The big, huge, amazing, NYC entry!
Just to let everyone know, this will be x-posted in lots of places, so sorry if you have to see it more than once!
As y'all know, I was in New York from Monday-Thursday of last week. I had a great time! We did a whole lot of stuff, so I'm going to break it up by day.
MONDAY:
We arrived. On the way there, my Mom got into an ethical dilemma. My Mom and Ricky were getting subs at a Subway in Pennsylvania, and my Mom thought that she dropped something out of her purse so she went and she saw a piece of paper so she picked it up. Well, it turned out to not be a piece of paper, but a 100 dollar bill! I'm not joking. My Mom looked around for anyone who was searching frantically, but there weren't many people in Subway. She decided to keep the money because if we turned it into Subway, she wouldn't know if they would keep it or not. We stayed at a friend's apartment in Brooklyn. I'm not sure about the exact street, but it was near Prospect Park, if that helps. We didn't do much the first day, since we just drove up from Rochester, but we went to Smiling Pizza for dinner- very good! And then we just hung out at the apartment.
TUESDAY: (Anthony Rapp book signing)!
We actually went into Manhattan today. It was really cool! We went on the subway to meet up with my Dad's friend, Eric Sr. Eric Sr. (not to be confused with his incredibly HOT son, who I'll just call Eric) was my Dad's college room mate, and his family lives in Manhattan. Anyway, Eric Sr. showed us around NYC for about an hour. We went up to the area where you can get a ferry to the Statue of Liberty. Then, we went to Ground Zero, which was pretty sad because of 9/11 and the fact that Eric Sr.'s wife, Nancy, was working in the World Trade Center when the planes hit (she was ok). Then Eric Sr. had to go back to work, so we took a subway up to the Village near where NYU is. We ate at Ben's Pizza, which is my Dad's favorite pizza place ever. I love New York City pizza so incredibly much. I also bought a great purple necklace from a vendor near Ben's for 20 bucks, which I wore to the book signing later. We walked around for a while in the Village and around NYU. Then Ricky and Lydia were dying to go shopping, so we went on the subway again and went shopping with them. While Mom and Ricky were at Abercrombie, I went with my Dad and Lydia to FAO Schwartz, where Lydia didn't buy anything because she wanted to spend all her money at American Girl Place, where me and my Mom and Lydia went next while Dad and Ricky went to the NBA store. Oh, and sometime before or after that, we went to Trump Tower and ate at the Starbucks there. Lydia got stuck in the revolving door, which was funny. This was also where Mom broke her $100 bill, because what better place to do it than in Trump Tower? By that time, it was around 4:30-5:00pm and the book signing started at 7 but I wanted to get there early. By the time we got to the Barnes and Noble (via subway) it was 5:30. It was PACKED. There were about 8 or so rows of chairs set up, and all of them were filled when we came except one in the last row, which Mom and I took turns sitting it. We bought the book as soon as we came in, which was a good thing because they ended up running out of copies. By 6-6:30, people were lined up for the signing all the way to the back of the store and snaking through the aisles. We had a good seat. We were able to see out the window from where we were sitting, and as we were looking out the window, every guy began to look like Anthony Rapp as the time went on, but none of them were. To pass the time, I began to read Without You, but I had a big headache, so I couldn't read that much (Thank you, Aunt Flo). And before you knew it, it was 7. Everyone let out huge screams of excitement when Anthony came in. First (after he got the microphone to work) he read an excerpt from the book (For those who have read it, he read most of the "We Begin" chapter). Then, there was a question-and-answer session. Initially, I told my Mom that I wasn't going to ask him a question because I was too starstruck/nervous, which was fine. And then I started thinking that this was going probably be the last time in my life that I was going to be able to ask Anthony Rapp a question, so I decided to. I asked him when he knew that he wanted to be acting as a career (or something around those lines), and asked him to sing "Losing My Religion". For the first question, he said that he knew (in a non-spiritual way) that acting is what he was put on this earth to do. And yes, he did sing "Losing My Religion". I was ecstatic. He also sang one part of "La Vie Boheme" at one point. After about an hour had passed, he started the actual signing. It took about an hour for me to get my book signed. When he said the words "Hey Miranda, thanks for the question!" I was so excited/happy/ecstatic. I couldn't believe that he was talking to me! So then I thanked him for answering it and I took a picture with him (to be developed on Wednesday). While all this was happening, Dad and Ricky and Lydia went to eat dinner, and then had nothing to do so they browsed at Barnes and Noble for the duration of the signing. So after I got my book signed (at around 9) we went to Cafe 21 to get me something to eat and drink (I still had my headache). After having some Tylenol, Coke, a grilled cheese sandwich, and fries, I was fine. I was exhausted, though, and we all slept as soon as we came back to the apartment. I loved the signing.
