I could have probably gone to work today...
Took a personal day to accompany Mom to an eye appointment. She said it was laser surgery and it was... But not. First off it was at 4 PM, so we didn't leave till almost 3 and... I was prepared to stay there for hours, but... It was literally a 10 minute procedure. Didn't need a patch or anything. They did say she would feel discomfort. Either way, Mom's vision greatly improved and she was up and about like normal. We even went shopping afterward. Before that... She didn't even know if she had to do anything, like be NPO, stop medication, so she didn't. And the fact she came out so quickly I wondered if the procedure was canceled b/c she did none of that. Nope.
So Sat AM headed to DC. Took the LIRR to the City, then Amtrak to DC. I didn't know the train stopped in Alexandria. Either way, 7500centfish says it's more expensive and there is a 30 min wait in DC. The terminus is Savannah... Anyway, arrived in DC at 9:30 and we headed to the Capital. 7500centfish finally gave me a tour. I honestly wasn't expecting any more than her showing me her office, but no, she gave me a proper tour. Well, except the gift shop. Afterward we headed off to the Building Museum. They were having some Engineering fair. I saw Curious George! Grabbed something to eat, spent some times with the pets and then off to see Chess.
I mean... I "saw" a version with Josh Groban and Idina Menzel. And I know it's about Chess and the Cold War and I know they have that song One Night In Bangkok... But I still didn't really know what it was about and what happened. So I essentially went into it blind. Add to that, I heard there was a new book, etc, etc. Anyway, this cast included Raul Esparza, Ramin Karimloo and Karen Olivo. It also had Bryce Pinkham, who we saw in A Gentleman's Guide and Ruthie Ann Miles who I know from The Americans. Oh and I guess... Raul is from SVU, Taboo, Company, etc. Ramin I saw in Les Mis. He was also in the POTO 25th concert. Love Should Die... And Karen Olivo was in WSS? Don't really know her, except by name and she was married to Matt Caplan. Anyway... It kinda seemed like Ramin had the bigger role or maybe Karen... But of course Raul with his TV creds gets the headline. At the same time... I wasn't blown away by any of the performances. The biggest applause at the time was Karen Olivo after some song I don't even know the name... Add to that I didn't really understand the lyrics cause I'm deaf. Either way, the first act ended and... I enjoyed it / wanted to know what happened, yet... Not blown away. The 2nd act after a few songs "opened" with One Night In Bangkok. OMG... Basically all the ensemble stripped into lingerie and dry humped (not the baseball term!) Raul. At that point I was more into it. But then Raul sang, what I now know is Pity The Child. OMG... Blown away! Out of all the performances, it was the most emotional, well acted. I honestly don't think I've seen any performance as mind blowing. Add to that I hear he was sick and on vocal rest outside of performing... But seriously... My God. Anyway, like I said it had to do with the Cold War. And... Also like I said, I was mostly clueless. So... I had no clue Raul's character was really named Trumper. And of course the parallel... Now I don't know if those existed in the original. B/c I heard some kid at the stage door saying it was way more political than the original, so... Long story short, f politics, play chess to win.
Stage door. I went in not expecting anything. Via Twitter Thursday night no one came out. Like I said, Raul has been on vocal rest and someone said Ramin hadn't come out recently. So... But I waited anyway. I ended up getting the autograph of the Russian Chess Coach / KGB agent. Bryce Pinkham came out. Like I said, we saw him in A Gentleman's Guide, so I took a pic with him. Crowd thinned out a bit. Ramin came out!!! OMG!!! Now, I have been a fan since his Les Mis / Enjolras days. He then went on to play POTO in both Love Should Die and the 25th Anniversary concert. I then saw him in Les Mis as JVJ. So I got his autograph and a pic. Twinning! We were literally wearing peacoats and black / white scarves, glasses. Lol. Crowd thinned out even more. But we waited a bit longer. Ruthie Ann Miles then came out with her Mother In Law / Kid. Signed a few autographs and then went on her way. I did think it was cute before she left the crowd she went all Mommy mode and bundled up her daughter. Speaking of children... We sat next to this old guy who seemed to be one of those know it alls... When we first went in he was talking to the people in front about the show. Performance went on... He literally had a flashlight and was taking notes. It didn't last long. During the intermission he made a comment how there was a new character being introduced who was supposedly the best / worth the wait. At the end, when taking bows he whispers in my ear... That's my daughter! Meaning Ruthie Ann Miles. I literally didn't know what to say... I mean... I didn't know her from anything other than the Americans and only after I looked it up... I wasn't blown away by her either so... And I had actually googled her before thinking, b/c the Asian and non Asian last name... Is she Filipino? She's not and with that... Is her father estranged? Yeah, so... Awkward! I mean, he says he's her father but he's sitting in the last seat off to the side? I mean, he's all excited and proud for her, so... It's sweet, yet sad.
