Sisters, Birthdays, and Broadway
8/2/11 10:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kateSo I've been gone for a little while because I took a vacation! \o/ I didn't even look at my work email the whole week. Okay, maybe once, but not for more than half an hour!
In my family we have a way of overdoing the big x-0 years, like 3-0, 4-0, 5-0, so she planned early last year to come out and visit because she came out for my 40th and it was nice and low key and she knew I'd do the same for her. I love my sister, so much. She's so much like me in temperament, low key and easy going and fun to be around. She's going a little deaf (aren't we all), so that's fun, but other than that, we got along great and did lots of cool stuff and just enjoyed each other's company. It was fabulous.
soleta and I had seen it already, but I'd told her we were going to see it with her, so we went again when she got in on Friday. It was just as good the second time, I generally feel it was a good ending to the series, and holy cow, Daniel Radcliffe has learned how to act somewhere in there! Can't wait for that ghost story movie of his.
We could have seen him in NY, I think (he is doing The Secret of My Success, right?) but we decided to see War Horse instead. Even though the seats were made for tiny people and I had to put my arm around my sister the whole time, I was enthralled. The puppetry was amazing and the actors were just awesome. I won't be forgetting that play for a long time. It was just... wow. I don't have enough superlatives.
Because it was cheap. Like, really cheap. And even the amount we paid in gas and tolls wouldn't have taken us anywhere near the cost of a NYC hotel room, and it was a lovely two hour drive which we spent talking or singing in the car. The first night we were in Atlantic City, though, we hit the boardwalk (in the 103° heat, bleh), and I saw the weirdest t-shirt. It said It was with a bunch of other shirts for kids basically making fun of their parents, but that one made me stop short. I'm not a sensitive soul, I don't get up in arms about this stuff (mainly because my adoption experience has been overwhelmingly positive), but that one just made me look at it sideways. When I was a kid I used to say that disparagingly, even ("Thank god I'm adopted"), but somehow I think that no, actually, most people would not wish to be adopted. Like I said, it didn't really upset me, but it has been bothering me a little. Just a little. I've been chewing on it for a while. We got a bunch of taffy (ate ourselves sick) and oohed and ahhed over the casino lights and light show in the mall on the pier.
We rested at home for a couple of days (she walked my feet off in NY, omg, the blisters), and went to see Captain America. It was pretty. I love Chris Evans. I can't wait for Avengers. I think that's about it, really.
The second weekend, my other older sister flew out to join us and the four of us took a trip up to Philly to see Bartram's Garden (a botanical garden of sorts) and Eastern State Penitentiary. Boy did my coworker give me a look when I told her that. "Whyyyyyyy?" she asked. "It's haunted," I answered. My four sisters are all ghost hunters. A là Ghost Hunters. Yeah, for real. I've been to ESP before; there's an audio tour with Steve Buscemi, and it's really awesome, actually.
My sisters snuck out of the house the next morning whilesoleta and I were sleeping in and bought cake and strawberries and cherries for her birthday! We ordered pizza for lunch and watched movies and shared pictures (all three of them were busily clicking away at the gardens and ESP). I don't do cameras, so it's nice to have people in the family who do. The sisters climbed in the car around 5pm for the trip back to Wisconsin, and we saw them off with a smile in the still-ridiculous heat.
I was planning to write on Sunday, thinking my![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
mcshep_match was due, but then they extended the deadline, and ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
atlantisbigbang had already extended the deadline, so I took the day off to let my brain and body rest. It was lovely. Monday, back at work, only 90 emails over the week I was gone - must have been a record! It was a decent day back, and I got back on my writing schedule, so I should be able to finish both Match and ABB in plenty of time. :D Last night I caught up on all the SYTYCD, and I have two words that contain infinite squee: IVAN and NEIL. I love them both SO MUCH and Neil and Melanie, my life could not be better.
So now, good folks, we're watching NuTrek and I'll be going to bed soon, as I'm trying to get myself back into my 6am wakeup to write and it's been tough after a week off, I tell you. How are you all, my lovelies? <3<3<3
In my family we have a way of overdoing the big x-0 years, like 3-0, 4-0, 5-0, so she planned early last year to come out and visit because she came out for my 40th and it was nice and low key and she knew I'd do the same for her. I love my sister, so much. She's so much like me in temperament, low key and easy going and fun to be around. She's going a little deaf (aren't we all), so that's fun, but other than that, we got along great and did lots of cool stuff and just enjoyed each other's company. It was fabulous.
soleta and I had seen it already, but I'd told her we were going to see it with her, so we went again when she got in on Friday. It was just as good the second time, I generally feel it was a good ending to the series, and holy cow, Daniel Radcliffe has learned how to act somewhere in there! Can't wait for that ghost story movie of his.We could have seen him in NY, I think (he is doing The Secret of My Success, right?) but we decided to see War Horse instead. Even though the seats were made for tiny people and I had to put my arm around my sister the whole time, I was enthralled. The puppetry was amazing and the actors were just awesome. I won't be forgetting that play for a long time. It was just... wow. I don't have enough superlatives.