WEDNESDAY: (Spelling Bee!)
Today was mostly spent at at The American Museum of Natural History. Before we went to the museum, though, we ate lunch at a small deli and hung out with the pigeons. Then we went to the museum, which is huge and really cool. We went to see the space show, and also looked at the dinosaurs and several other areas of the museum. After spending a couple hours at the museum, we needed to eat dinner and get me and Ricky to the 8pm showing of "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee". Luckily, a cab driver was willing to be nice to us and take 5 people in a non-minivan cab, which is technically illeagal I think but oh well. It was my first NYC cab ride, and I loved it! Then, we were looking for a place to eat near Circle in the Square theater, where Spelling Bee was playing. We walked up to the Winter Garden (where Mamma Mia was playing) and decided to eat at Ellen's Stardust Diner (one of the places that I wanted to eat a meal at in NYC), which was incredibly fun, thanks to the singing waiters/waitresses. Then me and Ricky went to Spelling Bee. We signed up to be spellers in the show, but they only can pick 4 people and they didn't pick us. The show was amazing anyway. It was Ricky's first Broadway show and my 3rd. We had great seats- front row, practically. We could see everything. It was basically all original cast except for William Barfee (played by Josh Gad), Mr. Panch (Greg Stuhr), and Mitch Mahoney (Willis White, who was the only understudy of the night). The show was really funny- you don't get all of the humor from the CD. Some of the audience spellers were funny- one was a "prematurely graying 10-year-old", and one "won his school's 'I sort of remind people of David Schwimmer' contest"! The acting was great- like I said, most of the original cast was great- especially by Celia Keenan-Bolger, Jose Llana, and Jesse Tyler Ferguson. Also, Sarah Saltzberg was basically standing right in front of us during the Finale, which was cool. After the show, we went to Saigon 48, a Vietnamese restaurant, with Eric Sr., his wife Nancy, and their son, Eric, who is a severe hottie. He has brown hair and blue-gray eyes, and is incredibly smart and mature- he goes to an upscale all-boy school in Manhattan. Eric (Jr.) and Nancy had just seen "Doubt" right before we ate. Eric gets hotter every time I see him. The meal was great. After the meal, we went back to the apartment. We left on Thursday.
It was really fun! I'm also off my hiatus.
As y'all know, I was in New York from Monday-Thursday of last week. I had a great time! We did a whole lot of stuff, so I'm going to break it up by day.
MONDAY:
We arrived. On the way there, my Mom got into an ethical dilemma. My Mom and Ricky were getting subs at a Subway in Pennsylvania, and my Mom thought that she dropped something out of her purse so she went and she saw a piece of paper so she picked it up. Well, it turned out to not be a piece of paper, but a 100 dollar bill! I'm not joking. My Mom looked around for anyone who was searching frantically, but there weren't many people in Subway. She decided to keep the money because if we turned it into Subway, she wouldn't know if they would keep it or not. We stayed at a friend's apartment in Brooklyn. I'm not sure about the exact street, but it was near Prospect Park, if that helps. We didn't do much the first day, since we just drove up from Rochester, but we went to Smiling Pizza for dinner- very good! And then we just hung out at the apartment.
TUESDAY: (Anthony Rapp book signing)!
