bed NM came into our room and crawled into bed with KG because there was a snoring problem in the next room. I was oblivious to this until the next morning. There was even people in and out of our room to use the bathroom while I was sleeping and I was completely unaware. I find that very odd that I wouldn’t notice.

We checked out of the hotel at 11am and went to Easton Town Center mall to check it out. It is a large outdoor mall similar to the one in Carmel except much larger. We meandered around and one of the places we went into was the C.O. Bigelow Company store. This is a fairly girly store that sells cosmetics, lotions and various body items. When I was at the checkout counter moorewrites saw me and said; “Candy…are you finally getting girly on us? What are you buying?”. So in this gigantic girly store the two items I chose to purchase were mouthwash and toothpaste. She was flabbergasted at why I would choose those two items out of all of the options. Due to my various and extensive dental troubles I have become a connaisseur of dental hygiene products. That is just what I wanted and I like them very much.

The last stop before we headed home was the local Graeter's ice cream shop. The ice cream was delicious and my double scoop of chocolate and peanut butter was a great substitute for dinner. We headed out on the road about 5pm for our three hour trip home that speed by. We had interesting conversations about music and sampled many artists for our various IPODS.

The only downer to this trip was the two unexpected costs associated with me driving. While we were parked on the street on Saturday I received a $25 parking ticket. Apparently, you must feed the meters there on Saturdays. I guess I am now aware of that stupid rule. The second thing is that when we were driving I hit some very large pot holes. This caused my muffler to make a loud vibrating noise. On Tuesday after I returned I took my car to the dealership to discover that I bent the heat plate on the bottom of my car and it needed fixed. This cost me $50...I was definitely bummed to spend $75 this way.

I had an excellent trip and it was nice to spend so much time with my friends and have interesting and lively conversations.

Patti Austin pays tribute to Ella Fitzgerald at the ISO

The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra has redeemed itself from the Christmas Show horror.

My friend MooreWrites invited me to see Patti Austin on Friday night. She invited me in retaliation of me requesting her presence at the live telecast of the Glenn Beck stage show in the fall. She grudgingly went with me but informed me that I would be requested to do some unknown activity in the future that I might not like, but I would be obligated to attend due to her having to endure Glenn Beck.

Her plan backfired because I really liked the show. I wasn't familiar with Patti Austin or Ella Fitzgerald, so I arrived with no preconceived notions. The show started with the band playing six classic songs. I enjoyed sitting there listening. I think music is so much more enjoyable in person and allows you to focus solely on that one activity. It allows me to shut off my brain and just exist in the moment.

After a twenty minute intermission the band came back and Patti Austin was introduced. She was very personable and entertained us with stories of Ella Fitzgerald and herself in between the songs. She almost had a little comedy routine going. I wasn't familiar with most of the songs that she sang and it was nice to experience something new, even though most of this music is about 80 years old. Moorewrites wrote a review of her experience here, and I think that it complements my story.

I am glad to have discovered this new entertainment at the ISO as well as found so many willing participants in experiencing it. The ISO has a special on their remaining concert tickets in 2009 and all seats are selling for $25 until 01/20/09. I was very excited because I LOVE a great deal. I have tickets to see the following four performances this spring and I hope that they live up to the Patti Austin concert:

February 20 - Biss performs Mozart
February 27 - Sounds of the City - Gershwin & Bernstein
March 20 - Beethoven's Eroica
March 28 - Cirque De La Symphonie

Love Person at the Phoenix Theatre

I went to see this play at the Phoenix Theatre on Thursday night and I LOVED IT! LOVED IT! LOVED IT! I think that it gets Candy's highest rating!

I met my fellow theatre going friend Gretchen at Subway for dinner before the show and we rushed thinking we were very late. We gobbled up our subs and salads and rushed out to the Theatre. We were surprised when we arrived because we found a prime parking spot exactly in front of the Theatre doors. We thought that was odd, but congratulated ourselves on our good luck and rushed inside to discover that not only were we not late, but we were the first patrons to arrive. I guess neither of us as any ability to tell time as we were 30 minutes early.

