I am screaming and punching myself

Stars, friends, champagne and doughnuts: our New York anniversary trip

J and I went to New York to celebrate our one-year wedding anniversary week before last. Traditionally, the first year is the paper anniversary, and as it turned out, that was quite appropriate, because we both got each other tickets for stuff.

The impetus to go to NYC in the first place was, as I mentioned earlier, the historic appearance of Kylie Minogue on American soil, right around our anniversary date! (I got the Kylie tickets.)

And what a show it was! It's not often I use the word "extravaganza" unironically, but Kylie's Monday show on Oct. 12 was a freaking extravaganza. Kylie performed 24 songs in a little under two hours with barely a break. There were eight dancers, a live band with a horn section, impressive sets and a group of movable LED screens that augmented the sets and the atmosphere, and kept the spectacle going whenever Kylie and the dancers had to slip offstage for one of six costume changes.

Kylie came into our world as she was lowered on a big shiny skull with an apparent fire in it (?) doing the classic countdown intro to "Light Years." I'm not sure what the deal with the skull was; maybe giving death the finger after surviving breast cancer?

Apparently, the first costume change didn't work properly, so in what I consider to be a typical Kylie move, she came back onstage in her "space goddess" costume and her dancers handed her a big flouncy robe to sing in. So cute. Honestly, though, that might have been part of the show. I'm not sure; I couldn't hear or understand a lot of what she said between songs.

But I heard what she sang just fine, and she sounded lovely. The voice that seems a little nasal in the studio came out as a beautiful, rich soprano in concert, and only seemed to get stronger as the show went on. Before the finale of "Love At First Sight," she led the audience in a soaring a capella singalong of "Your Disco Needs You."

J took a picture of me watching the show and later told me, "You looked like it was Christmas morning." I couldn't believe I was actually watching someone whose music I've loved for years, and who's been something of a personal inspiration, and that I was so close to her. The dazzling spectacle of Kylie's show was appreciated, to be sure, but what mattered most to me was the honor, if you will, of watching a master do what she does.

I still don't get the flaming skull, though.

J had bought us some tickets as well: two fourth-row seats at "A Steady Rain," starring Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig. Talk about watching masters do what they do!

The play itself was kinda meh; it would have made a pretty good episode of Law & Order. Two childhood friends grow up to become Chicago cops, and during the course of the play, the role of alpha dog subtly shifts. But, as my friend Gabriel wisely pointed out, people weren't there to see the play itself.

One of my favorite aspects of the play was the casting: it would have been so easy to have Daniel Craig play the bully and Hugh Jackman play the more sensitive lost soul, but they flipped the roles. The result is a Jackman whose showman energy makes him a bad guy you almost hate to hate, and a Craig who seems almost to apologize for his presence. It's fantastic work on both their parts.

Like the Kylie show, seeing Jackman and Craig in person was something of a once-in-a-lifetime event. Now that I think of it, so was our first anniversary.

(When we arrived home, I learned my unemployment benefits would be running out that week, and two days later I got a major case of the flu. But for that five-day weekend, all was lovely.)

Sundry updates, or How I spent my summer vacation

Hey!

First, let me say that I'm beyond touched at all the sweet comments left at the "taking time off" post. You guys are the best. The past few weeks have proven therapeutic and I'm ready to revisit the land of Blogostan. Thanks so much for your kindness and patience.

Okay, I tried to participate in Talk Like a Pirate Day, but I've discovered that I can't maintain an accent to save my life. I'd start off with "Arrrrrgh, th' cat's taken a dump on th' stairrrrhs!" but within two sentences, I'd migrate to a bad Scottish accent and bust out with "Ooch, Mojo, ye're staippin' in it!" Similarly, whenever I do my impression of my best friend's Mexican-American dad, it's a matter of seconds before I'm in my Father Guido Sarducci voice. On the other hand, I can do the bad Scottish and Father Guido voices indefinitely. Invite me to your next party!

J and I took our little party on the road a couple weeks ago, visiting the Eastern Shore town of Chincoteague. The town itself is charming and cute, but we totally fell in love with the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge. This national park area has everything you need for the perfect day of outdoor fun: beautifully maintained bike trails, lovely vistas of marshland and seaside, and a fantastic Atlantic beach. (It also has mosquitos. Bring spray. And don't use your teeth to unclog the sprayer if sand gets in it, the way I did. Your mouth will be foul-tasting and oddly numb, and your boyfriend will threaten to take you to the hospital.) Since it's close enough to make a day trip, we'll undoubtedly be back next summer.

Speaking of which, now that my nemesis is on the wane, it's time to venture back outside. J and I have big plans for the yard. We've hired a landscape designer to come up with a plan for our little half-acre of paradise and we're hoping to do most, if not all, of the labor ourselves. What makes this disturbing is that I'm totally into it. I had a blast helping J take down the chain-link portion of the fence last week and I am positively stoked that we're renting a post puller tomorrow. Seriously. I've got a little chant about it and everything: "It's Post Puller Day, heee-eeey!" If you had told me 10 years ago that I would one day greet the rental of garden equipment with the same delight that I greeted the boozefests of my youth, I'd probably have asked to be put out of my misery right then and there. But there's no denying it: what dodgy ecstasy was to my 20s, power tools are to my 30s. Oddly, the chance of accidental disfigurement is about the same.

Skeeve-a Las Vegas

This is the wall outside the top-flight restaurants at Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas.

Yes, those are disembodied breasts, butts and torsos. (And, I just now realized, all the breasts look like implants rather than organic hooters.) I can think of no better representation of Las Vegas.

Deep in the heart of Tex-Mex

I spent a whopping 14 years in Austin, Texas, so whenever I visit, catching up with friends is my top priority. But running a close second is filling my piehole with as much Tex-Mex food as is humanly possible. Fortunately, J shares my enthusiasm for this pursuit, so we had ourselves a lovely time on our recent 5-day trip. We came back bloated but happy.

Out-of-Blog AutoReply

Greetings to my five regular readers! J and I will be in the bosom of weirdness known as Austin, Texas, for the next few days. We'll get back on Tuesday, which means new stuff will probably appear 'round Wednesday-ish. In the meantime, feel free to look through old posts or consider visiting Austin yourself. See you soon!

Back! (And badder than ever)

As expected, the New York trip was delightful. In retrospect, I'm rather astonished at how much stuff we crammed into 4.5 days. We met with friends, saw two movies and an off-Broadway show, got some neat stuff, ate some fine vittles, did some touristy stuff and even managed to just chill out and enjoy each other's company. Jason and I hadn't really travelled together before (a day trip to Busch Gardens was the closest we had come), so it was nice to see that our compatibility extends to travel as well. Of course, we were pretty happy to come home and see the cats, too. Especially when we found that they hadn't pooped on our bed as we had feared. Yeaaaa!