Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden

Happy birthday husband of mine :).  The concert we've waited months for was finally here!

Once we got some breathing space from the crowd;
we traded photography with another group

And it turns out Madison Square Garden is only a couple blocks from the hotel - amazing.

So - step one - figuring out how to get in.  Kudos to the security guy at the front gate who said “the line’s much shorter at 7th Ave” - win!  He didn’t even lie.  It took us a while to *find* that entrance - incl circling around the hole in the ground that used to be the hotel C had asked me to look for 😂.   But we did get there and the crowd moved reasonably quickly, and I was more amused than I should’ve been by the security guard who was praising everyone who managed to follow his (very simple) instructions with an enthusiastic “good” and a nod, even more amusing causes this was not a small man, and the Brooklyn accent just completed the whole image.

We got in comparatively quickly

Anyways - no issue, in and seated, made friends with the people next to us (woman and her kid - woman is a teacher and kid plays Pokémon.  And C has all sorts of magical pokés on his phone that he’s usually willing to share.  So Cindy - originally from NJ who now lives on Long Island - gave us some suggestions to try so that’s always nice.  Esp when much of it aligned w similar advice from others who know stuff.

We were front row of the balcony

So our seats were *amazing* front row of the balcony and the show was excellent.   Lighting and visuals better than I'd anticipated but also, I really enjoyed the commentary between songs which, most concerts, I’d rather fast-forward through.  He was legitimately funny in a self-depreciating and humble way and while of course I have no idea what he’s life IRL, if it’s anything like his stage persona, he's probably pretty decent.  I understand he’s a star and has been doing this a very long time, but so have many others and most of them at best don’t add anything and at worst make me severely dislike them (*cough*GNR*cough*).  Also, the interactions w his crew showed the type of relationships you can’t get if there’s not real respect there; I do wonder if some of them might’ve been with him from the beginning.   Also, not quite the same age lol but there was a woman in his backup crew, Crystal Taliefero, who was unbelievably amazing.  Played…. Idk 6?  8?  Diff instruments on stage AND had a seriously impressive voice (one of only two solos in the whole performance to give the star a chance to chill). 

(edited after I got home to add -- I had to google her last name, she's been touring with Billy Joel since 1989?!?!  Which means A - justifies my first thought that his team has been with him for a while, and B - apparently I was off on my age guess!  Energy, looks, and enthusiasm for the win.  I'm also going to incl this quote from her website because it summarises why I was so impressed (note the "in addition" 😂!): "in its 2008 article The 125-Plus People, Places and Things Ruling the Rock & Roll Universe, Rolling Stone magazine declared Taliefero the "Best Secret Weapon." Instruments in Taliefero's percussion kit include the bongo, cabasa, chimes, conga, cowbell, güiro, hand percussion, jam block, shaker, tambourine, timbales, triangle, the Djembe, and wood block. In addition, Taliefero plays acoustic guitar, sax, keys and all vocals".

The screens significantly increased the impact of the show

Now back to our regularly scheduled program.  The place was *packed*.  I took a couple videos - two songs for C and one for me, and some pics, but mostly I really just enjoyed the show.  I also love how in recent decades the tradition of waving a lit lighter has been intentionally replace by a glowing cell phone - to almost exactly the same effect.

I was also impressed by the thought and artistry in the attention to details.  Times when you could see Billy on the big screen with Madison Square Garden also highlighted and times when you couldn’t see anything but his face.   Lots of lights or none.  Full colour or black and white.  Same thing one multiple screens or all different.  His piano rotated - not wildly of course but enough that everybody on either side of the stage or in front got equal turns of him facing them.  The for the people *behind* the stage, when he wasn’t on the piano, he’d walk behind so they could see him.  

I’m still grinning.   There were a few songs I didn’t recognize (not shockingly) but he also definitely played everything I was hoping to hear.  And the crowd was WAY into it.   “It's Still Rock n Roll to Me”- for this one on the big screen it flashed back to his original video.   Perfect song for it and incredibly well done.  Particularly interesting to me was how it inspired nostalgia even though I was a toddler then and definitely oblivious "grown up" music.  

