Well, summer's been pretty cool so far. My little girl Shadow became deathly ill. Getting better and relapsing several times. I had a few talks with the vet about euthanisation, and we were very close to it. But she pulled through and has been fine since. Better than ever in fact. She's 16 and has great energy.
July kicked off with a new studio apartment in Yorkville. The floor is a little slanty, and I've seen some bizarre bugs that may have been the result of experiments gone terribly wrong, but overall I really love it. It's pretty big for a studio, and the building is small and quiet. The neighborhood is amazing. Mostly 5 and 6 story buildings, lots of outdoor bars and restaurants and cool stores. I'm around the corner from the famous Elaine's restaurant...
...and also down the block from where this recently happened.
A lot of family came to visit in the past few weeks, and more are yet to come before the summer ends. It's been so great to see them and it's given me the chance to be a bit of a tourist, hitting the usual spots. We also got to see a few Broadway musicals. In The Heights, which I've seen 4 times off Broadway before catching it on Broadway. That was the day before it took the Tony for Best Musical. I've been a champion of this show for over a year, telling people about it and recommending they see it. But only now do they want to see it because they've "heard of it". I guess if there aren't TV commercials for it, it doesn't exist.
Also caught Rent for the 3rd time (4th if you count a touring version). I might try to see it again before it closes for good in September. Apparently, some evil genious decided Mayor Bloomberg wasn't destroying New York fast enough, and have used their powers to close both Yankee Stadium and Rent this fall.
I saw my all time favorite band, Steely Dan, two Friday nights in a row, and had my own Rerun/Doobie Brothers Bootleg moment when I nearly got kicked out for recording video of the show. Security pulled me outside and forced me to erase it in front of them. I managed to get some video the week before, though.
Last week, I caught an off-Broadway performance of "Some Americans Abroad". Two of my favorite actors were in this one. Tom Cavanagh and Anthony Rapp.
A play about professors and students on a literary tour of England. Uncomfortable silences and awkard moments galore made it hilarious. I saw a few of the actors hanging out after the show, but the biggest highlight was noticing Julie Bowen, who wasn't in the play, milling around. Tom Cavanagh and Julie Bowen are the leads in one of my all time favorite television shows, "Ed". Tom turned out to be an amazingly nice guy, very gracious and generous with his time. He introduced me to Julie who was also very nice. There are some people I like so much that I don't want to meet them, because I don't want to be disappointed in some way. I was even a little nervous for some reason, but there was nothing to worry about with these two.
At some point, while putting my arms around them, I was looking at Julie (for obvious reasons) and not paying attention to Tom. While lifting my arms, I poked him in the nose. Yep. The nicest guy in the world who I admire so much. I go and punch him in the face. That's me. This is why I don't have friends.
Anthony Rapp was also talkative and generous with his time. As a latter day Rent head, this was a thrill for me.
This summer, I also took some guitar lessons, learned about the Alexander Technique, wrote a few songs, mastered the ancient art of Ninjitsu, and mugged a hobo. Some of those may not have happened. Work keeps me incredibly busy, but I have been so laid back and content with things that I've been having a blast. Come on August! I can handle ya.