We enjoyed spending that 30 minutes catching up and having a very fast moving and intense conversation. All of a sudden we looked up and the lobby was full of people and they began letting people in to the theatre. This theatre only has open seating so there is an advantage to arriving early to get the prime real estate. However, due to our ability to block out the outside world we were actually last in line to get our seats.

This was our second visit to the Phoenix Theatre and we discovered that they have two stages. One on the main floor that is traditional and one that is downstairs that is a big room and most of the patrons sit at round tables almost like a bar setting without all of the smoke. There were two rows of chairs lined up in the back of the room and that is where we chose to sit. AKA...we were the last one's in and there were no tables left. The chairs were the high bar stool variety so my feet didn't touch the ground and dangled throughout the evening.

So about the play. It was a love story between two couples. One was a lesbian couple and one of the characters used ASL (American Sign Language) to speak. When she and her partner were having conversations the entire room was quiet and you would read what they were saying on one of three screens located around the room. It was interesting to go through such periods of silence in a play, but it did keep my attention.

The second couple was in the stages of first meeting and first love and the male characters job was to read and translate poetry from Sanskrit to English. There were times when the actor was speaking in Sanskrit and the poem he was reading was projected upon the screen in Sanskrit. You didn't always know what the poems were about.

The love story portion had an interesting twist as the non speaking lesbian sister started emailing the other sisters (Vic) new boyfriend pretending to be Vic. It became very complicated and an interesting twist.

Go and see this play and you will not be disappointed.




About Love Person from their Website:

by Aditi Brennan Kapil
JANUARY 8 - 31, 2009 — The Frank & Katrina Basile Theatre
Love Person is a riveting and spirited love story about language as a portal and barrier to human connection in which love transcends sexual orientation, physical attraction, and social structure, and rests instead on the ways in which people communicate. It is performed in American Sign Language (ASL), Sanskrit, spoken English, and projected text for a multi-lingual experience.
Presented as a National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere with Mixed Blood Theatre (Minneapolis) and Marin Theatre Company (Mill Valley, CA)

This Wonderful Life at the IRT

I finally went to see this play at the IRT on Sunday afternoon. I have season tickets and they are for the first or second Thursday of the show. Gretchen (the friend who I have the tickets with) had to cancel for our designated time and Sunday ended up being our fourth rescheduled date. BTW…Sunday was the last performance and we just barely were able to see it.

I am glad that we chose to purchase the season tickets. It has been nice to know what I am going to see as well as paying a good price when the tickets were offered. I think that the IRT has good productions as well as a variety of types of shows.

This production was based upon the Jimmy Stewart movie and basically retold the famous Christmas story. The play was told in a story telling format. It gave me the feeling of the older generations passing down stories to the children. There was only one actor who carried the entire show. I was impressed with his ability to capture our rapt attention for an hour and a half. The actor had good charisma with the audience as well as endurance, as he was quite physical throughout the show. One of the nice things about this show was that the actor was strong enough to bring forth an emotional connection with the audience (including me).

I enjoyed this production and it was a nice way to end the Holiday season.

Yuletide Celebration - Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra

I had tickets last night to go and see the Yuletide Celebration at the ISO at 8pm. I have been very excited to see this event because I really enjoyed my last event at the ISO. Before the event we went to dinner at the Hard Rock cafe and enjoyed our $20 burgers. There was no waiting at the restaurant and I was surprised that they were not busier and that we didn't have to wait in line. After we ate we walked to the circle and made a round of the monument and enjoyed the beautiful lites and decorations. There were tons of people milling about and even a wedding party taking pictures on the steps of the monument.

When we got to the front of the ISO there was a pen with two reindeer's that people could look at and pet. I was shocked. I never imagined encountering a reindeer last night. They were very cute and added to the Christmas environment. I took a few pictures of my friend Casey in front of them but I didn't think to get one of me. O well.

