Well, not really, but I do wish. On that note though, Newsies is set to hit the Broadway in a few months. This might be one of the few events I've honestly waited the majority of my life to happen. It's weird.
New York was glorious. Such an adventure. Just getting there was fun. I was walking to the bus and was early (6:30 pm). A bus was leaving right when I walked up, but that was no big deal because the had planned on was a little later. Except a little later became a lot later because it was rather late. Which made me late for my train. Which made me late for my second bus. Barely late. Like, I can see the bus I need to get on pulling into the parking lot as the train is slowing down late (9 pm). So I had to take a taxi instead because no more buses ran that night. My cabbie is a Sudanese refuge who moved to Salt Lake City at the turn of the millennium. Crazy. Awesome too. Good man. I get to the airport and find I can't check in my luggage because it is too late. Well, that's fine because my flight isn't until 5:30 am the next day. I make a call though to see when they open up to check baggage. I was told 5 am. Thirty minutes to get through security and get to my gate? Sounded like an adventure. It ends up they opened at around 4:30 am so it worked out fine. But I slept in the airport that night. Not too bad actually.
New York is so neat. I met up with JJ and Kelli at the baggage claim and then we traveled to Grand Central Station (we stayed in a hotel over it, the Hyatt). The graffiti in Queens is quite superb. Not only the symbols and designs but locations. And many of them were advertising which I think is neat.
We ate so much food. It was nice to be full. And we sang so much. My voice is not used to singing for four hours straight. We sang under the direction of John Rutter (you would probably recognize his music. He was commissioned to write one of the songs for the Royal Wedding in England this last summer). So, I had six songs to practice before arriving in New York. We ended up performing more than twice that many. None of them were too difficult, but I've never had to use sight reading types so desperately. Thank you Mr. Manz. And the concert was just a delight to be in. The orchestra and the power of the music and the audience, it was all great. Carnegie Hall is unlike any other performing space I've been in. The wings are walled off so they don't mess up your acoustics. Also, there is also no light above the stage so that there is less open space to take away from the acoustics. Which would make quick entrances and lighting a nightmare. But this is Carnegie Hall, where the audience is in no rush to be entertained and they aren't here for dancing or acting. The sound is all that matters and the hall delivers.
And we traveled all over the place. We saw Follies on Broadway. Lovely show. It is by Sondheim so the emphasis is on social commentary through the music, which is almost an overwhelming focus. We went to the Bodies exhibit (which was shorter than I was expecting). It was neat to see the real parts of the body connecting and doing their thing. I do like New York pizza. We went on a river cruise after the concert. When we got to the pier and things looked familiar, but I didn't know why. Well, that was true until we walked up the ramp onto the boat. It was the exact same company, the exact same pier, and the exact same ship I had been on for the exact same river cruise in 2005 with Alyssa Fabia while in New York for the People to People conference. Ridiculous! Other neat places were the Manhattan Temple (I got to participate in sealings for the first time! Natalie-the-Elder and I really wanted to go, so we just made it happen), Battery Park, Central Park (so big, so varied, and so cool. There was a musical group that just started playing and some roller-skating group came up and started dancing with them. Fun to watch), the Brooklyn Bridge, and Grand Central Station. I love New York. It has such a feel to it. A real pulse. A life unlike any other. The variety is so wonderful. One of my favorite moments was watching a Hasidic Jew being helped by a Sikh at a food stand (Sikhs are the ones who wear the turbans and are often mistaken for Arabs). It just seemed so right and good.
New York was glorious. Such an adventure. Just getting there was fun. I was walking to the bus and was early (6:30 pm). A bus was leaving right when I walked up, but that was no big deal because the had planned on was a little later. Except a little later became a lot later because it was rather late. Which made me late for my train. Which made me late for my second bus. Barely late. Like, I can see the bus I need to get on pulling into the parking lot as the train is slowing down late (9 pm). So I had to take a taxi instead because no more buses ran that night. My cabbie is a Sudanese refuge who moved to Salt Lake City at the turn of the millennium. Crazy. Awesome too. Good man. I get to the airport and find I can't check in my luggage because it is too late. Well, that's fine because my flight isn't until 5:30 am the next day. I make a call though to see when they open up to check baggage. I was told 5 am. Thirty minutes to get through security and get to my gate? Sounded like an adventure. It ends up they opened at around 4:30 am so it worked out fine. But I slept in the airport that night. Not too bad actually.
New York is so neat. I met up with JJ and Kelli at the baggage claim and then we traveled to Grand Central Station (we stayed in a hotel over it, the Hyatt). The graffiti in Queens is quite superb. Not only the symbols and designs but locations. And many of them were advertising which I think is neat.
We ate so much food. It was nice to be full. And we sang so much. My voice is not used to singing for four hours straight. We sang under the direction of John Rutter (you would probably recognize his music. He was commissioned to write one of the songs for the Royal Wedding in England this last summer). So, I had six songs to practice before arriving in New York. We ended up performing more than twice that many. None of them were too difficult, but I've never had to use sight reading types so desperately. Thank you Mr. Manz. And the concert was just a delight to be in. The orchestra and the power of the music and the audience, it was all great. Carnegie Hall is unlike any other performing space I've been in. The wings are walled off so they don't mess up your acoustics. Also, there is also no light above the stage so that there is less open space to take away from the acoustics. Which would make quick entrances and lighting a nightmare. But this is Carnegie Hall, where the audience is in no rush to be entertained and they aren't here for dancing or acting. The sound is all that matters and the hall delivers.