The only thing I really didn’t like was leaving.   Seriously claustrophobic.  It was the first time in my life I’ve ever really understood how people die getting trampled leaving stadiums - esp when something bad happens.   I’m comparatively small and agile so I can usually dart through a crowd if I need to.  There was no way.  None.   We got out with absolutely no problem but it was the opposite of fun.   Not sure if the Rogers Centre (I def typed Sky Dome first) is better designed, or just doesn’t seat as many people, but I’ve never felt that there and now have a new appreciation for those huge ramps.   And for the record, this wasn’t a culture clash thing: everybody was being calm and civilized.  Fairly remarkable actually.  Just sheer volume in a space that seemed remarkably poorly designed for it.   Eventually we got almost out and a security guy was basically begging people to turn around and go down to Pen Station and out from there.   Given how that had worked out the first time, we followed his advice to and that was a huge win.  We’d been in the crowd a LONG time at that point so a shortcut out - esp when we didn’t care where “out” dropped us - was awesome.

Ironically, next year there is a show actually ON Chris' bday ;)

On complete randomness - there are two different types of employees I saw today that I was super-impressed by and I wish I had the ability to pay them a ton to run the world.   The first were the two women managing the ladies room.  For the men out there or the ladies who’ve managed to avoid public events all their lives, this is usually a nightmare situation.  Long lines, leading to disgusting or non functional facilities, etc etc.   These two had it under control.  If anyone went in a stall and opted out of using it, it was checked instantly, supplies were being updated throughout, and the floor mopped as it was being used.  The line was insane but I’ve never experienced such efficiency before.   Little things, but wow.  Then the other one were the couple rickshaw cyclists who had clued in to playing Billy Joel on their speakers while trying to entice customers.  Fairly brilliant sales plan.  I didn’t see a single one of those empty for more than a few seconds while the non-Billy-playing ones sat empty.  

So yes - super fun night.  Honestly WAY better than I’d hoped.   

We ended by walking up to Times Square for the night edition.  While I am glad we went, it is so the opposite of my thing that I don’t think I ever need to do it again lol.  Iconically and/or stereotypically American - garishly loud, over the top, sensory overload, and almost as bright as daylight.   For she who loves night for the calm, quiet, and dark - it’s a different take.   😂. There’s a reason Vegas doesn’t call to me.   Different people were doing the same show we watched this afternoon with less skill yet a bigger audience - we didn’t stick around this time lol.  

Chris feel asleep ages ago, but I wanted to get this down while all the impressions were fresh.   It’s a wild ride for sure, and I’m definitely glad I’m getting to experience it.  Tomorrow I think the goal is Central Park (maybe an actual tour?) and the musical Chicago - which I’ve never seen live before.   Night!

NYC: Why are we even here?

So the background -- shortly after Christmas last year, we learned that Billy Joel would be performing at the casino in Niagara Falls (aka very close to us) and Chris really wanted to go.  I've never been a big concert person - I'm happy enough to go if others want to, but very rarely do I seek them out.   However, I figured for his birthday, in February, that'd be a good option.

And I, being a planning type, figured out when they were going on sale and got myself in virtual line...  And was like 1,000th when it opened.  It moved reasonably fast - going by memory here, but I would've only been able to block an hour from work and it didn't take anywhere near that.  15 mins maybe?  But there were no reasonably priced tickets left.  Nothing under $500/ticket.  C agreed that wasn't reasonable and we dropped it.

Fast-forward a couple weeks and I clued in that if it's a tour, perhaps there are other locations we could visit...   Some restrictions:  C is a teacher, so has no flexibility on when he takes his vacation, and cost...  Found a date at Madison Square Garden (MSG) on a Saturday in April.   Checked how long a drive it'd be - doable in one day as long as we spent the night there and came home the next day.  Even better - tickets were super-cheap to fly out of Buffalo.  And it was plausible I could book tickets early enough in the day that if there were flight issues, we could still drive in time.   All good.  Except when I was doing my last minute checks, I found a warning on the MSG site that that concert could be moved due to hockey playoffs.  Frig.  Did some googling about where in the playoff timeline we'd be on that date and it was super-early, like first or second round.  Not a risk we could take.