The performance was sold out on Saturday night and there were tons of people milling about. There were so many it was hard to walk through the lobby. We chose to get the medium priced seats for this performance and I loved them. They were located in the Orchestra Box Right. They were individual seats that were very comfortable and you didn't have to sit so close to your neighbor. There was also plenty of leg room for the tall patrons...although, as you probably know I usually don't have to worry about leg room.

My overall impression of this performance was bad. They had a women from NY, Ann Hampton Callaway, who was the hostess of the event and the key singer. I DID NOT LIKE HER. She had this superior smirk on her face the entire performance. I just didn't like her demeanor and I felt like she detracted from the orchestra's music. I also wasn't impressed with her voice, it was a very low tone and I just didn't think that it suited the music she was singing. She sang a couple of duets with Daniel Okulitch and they just didn't go together. There was a scene where she was making up a song involving things from Indianapolis that the audience members yelled out from the audience. I didn't find this scene amusing or even entertaining.

There were a couple scenes that I did like. I enjoyed the beginning of the performance where they had a huge cast of singers singing "We Need A Little Christmas". There were beautiful costumes and clever dancing and choreography. I could have used more of these types of numbers and not so much of the "featured" singer. I also enjoyed the closing number of "The First Noel". I think that it was sung well and I enjoyed it.

There was a secondary distraction during the performance. Sitting in front of us were six teenagers who were not at all enjoying the show. The were talking, laughing and passing around a phone and generally distracting me. Why would they pay so much to see this show and not pay attention. Unless their rich parents paid and they just didn't care. I am all for adding cultural events to children and teenagers but they should behave. Sitting right next to us at the show were two little girls about 8 years old and they were great. The teenagers could have taken some pointers.

I plan on attending another event in February and I hope that it is better than this. I would like my money back!

On Thin Ice - A Very Phoenix Xmas

I went to see a new fun play last night at The Phoenix Theatre near Fountain Square . I have never been to this Theatre before so I was excited to experience something new. I was very surprised when we arrived at the location because the building resided on a residential street and looked like a house and it was a bit difficult to find. When G and I went to get our tickets there wasn’t a reservation waiting for us. We had rescheduled this event a couple of times and I guess there was a miscommunication between us on who was responsible for making the reservations. I think we both decided to take fault because it wasn’t a big deal and we still got a seat.

The demographic of the audience was very different than at most of the other venues that I frequent. Most of the time the audience is comprised of older women or older couples, there usually isn’t that many younger members or people my age. When I went to the ballet last week the audience was mostly parents and young children since The Nutcracker is a family production. The audience of this show was mainly same sex and opposite sex couples around my age. I was very surprised. The second odd thing was the theatre housed a wine bar and most of the audiences were drinking it up during the show. I have been places that had alcohol but this was different, it was more like a subdued bar atmosphere and not a playhouse.

A Very Phoenix Christmas was wrote by a local women who happened to be in attendance while were there. It was a show of several short stories all dealing with Christmas in a different way. Most of it was comedy and some of it had singing. Most of it was funny and I enjoyed it but some of it was, “what was that all about?”. There were a few that were very funny and stuck out in my head. The very first one was called “Balls”, this was a short story from the perspective of four different colored Christmas balls in a box waking up thinking it was time to be put up on the tree. The balls were funny and bickered amongst each other and had very distinctive personalities. The unusual part was the balls figured out it was near St. Patrick’s Day and their ‘owners’ were having a fight and were in the midst of breaking up and dividing their things. The was a good starter story and it made me laugh.

The next one that I especially liked was titled, “Oy Vey Maria”. This was from the perspective of Mary just after she gave birth to Jesus and then her parents came over and her mother was a very stereotypical Jewish mother. It was hysterical and I laughed very hard. The actors put on the Jewish accents very thick and there was allot of funny humor poking fun at Christmas and pointing out that Jesus was a Jew.

