Confessions of an Ex-Airline Slave

My brother who hates traveling (gasp!) dramatically informed us that he changed his mind and would love to travel too.  About time!  I've never understood how he can be contented in staying in one place and not gasp in awe about waterfalls and unicorns but I do see his point about the endless immigration lines and packing.

I'm not so delusional as to think that I'm alone in this wanderlust, travel bug, thirst for travel restlessness.  I grew up in an mid-income household where both of my parents worked to make ends meet.  Add 6 kids and two house helps, a mortgage to be paid off and reasonable luxuries (like a pack of Chips Ahoy!) to the mix, we get frazzled parents and disciplined kids who know they won't always get what they want.  But we always, always got to go on those yearly summer trips to a beach resort no matter what.  

Then I worked for Philippine Airlines for 7 years after college.  That fed my wanderlust even more as I took advantage of it to the best of my abilities.  Imagine eight people traveling together as non-revenue passengers (that means free in airline-speak) to LA and SF from Manila.  I was always unhappiest before these trips because I absolutely can't have one of us get bumped off a flight.  Stress and pressure could've killed me then.  Oh, the things I've learned to do to ensure that all 8 of us get on those flights.  And I didn't even have to touch anybody.

All Smoke, No Fire

Had I not received tickets to see The Last Smoker in America, it wouldn't register a blip in my brain.  That's not such a bad thing because there are a lot more shows that I haven't seen but anyway, I went to see it with a friend.  We weren't about to waste free tickets even if it meant two hours of our time.

Most of the people around us must've been family and friends of the cast because they were all too ready with their laughs and nods of approval.  What?  Ganya and I were stoic-faced mascots looking at each other, wondering what people were laughing about.

This won't be a proper critique, as is usual with me and this blog, and there's really no point anymore  because the show closed September 1.

Central Park Series

My favorite pastime the whole summer has been walking around aimlessly in Central Park.  Today I got to see totally new (to me) sights and chance encounters. 

 Met Buck, a Bouvier.  Gorgeous hair.

Belvedere Castle, very cheesy-looking.  It's right above the Delacorte Theater where they hold Shakespeare in the Park.  Damn, that line for tickets was looong.

Swedish Cottage Marionette Theater.  Ghastly, spooky, marionettes.  Enough said.

Eataly, NYC

I met up with a friend for lunch a few days ago at Eataly, Mario Batali's market/restaurant at the Flatiron District.  I like going out with her as she loves to eat and knows a lot of restaurants in New York that are affordable but tastes ridiculously rich, luxurious and delicious.

We ordered the ravioli with lemon butter sauce and pistachio and the Napolitano pizza with mozzarella cheese, olives, various herbs and anchovies.  Of course, dessert will not be forgotten.  We skipped our regular, much-beloved French crepes for Italian hazelnut gelato.

 

 

Casting God's Spell

Another night at the theater, I was out with a friend to see Godspell at Circle in the Square.  Being just a few steps away from my place of employ, one or two members of the cast and the musical director Stephen Schwartz frequents the restaurant for drinks after their last show of the day so some of the faces were familiar.

One other face, though, was familiar but for a different reason altogether.  I can sense a Filipino from a mile away.  They don't even have to speak.  Plus, I've read about Anna Maria Perez de Tagle debuting on Broadway in several Filipino TV shows and news articles.  I immediately pointed her out to my friend and saw several Filipino faces in the audience

I was so ready to see another musical after watching a depressing play a few weeks ago.  What better way to banish all negative thoughts than to see a frenzied, bubbling-over, highly-caffeinated, culturally diverse bunch of young 'uns bouncing and trampolining across the stage playing Jesus' disciples.  Even Jesus, played by Hunter Parrish, was a kid himself too. 

We had front row seats and from John's baptism of Jesus, we were bombarded with several things going on at once and didn't know where to look.  Then, I felt uneasy and a tad impatient.  In spite of all the contemporary jokes and over-the-top, makes me tired just looking at them antics of those young people on stage, they still managed to sound olden days, Ten Commandments preachy.  It's not just because most of its language was adapted straight from the Bible.  Of course, I don't know how anyone can do a show about Jesus and his disciples without sounding preachy and homily-like.   One can't help it, I guess, but they lost me there.  I'm going to hell.

And while I enjoyed certain parts like Telly Leung's take on famous movie lines and Anna Maria's Day by Day, I found some of the contemporary jokes referencing Donald Trump, Lindsay Lohan, Facebook and Occupy Wall Street way too corny and forced.

Wit or Without You

I have just seen one of the most real and the most depressing plays on Broadway.  Wit, which stars Sex and the City's Cynthia Nixon, is a Pulitzer Prize-winning play about a demanding professor of 18th century poetry who is diagnosed with stage four cancer.

I wasn't convinced about seeing the show but I wasn't about to waste perfectly free tickets to a play no matter how dramatic and depressing it was.  So I soldiered on and saw it with a co-worker who was dying to see it, pardon the pun.  

Several times during the show, particularly when Dr. Vivian Bearing was nitpicking John Donne's poems to a group of teenagers, I felt myself rolling my eyes.  One of the students was right, why does Donne have to make everything so complicated? 

But of course, we were both wiping away tears by the time her college professor laid on the hospital bed with her and read her uncomplicated bunny tales of Beatrix Potter.

My goodness, I needed a chocolate cocktail after that.  Mocha Love, anyone?

Eyes Will Roll

I went to see an off-off-off-OFF Broadway show called Frogs at the Fault Line Theater on 4th Ave. between 2nd Ave. and Bowery a few nights ago.  The comedy is by Aristophanes and oh my goodness, I'm too stoopid for these Greek plays.  It was way too corny for me and spoiler alert, it wasn't about amphibians at all.   

The only thing that left me laughing all night was the almost transparent groin area of the men dressed in frog-green spandex suits.  I have pictures of it but posting it would be distasteful.