Afterward we planned to go directly to the train / bus station to hop in a bus, but 7500centfish forgot the tickets at her place, so we Ubered back. She then decided to just drive down. So after dinner, we headed out and I feel asleep... Arrived back home less than 24 hours after I had left it and went to sleep again.
Church. Rite Aid. Off to the City to have brunch with Tito Caesar. Just had a breakfast buffet. Walked around Columbus Circle. 7500centfish and the other Elizabeth saw Noah Emmerich at a pastry shop... I was in the butt room, but saw him eating with his daughter. Lol... I should have told him we just saw Ruthie in Chess!
Afterward, we headed to Carnegie Hall. We sat really close to the stage. I had a great view of Alex... But we really should have sat higher up. The first song they played I recognized from Master and Commander. It's toward the end when... Yeah. They had another group which... I think was professional / based in NY, yet called the New England something or other. They also had a few opera singers... Singing Mozart. Meh.
Anyway, most of the cousins came... Aures / Paul, Kitty / Learon. Jhumna showed up late, with Alex and Angelo. They literally came at the last performance. Anyway, we were planning to grab a quick meal, but like brunch, the rest of them ran off to do their thing and left Mom, 7500centfish and I with Elizabeth, Aunt Grace and Tito Caesar.
Hung out in Queens for a bit. Headed home and crashed.
Oh yeah, during either brunch or dinner, Tito C was under the impression, along with piano, I used to play violin. Nope. And he seems to be under the impression I'm accomplish. Um... I'm mostly self taught and... I'm not that good. I swear, he once told Mom he wanted his kids to be super Asians like us... I don't know who he means by us. But... Maybe he's under the wrong impression b/c "we" are nothing like that. OK, 7500centfish took lessons back in the day, but we're not like those kids these days who have way too many extracurriculars. Sports / music / school / work. OK, I was in band, but... Really, nothing special. I was never good enough to play Carnegie or anything.
The aunts are back. Yo Yo drove them.
So Sat AM headed to DC. Took the LIRR to the City, then Amtrak to DC. I didn't know the train stopped in Alexandria. Either way, 7500centfish says it's more expensive and there is a 30 min wait in DC. The terminus is Savannah... Anyway, arrived in DC at 9:30 and we headed to the Capital. 7500centfish finally gave me a tour. I honestly wasn't expecting any more than her showing me her office, but no, she gave me a proper tour. Well, except the gift shop. Afterward we headed off to the Building Museum. They were having some Engineering fair. I saw Curious George! Grabbed something to eat, spent some times with the pets and then off to see Chess.
I mean... I "saw" a version with Josh Groban and Idina Menzel. And I know it's about Chess and the Cold War and I know they have that song One Night In Bangkok... But I still didn't really know what it was about and what happened. So I essentially went into it blind. Add to that, I heard there was a new book, etc, etc. Anyway, this cast included Raul Esparza, Ramin Karimloo and Karen Olivo. It also had Bryce Pinkham, who we saw in A Gentleman's Guide and Ruthie Ann Miles who I know from The Americans. Oh and I guess... Raul is from SVU, Taboo, Company, etc. Ramin I saw in Les Mis. He was also in the POTO 25th concert. Love Should Die... And Karen Olivo was in WSS? Don't really know her, except by name and she was married to Matt Caplan. Anyway... It kinda seemed like Ramin had the bigger role or maybe Karen... But of course Raul with his TV creds gets the headline. At the same time... I wasn't blown away by any of the performances. The biggest applause at the time was Karen Olivo after some song I don't even know the name... Add to that I didn't really understand the lyrics cause I'm deaf. Either way, the first act ended and... I enjoyed it / wanted to know what happened, yet... Not blown away. The 2nd act after a few songs "opened" with One Night In Bangkok. OMG... Basically all the ensemble stripped into lingerie and dry humped (not the baseball term!) Raul. At that point I was more into it. But then Raul sang, what I now know is Pity The Child. OMG... Blown away! Out of all the performances, it was the most emotional, well acted. I honestly don't think I've seen any performance as mind blowing. Add to that I hear he was sick and on vocal rest outside of performing... But seriously... My God. Anyway, like I said it had to do with the Cold War. And... Also like I said, I was mostly clueless. So... I had no clue Raul's character was really named Trumper. And of course the parallel... Now I don't know if those existed in the original. B/c I heard some kid at the stage door saying it was way more political than the original, so... Long story short, f politics, play chess to win.
