"Hand out the window, Floatin’ on air, Just a flip of the wrist, I’d be wavin’ you goodbye..." ~dashboard confessional

That's my song of the moment. I can't stop listening to it; I play it over and over. I absolutely love it. Adam Duritz sings "background" vocals, although his part is much more prominent than most background roles. It's a beautiful song on its own, but his participation makes it perfect. I seriously can't describe what his voice does to me. Just the way he says "town" in this song makes me want to cry and scream for joy at the same time. His distinctive, emotional voice floats through the song and layers it with something that I can't explain. Can you imagine how excited I am to see Counting Crows in a few weeks? I seriously can't wait.

Sorry I haven't posted in forever. I've been incredibly busy this summer with work. The hours are really intense with this job. I usually don't get home until after 8pm on days that I'm in the office. There have been lots of shoots lately (1-2 a week), and those last at least 14 hours, so with traveling time I'm often out of my house from around 4am until after midnight. So I've been busy. But good. Shoots are fun even though they're tiring. Last week we had one at Sam Ash's house (the owner of Sam Ash music stores). It was pretty cool. He has this room full of guitars (maybe about 30), and each one is hanging up in front of a music poster of a band, so I think they're guitars from those bands. I was impressed.

Another example of how my job can be cool: last week I got to go buy the first season of Laguna Beach on DVD and then "watch" the entire thing. I only had about an hour in which to do that, though, because I was only supposed to be looking for bedroom scenes (we needed to see what the kids' bedrooms looked like to use as models for the commercial we filmed at Sam Ash's house). It was an interesting assignment. Watching Laguna Beach in fast forward is pretty funny; I recommend trying it if you're ever bored and in need of a laugh. The drama seeps out even without the sound; in fact, the intensity of the teens' emotions and relationship angst seems heightened when the show is moving so quickly.

Funny story: last week I was walking on Prince Street after picking up some tapes for my job, and Paris Hilton walked out of a store just as I was passing on the sidewalk. So I ended up standing right in front of her/next to her. There was this papparazzi guy there and I was blocking his shot, so he yelled "MOVE!" to me and pushed me out of his way. I almost got knocked over. You can imagine how significant that made me feel, being shoved out of the way so this guy could get a photo of Paris Hilton leaving a store. I almost felt bad for Paris Hilton (almost). She can't even go shopping without being followed.

Let's see, what else...I've seen some good movies lately and have gotten to spend time with my friends who are around, for which I'm grateful. I recently got to see my friend Christin, which was lots of fun. I stayed at her apartment in NYC and we got up really early to go see The Beach Boys perform live on Good Morning America. It's a great summer so far, and it's going by so quickly. I can't believe I'll be starting my senior year so soon.

"Is everybody happy now? Is everybody clear? We could drive out to the dunes tonight, 'cause summer's almost here..." ~counting crows

Last weekend I went to Long Beach Island with 3 friends, and I had a great time. Funny story, though (actually painful for me): my eyelids got really badly sunburned. They're swollen and bright red and I can hardly blink my eyes. I laid out on the beach with my eyes closed and I didn't think to put sunblock on my eyelids (who thinks of that?!?). So now they're burned. They're slowly getting better, though, which is good. On Sunday night I either looked like a clown, one of those fashion models with strange, exotic makeup, or someone who got punched in each eye. It was actually pretty funny. Other than getting burned, I had fun. We went out to 2 bars on Saturday night, and the second one had a good live band. We did lots of shopping and spent Sunday at the beach. I was the only person in the ocean the whole time we were at the beach; the water was absolutely freezing, but once I stayed in for awhile I (almost) got used to it. I stayed in for almost an hour and then thawed out on the beach. I can't go to the beach and not go swimming; the ocean is the essence of the beach. Going to the beach without swimming in the ocean is like going to Disney World and not going on the rides.

Work should be fun in the next couple of weeks; there are multiple shoots going on that I have a chance to attend.

My brother's graduation is next week, so we're having a party this Sunday and I'm looking forward to seeing lots of my relatives. One set of grandparents arrives on Friday, which I'm excited about.

I guess that's all for now!

"'I’m sure to find true love under angel wings,' assured and locked so tight I know she’s whispering. Alone and savoring life alone tonight, she’s coming out into a world so wont of light." ~the working title

I don't think I've updated in awhile, so I'll try to recap what I've been up to recently. This week has been pretty busy.

On Tuesday my friend and I went to see the Broadway play The History Boys. We did student rush and our seats were pretty bad, which probably made me enjoy the play less than I would have otherwise. It was good, though. It's won all the major awards this season and will win Best Play at the Tonys on Sunday (I really wish The Lieutenant of Inishmore would win, but I'm afraid that won't happen). The History Boys was particularly interesting to me as a future teacher. It explored the debate over different teaching styles and the purpose of education. It was funny and sad and all the boys are absolutely gorgeous, which definitely added to the show's appeal.

On Wednesday I went to see the Broadway production of Tarzan. I only went because I had a free ticket from a very kind friend, but I ended up enjoying it. My seat was fabulous; it was a $100 ticket, center orchestra row D. I got lucky. The best part of the show was getting to stare at Josh Strickland for 2 hours. Oh. My. Gosh. He is beautiful. Seriously. Beautiful. And he was wearing only a loincloth. I looked online for pictures of him in his loincloth but I couldn't find any, so a headshot will have to suffice.


