Yesterday, I was too harsh on the trip thus far, and I intend to correct that this morning.
First of all, I was in New York. New York is one of my favorite places in the country, and although I get jaded because it's also the place I visit most often, it's only fair to note that I *always* like visiting New York. It's a slice of home for me, and I love being there.
Second, while in NYC, I got to see three of my favorite people - Mike, Russ and Megan. Megs was the big surprise because she lives in DC, but since she had to be in town for a work thing, they sent her up a night early and she rallied and came out late-night style to hang out with me. Awesome. Michael trekked all the way back into the city for a quick dinner, and Russ came across town to have drinks - everyone went out of their way to come hang out with me and that's an honor. And besides old friends, I also got to see Lindsay, who took me to a hilarious late-night "happy hour" Broadway event where Stanley Tucci ended up pouring me a Chopin on the rocks. She also suggested and then met me for pizza when I was craving New York's finest. Good stuff.
For the first time in years, I didn't have to stay in a Hotel, either. I stayed in a friend's studio apartment, which was also pretty cool. While it wasn't free, it was cheaper than a hotel and pretty much exactly the same thing - a studio (except this had a kitchen that I didn't have time to use) apartment in New York. In fact, it was bigger than most of the hotel rooms I rent. It's in a great neighborhood on the upper west side, just a quick train ride to work - a fact that makes it more convenient in some ways than even my favorite place in Times Square (that's now $400/night to which I'll never return) That was pretty cool.
After NY, I took a bus to Hershey. I hear that I could have taken a train, which also would have been cool (and a little faster), but I didn't think to check on that, so a bus it was. No trouble, and I got to read my Kindle more. I've been reading the shit out of things on my Kindle - it's almost time to start looking through the Project Gutenberg library and such for more fodder. I still haven't bought anything from the Kindle store because fuck DRM and because I have enough to read already. Eventually, when I have no other choice I certainly will buy something, but I'm in no hurry to load my Kindle up with hundreds of dollars worth of bits and bytes that I don't even get to own. But having and using the Kindle is a definite plus for me while I'm on the road.
Hershey has been relaxing. I've been catching up on my sleep (I think I got nine consecutive hours two nights in a row now!) and generally keeping out of harm's way. Set up at the venue went way more smoothly than I thought it would, and I could be ready to prompt in under an hour (and that includes having pulled the monitors off the stage to keep rain off them). It's looking more and more like I might have to head back to the east coast for the Meadowlands shows, but we'll see - it's all still totally up in the air right now. It's not like I'd be buying a ticket for Monday night or anything, right?
Okay, this update is way too long. Tonight I fly home and meet Drew for the start of his Bachelor party weekend. I hope he doesn't have any clue as to our activities (any more clues than I've already given him, that is), but you never know. He's smart, and I'm loose-lipped - a deadly combination for secrets. We'll see soon enough, right?
Happy Wednesday.