Stage door. I went in not expecting anything. Via Twitter Thursday night no one came out. Like I said, Raul has been on vocal rest and someone said Ramin hadn't come out recently. So... But I waited anyway. I ended up getting the autograph of the Russian Chess Coach / KGB agent. Bryce Pinkham came out. Like I said, we saw him in A Gentleman's Guide, so I took a pic with him. Crowd thinned out a bit. Ramin came out!!! OMG!!! Now, I have been a fan since his Les Mis / Enjolras days. He then went on to play POTO in both Love Should Die and the 25th Anniversary concert. I then saw him in Les Mis as JVJ. So I got his autograph and a pic. Twinning! We were literally wearing peacoats and black / white scarves, glasses. Lol. Crowd thinned out even more. But we waited a bit longer. Ruthie Ann Miles then came out with her Mother In Law / Kid. Signed a few autographs and then went on her way. I did think it was cute before she left the crowd she went all Mommy mode and bundled up her daughter. Speaking of children... We sat next to this old guy who seemed to be one of those know it alls... When we first went in he was talking to the people in front about the show. Performance went on... He literally had a flashlight and was taking notes. It didn't last long. During the intermission he made a comment how there was a new character being introduced who was supposedly the best / worth the wait. At the end, when taking bows he whispers in my ear... That's my daughter! Meaning Ruthie Ann Miles. I literally didn't know what to say... I mean... I didn't know her from anything other than the Americans and only after I looked it up... I wasn't blown away by her either so... And I had actually googled her before thinking, b/c the Asian and non Asian last name... Is she Filipino? She's not and with that... Is her father estranged? Yeah, so... Awkward! I mean, he says he's her father but he's sitting in the last seat off to the side? I mean, he's all excited and proud for her, so... It's sweet, yet sad.
Afterward we planned to go directly to the train / bus station to hop in a bus, but 7500centfish forgot the tickets at her place, so we Ubered back. She then decided to just drive down. So after dinner, we headed out and I feel asleep... Arrived back home less than 24 hours after I had left it and went to sleep again.
Church. Rite Aid. Off to the City to have brunch with Tito Caesar. Just had a breakfast buffet. Walked around Columbus Circle. 7500centfish and the other Elizabeth saw Noah Emmerich at a pastry shop... I was in the butt room, but saw him eating with his daughter. Lol... I should have told him we just saw Ruthie in Chess!
Afterward, we headed to Carnegie Hall. We sat really close to the stage. I had a great view of Alex... But we really should have sat higher up. The first song they played I recognized from Master and Commander. It's toward the end when... Yeah. They had another group which... I think was professional / based in NY, yet called the New England something or other. They also had a few opera singers... Singing Mozart. Meh.
Anyway, most of the cousins came... Aures / Paul, Kitty / Learon. Jhumna showed up late, with Alex and Angelo. They literally came at the last performance. Anyway, we were planning to grab a quick meal, but like brunch, the rest of them ran off to do their thing and left Mom, 7500centfish and I with Elizabeth, Aunt Grace and Tito Caesar.
Hung out in Queens for a bit. Headed home and crashed.
Oh yeah, during either brunch or dinner, Tito C was under the impression, along with piano, I used to play violin. Nope. And he seems to be under the impression I'm accomplish. Um... I'm mostly self taught and... I'm not that good. I swear, he once told Mom he wanted his kids to be super Asians like us... I don't know who he means by us. But... Maybe he's under the wrong impression b/c "we" are nothing like that. OK, 7500centfish took lessons back in the day, but we're not like those kids these days who have way too many extracurriculars. Sports / music / school / work. OK, I was in band, but... Really, nothing special. I was never good enough to play Carnegie or anything.
The aunts are back. Yo Yo drove them.