"Baby, baby, baby, light my way. Baby, baby, baby, light my way." ~u2

I can't even describe how I'm feeling right now. So I'll lay out the situation and you can infer. Bono is my idol. He is the person whom I admire most and the person I most wanted to meet. I cannot put into words how much I love him. And tonight? I met him. First, he grasped my hand. And it wasn't just a short, weak, passing touch. He had a firm grip, and his fingers clasped around mine. His hand was warm and mine was freezing, and I felt like he held onto my hand for awhile to help warm it up. It worked. His warmth flowed from his body to mine. Then, for about three minutes, he rested his hand on my shoulder as he spoke. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Rested his hand on my shoulder! For a prolonged period of time! As he mused about this tour. Bono is a people person. It seems like he loves connecting with people, and that includes physical contact, and tonight I was a lucky recipient. I cannot say how much it meant to me.

I have a LOT to write about (Bono is just one small highlight), but I'm not sure when I'll get to it. Hopefully soon.

Here's a photo I managed to snap directly before my encounter with him.

"I've been roaming around, I was looking down at all I see. Painted faces fill the places I can't reach. You know that I could use somebody. You know that I could use somebody." ~kings of leon

I've been listening to Kings of Leon for about five years now, which is a lot longer than most people have. I saw them open for U2 in 2005, and I was familiar with them before that. My friend Dave tried hard to get me to like them. I was never really crazy about them, but I must admit that I love some of the songs on Only by the Night. "You know that I could use someboddddyyyyy....Someone like you, somebodddyyyy" I love it.

I love my family. Love them. And I'm so glad to have family here in New York. Really, really happy.
Yesterday was Bess's birthday. We had a lovely family birthday dinner. Being with them just fills me up.

It sure sounds like I'm full of love, doesn't it? I don't usually write about the crappy stuff on this blog, but it's definitely there. Teaching is really, really hard right now, for a number of reasons. I'm trying to hang in there, but it's not easy.

On Thursday and Friday are the 25th Anniversary Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Concerts at Madison Square Garden. Nicole and I are going both nights, and I cannot wait. Here are some of the artists that we'll see perform:
Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, U2, Paul Simon, Metallica, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Friends, Simon and Garfunkel.
Can you imagine seeing so many musical legends in two nights? I cannot wait. I need this.

"Into the light of a bridge that burns, as I drive from the city with the money that I earned. Into the black of a starless sky, I'm staring into nothing and I'm asking you why." ~the arcade fire

This past week was insanely busy, and unfortunately not because of fun stuff. I had a LOT to do for school. I was observed, so I worked really hard on planning lessons and fixing up my classroom. Grad school has also been keeping me really busy. Just having class twice a week for three hours is a big time commitment, but all the homework for the classes is not easy to keep up with. I love the educational theatre program, I have fun in class, but it'll be nice when I have my Master's and don't have all that extra stress from the work. It is not easy to work full-time and be a student.

I have taken some time in the last couple of days to have fun. I went to the first preview of Sarah Ruhl's new play on Broadway, In the Next Room or the vibrator play (yes, that is the full title). I got a free ticket. I really, really enjoyed it. It takes place in the late 1880's, after electricity was just invented and doctors began treating women suffering from hysteria with the vibrator. The cast is amazing. Tony winners Michael Cerveris and Laura Benanti headline the cast, and they're wonderful. Even though it's a play, it was nice to hear Laura Benanti sing a little bit (I love her voice; I often watch the concert version of The Secret Garden and love her as Lily). And she was surprisingly very funny. There was some full frontal nudity on Cerveris's part, although I wonder if that will be cut (I saw the first preview, so they'll make changes). It was a funny yet moving play.

This morning I went to the movies and saw A Serious Man. Oh my goodness, I want to marry the Coen brothers (both of them) they're just so brilliant. Michael Stuhlbarg stars in it, and it was great to see him doing well in film. I've seen him onstage before, in The Pillowman on Broadway and as Hamlet at Shakespeare in the Park last summer, and I think he's a great actor. I met him after The Pillowman and he could not have been nicer. He was so kind, and it's nice to see nice people succeed.


Tonight I'm going to try the Ragtime lottery, and if I don't win (which will probably be the case) I'll head out to Brooklyn and meet my friend Lauren for a bookstore opening. I'm so glad to have a friend who loves books!

