Recap of My Boston/NYC Trip

I actually wrote this as soon as I got back last month, but forgot to post it on here, 'cause I fail.

Here's a basic overview of my trip. With some verbose tangents thrown in, because I am me.

THURSDAY 9/30

• Packed up my supercute weekender bag.
• Realized upon arriving at the airport that the weekender bag may be supercute, but it's no fun dragging around (it doesn't have wheels or a shoulder strap). However, it's perfect for trips that don't involve air travel. Live and learn. Anytime I fly, I'm sticking with my favorite wheelie suitcases. Had a bit of frustration at security, since it was my first time not checking baggage. I knew about the fluids in 3 oz bottles thing, but I thought putting them all in the same toiletry bag would suffice. Nope. They have to be in a separate plastic bag or some shit. The security guy made me feel like a supreme dumbass. Oh, well. Live and learn, part II.
• Red-eye flight to Newark. Of COURSE the only time I'm not out like a light on an airplane is on a red-eye flight! Meh. I think I was just too excited to sleep.
• Realized what a bullshit joke airplanes are. I think we've all just slipped into complacency about airplanes, when really we should revolt. Seriously, they're so cramped and uncomfortable and oppressive. And all to squeeze as many people (meaning people's money) on there at once. STUPID. We should have an airplane revolution.

FRIDAY 10/1

• We landed through a huge rainstorm. The rain was horizontal as we flew through it; I've never seen anything like that! Pretty to watch.
• Unfortunately, the pretty rain delayed my flight for 3 hours. UGH. Finally started feeling sleepy, so those 3 hours were spent in uncomfortable sleeping positions in the waiting area.
• FINALLY took off for Boston in the tiny tin can of a commuter jet. Immediately fell asleep, which was a blessing. The flight was EXTREMELY turbulent, but I was too exhausted to feel scared.
• Landed in Boston. My shuttle driver got lost trying to find the Hampton Inn I was staying at. Aghh.
• Immediately upon entering my room, I stripped off all my clothes and sank into a tub of hot water while watching Julie & Julia. Bliss. It's easy to forget how hard travel is on your body! This was followed by a long nap.
• The cab driver kept misunderstanding everything that came out of my mouth; mistaking "Arrow St" for "Amory St," then misspelling "Arrow" on the GPS. But somehow I made it to the Oberon Theater for...
  
• CABARET!!!! Which was absolutely incredible! After the show I met Steven Mitchell Wright (the choreographer/movement director), and also met AMANDA FUCKING PALMER herself. More on all this soon. I was shaking the whole night.

SATURDAY 10/2

• Took a train from Boston to New York City. The train was so roomy, comfortable and quiet. I slept most of the time, and watched Gilmore Girls on my laptop. The last stop before Penn Station was in New Rochelle! Which made me giggle because I'm a giant nerd, and made Ragtime stuck in my head for a bit.
• Met up with Steve at Penn Station!!!! So happyyyyyyy!
• We went back to his apartment in Brooklyn. His neighborhood is so pretty, it's practically out of a damn movie! Brownstones and tree-lined sidewalks. Ridiculously pretty.
• Batsheva Dance Company at the Joyce Theater! Pretty much a religious experience! I've been obsessed with them for so long, and was so happy to finally see them in person. I totally spotted artistic director/choreographer/BAMF Ohad Naharin from across the room after the show!!!! I couldn't actually meet him, because he was downstairs at the backstage entrance next to the lounge area, and I had spotted him from the lobby upstairs. But that's okay. I know I will meet him someday. But just seeing him from across the room was basically like seeing Santa Claus!!! No joke.
• Dinner with Steve at Stuzzicheria, the tiny and delicious Italian restaurant where he works. Our meal was huuuuge and SO SO SO GOOD. Holy delicious. Go there if you're ever in NYC. I got to meet all his co-workers, too, which was nice.
• Barhopping at his favorite places after dinner. Tribeca Tavern where they have Delerium Tremons on tap and a really cool bartender named Will, and the Reade Street Pub.

