live from 23rd / 7th - part 3

"it's starting to rain and i forgot my hat. this sucks."

stay classy,
josie

live from 23rd / 7th - part 2

harris' friend josh homer has arrived and their tent has been assembled with minimal difficulty. (i don't add commentary, just reportage. but if i were to add my thoughts here, i'd speculate that watching those two set up camp for the night would be VERY entertaining.)

also, harris feels that he might be 'too friendly looking', because at least 10 people have stopped to ask him what the line is for.

stay classy,
josie

live from 23rd / 7th - part 1

so, i've agreed to live-blog for harris while he (bravely? - stay tuned) endures the elements on his quest to audition for last comic standing.

after hearing (read: paying attention to online rumors) that people were already in line, he panicked and traveled down to gotham
a full 3 hours earlier than originally planned.

it may've been a good decision as #1 and #2 arrived last night at 6 pm. yes, you read that correctly.

harris reports that he has been there for a full 5 minutes, and has already eaten all his food, drank all of his water, and rehearsed his 2 minute act approximately 13 times. now he's bored and needs to pee.

he's number 60 in line.

stay classy,
josie

I Can't Believe I'm Doing This

Barring a case of temporary sanity, at 7 PM tonight, I will begin my camp-out for tomorrow's Last Comic Standing Audition, which begin at 9 AM. I hear there are already people there.

On the bright side, temperatures are gonna be in the 40's overnight. On the down side, thunderstorms are also in the forecast.

I may be doing some live-blogging. No, I ain't carrying my computer there. I will give my girlfriend access to this site, and relay my boredom, annoyance and anger, but we'll see.

Doing the math, I will be standing outside for at least 15 hours, for what will be, at most, a two-minute audition.

I can't believe I'm doing this.

Rock On,

Aitch

The Mennonite Wedding (First of a possible series)

First of all, for those that don't know, Mennonites are an offshoot of Amish. I believe they're slightly less ridiculous (Yes, that's the official definition).

ANYWAY, Saturday, Josie's mennonite cousin got married somewhere in rural Pennsylvania so I got to meet the entire clan. We got up at seven to take the train in Seacaucus at eight for a three hour car-ride to the wedding. Oh boy.

So, the wedding.

First of all, when we got there the bride and groom were taking pictures on a tractor. The tractor that they drove in on, and will go home in (on?).

While the bride wore a simple white gown, the groom, and male members of the wedding party were dressed in black. Black shirt, black jeans, and yes, black cowboy hats. For color, they wore red ties. Nice touch, I must admit. I asked Josie's mom if that was a mennonite tradition, she replied, "No, they're just cowboys."
"Oh."
They looked like Doc Holliday and his gang looking for Wyatt Earp. By the way, the groom and best man never took their hats off.

The ceremony included four hymns, performed live with a band (including a drummer!). Oddly enough, the reception did not have a band. Religious music was piped in. Obviously, there was no dancing. There was also no alcohol. I felt like I stumbled onto a remake of Footloose.

The food was set up in the front of the room, buffet-style. I can tell you exactly what they had: String beans, potatoes (au-gratin?), and ham loaf. Yes, ham loaf.

When i ate it, I thought it was meat loaf. To be honest, I thought it was really good. It was only later when I found out it was ground up ham. I wish I knew before, I would've studied it more...than again, maybe I was better off not knowing.

If you're wondering if there were any choices, the answer is yes - They had two styofoam dishes, one with ketchup, and one with bbq sauce....for the ham loaf.

Finally, at most weddings, people clink glasses to make the bethrothed kiss, right? Not here...they had a tip jar. In fact, when one table started clinking their silverware (the glasses were plastic), the bride picked up the tip jar and shook it.

After we left, Josie told me that they want to visit us in New York.
"That should be funny."
"Why? Cause they've never been to New York?"
"Well, that, and can you imagine trying to find a parking spot for a tractor?"

Rock On,

Aitch

Super Bowl Thoughts (I Have Two, None Related to the Game)

First of all, I drove three hours to a Mennonite wedding in Pennsylanvia. It was a doozy...will blog about that later.

Thought #1 - I love that the Giants trainer's been with them since 1948. I pictured him running on the field to attend to an injured player, seeing he has torn his ACL, and recommending leeches. And if that doesn't work, an exorcism.

Thought #2 - After the game, a reporter was interviewing Sam Madison, who was holding a copy of tomorrow's (now today's) Bergen Record. It said, "GIANTS WIN!" The reporter asked Sam if he could relay what the headline read.
Sam said, "I don't know about that, but all I know is that we won!"

Not really a "thought" (so I did just have two), but Sara Ramirez from Grey's Anatomy was at the Super Bowl party I attended. I shoulda written to gawker about a celeb sighting.

"I spotted Sara Ramirez on my bud Ed's sofa. She was eating a cupcake...just like one of us!!!"

Come to think of it, I wonder if she knows more about modern medicine than the Giants trainer?

Rock On,

Aitch

I Got Nuthin'

So I'll just tell you how I'm actually dreading going to the Super Bowl party that I go to every year.

Not only do I despise both teams...the Giants, cause of The Family Manning's draft day bs, the Pats cause they have the most annoying fanbase besides Yankee fans, but because everyone at the party are either Giant fans (understandable given that I live in NY) or Pats fans (the host is a transplanted Bostonian).

Even the trash-talkin' e-mails have been annoying and puerile, which I'm not even gonna bother to post here.

Worst of all, my numbers are 8 and 1.

I can't wait for Monday.

Rock on,

Aitch