Speaking of books, I'm reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett right now and I absolutely love it. I can't put it down. Seriously, go read this book. I'm fascinated by the South and so this book is particularly interesting to me, but I promise you'll love it even if you're not interested in southern history. It's lovely.

Finally, I'll leave you with some Glee goodies.

Will and Sue's swing dance was my favorite part of this week's episode, hand's down. Behind the scenes:


Sweet Caroline (swoon!):


Matthew Morrison performing Bust a Move!:


They're all worth watching. Matthew Morrison can definitely bust a move.

"Children, wake up, hold your mistake up, before they turn the summer into dust. If the children don’t grow up, our bodies get bigger but our hearts get torn up. We’re just a million little gods causin rain storms, turnin’ every good thing to rust. I guess we'll just have to adjust." ~the arcade fire

I've had a great past couple of days. Last night Nic and I saw Oleanna on Broadway. It's a two-person play written by David Mamet, and it is an intense 85 minutes. Very intense. It stars Julia Stiles and Bill Pullman, both of whom I love. I've liked Julia Stiles since 10 Things I Hate About You, and I've been crazy about Bill Pullman since While You Were Sleeping (which I came home and watched last night after the play). I thought they both gave strong performances, and I enjoyed the production. It's about a power struggle between a professor and one of his students, and it's a show that you keep debating long after it ends. There was a talk-back afterward, and it was interesting to hear people from the audience talk about the show because the show inspired such a vast range of opinions. Here are a couple of quick looks at the play:



This morning, Lauren and I went to see Where the Wild Things Are. Oh my goodness, it was wonderful. It was magical and heartbreaking and I loved it. We both had tears in our eyes at the end. I loved the music, I loved the cinematography, I loved the story. It was just a beautiful film.

And trailer #2:

Lauren Ambrose played my favorite Wild Thing, KW. It was nice to hear her voice. I think her line "I'll eat you up, I love you so" (you can hear it in trailer #2) was my favorite line of the movie.


School is exhausting. Is Thanksgiving here yet?

"For the ones who had a notion, a notion deep inside, that it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive. I wanna find one face that ain't looking through me, I wanna find one place, I wanna spit in the face of these Badlands. You gotta live it every day. Let the broken hearts stand as the price you've gotta pay. Well, keep pushin' 'til it's understood and these badlands start treating us good." ~bruce springsteen

It was a long weekend, so yesterday (Sunday) I headed home to New Jersey (because NJ will always be my home) and stayed with my friend Kim's family. It was nice to be back in my hometown and to drive past my old house (it looks the same) and hang out in my friend's house, where I've spent so much time over the past 20 years. Her mom made a fabulous dinner. Today we went to see Couples Retreat. Even though it didn't get the best reviews, I will not pass up an opportunity to see Kristen Bell on the big screen. She's such a talented actress, and I wish she would start getting better material so more people can see what she can do. She keeps talking about trying to get the Veronica Mars movie made, and I soooo wish that would happen. I'm afraid she'll never get as good a part as Veronica Mars again. I love that she's still holding on to that. Even thought she wasn't able to showcase all her talent, she was good in Couples Retreat, and I loved seeing her and Jason Bateman interact, because I think they're both great actors. It was a fun afternoon at the movies. Now I'm back in New York, dreading going back to school tomorrow.

I'm loving Brothers and Sisters this season. I wasn't sure that I liked Kitty's storyline when I first heard about it over the summer, but I have to admit that it's bringing some good drama. Calista Flockhart, Rob Lowe, and Sally Field have some great material because of it, and I love seeing them dig into it. The last minute of last night's episode really got to me. I missed Sarah. A lot. She's my favorite character. And I know Kitty missed her, too. I'm so glad she's back. That hug, with that music playing in the background...*tear*.

I don't think I mentioned how happy I am that Lauren Graham was cast in Parenthood. So I will now. I'm absolutely thrilled. That show has such an awesome cast (Peter Krause! Mae Whitman! Monica Potter!), and I can't wait to see Lauren act with them. I'm very sorry that Maura Tierney had to drop out, and I hope she's okay, but I can't think of anyone better to replace her. I can't wait to see my favorite actress back on TV.

Here's one of Bill's photos from Thursday's Bruce Springsteen concert. I was standing directly to his left, so this shows you how lucky we got.