SUNDAY 10/3

• Brunch at Centro Vinoteca, where I got to meet Steve's brother as well as his sister-in-law and adorable baby nephew. It was great--and a little scary--to finally meet some of his family! They were really nice. I hope that they liked me, and I hope that I didn't come off as ditzy. Sometimes when I try to be more outgoing, I tend to just sound like a ditz. Centro Vinoteca had more of a savory brunch menu (is savory the right word? I don't know). I got these perfect poached eggs on top of a delicious beef bolognese sauce and polenta, with a glass of white wine, coffee, and various tasty appetizers.
• Back to Steve's apartment for a post-brunch nap before I got in a cab for JFK and Steve headed to work (he had to cover someone's shift at the last minute). Tears in the cab and began missing him already. Remembered how JFK is basically the worst airport in the history of airports and how I never have pleasant experiences there. Last time I was there a couple years ago, my flight was delayed for 8 hours. So what better place to be kicked while I was down than the unaccommodating overcrowded hellhole known as JFK?? (Tangent Time: I think it's just archaic and stupid for airports to a) charge for wi-fi and b) not provide travelers with a sufficient amount of working outlets or charging stations to charge their phones/laptops, etc. I mean, SERIOUSLY. If Starbucks stopped charging for wi-fi, I think airports can suck it up, too. Such a rip-off, and just ridiculous given the rapidly more technological society we're living in. I honestly equate paying for wi-fi and not being able to charge one's laptop with the archaic-ness of dial-up internet. GET IT TOGETHER, AIRPORTS.)
• Long, uneventful flight back to PHX. Felt very bittersweet, given the amazing few days I just had. And I was sad because it went by so fast, and I really have no idea when I'll get to see Steve in person again. :/ But a quick trip is better than no trip at all.

Finallys and Updates. And Urinetown on my mind.

Today was a day full of FINALLYs.

I FINALLY...

• Begrudgingly woke up a teeeeeny bit earlier and therefore had a little bit more time to eat a light breakfast, have tea, and check internet things before getting ready and leaving for class. Of course, I did get kind of caught up in the high of having a little more time and ended up hanging out a bit longer than I should've and was a couple minutes late for class. Ha. But WHATEVA. I actually got there; I didn't sleep through it, or get there so late that I had to sit out and observe, or get there so late that I get too embarrassed to walk in and end up going back home instead. Baby steps.
• Had one or two brief moments in class where I actually felt some JOY in moving again. I've been struggling so much all year that I kind of forgot what it feels to genuinely enjoy dancing. Don't get me wrong, I still struggled a LOT in class and I'm nowhere near where I'd like to be. But having those few fleeting moments of enjoyment was a relief.
• Found an amazingly adorable weekender bag at Target! I plan on using it for my upcoming whirlwind trip to Boston and New York in a couple of weeks. I know from experience that trains and bulky luggage are the most pain-in-the-ass combination ever, so I've been on the hunt for a weekender bag that's big enough to hold whatever clothes/toiletries I need but is small enough that I can carry it without huffing and puffing and smacking people's ankles. I also wanted it for future short trips to Tucson and (hopefully) New York, since duffles and suitcases are just too much hassle for short trips. And I fiiiinally found one today that I love.
• Officially finished planning said whirlwind trip to Boston and New York. I'm taking an overnight flight to Boston on September 30th, seeing the glorious Amanda Palmer in Cabaret at American Repertory Theater in Cambridge on October 1st, taking the train into NYC on October 2nd to meet up with Steve and see the Batsheva Dance Company that night at the Joyce (!!!!!), then flying back to Phoenix on October 3rd (not until 7 PM-ish, so Steve and I can hang out a little more.) Planning this has been irritatingly difficult, but today I finished everything up; I booked my flight back to Phoenix, bought tickets to Batsheva, booked a hotel in Boston, and bought my train ticket from Boston to New York. SUCH a relief to have all that done.
• Remembered to start taking a multivitamin and Vitamin D supplement, as per my dietician's suggestion (more on that in a second). I bought one of those weekly pill organizers like a 70 year old woman so I can keep track of what I need to take each day. Along with the vitamins, I also put in the thyroid medication I've recently started on (more on that later, too). And over the next couple weeks to a month or so, I'll probably be adding a couple more medications to my old lady pill organizer as well.
• Figured out some kinks on my website that have been making the pages look all wonky. Suck it, iWeb!
• Uploaded my updated dance reel to YouTube, Vimeo, and Facebook. I finished it a million years ago, but kept forgetting to upload it.
• Got a picture of Ragnar sleeping with his paws over his eyes! So adorable! I've tried to capture this for ages, but he always moves whenever I reach for my camera. Because he's a jumpy little scaredy cat. But I finally got it!

D'awwww.

Miscellaneous Updates:

