Hello again!!
So last Thursday after I posted that blog post, we went dancing. It was a lot of fun, I met a bunch of people, and saw a few that I hadn't seen in a while (since Focus). We left a little early (11:30ish) because we were tired and falling over, but it was still really awesome.
Friday (I think) we walked around and had dinner with Ava, but I think that was one of our more lazy do-nothing days because we were tired from dancing (and oversleeping) the night before, so it was pretty uneventful.
Saturday, on the other hand, was pretty great. We went to the Mermaid parade on Coney Island, and I swear some people there just wanted to scar me for life. We saw tons of people dressed up, and in pretty revealing costumes too. The parade was pretty cool, but we couldn't stay for long. It was hot and humid and just drew the energy right out of us. I wish I had known we were going to do that, I would've brought a bathing suit and we could've gone to the beach and relaxed for a while.
Sunday was even better, simply because it was the Gay Pride parade and I took a tap class with Michelle Dorrance. I saw a lot of crazy and outrageous (but totally awesome) costumes at the gay pride parade, and a lot of motorcyles....which I totally wanted. There was even this one guy with one of those fruit-headdress things, and he dressed up his poodle which he put on a stroller behind him. It was so cute.
The tap class with Michelle Dorrance was so much fun. We started off the class improv-ing both with and without music in a circle one at a time, and let me tell you, there were some awesome people in that class. We worked on different restrictions, like one time we could only use our heels or we absolutely had to count what we were doing out-loud. Surprisingly, that was the hardest one for almost everyone because everyone wanted a syncopated beat. Then we worked on pull-backs, and I learned some new things having to do with them, but I don't really know how to describe it without showing it, so maybe I'll post a video when I get it down really well. Then we worked on super fast shuffles and nerve-taps, and she gave us tips on both of those having to do with how to make your ankle more relaxed and how to keep it that way so you can actually do the really fast nerve-taps. Then for the last half hour or so of class she taught us a combination that was pretty much all drags. Surprisingly, no one fell. I was impressed. It was fun though, so I'm definitely not complaining.
Monday I left NYC....or tried to, anyway. This is going to be an interesting story.
So.
I wake up at 2:30am in order to leave for the airport by 3. I get there on time and all that, and I'm at my gate. But I'm flying stand-by. So. They call my name, which means someone didn't show up for the flight and I was getting on. I was the 5th name called out of 6, which was supposed to mean there were 6 free spots on the plane, right?
Nope.
The 6th name called was Georgia Brown. This woman decided that she wasn't going to go up until the last minute, when they rushed five people onto the plane. I was supposed to be that 5th person, because my name was called 5th. But Miss Georgia Brown apparently absolutely HAD to be on that plane, so she stepped in front of me as they started ushering people in. I was seriously about to wreak havoc, but you know I thought they were putting 6 people on so I was okay with it. Then I got to the threshold and they said there were only 5 seats open. I tried to explain what just happened to them, and they said since she had already gotten on the walkway there was nothing they could do.
Needless to say, I was pissed.
So next they told me they would put me on the stand-by lists for both the next Milwaukee and the next Atlanta flights, and that I would be first since I was supposed to get on the first plane anyway.
Didn't happen. They only put me on the Milwaukee list, AND I was at the bottom of the list. By the time I realized that, it was too late. So the moved me to the Atlanta stand-by list...at the bottom. Very last one. Wanna know what number in line I was? 51. FIFTY. FREAKING. ONE. So I was like, no. That's not happening. They were over-booked on Atlanta flights until Friday, which means there was a good chance I wasn't going to make it out of the airport until AT LEAST Tuesday night. Owch. That just wasn't going to happen, no way was I staying in an airport over-night or more. Uh-uh. No way.
So I call up my parents. I'm flipping out, because I just don't want to be there. My respiratory system is shot (probably from the pollution, but we can't be sure. It may just be me being a sick-y), and at this point I just want to go home. They try to get me on a flight, but can't find a ticket under $350 from LaGuardia, which is just not happening. So then we decide I'd take a bus down to D.C., and from there fly down from Ronald Reagan. Well then my dad found a cheaper flight from the JFK airport down to Orlando at 8 Monday night.....needless to say, I took it. So I spent 3 more hours at an airport instead of 30, which I was okay with in hindsight. Not only that, but since my boarding pass printed without a seat assignment, the lady at the counter by the gate upgraded me to first class for free (it might have been because I probably looked like I'd been through hell, but I'm not sure). It was awesome. TV in the back of the seat in front of me, more leg room than I knew what to do with, and food. Lots of food. It was fabulous.
