Philadelphia- Week Ten

Week Ten? Really? Wow.

My day off at home was kick ass. I hung with Kricka and Jim at Steinhof my first night, went to some doctors appointments, and show shopped the second day. Got to meet Maggie, the cutest puppy ever, and spend a heartbeat of time with Larouche, her groovy mommy. Had a fantastic Breakfast with Ron Glow on Tuesday morning, and got on the train to come back. My bed. My bed is the best bed in all the land. No. Seriously. It is.

Tuesday at the theater brought some more interesting challenges. Poor Jaki was still out. We had two dressers call out sick, and an actor on for a character he has never played before. Just another day at the farm.

Those of you who remember my blog in it's email form, will remember Keala. Those of you who don't, she was the lead I dressed on the tour of Hairspray I was on last year. Well, she came into town to hang and chill for the week! We had a great time on Wednesday looking at stuff around the city.
I FINALLY got to see the Liberty Bell!!!! I was so excited I skipped all the blah blah at the exhibit and just ran up to see it. I hope I never lose the kid in me. Of course I went back and walked through the displays, after waiting and waiting for people to get away from the thing so I could take this picture for you. I hate people in my photos...unless it is a picture of people. The exhibit is actually very moving. I am such a cheeseball, I actually teared up. If you allow yourself to really think about that time period...OK, they slaughtered the Native Americans and seemed to have forgotten about the Africans they chained and enslaved when they were mapping out the laws of freedom, but the idea was a good one. The Liberty Bell is an American relic, and we have so few. It's a symbol that is immediately recognizable, and has been used over and over again. Even Nelson Mandela loves the damn Liberty Bell. And I am sorry, but if Nelson Mandela thinks it is cool, then well, everyone should. I am so glad I went out at saw it.
We walked all over the Historic District of Philly, and I still haven't seen everything.
Ben Franklin's gravesite is in this beautiful old cemetary. Most of the tombstones have been so worn away by weather and time, that they are just blank grey/white slabs of stone. It was quiet and serene. I love cemetaries.
I was going to go in and see the Constitution, but became pissy at the $9 entrance fee. I mean, do I really have pay to see my rights on paper?? That seems grotesque to me. That would be like paying to see your birth certificate or something. Then I found out it wasn't even the original but the first COPY. Forget it. I was already pissy about having to pay to see it to begin with, and then to find out it wasn't even the very first one..well..I say no. Not to mention there were screaming kids everywhere. Nine bucks to be completely annoyed for an hour seemed a bit ridiculous to me.

Well I got it. The creeping crud that has been decimating my local crew finally hit me. I had, as Keala would say, a terrible case of Blow Ass for about 3 days. However, it was nothing like what Jak had, so it really hasn't been that bad. Keala was great, she hooked me up with some Gatorade and nursed me back to health. Just a couple days of crackers and A LOT of toilet paper. By Thursday night I felt like myself again. So much in fact, that I ventured out on the town. Ryan (Carp) hosted a pub crawl on Thursday night. I wish I had been feeling better to hang for the whole thing, but I really really didn't want to stay sick, so I just did the start of it, and then bolted home to my hotel. grrrrrrr. I hate it when I know people are having fun and I am not there. It eats away at me..... But I was good. Got myself home and in bed by midnight. That pic CRACKS me up. That was at the first bar - Downey's. Pretty much everyone in this picture is from our show. That is Tony in the foreground. Hilarious.

On Friday one of my good good friends Jon Cogswell drove down. He is staying in town for the whole weekend! I love Jon so much, he is always so soothing and calm while still being a load of laughs. We have been friends foverah...since when...oh god..1994????? My mom loves him. My brother Dave thinks he's cool. Anyhoo, as soon as he drove in we got right to it and went out to the Eastern State Penitentiary. People, I am telling you, you MUST see this place. It was one of the coolest, most interesting places I have been on this tour yet. Extremely creepy, full of a sordid past that just radiates off of the decripit crumbling walls. We opted to not do the audio tour, which may have been a mistake because we had a ton of questions as we walked through. Still, I think it was better to soak up the feel of it without some machine talking into your ear. It claims to be the first real penitentiary ever built, and even showed a map of the world with examples of prisons that were made with it's same wagon wheel design. Also, apparently it had running water and central heat before The White House. Not that we would have known that. The joint was a total icebox! Al Capone was imprisoned there for a year or so, but they made it seem like he was just hiding out as opposed to serving any real time. Death Row was the eeriest spot. Seriously, all I did was walk in and the hair on the back of my neck stood up. Strange noises filled the whole prison, I am sure it was someone's job to just sit somewhere and periodically bang on some pipes to keep the tension up. They even have a Halloween tour - I can't even imagine that. I would have to come prepared with Depends or something. If you don't see it the next time you are in Philly, well, you are completely missing out.