So I started looking at other venues, but as I was finding the tour dates I clued in, there's one a month at MSG.  I'd never been to NYC before (other than to drive through it between airports) and Chris had only been once.  Seemed kinda odd that the dates wouldn't all be together - wasn't till tonight I realised that he lives on Long Island ;).  So I flipped through till I found a date that would work for us - it was WAY out in the summer, but, that'd remove any vacation restrictions for C, and fortunately my work is pretty flexible on when we take ours.  Also, I traditionally don't take summer vacation when there's a conflict to allow those with kids to do so, so the once in a while I decide I want it, they tend to accommodate it.  

Managed to secure tickets to that one that even with the exchange rate was cheaper enough than seeing him here that it almost covered the cost of flights too.  Sweet.   Was through a reseller so I was a little nervous - even having done all the due diligence possible - so was relieved when less than 10 mins after hitting "purchase" the tickets were in my inbox.

This is what I very quickly crafted to go in C's bday card ;)
E-tickets don't exactly print well!

Since this was now going to be a surprise for Chris (given he already knew we weren't going to the one at Niagara), I couldn't ask his preference on trip length and made the executive decision that we'd at least plan on 2 nights because I had just found the most awesome use for the Christmas money my parents had generously given me: night two would be a Broadway play.  Found a play I wanted to see and got us tickets to that in a comparable price range.

Decided though that I'd hold off on flight and hotel till after C's bday so the rest of the decisions could be joint.  So once he knew - and was pretty excited about :). Bday win for sure!  We could plan the rest.  We each had a couple key things we wanted to do and had decided on a Mon-Fri-ish trip.  Mon-Thurs would've worked, but we wanted to fly with carryon only, and C wanted to take advantage of the improved beer options in the US to import back home, which meant our flight had to land in Buffalo with enough time for us to run some errands before stores closed.   So I added the extra night hotel and an early morning flight.   I was slightly annoyed that by this point the prices of flights had gone up significantly, but by now we were pretty committed, so sucked it up.  While long road trips are fine, neither of us wanted to drive actually in Manhattan!   And future us was very glad of that decision.

So when we left we had flights there and back (on different airlines from different airports???), hotel booked within walking distance of both Broadway and MSG that came with a real breakfast each day (lesson learned from FL trip!), and tickets to shows Mon and Tues night.  The rest was ours to use as we saw fit - a great combo of schedule and flexibility.

And here we are :)

ALL the things - first afternoon in NYC

So we got to the hotel around noon; weren’t allowed to check in till 4.  Fair enough - that was in the booking policy, so changed into shorts and left all our stuff in the baggage room to go exploring.  Front desk woman, not super helpful.  Baggage guy - awesome.

I stand by my first impression of stench and sensory overload 😂.  Not only does the whole city appear to smell of rotting garbage but also (or maybe because of) “scent free” doesn’t appear to have made it here.  Overwhelming (to me anyways) collision of constantly changing cologne, perfume, BO, construction (scent and sound), and angry traffic noises.

But if you can get past that it’s high energy, movement, passion.   If I had my real camera I could easily spend all day and night for weeks doing nothing but taking photos, watching the world go by, and writing.   

We walked to Time Square and were heading to grab a bite to eat when we stumbled upon a street act which is one of my favourite things about big cities.  And these guys were good showman - it was a gymnastic type performance but they knew how to play the crowd.  Especially after the handstand learning this summer I have a new appreciation for all the insanity they were demonstrating- up to and including acrobatics over humans 😂 

Check out my now-officially-a-NY-star husband at the end of the line ;)

They also pulled Chris into the act!   Pretty sure he just played along cause he knew I'd love it.  

