"It's Been Minutes, It's Been Days, It's Been All I Will Remember"

On Saturday I made plans with friends to see the New York cast of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, but it was sold out when we got there. Fortunately they perform every week, so we'll try again before too long. On the way back we stopped at the Waffle Cart (it's what it sounds like) for a waffle cheer up. I ordered a waffle with chocolate sauce, but accidentally dropped it on myself before I got to eat it. Michelle and Rachel both shared their waffles with me, which took the sting out of the situation. But there isn't much to take the sting out of the dry cleaning bill I'll be paying when I pick my coat up on Friday (except for the fact that I got a great deal on the coat in the first place). This has been an opportunity for me to exercise my skills at layering sweaters against the bitter cold, and they have performed admirably.

In spite of my failure to see Rocky, I have managed to spot two creatives I love very much - David Sedaris and Stephen Sondheim - this week at my local Barnes & Noble. I do love that it is a pit stop for all the best authors. Michelle went with me to see David Sedaris, who was absolutely hilarious. He read to the crowd from his new book and his diary, then took questions from the audience. Stephen Sondheim was in the format that Lewis Black's was, an interview with a friend of his. I would have gotten a signed Sondheim book, but apparently at 80 he doesn't much feel like signing hundreds of books. Ah well, it was incredibly worth it. And I will say that one of my favorite things about New York is that of all the celebrities I've seen at Barnes and Noble (Russell Brand, Bill Bryson, Lewis Black, David Sedaris, and Stephen Sondheim) Sondheim easily drew the biggest crowd. The people of New York have spoken, and they love the composer of musicals most of all!

Aside from that, I've been pretty occupied with my classes. I'm halfway through an essay now, and I have two more to write next week. I've started looking at pretty much everything from a graduate student point of view. For example, Michelle mentioned to me that she thought female Disney villains were more frightening than male Disney villains on the whole, and I've been engaging in villain analysis in my free time. This is what I posted on her Facebook earlier today:

"By the way, in my continuing examination of Disney villains, I have developed a new theory in which The Little Mermaid is actually a retelling of the story of the Garden of Eden, where Ursula is Satan (operates by contracts, lives in the deep, imprisions souls, etc), King Triton is God (long white beard, all powerful, quick to anger, but truly loves his children), and Ariel is Eve (coveting the knowledge/experience she does not have). Obviously it's a different perspective on Eden and it needs some tweaking, but I thought it was important to tell you so that when you get back from Canada and have to come pick me up from the asylum, you'll be able to explain my ravings and get me out."

That's right - giant nerd, right here. And I'm not sorry.