The next scene I liked was short but humorous; it was called “Christmas at Amy Wine’s House”. This depicted Amy Winehouse having Christmas day with her family including her grandmother and father. All of the presents that she received were Heroin because they knew that was the thing she liked the best. Her grandmother gave her cocaine because she was confused about the difference between the two drugs. It was very imaginative and funny. The first thing I listened to on my IPOD Friday morning was her album.

The final scene that I really liked was called “Poodolph, the Red-nosed Reindeer". This scene took place in the ladies bathroom at a Christmas party. There were two ladies in there hiding out and one of them defecated and the toilet got clogged up. When the maintenance man was called to repair it he noticed that the poo was shaped like Rudolph including the red nose. It was very much filled with bathroom humor but it amused me nonetheless. The interesting part was while I was in line for the bathroom at intermission there was two ladies talking and she was dating the actress who does the poo scene in the play. She commented that this lady doesn’t like to talk about body functions and how uncomfortable she was in the part. She had even considered not doing the play. It is funny how you find out this insider information.

I am glad that I got a season pass to this theatre and I am excited to see more of their original productions. I would recommend it to my friends who enjoy original productions.

The Nutcracker

One of my friends suggested going to see the Nutcracker about a month ago and I said yes and got us some tickets. I had never seen this ballet or any ballet before. I was impressed with the quality of the costumes and set. I enjoyed the performance and I just sat there and adsorbed it. I really didn’t get the story line too much. My friend read it to me while we were waiting, but I still had a hard time following. There was no speaking or singing or communication of any sort except for dancing. I have never been to any type of performance where there wasn’t any type of talking. Even with that being the case I wasn’t bored. I never looked at my watch to see what time it was or fidgeted in my chair. After seeing this production it gave me the desire to see more types of dancing. My friend suggested checking out some modern dancing troupes in the area. I think I would like to do that.

This production was located at the Zionsville High School. I had never been through the town before. It was very quaint and lovely. The main street was in brick and it was lined with loads of individual sellers of various types of merchandise…antiques, Ice Cream, a ballet store, Ice Cream. I would love to come back sometime and walk up and down Main Street to see all of the stores. Also, apparently there is tons of nature and trials in Zionsville for people to walk down. It is funny to me that I have lived in Indianapolis for eight years and I never knew that all of this stuff existed.

Spike Heels

Friday night I met a friend for dinner and to see a play at the University of Indianapolis. We went to see Spike Heels by Theresa Rebeck.

This is the schools description of the play-

Studio Theatre
Pygmalion goes awry in this contemporary comedy which explores sex, power, and the possibility of a four sided love triangle. The combatants are a sexy, volatile young woman and three upscale Boston types: a writer, a lawyer and a fiancee in sensible shoes.

I really enjoyed this production. There were only four actors and they had great chemistry together. This was about a lower class girl trying to make something better of herself and how to deal with these two new men in her life and one of the men's finance. The F bomb was dropped practically every other word but it was fitting to the characters and story. Sometimes when I go to these productions at the school you never know what you are going to get. The first one this year, Into the Woods, was just awful. The acting was mediocre and the play itself left much to be desired. I am glad that Spike Heels was so much better. BTW...the lead actress wore five inch heels through much of the play....WOW...I am glad that wasn't me.

Speaking of shoes I had an interesting observation while I was people watching at the school. There was a group of about six girls together and they were all dressed alike in jeans and high heels of various bright colors. Is that the style now...am I missing something. I guess I NEVER wear heels when I wear jeans...to me it is either a sneaker or boot outfit.

Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra

I had a friend expose me to some culture yesterday that I may have never seen otherwise. She had received a free ticket to the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and asked me to go with her about a month ago. I said yes with no prior knowledge of what it was about. I just let her plan the evening and I showed up at our designated coordinates yesterday at 6pm. I wore jeans and a sweater and I felt a bit under-dressed when I arrived. We got to the box office and it was still necessary to buy the second ticket as we only have one free ticket. My friend was kind enough to share the discount with me so we each split the price of the one ticket. I am glad that she did because they were pricey…$50 each. So I only spent $25, which is my limit on a ticket because I like to go and do so many things.

