Saturday in NY 2012

I had plans to go to the American Museum of Natural History the next morning, before the 2 pm show.  As it turned out, I slept in a bit too late for that.  So I found a pasta place for an early lunch, then walked up to Times Square again and hung around there.

This time I was closer to the stage, but still not all that close.  You have to be an American Express cardholder for that, like I said.  There was this lady sitting next to me who said, "I don't know how to turn off my cell phone.  I'll just put it on vibrate."  Her companion and I managed to convince her that we'd knock her block off if her phone started buzzing during the play.  Okay, we didn't say that, but that's really what it's all about.  You may think your phone's vibrate mode is silent, until you rest your coat pocket against the wooden arm of your theater seat, and it goes off while Alan Rickman's character is quietly reading Izzy's story.  Then you find out how loud it really is.

Happily, there were no cell phone issues.  Again, the play was a lot of fun.

Afterwards I waited outside for my friend Eric to pick me up.  People lined up to see Alan Rickman, but he never came out.  I had heard that he doesn't come out after the matinee, because he's got other stuff to do before the evening show.  So I felt kind of sorry for the people who were hoping to see him.  The others came out, though, except Lily Rabe again.  She eventually came out and walked quickly past the few people who were left, but no one seemed to notice her except me.

While I waited, I called up Carmel and reserved a car to pick me up, feeling very much like a proper travelling person.

I learned that it takes about nine hours to drive from W. 41st street to W. 45th, and you have to take out a second mortgage if you want to park.  Eric picked me up and drove me around town, pointing out some sights.  After a while we ended up at an Irish bar uptown, and had a few beers while catching up after having not seen each other (except for a short visit) in 15 years.  That was really nice, so I'm glad we had that chance.

He dropped me back off at the hotel, and I sat in the lobby and had a cup of their tasty, complementary coffee and talked on the phone with Alex for a bit, because even though my vocal cords were absolutely shredded from talking over loud pop music all night, I was still feeling all social.

Oh, and this picture ought to be on the previous page, but I'll put it here anyway.  This is right across the street from the theater.

Sorry it's out of focus.  William Shatner on stage.  What else can I say?