To Grant on His 18th Birthday

For the past two years I have written my brother Grant a letter on here for his birthday.  He's very much alive, I just do this in keeping with tradition.

Dear Bubs,

I haven't been home this past year as much as you would have liked but from what I can tell, it's been a ride. You are an incredibly strong person. I am constantly in awe of how you handle difficult things and find ways to look on the bright side because that's where you'd rather live.

Life is pretty disappointing much of the time but you don't let that get to you. You live by F. Scott Fitzgerald idea that you should "never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat." There have been so many times when something has happened to you and I had no idea how it could end well, but you knew it would... and then it did.

You're loud and brutally honest, silly and kind. It blows my mind that anyone could ever wish you anything but happiness. Sure you make mistakes and don't always get things right, but I can sincerely say that you are good to your marrow.

May you have nothing but happiness and contentment. Happy birthday, you beautiful little fool.

Love,
Sissy

To Grant Who is 17

At this time last year, I made a post about my youngest brother because it was his birthday and I missed him horribly. Today is again his birthday I wanted to give him another shout out.

Dear Bubba,
It's your birthday again and I wish that I could spend it with you. Always remember that you are 100% capable of everything you want to accomplish. You are funny and brave and these two things will continue to help you throughout your life, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Of all the people I've met I can't think of another 17 year old that I would want to hang out with more than you.
You may not be aware of this, but you allow others to recognize that the things that make them weird also make them incredible. I hope you always remember how special you are and how much I'm rooting for you.

Love,
Sissy

Concrete Jungle: Day 4

I'm aware of how late this post is, but you have to understand that I'm a student who spends most of her time on campus either studying or being part of a theatre production. In other words: I'm usually busy. That being said, I will now complete my chronicle of being in New York City.

My dad and I woke up late and decided that we wanted to go to "Serendipity", so I looked up the location on my phone. I found out that it's actually called "Serendipity III" and that my dad had never seen "Serendipity".

On the walk to the restaurant, I explained what the movie was about and when we arrived there was about a ten minute wait. This was fine because they have a gift shop right as you walk in. In "Serendipity III" there are two levels you can be seated in, and my dad and I were seated upstairs... a few feet away from where they filmed scenes from the movie! There were a couple of teenagers seated there, so dad and I had to wait until they left so that I could take a picture there.

As you can see, the decor is very bright and fun. I would say that it's a 12 year old girl's dream as far as decorations go. Anyway, I really enjoyed how bright and fun the environment was. There was a mother seated with two of her college aged children having a calm brunch together. I noticed that this was a place that a lot of people go to relax and be with one another, which was nice.

I suppose that those of you who know a bit about this restaurant know of their famous frozen hot chocolate. For those of you who aren't aware, they serve frozen hot chocolate in a multitude of flavors. So what do you think my dad and I did? We got ourselves some frozen hot chocolate.

Being tourists, dad and I obviously had no idea that you should probably share this dessert. I got the salted caramel frozen hot chocolate, and dad go the strawberry frozen hot chocolate. They were as delicious as they look in the picture. I would also like to point out that they are basically giant frappuccinos, but still delicious. I then got a hot dog and dad got a burger of some kind and we left. totally anti-climactic, I know.

Having to leave that evening, dad and I wanted to see at least one more show before we left and decided on "A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder". We were unfortunately unable to stay for the entire show, but what we saw of it, I really enjoyed. I would also like to throw in that the official twitter replied to one of my tweets and one of the producers of the show follows me on twitter now. It was honestly just a very fun show that would be good for families to go and see. I'm not usually a huge fan of musicals like that, but this one is different. There were also some extremely impressive quick changes for the characters, and having been involved in some pretty tricky quick changes, I was very... well, impressed. A quick change is basically what it sounds like: an actor needs to be in a different costume quickly. The fastest one I've ever done was eight seconds and was almost a full costume change. Anyway, I thought I would share this picture of the stage before the show started.

 

I know this is only an iPhone photo, but this was gorgeous. It gives me chills every time I look at it. To me, this photo represents a lot of things that I love about live theatre: the audience chatting away before a show, standing backstage hearing them chatting and knowing that people will be able to experience your art in the next little while, the beauty of the set and how well it seamlessly meshes with the lighting, the classic red curtain waiting to raise and reveal the actors... there's just a lot to love here.

Like I said, we couldn't stay for the whole thing, but I would definitely recommend going on Spotify to listen to the album because you understand the story perfectly from the music. 

