Five Things That Made Me Happy This Week

[courtneywrites]

1. The Power of Madonna episode of GLEE!  Could anything be more fabulous?  I have written previously about my absolute love of Madonna, and the fact that Arielle had T-shirts made up for us that say “Addicted Since 1983” across the back.  We wore them to the Reinvention concert.  Say what you will about Madonna; you cannot deny that she’s had a major impact. And all those people (my parents included) who claimed she would just fade away.  I know all the words to all her songs - old and new.  Watching GLEE the other night, I couldn’t stop grinning.  I was singing out loud and trying to rein it in because I was watching with my friend Courtney and I knew she wanted to hear Lea Michele’s voice and not mine.  I loved that Sue had mandated that actual Madonna songs be pumping through the halls of school, so that even when the cast wasn’t singing and there was dialogue, it was still all about Madonna.
2. American Idiot on Broadway!  I went with my stepfather on Monday night.  (I just realized this post is out of chronological order, but I don’t feel like fixing it.)  I’ve never been that into Green Day; I mean, I liked them fine, but they were far from my top three, and I didn’t have any of their songs on my iPod.  But that show - that show!  It was like getting a shot of adrenaline.  I stayed up until midnight just to be able to download the cast album the moment it was released, and I haven’t stopped listening to it (I am listening to it right now, actually.)  I’ve already made plans with my friends Regan and Arielle to see it again.
3. Love Loss & What I Wore!  So this is another show, technically off-Broadway, but it’s just a couple blocks from the Theater District.  Last month I won tickets on Twitter, and I went to see it with Courtney.  The set is really simple - it’s just five actresses sitting on the stage, reading essays inspired by clothing.  Even without the usual theater bells and whistles, it’s such an evocative show - about friendship and sisterhood and love and loss (OK, I guess those last two were kind of obvious.)  It’s just beautiful, and I felt like I was part of something real and important.  The cast changes every month, and last night I won ANOTHER pair of tickets on Twitter to see the new cast.  You can follow the show here and play to win.  And if you don’t win, you should think about checking out the show anyway.  It’s so good.
4. Watching Damages with Arielle!  This week was the Damages season finale (we call it “Dammie’s,” even though it’s kind of edgy for a nickname).  Per tradition, I watched it at Arielle’s.  She provided the tortilla chips, meat and cheese, and I made the most delicious nachos - the dinner of champions.  I count the evening as something that made me happy, but I’m actually sad about the end of the season and now I think Arielle and I need to pick another show to watch together every week.  The problem is, except for Damages, we don’t really have overlapping TV taste.
5. Central Park in the Spring!  I’ve been walking through Central Park at least once a week, on my way to Writopia.  It takes about an hour, so I feel good about the exercise, and honestly, it just makes me giddy.  I walk and feel kind of Oprah-like as I think about all the things I have to appreciate in my life, and how much beauty there is the world.  I’m not the biggest nature lover; I feel safer in the city with concrete and people, where the streets are numbered and I can’t get lost.  But the park is perfect for me, at least in the daytime - trees and flowers and colors everywhere, and through the trees I can still see my city, get my bearings.  I try to switch up my route each time, but there’s this one part I always walk by, my favorite part, somewhere in the west seventies:  you go under a bridge, and it’s all shaded.  I always think it would be a nice movie shot.  And then just as you’re getting to the other end, there’s a burst of sunlight and these pink flowers.  It makes me smile every time.