So I finally got home at about 12:30....and passed out. Because remember, I had been up since 2:30 that morning, and I couldn't sleep in the airport or on the plane, it just wasn't going to happen, AND it had been a super-stressful day. So I passed out, woke up at 9ish, had lunch with my mom and then passed out again until about 4:45.
But I'm home now!! Going to go see Brave tonight with my mother and brother, shopping for the month-long trip I'm about to take with my dad tomorrow morning, lunch with Grandma, and then hanging out with those awesome dancer people I love so much tomorrow evening before I pick Eden up from the airport. Then I leave Saturday (maybe Friday, it depends on how much those dancer people will kill me if I don't stay an extra night.....)
The next blog post will be while I'm on the road (probably), so it will probably be coming from my phone, so it'll be shorter...and not about New York, and not very detailed. Hopefully I'll have internet somewhere so I can write an actual post, but until then...yeah, you get the idea.
-Panda:)
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Thursday, June 21, 2012
6/21/12 (NY...part 2)
Hi again!!
So we never actually went to the botanical gardens....because they're more expensive on weekends. We were going to go Tuesday when they were free, but Eden was feeling sick, so we stayed in most of the day.
We did, however, go to Times Square. We walked past Radio City Music Hall (<3) and into Rockefeller plaza, where we just kinda hung out and walked around a little bit. It was actually really romantic and beautiful. There are pictures, but I'm too lazy to actually upload them, so maybe later...when I'm not really lazy and being boring.
Sunday night (I think) we walked along the Hudson river and found some fireflies. I totally didn't know those existed in New York City, I really thought they were just in the mountain areas, but that proved me wrong, obviously. Eden had two on his finger by the time we got to this restaurant called "The Cowgirl Sea-Horse"...I was confused, but they made it work. Let me tell you, they had the best mashed potatoes I have ever had, oh my goodness. I'm kind of craving them just thinking about them now. Om nom nom...
Anyway. Monday I took a tap class with Ray Hesselink (www.rayhesselink.com) who is seriously awesome. I haven't actually taken a tap class in over a year, and his class made me realize how much I miss it. It was more rhythm tap, and really fast. I loved it. It felt so good to be back in my tap shoes for more than a couple minutes, it was fabulous. I'm taking another class on Sunday, but this time with Michelle Dorrance.
Tuesday, like I said, we just took it easy because Eden was starting to feel sick (he's feeling better now though). Yesterday (Wednesday) was really awesome. We went to this diner called Moonstruck Diner for breakfast, and it was seriously yummy. I had blueberry pancakes. Omnomnom, seriously. After that we went and finished getting ready for a dancing photoshoot we booked ourselves with a photographer that Ava and Leon know. So then we went to Central Park on the 2nd hottest day of the week (the first being today) and danced. In dark, heavy clothing. Outside. Oy. It was tons of fun though, there will be pictures from said shoot in a few days =)
After the shoot, we came back to the apartment thoroughly tired and sweaty, and had only a few minutes to rest and clean up before going to dinner with Ava. We went to this Asian place because Eden was dead set on trying sushi. I definitely did not partake in the sushi part, but they said it was delicious. I had chicken instead, because seafood makes me squeemish. After dinner is my favorite part. We went and saw the show STOMP, at the Orpheum theater. I've seen it and the movie version before, but it was still amazing. Thoroughly entertaining, and Eden said he thought it was amazing. I would love to be in that show....and I got my playbill signed by two of the performers =D It was very comedic, especially the newspaper part...it kind of had me in tears I was laughing so hard.
So that's so far.....tonight we're going swing dancing, just like my first night here. I'm really excited, since I should actually be awake enough and not jet-lagged so I can actually dance well and for a while! Yay!!
This may or may not be my last post actually in NYC, but it's definitely not the last you'll hear about it.
'Til next time,
-Panda:)
So we never actually went to the botanical gardens....because they're more expensive on weekends. We were going to go Tuesday when they were free, but Eden was feeling sick, so we stayed in most of the day.
We did, however, go to Times Square. We walked past Radio City Music Hall (<3) and into Rockefeller plaza, where we just kinda hung out and walked around a little bit. It was actually really romantic and beautiful. There are pictures, but I'm too lazy to actually upload them, so maybe later...when I'm not really lazy and being boring.