• SCHOOL: It's been hit-or-miss. I'm only taking two classes, one per day, but it's still a challenge for me to find the motivation to actually show up. Last week was particularly miserable and frustrating; I only made it to one class all week and just felt awful, ashamed, and guilty about it. But this week has been better. My Modern class was really tough at first. But after the first week or so, it went from feeling like unbearable hell-on-Earth to a manageable struggle. I have a different teacher (Carley Conder), so it was hard to get used to her style. But it's getting easier. The struggle comes from being out of shape, and being so fatigued. The fatigue is particularly frustrating because it fucks with my focus and memory, making it incredibly difficult to retain choreography. But I'm dealing. I've also kept Carley abreast of the whole health situation. (HA! I've never had an opportunity to use "abreast" in a sentence! I feel so delightfully pompous!) My other class is 3rd Year Seminar, which focuses on Community Dance. It isn't too bad so far. But despite that, it's still a constant challenge to just GET UP AND GO.
• HEALTH: Last month I started seeing an endocrinologist, who promptly ordered up lots of extensive blood work. As you probably saw on Facebook or Twitter, I actually passed out twice consecutively after getting one of the tests done! So awful. I got the labs back about a week later. They found a couple things, the main thing being insulin resistance: my blood sugar was normal, but my body was producing HUGE amounts of insulin to keep it normal, AND the cells are resistant to absorbing said insulin. They think this is what caused me to gain so much weight over the past year. They had me meet with a dietician to plan out which foods to eat and when, so it'll regulate insulin levels. I'm also considering the option of going on a medication that prevents the liver from producing excess sugar, which should also help regulate things. The dietician said that the only thing that will change the actual physiology of the insulin-resistant cells is by increasing exercise...which I've been wanting to do, but just haven't been able to. The labs also found a slightly underactive thyroid, so I started on some on low-dose medication to fix that. HOWEVER, none of this was severe enough to cause fatigue and depression to the extent that I've been experiencing. Which brings me to...
• MENTAL HEALTH: I've decided to try going on antidepressants. In all honesty, they still scare the living daylights out of me. But things have just gotten unbearable (this somewhat pleasant week has been the first in many miserable weeks), and I know I'm NOT going to be able to implement the lifestyle changes my endocrinologist and dietician suggested unless I get some kind of chemical help to alleviate the heaviness a little. My therapist referred me to a psychiatric nurse practitioner who I'm meeting next week to help me start all this antidepressant business. She also recommended that I go back to my primary care physician for an EKG and a sleep study referral to rule out heart issues or narcolepsy as a cause for the ridiculously extreme fatigue I've been experiencing. (We're talking sleeping 12+ hours a day and STILL feeling tired. It's horrible.) The fatigue combined with depression makes so many tasks impossible to do, from going to class or shopping for groceries, to even getting up to go to the damn bathroom. It's incredibly frustrating, particularly because there's nothing in my life that is conducive to me feeling THIS unhappy. So I'm willing to try almost anything to STOP feeling like this.
• STEVE: Well, he's 3000 miles away, and that blows. I really hate not having him around. We talk on the phone practically every day, and I just sent him his computer so he'll hopefully be getting Skype soon. But it's just difficult not having him HERE. The Amanda Palmer quote I posted definitely sums things up a little; he really does feel like an idea more than a flesh and blood memory. Things are okay and everything, but I really just don't know how to do this, and hate that he's so far away. I wish there was some kind of manual I could read or something. I recently rewatched the last season of Gilmore Girls for the first time since I finished it awhile ago. It was definitely pretty interesting watching it from the perspective of being in a long-distance relationship. I wrote down some great dialogue from an episode where Rory is struggling with how to actually be in an LDR. I'll definitely post it later, since it describes things way more eloquently than I could. I'm so looking forward to seeing him in NYC soon, even if it's only for like 24 hours. (Stupid school, and stupid me for using up all my excused absences already.) Hopefully I can go back soon after that; probably not for Thanksgiving, but definitely over winter break. OR, hopefully he can come back here to visit.
• MISC: I'm thinking of auditioning for Urinetown at Paradise Valley Community College. I lovelovelove that show and have always wanted to do it! Steve was in PVCC's Into the Woods, and they really did an incredible job with the show. The same director and choreographer will be working on Urinetown, too, so hopefully it'll be just as good as Into the Woods was. The only problem is that I'll be out of town the weekend of auditions, so if I schedule an alternate audition time, it will most likely be like NEXT WEEK. So it all depends on whether or not I can get my shit together quickly enough. If I go through with it, I'll probably audition for Little Sally since it'd be a fun role. But I honestly just want an ensemble role more than anything. Ensemble roles are a huuuge part of Urinetown, and that's one of the reasons I love the show so much. The ensemble is always hysterically funny! The only other problem is that PVCC is FAR, like a 45 minute drive (without traffic). But if I feel up to a) preparing audition pieces, b) being in a show, and c) driving all the way out there for rehearsal every day, then I'll do it. Because I freakin love that show!

And that's about it for now. I'll keep you updated on everything.

Lonely Saturday

"neil is coming today.
i’ve missed him a lot. he gets less real when he’s not around.
we’ve determined that after a certain point, we become theoretical lovers instead of real ones - ideas to each other instead of flesh and blood memories.
zoë keating, cellist road warrior, claims that the theoretical-lover threshold is 3 weeks. i think she’s just about right."
--From Amanda Palmer's Blog