Week #13: O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree...

Guess what? I got a picture of the biggest celebrity in NYC right now!

That's right. The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree. Who knew a tree could turn a city into such madness? More on that later though--I have to start with last Saturday first.

I went to see Bye Bye Birdie as I mentioned before. Although not the best Broadway show I’ve seen, I didn’t think it was as terrible as I was worried it might be. John Stamos was a little questionable as Albert at times, maybe just because he was trying to be a little too Dick Van Dyke-esque, and not too many people can pull that off successfully. I thought he had a decent singing voice though, unlike Gina Gershon (Rosie) who just about killed any good feelings I had for the show. And guess who was in the audience that night?? Aunt Becky! Aka Lori Loughlin… John Stamos auctioned off his glasses from the show, and to up the bids, he threw in a chance to meet “Uncle Jesse and Aunt Becky” after the show. Haha! When I got out of the theater, I found out I had a voicemail from the Tyra Show saying they wanted me on as a guest for the show!! Crazy, eh? It ended up not working out, but oh well, life goes on…

Sunday was UCB once again. Amy Poehler and Jason Sudekis were there, but no one too excitingly new. I sat by the monologist again—Nick Crawl I think?? He was funny. The show was funny. Another humorous Sunday night...ah, how I will miss them.

Skip ahead to Wednesday, which was the Rockefeller Christmas tree lighting! …possibly one of the most ridiculous things I’ve decided to do during my time here. I figured I’d just “stop by” after work and check it out, not realizing how insane it was going to be. The police kept directing the mobs of people in circles, and I was about to give up, but I got shuffled along in a giant crowd somewhere near the tree. I couldn’t see the tree though because we were by a building which was blocking our view. There was a lot of:

“Can you see the tree?”

“No, can YOU see the tree?”

“No, but I can see the TV Screen!”

“You can? Where? Where?!”

“Wait, I think I can hear screams.”

"Oh, the concert must be starting soon!"

I know, how very exciting… why didn’t I go home at that point? Because I was pretty much STUCK. We were packed in like cattle, cattle in the POURING RAIN, I should add. I had an umbrella, but as soon as the concert started, the crowd got very angry at anyone who tried to put their umbrellas up because it blocked their views of the giant TV screen. Why were all these people standing in the rain watching a TV screen that they could watch from their warm and dry homes? Because New Yorkers are CRAZY, that’s why!

Someone near me eventually broke through a metal barrier though, and I followed the crowd that flooded through it. We got to stand in an area that had been blocked off, and we could see the tree from there! Mission accomplished! However, we were packed even tighter then…I could not move even an inch, and it was a little hard to breathe at times. Soon after we were “settled” in our new location, I climbed onto one of the metal barriers to see if I could get a better look, and I ended up getting stuck up there because my spot got filled, and I couldn’t get back down. It was kind of uncomfortable to stay perched on that thing for over an hour, but the crowd inadvertently helped out because they were packed so tight that they pinned my legs against the barrier so I didn’t have to hold myself up. Um...thanks everyone??

But the best part was that I could actually see the stage from my “perch.” While I was up there, I got to see the Rockettes, Aretha Franklin, and Michael Buble perform. As soon as I announced that I could see the stage, people around me were like “YOU CAN?? Take a picture for me please!!” So I took lots of pictures for all the people around me. It’s strange how much you can bond with complete strangers when you’re mashed up against each other awkwardly, all trying to reach the same goal—to see the great and almighty Christmas tree! My section of the crowd even took to breaking out into random Christmas songs during commercial breaks. It reminded me of the end of "Elf." I got a picture of the cattle crowd of people behind me while I was up there so you can get an idea of what it was like:

a small portion of the "herd"

Eventually, after a couple hours of waiting, they lit that crazy thing...and the peasants rejoiced! I got a video of the glorious moment we all waited for:

So was it all worth it for that? Well, I don’t think I’d do it again. At times it was fairly miserable, and I’m pretty sure I looked like a drowned rat when I was walking home, but hey, it was another one of those “once-in-a-lifetime” experiences.

Thursday, I went to a poetry/theater performance called “Hello Failure,” which was published by UDP. I LOVED it. Funny, enlightening, interesting...definitely one of my two favorite pieces by UDP. I almost didn’t make the trek out to Brooklyn for it, but I’m glad I did! On the way back, since it was a nice night, I decided to cross the Brooklyn Bridge again.

Well, that's all for now. May your Christmas seasons be a bit calmer and less...tourist-filled than mine ;-)