The event that she chose was called “A Taste of New Orleans” and it had a special guest Trumpet player and vocalist, his name is Byron Stripling. Not being familiar with Jazz music his name means nothing to me and I am not aware if he is famous. I have to say I really enjoyed the show. I am glad that she invited me and found something interesting for us to do. I love to participate in the arts but I have never been interested in the symphony. It always sounded stuffy to me. BTW…the demographic of the audience was way way into my future. We were not part of the cool crowd there.

As we sat down I thought it might be a bit boring to watch people play music on the stage, but it wasn’t. The show was two hours long and it included a twenty minute intermission and I hardly looked at my watch during the event. I enjoyed the exposure to music that I don’t normally listen to and hearing it in a different way. I am looking forward to future events with the symphony. If only someone knows a cheaper way to procure tickets…please let me know????

A Taste of New OrleansFriday, November 7, 8pm Saturday, November 8, 8pmSunday, November 9, 7pmJeff Tyzik, Conductor Byron Stripling, Trumpet and Vocalist

http://www.indianapolissymphony.org/

New York City Visit

I went to NYC for the first time last weekend and had a blast. I went with my friend Andrea from Florida and we met at the hotel on Thursday afternoon. For the first time on a trip I decided to park at the airport rather than having someone drop me off. I though that this would be cheaper due to the cost of gas these days. As usual, I was running about 15 minutes later than scheduled and I left my house at 6:00am. My plane was due to depart at 7:30am. I arrived at the parking lot at 6:30am and found a place to park. I wondered around for a few minutes trying to figure out where I should go to be picked up. I saw a place that appeared to be a shelter so I went there and after about two minutes of anxious waiting I decided to start walking towards the entrance. As I was walking I saw the bus go by the bus stop where I was at, so I hurried to the next on and they left without me. By the time I arrived at the airport it was 7am. I was feeling very anxious and I didn’t want to miss my plane. I was able to convince people to let me in front of them due to the late hour…after I got up to the counter at 7:05 the agent wouldn’t let me check in. If I hadn’t needed to check a bag he would have let me on the plane, but I did so I officially missed my plane. I hate when I do stuff like this. Basically the problem was that I just didn’t plan enough time to get to the airport, drop off my car and check in. I assure you that I have learned my lesson and I will allocate enough time in the future. The agent put me on a direct flight that left three hours later and I arrived in NY at 12:30pm.

I was very excited to arrive and look at everything. I took a shared airport shuttle for $16 from LaGuardia airport to my hotel in Manhattan . I was very lucky and have a very colorful and talkative driver. He was a local, but he was listening to Caribbean music in the van and he had a slight accent. As we were driving through Brooklyn he was pointing out landmarks and driving through back streets, so I feel that I got a good view of Brooklyn . I loved the cute brownstone buildings. I had always imagined myself living in a similar building. We also saw the 21 apartment buildings that were the infamous projects. You couldn’t tell much from the outside except that they looked fairly cheap from the outside and there were no people about.




This is our hotel room and photos of the view from our window on the 38th floor.

The main activity of this trip was for Andrea and I to see many Broadway musicals. We both LOVE the theatre and musicals especially. We both arrived on Thursday afternoon and departed NY on Sunday afternoon and we were able to squeeze in 4 plays. This was the bulk of our budget for this trip. The following is the list of musicals in the order that I liked them. Andrea and I saw three of the same shows and on Saturday afternoon when I saw Wicked she saw Zanadoo.

