Tattoo, Red Lion Rent, and Little Known Holiday Super Bowl Fun

Tattoo

On Tuesday, January 31st (my friend Jessica, who I've known since preschool ... Wow, fifteen years is a long time to know somebody) - I went to Matthews Party tattoos and Piercing Parlor ... And got a tattoo. It's a rose, it's about two inches big, and it's on my lower back. I LOVE it. I was very concerned for two big reasons:

1. NO ONE in my family knows (except for my cousin, who I told after having it for five hours...He lives in CA and promises not to spill)

2. I was scared it would hurt like hell.

I think the only thing I could say (and I said it repeatedly) before I got there were 'So. I'm getting a tattoo. And my mother doesn't know. And it's going to hurt like hell...' Everyone would say 'yup'. Katie and Kaitlin and Amanda went with me. Amanda actually came into the back room with me (only one person could go) and held my hands. I think I crushed her a little. It hurt, but not nearly as bad as I thought it would. And it's pretty. And simple. And something just for me. Hurrah! After I got it I had this conversation:

Kevin: Is this the only one you're getting?
Me: ahahaha yes
Kevin: Sometimes people get a rose, then they get addicted, then the rose becomes a garden, then the garden is met by a cottage, then it's in the mountains, and before you know it you're a walking Kinkaid painting.

Right. No Kinkaid coming anytime soon.

Red Lion Rent

Three of my friends here at school live in a small town near York called Red Lion. I heard about it a lot, I like the small town idea. I'm the kind of person who can live in a really big city or a really secluded area - but Suburbia is stifling. I wake up on Friday morning to see that I have gotten an instant message from a friend of mine who lives there and already had gone home for the weekend. It pretty much said that I needed to find a way to get my Italian butt out to Red Lion because Penn State York was hosting the Broadway Touring Cast of Rent. Rent's creator, Jonathan Larson started a tradition called 'Rush Tickets'. Two hours before curtain goes up, people can buy tickets for $20. And these aren't for the crappy seats - rush tickets are the first two rows specifically reserved for those who buy rush seats. Only two per person, and 32 seats saved ... That's amazing, yes, but difficult to get. In NY people line up the day before for them. The only thing stopping me from jumping in the car with Kaitlin and going to the Eastern side of the state was my mother, who was planning on coming to visit me here at school this past weekend. Being the considerate daughter I am, I called her in an attempt to ask if we could change our plans. She took it as my asking her permission to go on this excursion...Meaning I needed to tell her:

1. Who I was staying with (Kaitlin)
2. What kind of car she drives
3. What year the make was
4. How long she had been driving
5. How many siblings she had (no, I'm not kidding.)
6. What her home phone number was
7. And address
8. Social security number, drivers license, and resume

Maybe I'm exaggerating that last one a little bit. But just a little. After running around trying to contact my mom, Kaitlin, my mom, my mom, Kaitlin...I was almost allowed to go (which, I didn't ask my mother because I wanted permission, I was just trying to make sure I could change our plans), until mom insisted on talking to Kaitlin's mom. This was difficult since both of our mother's were working. After packing my suitcase while Kaitlin and Jesse (who was coming along for the ride) sat there waiting for my mom to call back and listening to me swear and decided that I was going with or without permission...I finally got the ok. So we hopped in the car and listened to Rent and I was QUITE excited.

I got to eat at Central Pizza - good stuff, and see how Kaitlin's family owned half the town, and a million other fun things. It's cool because they all grew up with each other. Kaitlin's family was having a get together for someone's birthday and all of us went over to say hello. It was hilarious, a lot of discussion about our future professions, computers, if I was an Italian Jew...Yeah. Good times.

