mijan | Awesome weekend in NYC

Well, I just got back from NYC. It was an incredible weekend spent with wonderful people. I know, I still need to do a post about my Witching Hour experience, but for now, let me tell you about my trip to NYC.

My sister and I arrived in northern New Jersey around noon on Friday. Now, let me explain... I've always has a slight prejudice against New Jersey, based on my limited experienced there, as well as my suite-mate in college from the state. Weird girl. She actually LIKED the smell of pollution. It was scary. So, even though I knew that a lot of New Jersey was a very pretty area with upper-class towns or rolling farmland... I couldn't get the image of armpit-of-America out of my head. Until this weekend.

Anyhow, back on topic. We stayed with duhmom and desdomonda who live in northern NJ, about 20 minutes outside of Manhattan. (Maya stayed with them for three days when she came to the States to visit… meaning she must have had an awesome experience.) First of all, let me tell you that they're some of the nicest people I’ve ever met. Second, they live in the coolest house I’ve ever been in. It’s like a jigsaw puzzle gone RIGHT. I want a house just like that someday. Or maybe I can just be reincarnated as one of their cats.

Anyhow, almost as soon as we had arrived at the house, we had to leave again for the singing competition. There was delivery pizza for lunch, and I grabbed a slice (mmm... I have a new appreciation for thin-crust, NY style), and then we left. desdomonda came with us. The competition was at a mall about 15 minutes away... IF you know how to get there. Apparently, Desdomonda didn’t, and her mother wrote the directions really quickly so there were glitches. “Take a left… then another left… then another left…” “Er… aren’t we going in a circle?” “… You know… I think you’re right.” Well, we got there, and we had a good time. My sister didn’t win, but there were a ton of people, and she was definitely one of the better ones. Afterwards, we all had ice cream, and went back to the house.

By the time we got back, duhmom had almost finished making dinner… spaghetti and homemade meat sauce… VERY yummy. And pineapple angel cake for dessert! SQUEE! Oh, and during dinner, the family pets provided entertainment. One of the cats was up on the birdcage, getting cozy with this “black cat” Halloween decoration statue. Someone made a comment about beastiality, and duhmom said in a completely normal conversational tone, “No, it’s statue-tory rape.” I almost died laughing.

After dinner, desdomonda insisted that I ought to experience “Firefly” (that new show from the creator of Buffy), which she had on DVD. Not bad. A bit weird, but not bad. Later, the bunch of us stayed up talking HP, fandom, fanfic, and all things slashy. I read some of desdomonda’s fics… she’s a good writer! Her stuff is dark and twisted… exactly what I like. She actually had written a sequel piece to Maya’s “Dark Side of Light”, and it was really good. Anyhow, we all stayed up way too late.

[Bad username or unknown identity:   ]When I posted asking if anyone lived in the NYC area and had space for my sister and me to crash for the night, I was hoping for maybe a sofa or an armchair, or maybe a futon it I was lucky. Instead, my sister and I each had our own guest room. My sister’s was the regular guest room, and I slept in the oldest daughter’s old bedroom (she’s 27 and has moved out now)… the room was beautiful. It was decorated on the theme from the “Rainforest Café” restaurants, with a thick green carpet and light green walls. Stuffed monkeys and parrots and butterflies were placed amongst fake vines and foliage and flowers, and the lighting was all on dimmer switches. The bed was a queen-sized four-poster. I’d never slept in a four-poster bed… I *must* get one now.

[Bad username or unknown identity: In the morning, we were up at ][Bad username or unknown identity: 8:30][Bad username or unknown identity: so we could shower, eat, and be on our way into the city by ][Bad username or unknown identity: 10:30][Bad username or unknown identity:   ]My sister wanted to get rush tickets for “Rent”, which was the purpose of the trip. Rush tickets are front row, and only $20 each. So it was me, my sister, duhmom, desdomonda, and desdomonda’s little sister… who is a Potter fan, but not a slasher. With a slasher mother and older sister, don’t worry, she’ll be corrupted soon. We got to the theatre and all applied for rush tickets, requesting two apiece. Only two of us got our name drawn, so we had four front-row tickets, and my sister bought one of the $45 tickets for herself, and she sat further back because she had seen the show once before from the second row.

[Bad username or unknown identity:   ]Got coffee at Starbucks. Snacks at this Greek-style deli and wrap place. Very good wraps. I found the ugliest shoes in the world at a discount shoe place. We saw the start of a doggie costume parade in Time Square. And then, back to the theatre.

[Bad username or unknown identity:   ]And I have to say, it’s so delightfully slashy. The performers have great voices, sweet moves, and the best arses I’ve ever seen. Seriously though, the whole cast had great chemistry, and the experience was just awesome.

[Bad username or unknown identity:   ]I told him, “You make an awesome asshole,” which is the nature of the character he plays… the actor himself was very sweet and nice, of course. And then he said, “I saw you there in the front row.” I was stunned. I’ve done some stage performing… you don’t *really* look at the people in the audience. So I said, “You recognize me from the audience?” And he took my face in his hands and said with a smile, “How could I forget such a cute face?” I’m about 99.9999% sure he’s gay, so no, he didn’t say it like that, but it was still just the sweetest thing. He signed my playbill, and everyone else’s in our little group.

[Bad username or unknown identity:   ]She had an ad from a local steakhouse, and said it was her treat. Now, I want people to understand… to me, an expensive meal out is one where the average dinner costs more than $10. We got to this restaurant, sat down, and looked at the menu… the average main entrée alone, without side dishes, cost about $40. I’m a frugal person, and I had a hard time ordering, because I just couldn’t order something that expensive… so finally, both of the daughters told me to get the fillet mignon, and I did. *meep* Oh, and a glass of some incredible wine. And there were these sweet rolls… mmmmm… Dinner was great. Although three of us ordered the fillet mignon… one medium, one medium-rare, and one rare (that was me)… and they mixed them up. I then felt *really* bad, but I don’t like medium steak… so they brought it back and eventually managed to get me a properly rare steak… mmm… beefy heaven.

[Bad username or unknown identity:   ]By then, we were all exhausted, and my sister and I were feeling a bit under the weather. Originally, she and I had planned to drive back to massachusetts[Bad username or unknown identity:   ]I had a headache, and my sister’s stomach was messed up… she’s mostly vegetarian, but not strictly, but after two days of having meat, she wasn’t feeling too hot. So, we stayed for one more night, and finally left today around noon.

[Bad username or unknown identity:   ]I’ve seldom had people do such wonderful things for me, and I’m both humbled and grateful. Once again, I find that it’s true: the HP fandom has the nicest, sweetest, most wonderful people in it, and I’m lucky to be a part of such a great extended family.

[Bad username or unknown identity:   ]Naturally, they’d be attending the NYC opening… and it sounds like a lot of fun. I was already planning to go with the boston[Bad username or unknown identity: line-party group, but to go to a movie release in ][Bad username or unknown identity: New York][Bad username or unknown identity:   ]I think it would be incredible… I just might have to go. :D