We actually went into Manhattan today. It was really cool! We went on the subway to meet up with my Dad's friend, Eric Sr. Eric Sr. (not to be confused with his incredibly HOT son, who I'll just call Eric) was my Dad's college room mate, and his family lives in Manhattan. Anyway, Eric Sr. showed us around NYC for about an hour. We went up to the area where you can get a ferry to the Statue of Liberty. Then, we went to Ground Zero, which was pretty sad because of 9/11 and the fact that Eric Sr.'s wife, Nancy, was working in the World Trade Center when the planes hit (she was ok). Then Eric Sr. had to go back to work, so we took a subway up to the Village near where NYU is. We ate at Ben's Pizza, which is my Dad's favorite pizza place ever. I love New York City pizza so incredibly much. I also bought a great purple necklace from a vendor near Ben's for 20 bucks, which I wore to the book signing later. We walked around for a while in the Village and around NYU. Then Ricky and Lydia were dying to go shopping, so we went on the subway again and went shopping with them. While Mom and Ricky were at Abercrombie, I went with my Dad and Lydia to FAO Schwartz, where Lydia didn't buy anything because she wanted to spend all her money at American Girl Place, where me and my Mom and Lydia went next while Dad and Ricky went to the NBA store. Oh, and sometime before or after that, we went to Trump Tower and ate at the Starbucks there. Lydia got stuck in the revolving door, which was funny. This was also where Mom broke her $100 bill, because what better place to do it than in Trump Tower? By that time, it was around 4:30-5:00pm and the book signing started at 7 but I wanted to get there early. By the time we got to the Barnes and Noble (via subway) it was 5:30. It was PACKED. There were about 8 or so rows of chairs set up, and all of them were filled when we came except one in the last row, which Mom and I took turns sitting it. We bought the book as soon as we came in, which was a good thing because they ended up running out of copies. By 6-6:30, people were lined up for the signing all the way to the back of the store and snaking through the aisles. We had a good seat. We were able to see out the window from where we were sitting, and as we were looking out the window, every guy began to look like Anthony Rapp as the time went on, but none of them were. To pass the time, I began to read Without You, but I had a big headache, so I couldn't read that much (Thank you, Aunt Flo). And before you knew it, it was 7. Everyone let out huge screams of excitement when Anthony came in. First (after he got the microphone to work) he read an excerpt from the book (For those who have read it, he read most of the "We Begin" chapter). Then, there was a question-and-answer session. Initially, I told my Mom that I wasn't going to ask him a question because I was too starstruck/nervous, which was fine. And then I started thinking that this was going probably be the last time in my life that I was going to be able to ask Anthony Rapp a question, so I decided to. I asked him when he knew that he wanted to be acting as a career (or something around those lines), and asked him to sing "Losing My Religion". For the first question, he said that he knew (in a non-spiritual way) that acting is what he was put on this earth to do. And yes, he did sing "Losing My Religion". I was ecstatic. He also sang one part of "La Vie Boheme" at one point. After about an hour had passed, he started the actual signing. It took about an hour for me to get my book signed. When he said the words "Hey Miranda, thanks for the question!" I was so excited/happy/ecstatic. I couldn't believe that he was talking to me! So then I thanked him for answering it and I took a picture with him (to be developed on Wednesday). While all this was happening, Dad and Ricky and Lydia went to eat dinner, and then had nothing to do so they browsed at Barnes and Noble for the duration of the signing. So after I got my book signed (at around 9) we went to Cafe 21 to get me something to eat and drink (I still had my headache). After having some Tylenol, Coke, a grilled cheese sandwich, and fries, I was fine. I was exhausted, though, and we all slept as soon as we came back to the apartment. I loved the signing.
WEDNESDAY: (Spelling Bee!)
Today was mostly spent at at The American Museum of Natural History. Before we went to the museum, though, we ate lunch at a small deli and hung out with the pigeons. Then we went to the museum, which is huge and really cool. We went to see the space show, and also looked at the dinosaurs and several other areas of the museum. After spending a couple hours at the museum, we needed to eat dinner and get me and Ricky to the 8pm showing of "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee". Luckily, a cab driver was willing to be nice to us and take 5 people in a non-minivan cab, which is technically illeagal I think but oh well. It was my first NYC cab ride, and I loved it! Then, we were looking for a place to eat near Circle in the Square theater, where Spelling Bee was playing. We walked up to the Winter Garden (where Mamma Mia was playing) and decided to eat at Ellen's Stardust Diner (one of the places that I wanted to eat a meal at in NYC), which was incredibly fun, thanks to the singing waiters/waitresses. Then me and Ricky went to Spelling Bee. We signed up to be spellers in the show, but they only can pick 4 people and they didn't pick us. The show was amazing anyway. It was Ricky's first Broadway show and my 3rd. We had great seats- front row, practically. We could see everything. It was basically all original cast except for William Barfee (played by Josh Gad), Mr. Panch (Greg Stuhr), and Mitch Mahoney (Willis White, who was the only understudy of the night). The show was really funny- you don't get all of the humor from the CD. Some of the audience spellers were funny- one was a "prematurely graying 10-year-old", and one "won his school's 'I sort of remind people of David Schwimmer' contest"! The acting was great- like I said, most of the original cast was great- especially by Celia Keenan-Bolger, Jose Llana, and Jesse Tyler Ferguson. Also, Sarah Saltzberg was basically standing right in front of us during the Finale, which was cool. After the show, we went to Saigon 48, a Vietnamese restaurant, with Eric Sr., his wife Nancy, and their son, Eric, who is a severe hottie. He has brown hair and blue-gray eyes, and is incredibly smart and mature- he goes to an upscale all-boy school in Manhattan. Eric (Jr.) and Nancy had just seen "Doubt" right before we ate. Eric gets hotter every time I see him. The meal was great. After the meal, we went back to the apartment. We left on Thursday.
It was really fun! I'm also off my hiatus.