The next day, Kevin and I went to sheetz, grabbed rations, and then took our food, our homework, and ourselves over to PSU York. We waited in line for about 8 hours. We took a huge Rent poster that was hanging up, because we were so early that no one was there yet and I really wanted it. It's hanging in my room!!! Then! Kevin left me in line because he had to go get a new laptop (he spilled some hobo jug wine on it - yeah they hippies try to make their own wine. Long story short, liquid in a computer doesn't work) , when this guy who's the director of the university theatre walked in and asked how long I had been in line, I told him an hour and a half and that the building was beautiful (it's only 6 months old) and I had never been there before. He asks if I want to see inside, so he unlocks it and lets me in and it's beautiful! Then he leaves and I ask the stage manager who's walking around where the actors leave the theatre and sign autographs after the show. She tells me, and Kevin comes back, and since no one is around STILL we go looking for it. WELL! Somehow we go through a wrong door and we end up BACKSTAGE!!!!!!! We're walking through and I'm trying not to have a freaking heart attack, so I keep looking around and it's awesome! I saw the costumes and the dressing room, and a bunch of people were working on stuff for the night's show but no one stopped us. So we walk all through backstage, no one bothers us - again, incredible! We finally ask how to get out to the main part of the building. Someone shows us and then when they're gone I FREAK OUT because we were backstage of RENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!And it was amazing. *phew*

So! Then we get in line and get our tickets, I go back to Kaitlin's, shower real fast,and we get there just in time to see it start. Kevin's mom came with us, she's really sweet. Our seats were Orchestra Pit Very First Row CENTER!!!! The show starts and the whole first act my jaw is pretty much on the floor and I'm smiling and it's amazing. During intermission I realized my face hurt from smiling so much, haha. Then the second act, Seasons of Love starts and I'm crying because it's really pretty and the guy playing Angel is standing right in front of me and so is the guy playing Roger. And they're BOTH singing right to me and smiling at me, but especially Angel. So I'm melting into a puddle in my seat thinking: 'oooooooh my gosh' . That was pretty cool. The whole second act was amazing, I cried for half of it. After the funeral scene I was sobbing really hard. Just - wow. Then at the end for the curtain call and such, Angel is in front of me again and he's smiling at me and it's fantastic.

Then! We run to where the actors are supposed to come out, and we're told it'll be a few because they're in a meeting. So Kevin goes to tell his mom we have to wait and as soon as he leaves the actors come out. Of course, right? I get all of their signatures, tell them it was the first time I saw it on stage, they were great, etc. And then Angel comes out and I was like 'can I have a quick autograph?' And he says 'Sure' and he looks at me and goes 'Oh! YOU were my favorite tonight'. And I was like 'really? Thank you so much,thank you, you were great' and he says 'no, thank YOU for giving me so much energy to do the second half of the show!' and I almost died. So he wrote 'keep beautiful michelina' in my program!!!!! AMAZING!!!!! So Sunday night I google-ed the guy and emailed him and I hope he writes back.

That's my Rent experience. Now, the freshman trip is to see it in NY and I'm in the drawing to go - they pick names on Monday night. Hopefully I'll be chosen, It would be such a blessing -the trip is only $50 and that's very cheap considering...I'd never have a change to go for such little money again.

Little Known holiday Super Bowl Fun

So the Steelers were in the Super Bowl. The game wasn't as exciting as I thought, though I didn't my fair share of yelling. The Rolling Stones were the half time show, and we thought it would be good -but no: lame. By the middle of the third quarter I was getting tired of it, no good new commercials, no good plays... So what do I do? I write all the random little known holidays for the next few months on the wall calendar by Chris's computer. His birthday was national hug day and something about granola? He was fated to be a hippie. Since the Steelers won, not many people went to school at my loving NA school district, so Dr. Green the most obnoxious and strict superintendent on the face of the planet - gave everyone the Tuesday off because the NA marching band was playing downtown. Haha, by little brother still had to get up early to go and play his fluty fluteness in Pittsburgh. Ah well, it was probably cool. Bandies. Good times. I still had to go to class, although Professor Webb did cancel Theory and Ear Training.


That's about where my story ends. *golf claps*