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Jesse at pre-show dinner

Jesse and I kicked off the weekend right: with a magic show on Broadway! All I knew about Nothing to Hide before seeing it was that our friend Rick recommended it, it's directed by Neil Patrick Harris, and it had something to do with magic. The two magicians are highly entertaining and I did not stop laughing the entire time - well, except for when I was staring mouth agape at what I had just seen. Jesse and I spent the entire ride home trying to figure out what we really had just seen.

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Culturally, 2014 has been a pretty great year so far. I can't ever take this city I live in for granted. Last weekend I went to The Frick, I've seen a live show, and then yesterday my friend Adam and I went to the Museum of Modern Art. There were a few pieces I was particularly engaged in. Also, Dali's "The Persistence of Memory" is a lot smaller than I imagined.

You can see Adam taking this picture of me taking in some modern art.

My grandmother, probably the person who talked to me about art more than anybody else, had a print of Andrew Wyeth's "Christina's World" in her house when I was growing up. My parents, knowing me so well, made a gift of the print when she passed away and it's on display in my bedroom. I've always been fascinated with it, and can still get lost within it. I've also always noticed hands more than anything else when it comes to meeting people, watching movies, etc. and that's probably another reason I am entranced by the painting.

Hope II, Gustav Klimt

There was also a Magritte exhibition, which was far too crowded, but we got in free so I have nothing to complain about. It's just hard to take in paintings when it's hot, people are shoving past, and you can't even see an entire painting. However, there were a few I had the pleasure of taking in 'live,' as it were.

La Reproduction Interdite, Magritte

The Lovers, Magritte

A really great time with Adam. Hopefully I can continue this streak of quintessential New York fun. A renaissance, in the words of Dan Rydell.

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Last night we had friends over to watch the Patriots dominate the Colts. There was even a Colts fan in our midst, which usually seems to bode well during the playoffs - we've shared past games with fans of the opposite team, mostly to their chagrin by the end of the game. Next week Jesse and I will be visiting family in Panama, so we're currently counting on my mom to figure out how to watch the Patriots playoff game from thousands of miles away.

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Today I met up with my friend Amy for brunch, thinking we would see the film Philomena since we've seen nearly everything the theaters have to offer. However, after a hearty meal, we arrived at the theater to find that our phone app was wrong and there wasn't actually a showing at the time we thought. Our only other option was Anchorman 2. We sighed in resignation, and also that we hadn't had a drink or two at brunch. But in we went.

The movie was not up to par of the first, though it tried very, very hard. Very. The film was continuously disrupted for us by somebody in the back who kept clapping at odd times through the movie and mumbling. It was annoying, to say the least. It became more creepy, however, when the clapper came to the front of the audience, right in front of me and Amy, and stood for some time about 10 minutes before the movie was going to end. He just stood there. I couldn't see much of him, but I could see a couple of bags in his hands, a bald, shiny head that was reflecting the limited low light, and that he was fidgeting. I didn't like it. I didn't understand why he was standing there, why he was fidgeting, and I immediately made a mental note of the easiest escape route towards that red exit sign, figuring I'd jump the barricade and grab Amy if things got weirder. Because, in this world we are in today, I didn't know if he was going to pull out a gun. I'm not kidding. He stood there, and then slowly started waving at everybody in the seats while Will Ferrell was making fart noises or something else - I was definitely not paying attention at that point. I wasn't really breathing, either, because what the fuck was this guy doing??? When he reached for his belt I froze and then he adjusted his belt and shuffled very slowly towards the exit. I finally took a breath - somebody with mental problems perhaps, but thankfully not a psychopath. I just read too much news, maybe. But if there's one thing I've learned in New York, it's to always be aware.

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Now I'm back watching football with Jesse, hoping the Chargers can hand it to the Broncos again. It's not looking good in the 2nd quarter. Tonight's the Golden Globes, and I'll be finishing up my best films of 2013 list to post tomorrow!

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Last night was a bonefied laugh RIOT at the New York Comedy Festival's HERsterical show. I didn't realize going into it that it would be an all-female comedy show, and I was pleasantly surprised, and then continuously laughing for the duration. All proceeds from the fun show went to Gilda's Club.

We saw comics like Nikki Glaser, Alyse Kenney, and Marina Franklin--whose set I could barely breathe during, it had me (and Jaime) laughing so hard. Vanessa headlined and she's really great at doing on impersonation of herself telling a joke about sex.

Afterwards, while Jaime and I were discussing the show in our seats as everyone filtered out, a guy in a black windbreaker came up to us and said "You guys! You guys were great, you were like part of the show!" CREEP ALERT. Why were you staring at us laughing at a comedy show?

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We met up with Vanessa and friends at a bar later and I got to ask her all about important things like Mindy Kaling's wardrobe, Chris Messina's smirk, and Kerry Washington's all-around adorable-ness. I gathered this information and stored it away for future use in my everyday life, of course.

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I arrived at home too tired to read any more of S, though it's all I was thinking about on the train ride home. The only energy I had left to muster was to call Jesse for our nightly talk. It's always a treat to come home and hear his voice even if it's miles away.

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After work today I'm heading to a bi-weekly happy hour meet-up with my best friends. It's something I always look forward to. It's easy to lose track of time with everyhing this city throws at our schedules, so we make sure to hang out every other week to catch-up.

I was talking to Kelly one evening about a month ago when we met up after work and I told her how when I was in high school, I couldn't imagine the job I was doing, but I did imagine that it'd be in New York. And I saw myself meeting up with her for a happy hour cocktail to recount our respective days -- which is what we were doing at that moment. Sometimes it's the small things like that that make me smile when they come to fruition.