I've been pushing really hard this past week, so this weekend has been a welcome breather for me. Of course I've been working on the Unchained Love event, which went off as well as I could have hoped (see the playwright blog at www.olnyplay.blogspot.com for details). The only thing that got crossed up were the defective birthday candles that Piper valiantly tried to light but couldn't get them to ignite. Just goes to show that you never know how things can go wrong....but surprising Kacey with the cake was a memorable highlight for me.
The other significant thing about Tuesday was that my friend Jennifer from work showed up, the first time anyone from work has entered the queer/poly bubble I inhabit in the city. Of course Jennifer has met Puck a couple times, but she's never been to a poly event with me. But since Jennifer is my emergency contact - bridging the gap between my work and personal lives - it's probably a good thing that she sees a little of what I'm about. The look she gave me when she saw my new haircut was priceless! Since I'd had it for three days, I'd forgotten it was new, so I was wondering what the look was about at first.
So after my dinner with Ria, I had to work a few more hours until about 11:30 pm Wednesday night, and then I had extra work tossed on me Thursday afternoon that put me behind and meant I had to work until my last train on Thursday and then continue working at home until 1:30 am. I got permission to stay home Friday so I got up at 7:30 am and worked until 9:30 am before I turned that particular assignment in. Then I worked my usual workday from home Friday, and went out to see Liz's play, "Dutch Heart of Man" with Katie M and Andrea in the evening.
Katie and I had dinner at a Mexican cantina before the play, which was interesting and entertaining, but I didn't much care for the ending when it took a really dark turn. Afterward we went to Dublin, a bar and restaurant, for an opening night cast party. As a sponsor of Animus Theater company, I got two free drinks, so I got a Kopparberg Pear Cider and got Katie a Stella. I'm only making note because the pear cider was so good! We didn't stay too late since I was pretty tired from my week.
Saturday Kristina and I met up to try the ticket lottery for "Hedwig and the Angry Itch" but no luck. On our way to get a bite at Schnipper's Kitchen, we bumped into Kacey on 44th Street. She was with actress Diana Oh and another guy - they had been shooting photos. After Schnipper's we tried the lottery at Matilda but struck out again, so we returned to TSMC and watched the Miyazaki film From Up on Poppy Hill and The Perks of Being a Wallflower. I'm rather sad that Kristina is going to be moving to Chicago in March, but I guess that's a long way away yet.
Today I've been doing a lot of walking around looking for a new pair of earphones or replacement tips for my old ones. I also went down to Chinatown for groceries and stopped at a Vietnamese bakery for a bahn mi and some shrimp chips. Then at my local grocery store, I bumped into Liz's friend Margueritte (one of the Fishkill apple picking gang), making it two days in a row that I've randomly encountered a friend on the street. Every time this happens, as rarely as it does, it always makes me feel a little more like this city is truly my home.
