Next new thing I was doing was taking the train from Penn Station to Penn Station. Yeah, I don't know why they couldn't have been more creative, but whatever. Those who know me know I'm a planner, so of course I checked the schedule before I headed out. And, as typical of me, I cut it kind of close. Like, really close. But not so close that 2 people couldn't ask me if this was the train to New York or not. I don't want to be rude or anything, but the sign is right there. Plus I always find it amusing when people ask me for directions in cities that are not my own.
Ritual #1 is to see a Broadway show. I had wanted to see "Waitress", mostly because I loved the movie and because I like the music of Sara Bareilles. Alas, it was sold out (well, it was sold out at the TKTS booth). What else? I fast forwarded through my memories of the Tony Awards, and I remembered "She Loves Me", which is based on the same story as "The Shop Around the Corner", which of course became "You've Got Mail". Zachary Levi as the lead male? Score! I never watched "Chuck" or even "Heroes Reborn" (I couldn't bear it, the first season of "Heroes" was so good and then it all fell apart), but he's a good actor and singer. Jane Krakowski is usually in it too but that day she was off. Whatever, it was good enough for me to buy a ticket. Upon closer inspection, I realized that it was playing at Studio 54. WHAT?!? I had no idea they turned it into a theatre. After a nice dinner at a Greek restaurant, I casually wandered over to the theatre. The first impression I had was...DARK. The walls were black and trimmed in a dingy gold. It was so creepy. I kept imagining the debauchery that took place there in the 70s. Don't...touch...anything...
The show was really really cute. Jane Krakowski's understudy seriously reminded me of Andrea Martin in a blond curly wig. The female lead had an amazing voice. All I know about her is that she was on a few episodes of "Supergirl" (I never watched that either). After the show, I strolled through Times Square and performed Ritual #2 - get a night photo of Times Square.
Some day I'm going to string together all of my annual Times Square photos to see how it changes over time.
I dawdled a little to much, and as a result I nearly missed the train back to Newark (it wasn't the last train, but I would have had to wait 45 minutes for the next one). It was full of young people, which in my advancing years tends to fill me with dread. But as we were disembarking one of the boys let me pass, which gave me some hope for the future.
Now I'm home, and in a twist of fate I read a news report that yesterday an 8-year-old boy nearly drowned in the pool on the same ship I was on. The ship, which had just left New Jersey, had to turn around and go back. The boy was medevac'd to the hospital, and the ship left again at 2 in the morning. Having just been on that boat, I had an incredibly hard time figuring out how the boy could have been left face down in that pool for 10 minutes before someone found him. But then, I realized that the only way this could have happened, and so close to the port, was that it occurred during the mandatory muster drill that everyone had to attend. We would go to our designated emergency gathering point and watch a video about how to put on the life preservers, etc. All of the guests had to be there, and it seemed like every member of the crew was also there, wearing green reflective vests and showing people where to go. This was only time the pool deck would have been empty. Except for one person, it seems. From what I read, the boy is still in critical condition. A grim way to start a vacation, and if my friends and I had left 2 weeks later, it would have been our vacation.
And the irony of someone drowning while people were watching a safety video was not lost on me.
"Hello darkness, my old friend, I've come to talk with you again"
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