'You Don't Know, I Know You Don't Know'

My most recent adventures have included a (successful) road trip and moving back to school. My friend Crista and I originally planned a trip to NYC in order to make my trip back to get my friends from their cruise more pleasant. As some of you may remember, the time my car caught fire was the time I was taking my friends TO the cruise. Now, we were supposed to go get them at 9am in NY, and seeing as to do that from MD would cause me to be up at 4 am, I decided that it'd be beneficial to have a trip to NY, see Next to Normal, which was my first Broadway show, and I had been dying to see, and go see a friend from elementary- high school, Camille, who herself is on b-way in Lion King(we didn't have enough money to see that, unfortunately).

We took Megabus(HIGGHHLLY RECCOMENDED!), which cost us only 20$ per person there and only 15$ on the way back(aweesomme), and landed in the city. We had lunch at a fun little place called 'food fight' with my friend, Christea, after getting very lost in Greenwich Village, and surrounding areas. This place was really neat because they had miniature sized foods, such as burgers and grilled chicken sandwiches as well as mini cans of coke and baby desserts. Afterwards, we walked all over the place to get a feel for the area my lovely friend Christea spends her days.

Much exhausted by the extensive walking we had not planned on(but enjoyed), we grabbed Starbucks and parted ways from Christea, heading to Times Square. We hit up M&M world, which is AMAZING, and probably one of my favorite places there, saw this awesome drummer playing on pails, pans, and buckets, went to Hershey world(not that impressive) and sat around.. a lot. We wished we had beds to nap in at that point(the perks which are not included when you have no hotel room). Eventually, we landed at Juniors on 45th street which is RIGHT next to Next to Normal, and ate a great great dinner, and killed a lot of time:)
J.Robert Spencer after the show

There, we met such nice people(as we did around the city as well), and stalked the stage door:) Anytime someone went in, or out, we were always like 'OH MY GOODNESS WHO IS THAT???' and realized we didn't have a clue. After dinner, we went over to the Booth Theatre, and waited, and waited. We met the drummer, who is a temporary for a few months, named Jarod and we talked up a storm with him. A few minutes after the conversation started, J. Robert Spencer, who plays Dan in the show walked by us to enter, so I jumped on the opportunity and said, "HEYYYY How are you doing?' and Crista, awestruck just let out an excited noise:) I kept cool and talked with him for a moment, and he said that he just woke up from a nap, was headed in to eat chocolate and it'd be a great show. So. Funny:)
The side doors of the theatre

We saw the show, and then it was over. Wonnnnnnnnnderful- I HIGHLY recommend it to anyone who is interested in a thought-provoking, hilarious, and stunning show for only $36. We sat in row H of the mezzanine, but we didn't miss much of anything. Afterwards,we waited at the stage door and met everyone, except for Jennifer Damiano. I mean, do I blame them? After having 2 shows in one day- a 2.5 hour show.. NOOO. Everyone was pretty nice and wanting to leave, but Alice Ripley was exceptional. Wonderful woman, who loves her fans. I hope to be in contact with her because I didn't get to tell her my thoughts. This show has a huge place in my heart due to the parallels to my own life. After that, we met up with Camille, who took us out for drinks, then around 3 or so, crashed.
Alice Ripley after the show signing my program:)

The next morning, we got up, almost missed our bus due to missing our alarms, and my forgetting my wallet at Camille's, but we made it, and got home, where I crashed and was sooo tired.

Since then, I've started up classes again, and was greeted by a rather rude awakening when I was not cast in any show for the department. As a senior, you hope that you will have a place in the shows because, this is it. I was hoping to have one final performance that would just knock the others out of the park- one chance to have a large part and prove that I'd grown. Not that I can't show that without being cast, but it was a huuuuuugee blow to myself as an artist. I felt, and still feel extremely discouraged, and wonder if I've wasted my time on my art. Now, that's impulse reaction- I KNOW i have not wasted my time, and I've learned so much that I can apply to my future career as a Child Life Specialist, but that's how it felt for a while.. well.. honestly.. still does sometimes.

All of that made me extremely THANKFUL for the Musical Theatre Club, who has presented the wonderful opportunity of me being in Into the Woods, one of the most stunning shows I know of, where I will be able to spread my wings both vocally and acting-wise, and I'm so much more excited than I was for the show. It'll be great. As for classes, they're all extremely reading- heavy, so we'll see how things turn out. Honestly, I just want to slam these classes and be done.

For those who do not know my current hope for the next year, I hope to graduate in May(will happen, unless something goes TERRIBLY wrong), then nail an internship at a hospital in the summer, after potential surgery for me, and then have a part-time internship as well as take my final 4 classes for my certificate, take the exam before I leave, and hope I pass. I'm thinking that could open up some great opportunities for me on the ship, but maybe not. All I know is it'd be great to be done with that before I leave:)

Anyway- I'm HIGHLY procrastinating my paper right now, so I'm gonna go do that;)