Spring Awaking
South Pacific
Mary Poppins
Wicked

Spring Awaking was my absolutely favorite musical to date. This was a German play from the early 1900’s that was adapted in 2006 to become a rock musical. This was a dark show that confronted may issues facing teenagers then and today. It took on pre-marital sex, masturbation, abortion, incest and suicide. Even though this was a period piece it could still describe feelings to today’s youth. I liked that fact that the music was so different than traditional musicals. They had a rock band on stage and didn’t use the typical orchestra. They also had audience members sitting on the stage along with the actors. I did not sit there but was in the front row center. I love sitting so close that I can see the actor’s facial expressions. There was a rather unconformable simulated sex scene on stage just before intermission that included nudity. My friend said afterword that she was glad that she saw this with me and not either one of her parents. I purchased the soundtrack for $20 after the show and I have listened it at least 10 times since I have come home. BTW…I feel ripped off for the $20 CD because I could have purchased it on Amazon.com at home for $13 or on ITunes for $10. Prior to seeing this play I didn’t know anything about it and I am so glad that I took the chance to see it. This musical won the 2007 Tony for best musical and I would recommend it for anyone going to NYC. This is a link to the YouTube.com performance of one of the songs.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoWTtjr7TyU





There was a celebrity citing while we were at this musical. Since our seats were in the front row center we had to wait a bit to get out of the building. As we were standing there, Andrea elbowed me and said, "I know that guy!". I didn't know who she was talking about but I saw a very beautiful women walking towards the front of the theatre. As they walked to the stage Andrea Realized who it was, Bruce Springsteen. He was in the audience and we saw him walk to the stage to meet the cast. Isn't it funny how celebrity get special treatment and get to just walk to the stage and do what they want.



South Pacific was my second favorite musical of the trip. It did come in a close second but it didn’t win. We saw this on the first night we arrive in NY when we were so exhausted. But the musical performances perked us both up. I don’t think that I have ever seen this show on stage and I may have only seen bits and pieces of the movie. The cast was fantastic and had really terrific voices. The sets were OK and added to the show but it was the actors that really brought it to life. I especially liked the second song of the performance which had many of the men actors dancing around the stage. This inside the theatre. I did get into trouble for taking this photo. I guess there are rules.

Mary Poppins was my third favorite show. The special effects were great and the music was good, but I don’t feel that I got anything extra from this show over seeing the movie version. At the very end as Mary was leaving the Banks family they had attached the actress to wires and she flew across the entire auditorium up to the front of the second story balcony. I don’t think that I would ever pay to see this musical again.

Finally, Wicked was the most disappointing of the NYC shows. The scenery was very visually stimulating but the story and voices of the actors just ordinary. I was familiar with the story and I had read the Wicked book as well as it’s sequel, Son of a Witch, and the play version didn’t have the strong voice of the book. The book was very political in it’s views and had strong opinions and views of the world. I feel that the play version was very watered down and the ending was extremely disappointing. I feel that when I pay $125 to see a show it needs to be outstanding, fabulous and I want to listen and sing the music for many weeks following the show. I didn’t have this feeling after seeing Wicked or Mary Poppins. However, I am glad that I had the opportunity to see them after all of the hype.





____________________________________________________________________





I would like to point out that Andrea tried to kill me on this trip. We had to walk everywhere we went and our hotel was several blocks from the theatre district. I did a mapquest when I came home to see how far away the first theatre was from our hotel, it was 2.6 miles each way. I would guess that the first day we walked in excess of six miles. I thought I was going to die when we got back to the hotel the first night. My legs were so sore for the rest of the trip. I tried not to complain but...I could hardly walk the next day. Everyday was like this...but I do think that we walked the furthest on the first day. On Friday we went to the MET museum and it was further away than the first play...so I decided to take the subway there. Andrea still wanted to walk so we met at the museum. I think that this compromise fit both of us. She LOVED walking each day and never seemed to get tired. I just couldn't understand this...it became very obvious to me how out of shape I am.