Last week I saw The Drowsy Chaperone on broadway, which is another fantastic show. I think it's my favorite of the season. And I got a picture with Sutton Foster, who was incredibly sweet. If you're looking for one show to see and you're a big theatre fan, go see that one.

Last night I stayed in the city with my UR synchro friend Allison, which was fun. I got to meet some of her nice friends and just hang out. So this week has been good.

Tomorrow I'm going to LBI for the weekend with some friends, which I'm really looking forward to. I hope it doesn't rain. The beach is not fun in the rain. It should be a nice, relaxing trip, though.

The Tonys are on Sunday, which, for a huge theatre dork like me, is one of the most exciting nights of the year. There are some tight races, so it should be good (I may or may not be in an awful mood on Monday depending on who wins).

"Could you tell me the things you remember about me? And have you seen me lately? I guess I thought that someone would notice, I guess I thought somebody would say something, if I was missing. Can't you see me? Come on color me in, come on color me in..." ~counting crows

Nicole and I have tickets to see Counting Crows in August. Have I written this yet here? Anyway, I'm soooo excited. I've seen them live once before and they're absolutely fantastic; their studio albums cannot hold a candle to their live performances. I love how many different ways they can perform one song. I have 23 live versions of "Goodnight Elisabeth" on my iPod and I often listen to them all in a row. They're so very different from each other. The band's use of alternates is what makes them so special. Somehow they can throw one song into the middle of another one and create a totally amazing hybrid that completely works. They're playing this tour with The Goo Goo Dolls, whom I don't mind seeing, although I could name at least 20 bands I'd prefer. They're not bad, though.

Last Friday Kim, Betsy, Sam, and I hung out for what will probably be the last time in awhile; Sam moved to Maryland over the weekend. She graduated from college, has a real job and an apartment, and seems like such an adult. It's strange (but great for her). Anyway, we went to Americana and drank martinis and felt like the 4 Sex & the City gals. It was fun. Luckily Kim and Betsy are still around this summer. We went swimming in Betsy's pool on Monday and it felt wonderful. I hadn't been swimming in awhile and I missed it. The water was freezing (the heater wasn't on), but it felt refreshing. It's been incredibly hot here the past few days. We went shopping, too, and I spent too much money. I really need to cut back on spending because I'm not making any money at all. It's so hard, though, especially when I'm in the city.

My internship is going well. I mainly work with 4 people (2 guys and 2 girls). The guys are filming in LA this week so it's just us girls left in the office. It's much quieter, which is good and bad. It's nice not having to worry about being hit in the head with a football. The other day we went to a meeting in the main building and we picked up beer and popcorn to bring to the meeting. Only here would employees drink beer and eat popcorn at a business meeting.

This site is pretty cool:
http://wordsmith.org/anagram/index.html
You can enter in text and it will spit out anagrams. My favorite anagram for "Claire" is "a relic." I'd like to think of myself as a relic. ;-)

"Feel free to pick up a habit...like drugs or alcohol or something. Just so you have something to do." ~my boss

That quote is my boss giving me sage advice on what I should be doing during work. Heh. I like working for an easy-going, lazy guy. He's incredibly funny and nice; in fact, everyone I work with is great. I do sometimes get bored, but at least I've been getting lots of reading done. I read 3 (long) books last week. I read on the train going to and from work as well. I love being able to choose what to read. There are so many books I want to get through this summer.

Last week I saw two Broadway plays. The first was The Lieutenant of Inishmore, which was fantastic. I think it was the best play I've ever seen (that doesn't include musicals). It was insanely bloody, violent, and gross; everything onstage was completely covered in blood by the end. Yet it was also hilarious; I've never laughed so hard in my life. I loved every second of it. Go see it. Now. Seriously. I got a student ticket less than an hour before the show started and I was in the front row of the mezzanaine. It was a perfect seat. I did the lotto for The Drowsy Chaperone that night and lost, so seeing The Lieutenant of Inishmore was a last-minute decision, but it was definitely a good one. But I'm going to keep trying the Drowsy lotto.

The second play was not nearly as good. It was Three Days of Rain, with Julia Roberts, Paul Rudd, and Bradley Cooper. I wasn't expecting much out of it; I know it didn't get the best reviews. Julia wasn't terrible, but she wasn't spectacular, either. What I thought was funny was her Southern accent; it was awful. It kept fading in and out. And she's from the South. She really didn't have much stage presence at all. I'm a big Paul Rudd fan (The Object of my Affection, Anchorman, The 40 Year Old Virgin, Friends, Clueless...), and I liked his performance. Bradley Cooper was the real standout, though. He added necessary energy to the play. Overall it wasn't a bad production, but it definitely could have been better. Nic and I had standing room tickets, but for the second act we got to move into seats in the second row and had a great view from there, so that was lucky.

It's so nice to be in the city during the day and to just be able to go see a show once I get off work. If only I were making money so that I could actually afford this threatre addiction of mine.

Oh, funny story (another cool thing about being in NYC). I was running around the city making deliveries last week and I walked past the NBC Upfronts. I purposely swung by Radio City during the time I knew they would be going on because I wanted to catch a glimpse of Matthew Perry and I knew he would be there. I didn't see Matthew Perry, but I somehow got stuck (where I wasn't supposed to be but didn't realize until too late) in a group walking down the sidewalk with Matt Lauer, Meredith Vierra, and Al Roker. It was funny; there were all these people across the street behind barricades taking pictures, and there I was walking with the people that they were taking pictures of. Matt Lauer looked at me as if to ask who on earth I was. I snuck away as soon as I could.