Here is what I learned from this trip to New York City: I do not want to live in Manhattan or Brooklyn. If I end up working in NYC, I hope to live in New Jersey because the environment is noticeably more calm and attracts a lot less tourists. The theatre scene is right up there with London (obviously) and I can see why so many artists drop everything to live there, I just can't see myself giving everything up to live there. I would much rather work in Boston or Philadelphia. But I do love New York City and wish almost every day that I could hop on a plane and see shows. Alas, I don't have that kind of time or money and I love where I'm at in my life at the moment.

I hope everyone is enjoying their spring while it lasts! Remeber:

To Grant on His Birthday:

I know this isn't post all of you were waiting for (I haven't really rested since I started spring break and I haven't uploaded pictures yet) but I just wanted to take a moment and say how much I love my brother Grant.

Today is his sixteenth birthday and I am so glad that he wasn't a girl like my parents had hoped he'd be. Sure, having a sister seems nice to most people, but I've never really wanted one because I have Grant. He's the one who will watch Reese Witherspoon chick flicks with me. He's the one that will go anywhere I will go because he just wants to be with me. He's the one who always greets me with "Sissy!" when I come home or talk to him on the phone. He will sing "Popular" from Wicked in public with no shame. He is unapologetically and unabashedly himself.

I love him and hope that he never changes because he's the best sixteen year old brother out there. Anyone who thinks or feels differently is wrong.

I wish I could call and tell him all this, but he's out partying it up on a cruise.

Happy Birthday, Bubba!

Concrete Jungle: Day 3

Today was much more relaxed than the past two days I've had here.

My dad and I decided to honor the request of my mom and make the pilgrimage to Carlo's Bake Shop in Hoboken, New Jersey. We thought that it would take a really long time to get there, but it turns out that it was basically just a matter of getting to the train station and taking a few right turns once we got across the river to Hoboken. I was told beforehand that there would be a line out the door, so I would need to wait about half an hour or so. But when we got there, the line was only to the inside of the door.

The inside of the bakery- taken while waiting in line.

He's usually checking e-mail and stuff while we wait for things. You know, important dad stuff.

That spread, though.

We then went back to our hotel room and tried to decide on something else to do... only we didn't actually go out again until dinner. We entertained the idea of going to Louis Armstrong's home, but that was an hour away. We then thought about the Natural History Museum, but that wasn't particularly interesting to us either. So dad took a nap and I dozed for a bit. 

After we ate dinner, we headed to the theatre and found out that Lorde was performing across the street. So many hipsters and little girls all over the place. I mean, we are in New York City, so the hipster thing is a a given. It was still interesting to see all the different variations of hipster and little girl were waiting to see her.

Next we came upon what I had been waiting for all day: the Neil Simon theatre where we would partake in the experience that is All the Way.

It was about three hours long, but was one of the best shows I've ever seen. It was a ride from start to finish and the entire cast was brilliant. I can't sing its praises enough. I will say this, though: if you are in NYC while this show is happening, SEE IT.

So did I meet Bryan Cranston? You bet your sweet bippy I did. He is one of the most warm and kind individuals I think I will ever meet. He touch my hand while signing my playbill. He smiled at me. He addressed me directly. He looked me in the eye when speaking to me. You know that he wants you to feel important no matter how many other people are looking to get his attention. He is the kind of performer I want to be, not just because he really is engaging onstage, but because he's the kind of person you want as your friend, uncle, or in my case, back up dad. I love my dad more than any other dad out there, but if something were to happen to mine, I would want Bryan Cranston to be my dad. Could I continue counting the ways I adore and admire Mr. Cranston? Probably. But I'll just let you look at the pictures.

They wouldn't let you take pictures with him, so I don't have any selfies or anything with him. Just know that I love him and that I met him. He's wonderful.

One of the best shows ever.

Time Square was super busy tonight. There's a lot going on.

It's been a wonderful trip and it'll be sad for it to end tomorrow, but I'm so glad that I got to do all that I've done thus far. I can't thank my parents enough for doing all this for me!

Concrete Jungle: Day 2

Today I learned many things and also got back to the hotel around midnight, so today's stories may be limited to a few sentences.

It's currently 1:50 a.m. and as I reflect on today, all I can think about is how cool certain things I saw were. As Maria Von Trapp said, here area few of my favorite things:

1. My dad and I went to the almost finished 9/11 Memorial this morning to discover some really cool memorial things like this:

The rose means that today would have been Jon's birthday.

