back to back!!!

Two days of madness.

Let me try to go through this as quickly as I can.

I. Rent the musical (today, 14th Sept)

no photography was allowed in the theater. But... you don't want me to spoil the suspense for you guys anyways, right?

Stunning. To my opinion, much much much better than the movie. Vocal quality was just superb. So to you people out there who are fresh from watching the movie (I know there's lots of you), come to New York.

If the standard to meet is the movie, I am 100% sure that NOBODY underperformed. Everyone was stunning. Special mention goes to those who played Tom Collins ("I'll Cover You" is stuck in my head.) and perhaps Roger. Fabulous. Mark was geeky enough, and Maureen... she was drop dead gorgeous (hi Mark Tan). Angel was great talent, and so on and so forth. Just fabulous.

I was thinking about it, perhaps if I didn't know the storyline beforehand, I would have broken down in tears during the final scene. hahaha and of course, all the cheesy lines and exchange of sweet words never failed to send chills running up and down my spine. Marvellous.

Went with my childhood friend Mia, who's studying here in NYC.


Well, the story behind how I got there? NYU students get a discount on tickets; so instead of 45usd for normal mezzanine seats, I paid 33. Good deal for me. I think it will be something that I can get myslef to go back again and again year after year just to watch it.

Again, come to New York. Albert feels lonely frequently. Companionship is good.

II. John Mayer concert!!! (13th Sept)

Well, that was the best shot I managed to take from where I was standing. Trust me, it's so hard to get a shot of him, cos he's never still; he's perpetually rocking back and forth, especially at the hip area, at which point, of course, the ladies (young and extremely old) go insane. I close my eyes and wince in pain. It was a small theater, actually it was a live recording. Only about 200 people in there. Anyways, for you John Mayer fanatics out there, here's the order of the concert:

• Stop This Train
• Vultures
• Slow Dancing in a Burning Room
• Heart of Life (One of my favorites in the new album)
  
• Bigger than my Body
• Good Love is on the Way
• I Don't Trust Myself Loving You
• Dreaming with a Broken Heart (Beautiful song.)
• Why Georgia (Of course, only the crowd sings the "so what, so I've got a smile on.." part. wonderful.)
• Gravity (where he goes into this LONG improvised solo, which was really really magical.)
• No Such Thing (crowd favorite - even the grandmas were dancing.)
• Waiting on the World to Change (It started with John singing "waiting" acapella, to which the crowd responds in song - "waiting!" ahhh go listen to the song la.)

At this point, John leaves the stage, says "Thank you very much for giving me a life in music; that's all I want, and that's all I need."

Of course, being a John Mayer fanatic, and having heard some of his live recordings before, we know that he will disappear for a few minutes then come back to play some more songs. And he sure did that. Some people really DID go home.

• Daughters (before this, he teased the crowd and played the intro to "Comfortable", but he said he "doesn't do that anymore" hahaha)
  
• I'm Gonna Find Another You (with a blues improv intro. Beautiful. My absolute favorite song in the new album. Go get it.)
• In Repair

So that's the part of the concert. He was fabulous. I was just awestruck at how creative and passionate he was with his craft.


Now, the story of how I got the tickets:

Remember a couple of posts ago? When I gave up hope on getting hold of any tickets? Well, Wednesday morning was no different. I went about doing my school stuff. Then, when I was on my way out of the apartment at 5:30pm to go for my Calculus lecture (which ends at 8pm), I thought I'd just bring my camera along and take some snapshots of the banner thing outside the theater, which I did. So after the lecture, I was still thinking I was on the way back to my dorm to do my essay, which was due the next day. I thought maybe I should walk an extra block and try to walk past the theater, maybe I'll spot him randomly or something. When I got there, I saw a congregation of about 3 people.

"what's this line for?"

"Release tickets. I heard they've got 10 left."

"For how much?"

"40 bucks, man."

So I was like... ermmm... tempted, but I knew two things: 1.) My essay is really very important, and I can easily turn away from it cos mentally, I am in a state of acceptance that I would not be able to go already, and 2.) There was NO WAY i could have had 40 bucks in my wallet. So I walked on, rejected the offer, and went back to my apartment across the street.

As I was about to enter the main door, I thought to myself, "what in the world am I doing? It's a once in a lifetime chance! 40 bucks is worth every penny! Remember, you LOVE John Mayer! (ermmm... his music.)" So I turned around and dug into my pockets. Amazingly (I forgot how), but I had 42 bucks on hand. So I ran across the street and got myself in. Bliss.

But I guess, eventhough the concert was magical, there was something lacking. Company. I was alone, while everybody around me was drinking and dancing around. Not that I wanted somebody to gyrate with (oh help.), it would feel so much more special if there was somebody I could share this moment with. Not necessarily a girl, of course. Just somebody who can appreciate it as much as you do, and you are comfortable hanging around with.

And it didn't help that there were 3 couples surrounding me smooching every 2.5 minutes, as well as a 50-60ish woman with a gratitous amount of lipstick on her lips. I tell you, the grandma was having so much fun la. Everyone was drinking, and I was a total geek. I was wearing my Tower Records shirt, and carrying along my heavy school bag. Speaking of school...

III. Course Registration

In between these two amazing events, I think the one that has comforted me the most is that my registration for NYU is almost stable already. As some of you might know, I registered for a wrong subject, so I had some trouble changing to another one. Well, didn't get Neural Science: Brain and Behavior (the one I wanted), but I got into Human Genetics. I'm still trying to get into Neural Science, but I'm just so happy that I can finally say that school work has stabilized.

In all these events, especially in the middle of the John Mayer concert, there were moments when I just stopped and reflected on God's goodness to me. I think the trials that I had the past week, as well as studying the Book of Job in depth for the past week has reminded me that we have to praise and thank God in both good times and bad times. There's really no way I could have imagined that things would turn out this way. Only a God like Him who plans and knows everything ahead of us can do such a marvellous thing.

Well, long weekend ahead of me. I have to read the first 6 books of Iliad, and write a 2-3 page essay on this question:

"In Genesis 24, Abraham sends a servant to find a wife for his son, Isaac. Supporting your answer with textual evidence, examine how does the servant makes his choice. What makes the servant think throughout the journey that God has "kept faith" with his master, Abraham?"

Headache. On top of that, one more expository writing essay, one lab report, lots of reading up for my newly acquired course, and a set of exercises for Calculus.

no more spending money this week, and perhaps the next too.

I'm off to bed now! and yes, I am grinning like a hippo, cos I'm having a whale of a time here.

But I still miss Singapore.

I'M OUT!!!