We tried to be very conservative on our spending on this trip because we had already spent so much money on the theatre tickets. It is very expensive in NY to eat in a restaurant, a moderately priced meal would be about $25 per person. As Andrea had been there several times prior to this trip she had good knowledge of cheap places to eat. There was a food court in Grand Central Station building that we went to multiple times. There were several vendors that you could choose from. I ate at this soup and salad place several times. They had some awesome homemade soups and salads that you could choose exactly what ingredients you wanted and they would add the salad dressing, mix it up and chop it for you prior to putting it in the container. I was able to find one of the infamous Black and White cookies from Seinfeld and try it. It was more the consistency of cake than a cookie but it was very tasty. I ate at a McDonald's one time on Saturday night. We had a very busy day and we were running out of time and it was quite an experience. It was located next to where we were seeing Mary Poppins. They had about 10 registers open with several people in each line. I had to wait at least 15 minutes to order and I was starving. I ordered Quarter Pounder with cheese meal and it was (gasp) $6.89 plus tax. The made my total bill $7.12 and I handed the cashier $10.12 which would give me change of $3. After I gave her the money she took it and shut her drawer. I looked at her and asked for my change. The following was our conversation.





Cashier: O...ya I owe you $1.01


Me: No...it is $3 even


Cashier: I will get the manager.....





After about 4 minutes she get a very harassed manager to open her drawer and she takes out $1.01, closes the drawer and hands me the money.





Me: Excuse me, but you owe me $2 more dollars.


Cashier: No, I don't...your bill was $9.13


Me: No it wasn't...the menu board says $6.89 and you added the tax which made my bill $7.12...I gave you $10.12 which makes my change $3


Cashier: OH (with a blank stare)


Me: Am I going to get my change?





She walks away to find the manager again. I don't think that she still understood and the only reason I was so instant on my change was that I already felt ripped of paying $7.12 for a $4 Quarter cheese meal. The 10 minutes it took me at the register to get my food the cashier had the same blank stare. I think that having such an overwhelming amount of customers she couldn't take any additional sensory input. It took me a total of 25 minutes to get my food, but it was good.





I feel like I wasn't overly impressed with NYC although I had a great time. It was very different than downtown Indy but I didn't feel uncomfortable. I never felt unsafe on our many long walks, even at 11:30 pm after the plays. It wasn't as crowded as I expected. I just imagined people everywhere and some places were like that but not all. I felt the most crowded was Saturday night on the way to the play and it was still very active on our way home.





You may have read my various tooth posts...well when I was eating breakfast on Saturday morning out pops my temporary crown for the second time. I didn't know what to to. I had to call my dentists emergency number and because it was the emergency number it only took her an hour to call me back. After speaking to her she determined that I would be fine without my crown until I could get to her office on Tuesday morning. I was fine and it was only a minor uncomfortableness.





As I was in the van going to the airport I met a women who's daughter just moved to the city. She just graduated from college and got a job in the fashion industry. She was helping her daughter get an apartment and settled in the city. The apartment that they finally found was $1695 for a tiny studio in Manhattan. Apparently, this is half of her monthly pay. I couldn't imagine paying that much for a studio apartment. I love the Midwest and our reasonable housing prices. When we drove past a parking garage it was $500 a month to park your car. This is more than my monthly car payment. Andrea told me while we were there that she would love to live in the city. I had the other thought after my visit. I LOVE my car and I like driving places. It is a fun place for visitation only.





My plane was to depart NYC at 7pm on Sunday night and my airport shuttle was scheduled to pick me up at the hotel at 2:30. I thought that this was a bit excessive but since I missed my first plane I decided to comply. I got to the airport at 4pm and as I was departing the van two people come up to the van and ask to take a ride back to the city. They stated that all of the flights out of LaGuarda were canceled for the remaining part of the day. I was hesitant to get off of the van but decided to go inside and investigate. I was happy to find out that my plane was the only scheduled departure for that night. I guess the delays were due to bad weather...I didn't detect any bad weather in NYC. It was a little cloudy and overcast but not bad. I arrive back in Indy only two hours late..this was much better than the tons of stranded people at the airport. I am glad I was able to go home.