Sunday night (I think) we walked along the Hudson river and found some fireflies. I totally didn't know those existed in New York City, I really thought they were just in the mountain areas, but that proved me wrong, obviously. Eden had two on his finger by the time we got to this restaurant called "The Cowgirl Sea-Horse"...I was confused, but they made it work. Let me tell you, they had the best mashed potatoes I have ever had, oh my goodness. I'm kind of craving them just thinking about them now. Om nom nom...
Anyway. Monday I took a tap class with Ray Hesselink (www.rayhesselink.com) who is seriously awesome. I haven't actually taken a tap class in over a year, and his class made me realize how much I miss it. It was more rhythm tap, and really fast. I loved it. It felt so good to be back in my tap shoes for more than a couple minutes, it was fabulous. I'm taking another class on Sunday, but this time with Michelle Dorrance.
Tuesday, like I said, we just took it easy because Eden was starting to feel sick (he's feeling better now though). Yesterday (Wednesday) was really awesome. We went to this diner called Moonstruck Diner for breakfast, and it was seriously yummy. I had blueberry pancakes. Omnomnom, seriously. After that we went and finished getting ready for a dancing photoshoot we booked ourselves with a photographer that Ava and Leon know. So then we went to Central Park on the 2nd hottest day of the week (the first being today) and danced. In dark, heavy clothing. Outside. Oy. It was tons of fun though, there will be pictures from said shoot in a few days =)
After the shoot, we came back to the apartment thoroughly tired and sweaty, and had only a few minutes to rest and clean up before going to dinner with Ava. We went to this Asian place because Eden was dead set on trying sushi. I definitely did not partake in the sushi part, but they said it was delicious. I had chicken instead, because seafood makes me squeemish. After dinner is my favorite part. We went and saw the show STOMP, at the Orpheum theater. I've seen it and the movie version before, but it was still amazing. Thoroughly entertaining, and Eden said he thought it was amazing. I would love to be in that show....and I got my playbill signed by two of the performers =D It was very comedic, especially the newspaper part...it kind of had me in tears I was laughing so hard.
So that's so far.....tonight we're going swing dancing, just like my first night here. I'm really excited, since I should actually be awake enough and not jet-lagged so I can actually dance well and for a while! Yay!!
This may or may not be my last post actually in NYC, but it's definitely not the last you'll hear about it.
'Til next time,
-Panda:)
Saturday, June 16, 2012
6/16/12 -- NYC (pt. 1)
So this is my official first post, and it's going to be all about what I've done in New York City so far!!
So. I got here Thursday afternoon at about 3pm, because my first flight (at 6:40 in the morning -_-) was delayed because they overbooked it. So they stuck me on a plane to Milwaukee 3 hours later, and I had less than half an hour to get to my next flight from Milwaukee to NYC. Woo. I made it though yay! Here are some pictures from my flight from Milwaukee to NYC:
(About to go over Lake Michigan. Huge lake, holy crap)
(Yay Manhattan! Future home I love you<3)
After Eden picked me up from the airport, the very first thing we did was go to the apartment we were staying at....and take a nap. After 2 flights, both just over 2 hours each, I was dead freaking tired, but on the way to the apartment, I saw this:
Yes, to those of you who have seen the Avengers movie (if you haven't, go see it. Seriously. It's amazing) that is indeed what is referenced periodically. I found this rather amusing, and was rather excited about it.
After our nap, we went to dinner with Eden's mom's friends Ava and Leon. Those two are so cool, just saying. We went to this Indian restaurant, and if I hadn't left both my phone and camera at the apartment like an idiot there would be pictures of this restaurant. They had ridiculously colorful (with an emphasis on red) Christmas light hanging from the center of the ceiling and then down across to connect to the wall. You couldn't see the ceiling it was so covered. It was literally a tent of Christmas lights. Also, if it's someone's birthday they turn off all the Christmas light and turn on one of those colorful disco ball things and this strange happy birthday song. The food was really good too, it was awesome. After that we went swing dancing, and it was so much fun. There's a lot of really good dancers here, but no sense of unity like there is back in Orlando, at least not that I could see.
