NYC Trip: A brush with semi-fame and the Endless Wait

So we got up at 6 a.m. or some other ungoldly hour. We hailed a cab and got the slippy, sliddy experience of whipping through traffic. When we reached the studio there was two lines, we were about in the middle of the first one. One line was for people who had tickets and the other was for walkins. Finally the doors opened and we got to go in. We had to go through security and then wait some more. I’d say we waited for at least 1 hour and 45 minutes. But I’m not sure anymore. It was forever. We were tired and you couldn’t bring beverages in, so we were without coffee.

It was so good to finally sit in the studio chairs. Gelman came out and welcomed us. Told us how important we were (which I think they should have been telling us all along when we were standing in line like cattle) and he taught us how to clap loud and when to clap.
The guest host was Jeff Probst. (Yay!) and the guests were Diane Sawyer, some guy teaching us how to live green and Avril Lavine. It was cool how Kelly came to the audience and talked at each commercial break.

As we were leaving we saw Avril get in her car and be hassled by the paparazzi. We walked back to our hotel and stumbled by Avril’s hotel. They barricaded the streets from all directions to let her get in with some peace.

We window shopped a little, then went back to the hotel to rest. We did a little shopping on 51st Avenue and ate lunch at Familia’s Famous Pizzeria. Then we stopped at Ben and Jerry’s. I had a chocolate cheesecake and coffee.

Our matinee was A Year of Magical Thinking. It was okay. Probably better as a book. We were exhausted, so I guess I’d need to see it again to give it a fair shot (hopefully in my home, on pbs, with popcorn and a blanket).

As we were walking around between the shows we walked by half the cast of A Chorus Line. Whoo!

We ate supper at Pigallea’s and I was craving red meat so I had a skirt steak with fries and steamed veggies. The pear/bleu cheese salad looked amazing, but that steak hit the spot.

Company was pretty good. It had some twists I didn’t see coming.

We walked back to the hotel, happy to sleep.

Thursday we woke up, ate, went to the airport, waited, flew, ate, waited, flew and came home. To Grey’s Anatomy. Whoo.