What is the Force that Binds the Stars

Good evening friend!

It's part three of my epic journey to New York! Time to get this story on the books. 

To recap: my bags have been packed, everything has been planned, and I was just waiting for Jewel to arrive with the rental car.

In a few short minutes she arrives! Many hugs are had as well as nervous screams of excitement. I grab my things and we start our epic adventure! 

We drive south towards the Ohio Turnpike - we'll take that most of the way to the city. It's just like old times between us - we start talking as if we're in the middle of some great theatrical production that we're in technical rehearsals for. The new Into the Woods movie, the upcoming The Last Five Years, local community theater gossip - nothing is off the table for us. Life, family, work, changes in all of the above. 

I'm honored to have a friend like her. No matter the time that passes, we pick up just where we left up and grow from there. 

At any rate, in a few hours we decide to stop and take a break at a rest station. The turnpike rest stops are fantastic for having great amenities and actual eateries. Well, a couple of fast food options instead of a vending machine. Still, salad in hand and Jewel at my side, we sit in a corner of the pavilion that isn't being cleaned. (It was about 9:30 PM at this point, so the janitorial staff were hard at work)

We sit there eating, minding our own business when a true character comes to sit right behind us. I managed to snap this picture before Jewel's giggling made being sneaky an impossibility.  In retrospect, he wasn't all that odd, just out of place. I suppose we were too - I wonder if they were taking pictures of us characters? 

After some giggling and a few uncontrollable salad-spitting laughs, it becomes apparent that what we need at that exact moment of time is more caffeine. Right? Sure, this sounds like a great idea! It will definitely help silence the giggling. 

I guess this 24 hour Starbucks in the rest stop will be handy. 

Before we knew it, we each had a single shot of espresso ready to down. I tell her I like mine with some raw sugar (it tastes like espresso candy at the end), and she tries it. 

Mmmm... coffee. This will go well. With eagerness we bundle up again and wade out into the harsh January night. 

At this point, I hoped the night would never end. Somehow the espresso allowed for a more honest conversation. Maybe it's like ADD medication and brought us back down to earth instead of hyping us up? 

Religion, science, politics; open discussion, respectful disagreement in some cases. The miles of road passed underneath us as music played on underneath our discussions. Into the mountains of Pennsylvania we drove. Wait, the fuel tank is how low? How far do we have until the next town? 

Until part four

It's All There in the Gospel

Good evening, my friend.

Let's set the scene. Saturday night, mid January. I'm all packed in a simple backpack - I have charging cables, a change of clothes, nicer clothes for the show, some water and basic food supplies. All I have to do is wait for Jewel to get there with the rental car and we'll be on our way. 

Everything has been planned - as much as we can anyway. We'll try to get to the city early enough to be on one of the Sunday morning shows, we'll hang around the city a few hours and see the show. Then, it's back off again and back to reality. We've got this. Weather seems like it will be clear - cold, but clear. 

I get a text from Jewel - she's on her way! My nerves are firing with excited anxiety. So many things could be going wrong, but I have to trust that things will be all right. 

One Day He Dreamed of A Ship in the World

Hello friend of mine.

So... it's February and I still haven't told you about the events of January. New things keep stacking up - I suppose it makes for an interesting life. I always seem to get behind. Forgive me for that. I do have something rather exciting to share with you, however: my impromptu trip to New York City (part 1)!

My good friend Jewel (I talked about her in an old blog entry) decided to text me mid January out of the blue.

"Looking for someone to go to New York with me overnight next week, interested?"

That fateful text.

"I'm very interested," I responded enthusiastically. Now we just had to plan around my preset work schedule.

Come to find out, Sting had written a musical (I know, right?) called The Last Ship. I knew next to nothing about it, but Jewel loved the idea of seeing it on Broadway. She'd seen a clip of it on The Today Show To give some perspective: I've always been a theater person. I've done many productions in school and out, doing everything from acting to technical work to directing. My dream career used to be working on the Broadway stage. That passion runs deep to me.

Funny thing, though - I've never been to NYC, not to mention Broadway. When this chance appeared, I jumped on it. We looked into flight and as it turns out flying can be expensive booking three days before you leave. No go on that front. How about a drive? We'd worked out that we could leave on a Saturday night and come back by Monday morning - when I had to work at 7 AM. Could we manage the drive in that slot of time? It was a 10 hour drive nonstop.

For some unknown reason we decided to make the trip. We started to make secondary plans - should we leave earlier Saturday? Who would get the rental car? Matinee on Sunday? How is the weather looking?

Meanwhile I'd made plans to play board games with a friend of mine early Saturday morning. I did some quick mental math. 7 AM Saturday to 11 Monday night = very tiring weekend.

Was this a good idea? Was this the most reckless thing I'd ever done? Yes. I'll never forget it.