Because it was cheap. Like, really cheap. And even the amount we paid in gas and tolls wouldn't have taken us anywhere near the cost of a NYC hotel room, and it was a lovely two hour drive which we spent talking or singing in the car. The first night we were in Atlantic City, though, we hit the boardwalk (in the 103° heat, bleh), and I saw the weirdest t-shirt. It said It was with a bunch of other shirts for kids basically making fun of their parents, but that one made me stop short. I'm not a sensitive soul, I don't get up in arms about this stuff (mainly because my adoption experience has been overwhelmingly positive), but that one just made me look at it sideways. When I was a kid I used to say that disparagingly, even ("Thank god I'm adopted"), but somehow I think that no, actually, most people would not wish to be adopted. Like I said, it didn't really upset me, but it has been bothering me a little. Just a little. I've been chewing on it for a while. We got a bunch of taffy (ate ourselves sick) and oohed and ahhed over the casino lights and light show in the mall on the pier.
We rested at home for a couple of days (she walked my feet off in NY, omg, the blisters), and went to see Captain America. It was pretty. I love Chris Evans. I can't wait for Avengers. I think that's about it, really.
The second weekend, my other older sister flew out to join us and the four of us took a trip up to Philly to see Bartram's Garden (a botanical garden of sorts) and Eastern State Penitentiary. Boy did my coworker give me a look when I told her that. "Whyyyyyyy?" she asked. "It's haunted," I answered. My four sisters are all ghost hunters. A là Ghost Hunters. Yeah, for real. I've been to ESP before; there's an audio tour with Steve Buscemi, and it's really awesome, actually.
My sisters snuck out of the house the next morning while
soleta and I were sleeping in and bought cake and strawberries and cherries for her birthday! We ordered pizza for lunch and watched movies and shared pictures (all three of them were busily clicking away at the gardens and ESP). I don't do cameras, so it's nice to have people in the family who do. The sisters climbed in the car around 5pm for the trip back to Wisconsin, and we saw them off with a smile in the still-ridiculous heat.I was planning to write on Sunday, thinking my
mcshep_match was due, but then they extended the deadline, and atlantisbigbang had already extended the deadline, so I took the day off to let my brain and body rest. It was lovely. Monday, back at work, only 90 emails over the week I was gone - must have been a record! It was a decent day back, and I got back on my writing schedule, so I should be able to finish both Match and ABB in plenty of time. :D Last night I caught up on all the SYTYCD, and I have two words that contain infinite squee: IVAN and NEIL. I love them both SO MUCH and Neil and Melanie, my life could not be better.So now, good folks, we're watching NuTrek and I'll be going to bed soon, as I'm trying to get myself back into my 6am wakeup to write and it's been tough after a week off, I tell you. How are you all, my lovelies? <3<3<3
For easy organization later:
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on 8/3/11 04:01 pm (UTC)Matt Doyle is in War Horse, right? He seems to be everyone's favorite Broadway darling, but I've never seen him act without singing, and I'm dubious even though (or especially because) he's precious.
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on 8/3/11 04:20 pm (UTC)Does Ocean City have casinos? I've never been (despite the fact that I actually live in MD). There's nice boardwalk in Atlantic City... there was taffy and fried food and the ocean, which was nice. I believe there was a carnival-type-thing on the northernmost pier.
Yeah, Matt Doyle is in it, though it's a minor character. He gets some face time, but the real star is Seth... um. Somebody. Except we didn't get Seth, we got someone else (understudy, maybe?) and he was DELIGHTFUL. I will look up in my program who it was when I get home (and make sure Matt Doyle was on that night too - apparently we had a lot of understudies). Matt's part was that of a spoiled brat, and he played it well enough? I mean, he was fine. I was mostly goggling over the lead guy and the puppetry.
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on 8/3/11 05:19 pm (UTC)I think Seth somethingorother might be Matt's costar in Private Romeo. I read somewhere that they were both in War Horse, but I've never seen him act either. Hooray for awesome understudies, though :)
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on 8/3/11 06:20 pm (UTC)I missed you too! I notice you've been quiet lately. Is all well?
And yeah, thanks - I had a fabulous time.