Yesterday (Friday), we woke up kinda late, and then went to Central Park. I've been to New York so many times, but I've never seen Central Park. So we walked through there a little bit, and then went to the Museum of Natural History. They had a mineral room there, and I swear we spent over an hour in that room because it was absolutely fascinating (to me, anyway). Instead of just listing what the mineral was, they organized them into groups like sulfides, phosphates and oxides, and gave the chemical formula for each one and some information on each group and it was just amazing. It was like chemistry-fan-geek-overload in there for me. I think Eden rather enjoyed watching me geek out all over the place.
For lunch we had NY pizza....yum. I'm pretty sure my favorite will always be legit white pizza. So good. Yum. Then for dinner we went to "Hummus Place", which is really close to the apartment. We had this tomato/cucumber/olive oil/lemon juice/cilantro/salt/purple-onion-things salad and hummus with tahini sauce on it. So yummy, I'm going to start craving that salad, like for real.
After that is my favorite part so far. We went to go get ice cream....but not just any ice cream, oh no. We went to this place around the corner called "The Big Gay Ice Cream Shop"....I swear to you that's what it's called. Here's the website for proof that it exists: http://biggayicecream.com/
There was a huge line outside, so we figured it had to be amazing. It was the best ice cream I have ever had. We had the Monday Sundae, which is a cone lined with nutella, and then swirled chocolate/vanilla soft serve, topped with caramel, sea salt, and whipped cream. Holy crap. It was so good. I have a feeling I will now always be putting caramel, sea salt, and nutella on my ice cream. Seriously, if you're ever in New York you absolutely have to try it. Also, inside they had a mural of a unicorn, which I of course took a picture with:
I thought that was pretty fantastic.
So that's it so far, the agenda for today is Botanical Gardens and Times Square tonight, because Eden has been here for 6 days and still hasn't seen Times Square. I'm pretty sure that's a crime. Just saying.
See you next blog post,
-Panda:)
Monday, June 11, 2012
6/11/2012
So this summer I'm taking a bunch of trips. Really it's just two rather major ones, but since I'm going so many places I like to consider it multiple trips. This upcoming Thursday (6/14), I'll be flying up to New York City (YAY!) for 11 days. That's going to be awesome, simply because NYC is pretty much my favorite place on the face of the planet and I fully intend on moving there later.
Of course the adventures don't end there, oh no. After I get back from NY I leave almost immediately for my trip around the country....literally, around. Through Texas over to Carlsbad, NM over to the Grand Canyon and Vegas, up the west coast of California, through San Fran., through Oregon, up to Seattle (where I get to kayak and maybe see some orcas!! Yay!), then across through Idaho and Montana (including Yellowstone of course) to the Dakota's and Michigan, seeing the Great Lakes, and coming back down to lil' ole' Florida through Chicago and Atlanta. That will supposedly take 25 days, according to my dad. Yeah, right. I think it'll take longer, but we'll see. Here's a picture of our route for that trip:
Yeah, it's ridiculous. Supposedly, that's exactly 129 hours and 2 minutes of driving. Had to throw that 2 minutes in there. I'll probably fail, but I'm going to keep a stop watch, and time from when we leave the outskirts of one location to when we reach the outskirts of the next. I will probably screw it up at some point, but I want to see how accurate that is. I think I can manage it somewhat.
Anyway, next time you see this I will *probably* be in NYC with someone awesome =) So, I will submit a post at a later date. Thanks for adventuring with me!
-"Panda"
Of course the adventures don't end there, oh no. After I get back from NY I leave almost immediately for my trip around the country....literally, around. Through Texas over to Carlsbad, NM over to the Grand Canyon and Vegas, up the west coast of California, through San Fran., through Oregon, up to Seattle (where I get to kayak and maybe see some orcas!! Yay!), then across through Idaho and Montana (including Yellowstone of course) to the Dakota's and Michigan, seeing the Great Lakes, and coming back down to lil' ole' Florida through Chicago and Atlanta. That will supposedly take 25 days, according to my dad. Yeah, right. I think it'll take longer, but we'll see. Here's a picture of our route for that trip:
Yeah, it's ridiculous. Supposedly, that's exactly 129 hours and 2 minutes of driving. Had to throw that 2 minutes in there. I'll probably fail, but I'm going to keep a stop watch, and time from when we leave the outskirts of one location to when we reach the outskirts of the next. I will probably screw it up at some point, but I want to see how accurate that is. I think I can manage it somewhat.
Anyway, next time you see this I will *probably* be in NYC with someone awesome =) So, I will submit a post at a later date. Thanks for adventuring with me!
-"Panda"
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