We also found a really good vantage point for taking pictures of the Freedom Tower.

2. The Jewish Heritage Museum knows what it's doing. The way this place is set up is that it has three floors, each of which is dedicated to the foundation, past, and present of Jewish culture. Obviously the big draw for this museum would be its Holocaust exhibit, which was extremely interesting, but I like how it was set up. It began by teaching the visitors about basic beliefs and traditions of the Jewish religion and then went into the Holocaust. It ended by showing just how much stronger the Jewish people are even after the tragedy that occurred during World War II. I would definitely recommend going here the next time you venture to New York. Be warned: you will spend a really long time here. 

I happen to be really fascinated by the Nazis, especially Nazi propaganda and Adolf Hitler.

3. Ellen's Stardust Diner is way more fun than I thought it would be. I mean, I thought it would be cool, but it's definitely one of the most fun restaurant I've ever been to. They sing, they dance, they serve comfort food... what more could you ask for in a restaurant?

4. Les Miserables was very worth going to see. I've seen it many times and have gotten tired of it, but I wanted to do something my dad really want to do, so I initially decided to go because of him. Well, I found out that Will Swenson was playing Javert in this second revival and I knew that I needed to go. THEN I found out that an SUU alumni was playing Madame Thenardier and it further confirmed my need to go see the show. AND THEN I found out that Tony Award winner Nikki M. James was playing Eponine and I really knew I needed to go see the show. Needless to say, it was a good show.

My dad was way more excited about the show than he looks in this photo...

He always suggests that we take selfies. 

Mr. Will Swenson, everyone. This was what I had been looking forward to for the entire day, just ask my dad. I am so extremely proud of everything this man has accomplished. Love, love, love him.

The one and only, the fabulous Miss Keala Settle. She was seriously wonderful and I am so glad I met her!

Unfortunately Nikki M. James walked away before I could get a picture with her, but just know that she was beautiful and magical onstage. 

Needless to say, today was pretty awesome. Shout out to my dad for being a good cameraman. Hopefully tomorrow will have some even more exciting things for me to post about! I mean, it's going to be pretty difficult to top meeting Will Swenson, but I'll see what I can do!

Concrete Jungle: Day 1

Today was the first day of my adventure here in New York City. I'll admit right off that traveling through three time zones in less than twenty four hours during daylight savings time is not a good idea, but it's all been worth it so far. 

My dad and I started out the day by going to a little cafe/coffee shop called "World Coffee" where we both had muffins and I had a cup of freshly juiced apple juice. We're trying to be a bit more conscious of what we eat while here so that we don't have to roll each other back to the hotel every night. So far we've done relatively well with that goal. 

We then headed to the TKTS line to get tickets for Waiting for Godot, or Waiting for Gu-dot as one of the TKTS guys unjokingly called it. It was cold, but I felt just fine in the 31 degree weather while everyone around me seemed to be freezing even in their marshmallow jackets. 

My dad and I were able to get tickets and needed to waste time between lunch and the time the show began. We went to FAO Schwartz and of course, the Apple Store. It was a good time and we saw some things we really liked. For me, it was the Wizard of Oz toys and Beatles merchandise along with all the Apple products I don't already own. For my dad, it was some Beats headphones. 

After all this, he and I headed to the theatre and took our very small seats. The show was very well done and the cast was wonderful. I especially loved the set design. I felt like this play could easily be played too seriously, so it was good to experience this story through the lens of friendship that has a very natural feeling string of comic situations. It was also nice to be surrounded by a lot of people who would not normally go out of their way to see a Samuel Beckett play, well, going out of their way to see a Samuel Beckett play.  
Next comes the part many people know me for executing: the picture with someone I highly respect. 

After the show, security set up these small barricades to keep the already large crowd forming at the stage door in control. We waited for a small while and I sort of made friends with a young boy and his mom near the back of the crowd. You form this sort of short lived friendship as a means of having someone to laugh the situation you are both in off with another person. It's one of the best kinds of friendship. Anyway, I was able to get two autographs and pictures: Billy Crudup and the man himself, Gandalf the Grey/White a.k.a. Sir Ian McKellan, a.k.a. One of the coolest people ever. 

It was a good day and I'm looking forward to experiencing whatever this crazy city has in store tomorrow.