And we traveled all over the place. We saw Follies on Broadway. Lovely show. It is by Sondheim so the emphasis is on social commentary through the music, which is almost an overwhelming focus. We went to the Bodies exhibit (which was shorter than I was expecting). It was neat to see the real parts of the body connecting and doing their thing. I do like New York pizza. We went on a river cruise after the concert. When we got to the pier and things looked familiar, but I didn't know why. Well, that was true until we walked up the ramp onto the boat. It was the exact same company, the exact same pier, and the exact same ship I had been on for the exact same river cruise in 2005 with Alyssa Fabia while in New York for the People to People conference. Ridiculous! Other neat places were the Manhattan Temple (I got to participate in sealings for the first time! Natalie-the-Elder and I really wanted to go, so we just made it happen), Battery Park, Central Park (so big, so varied, and so cool. There was a musical group that just started playing and some roller-skating group came up and started dancing with them. Fun to watch), the Brooklyn Bridge, and Grand Central Station. I love New York. It has such a feel to it. A real pulse. A life unlike any other. The variety is so wonderful. One of my favorite moments was watching a Hasidic Jew being helped by a Sikh at a food stand (Sikhs are the ones who wear the turbans and are often mistaken for Arabs). It just seemed so right and good.
Hey, what's up?
ReplyDeleteHello friend, would you happen to be Alyssa?
ReplyDeleteYeah, that would be me. How have you been? I guess it's been a while, huh?
ReplyDeleteLol, a fair while. How'd you find me? Or did you ever lose me, I don't know. I'm doing well. I spent the last couple years in Sacramento and am now in Provo, Utah. I never thought I'd be here, but I keep finding reasons.
ReplyDeleteHow are you? Where are you even? And what are you doing?
You know me, do I ever really lose people?
ReplyDeleteI'm doing well too. Really well. Life got better after high school. I moved to Minnesota. Never I thought I'd be here either but it's been good for me.
I study anthropology and linguistics. I'm done with my major/minor so mostly I'm just bumming around taking poetry and communication classes till I graduate.
What about you? What are you doing?
It is true. You do a good job keeping track of us.
ReplyDeleteYou're already done with your degree? Do you graduate in the spring?
I'd like to take a poetry class. But I am picking rhetoric back up. And I'm doing a lot of folk dance now. Started on a whim but it has been great. I'm studying International Relations while focusing on the Near East so I'll be minoring in Arabic and Rhetoric and maybe World Dance. BYU has been surprisingly good for me. I know I wasn't supposed to be here for that first year, but I'm a lot better now.
Honestly, I'm really glad to hear you're alive. And well. And writing poetry.
Yeah, I think it surprised a lot of people, including me, that I made it past high school.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, I both dance and study the Middle East. I dance swing (East Coast and some Lindy) and salsa, and occasionally other Latin dances if my lead is good. I also speak Turkish after living in Istanbul for the summer about a year and a half ago (oh, irony, dear delegate of Constantinople). I'm planning on doing my grad degree in either sociolinguistics or Turkish studies/politics; possibly both, just do two separate MAs. Yes, I do graduate in the spring. I probably won't go right on to grad school but I'm applying to a few places anyway (I get asked this a lot as I'm sure you can tell).
Why weren't you supposed to be at BYU for the first year? And you and I both know sometimes you don't pick the places you need to be. Sometimes you're just there.
There is a really cool cat in my ward who speaks Turkish. His name is Jason Jamshid. Lovely language. I don't know much about masters programs, could you work on both at the same time or would it be one then the other?
ReplyDeleteIf you wait for grad school what do you want to do? Work for a while, relax, travel?
Natalie and Amanda and Amanda were at NAU and I was supposed to have that time with them, especially to figure out our relations. Robyn Slayton-Martin taught at NAU that year and I needed to learn from her: rhetoric, political analysis, and adding depth to a thought on paper. My bishop in Flagstaff really helped me feel more comfortable with the church and its leadership. He showed me a lot about what a leader should be. And I was not ready to deal with such a concentrated Mormon culture yet. I am now. And I'm finding more and more people who are caring and loving and open and trying so hard to live like Christ, not just living a religion. I honestly wasn't expecting it, but it makes me so glad.
Unrelated note, I just realized that I was standing in this background two weeks ago.
Yeah. Seriously, sorry. Did not mean to check out for three months. I really haven't had much free time. I work from 10 to 12 hours on MWF and have classes from 9-6pm on TuTh. It's nuts. I'm actually taking a year or two off for sure now and I'm applying to GMU for their linguistics program. I'm planning on doing my thesis on 3rd person pronouns in cultural contexts (basically, is there an option other than him/her/it/they? how do other cultures use their pronouns and what does it say about them). Did you eventually get stuff figured out with Natalie and Amanda? You guys still friends? What about Claire? Also, interesting side note, Ruby Crews goes to my uni. Small world, huh?
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you're more comfortable with the church and your religion. It's good for you to have places where you feel safe and loved. I went the opposite way (surprise, surprise) and don't really follow a religion at all. I'm not too torn up about it. I think if I didn't have such strong feelings about morals and ethics I would feel more inclined to find a support system that could give me something like that, but I'm doing okay as I am.
If you're up for it, we could try emailing. I'm not totally comfortable posting tons of stuff on your unprotected blog. Mum did a google search on my name and found this...No guarantees but email should make it easier to find me if I disappear again.