I had to leave Jon to go to the play. (moowaah) Work has been good. A lot less stress and everything is easier when you have another person to jump in and help. It is great having Jaki back and healthy. We are back to teasing and cracking each other up. So Finally I can stop bitching to you all about the drama at work!!! You must be so relieved.

This was a weekend of my people coming down! Saturday, Jim arrived!!! He is only in town for a day, so we went to dinner at this AMAZING place called Alma de Cuba. OMG that was seriously the best meal I have had in a very long time. This is a picture of Jim and Jon at the bar while we waited for our table. After our staggeringly fantastic dinner, I had to go back to work and the boys wandered around. We met up at a bar called Misconduct which is down the street from the theater, has a nautical theme, and was a really good time. Lots of people from the show came and hung out, Keala was there, and another friend from the Hairspray clan showed up as well. I went outside to smoke a ciggie and Brett was there standing with Keala! It was old home week! Sometimes it is a little unnerving when two (or more) of your friendship world's collide...but then I remembered Brett and Keala have hung out with Jim before...and everyone loves Jon...so fun was had by all. Jim, Jon and I got back to my room and just laughed ourselves silly. It has been a long time since we were able to hang with just the three of us. I can't even remember the last time. 331 13th Street Apt 3L together again. It was a very very good time.

Sunday was your standard 2 show day. However, I went to eat Indian food with Keala and Brett. Now, much like artichokes, I keep trying Indian food, thinking that perhaps THIS time I won't hate it. Artichokes always let me down. And apparently, so does Indian food. Never again. Mayhaps it was a bad idea to try it after just getting over a stomach illness (duuuh) but, try I did. The company was great, but my stomach HATESSSSSS me. Nope. Indian food bad. Tums, good. Even so, it was great to spend a little time with Brett. He's good peeps.

Not for Nothin, but hats off to my people for coming out to see me, to give me some support and love. You guys will never know what it does for me.

Tomorrow is the day off...woooooooohoooo!!! Do I go to Opening Day to watch the Phillies play some baseball, or do I just go to the bead store with Keala, come back and make some pretties. Who knows. You will have to find out next week!



The Extra Pics:






This was Little Pete's. Keala and I had breakfast here on Wednesday. I like this picture. See? I like people in my shots if it is a shot of people.




This is a picture of the main hall in Union Station. I took this on my way back from visiting home.




The Carpenters Hall is where the Continental Congress met. I couldn't believe how small it was. People were so short back then (giggles)





Keala reading a tombstone at the cenetary where Ben franklin was buried





The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Hope you can read the inscription. Cheeseball (me) teared up reading it.





This was the start of the Pub Crawl. Anyone who went to Fredonia State willunderstand my joy at see these metal men. And not for nothin, but they are holding hands. City of Brotherly Love and all...


The next few are from the Eastern State Penitentiary


Creepy second level corridor




Creepy Al Capone cell. I got all arty and made this one a black and white.




Wicked Creepy Death Row




Creepy wall with lookout.




While out at Misconduct, Jim and Jon commandeered my phone and took this picture. Now don't freak out people, jim hasn't had a cigarette in 3 years, I found those bright pink smokes on South Street during the Pub Crawl and the boys thought it would be sooooooooo funny to put this picture as my welcome screen on my phone. So now everytime I go to make a call, this picture greets me. LOL



Jim and Jon trying to open my hotel room window. I was worried at the time that Jim would become roadkill on the streets of Philly. I just love those boys. I could just hug them til their eyes popped out.