I was super disappointed the one artist walked in front at *just* the wrong time :(.  I had moved a few times to make sure I had a clear shot but then no :(. Ah well - still lots of fun.

mmmmm street meat

We grabbed some street meat - another favourite reason to visit cities and then were going to do a Let’s Roam but my phone was about to die so we decided to walk to Central Park instead.   And very on brand, I was instantly in love.   Come to one of the busiest cities in the world and want to spend all my time in the park.  The sound of the birds and the rocks - for some reason I had in my head the whole thing was flat and I was loving that it wasn’t.  

Escaping the city into the park

C was still wearing full jeans though and it was like 30deg out (that’d be Celsius people) so we weren’t going to do the full trek.  Just hit up the gift shop 😂 and head back to check in to the hotel - stopping for some giant ice cream w ALL the sprinkles of course.

It was almost that size too!

Alas the room was still not ready (ended up being just shy of 4:30 before it was) but the lounge was lovely and once we got in, the room was quite nice.  Although crazy loud AC might make it a challenge to sleep and there’s no fridge?!?!  Disappointing.  But otherwise actually one of the nicer ones we’ve been in.   Chris says it’s the smallest room we’ve been in, noting “even our tent was bigger!” But also one of the nicer ones.  For those who know C irl, his standards for housing are much higher than mine so that counts for a lot.

Voco Hotel lounge while waiting for our room

For dinner we hit up Burgerology across the street which was avg for food but I was highly entertained by the beverages.  I 💯 ordered one that came with a garnish of a Rubber Ducky.   😂 but then apparently they were out of normal ones but said if I promised not to choke on it they had a tiny one instead.

Everyone, meet Arty :)

Those who remember how Winston joined our family will understand why this amused me more than it potentially should’ve.  Although given it was on the menu for a 21+ beverage, I’m thinking I’m not the only adult who thinks that way ;)

NYC Commute

Made it to NYC!   Commute, if you could skip the 2h that you have to wait in the airport before the flight, was actually shorter than my daily commute to the office ;).  

We flew out of Buffalo so cleared customs in the car.  Crossing was slower than normal -- not sure what the threat alert might've been, but they were checking most cars (incl ours), and our line was being run by the slowest moving human on the planet.  Which was compounded when they closed the lane next to ours.  The only thing that *really* annoyed me is when he checked our passports and asked our relationship, he got really snarky about making me defend why my last name is different from C's.  Like welcome to this century dude...  In reality, I have changed most of my documents, and my passport will change when it expires too, but I never wanted to, *many* cultures do not, and I really resent any implication or statement that a woman has to change her name when she gets married.  The only possibility I could come up with to try to give benefit of the doubt that the sloth was something other than a neanderthal was if the elevated threat had something to do with human trafficking.  But even still, there are other questions to ask, and body language to observe, and plausibly physical descriptions of the people involved.  End of rant.

Line of sight rules in economy parking at Buffalo airport made me laugh for some reason,
but in reality it was cheap, fast, and easy.  Not a combo you see often.

This less than fun experience was counteracted by the Buffalo airport?!?!   Unexpectedly, it significantly *improved* my impression of US travel.  Fast, clean, efficient, well thought out.   Not at all things I associate w Buffalo.   😂. To the point that we prob will get nexus so we can fly out of here more often.  It’s that great middle size:  small enough to not be sheer chaos but big enough to have all the advantages of larger hubs.  We parked in economy and used the will call shuttle - quick, fast, clean.  All excellent.   AND - possibly a fluke here - but the people working didn’t seem to hate their lives.   Win.

 

Coms from Delta - timey and relevant

We flew on Delta which was all-round excellent experience.  100% will look for them in the future.

Landing in NY (Laguardia) it was incredibly easy to find transit -- snagging a cab as safe and efficiently planned. Expensive - our cab cost us almost as much as our hotel for the night.  But worth it - I would NOT be comfortable me driving here.   

I *love* little things like this in any city.

First impressions as we wait to check in:  noisy, smelly (ugh!), hot (same thermometer temp as at home but SO much muggier), chaotic.  C and I focus on diff things - he’s looking at the famous landmarks and I’m looking at the tiny details.    Murals and street art and road signs and grass in planters in a “too late but better than never” attempt to bring green back to the town (the sign said so in a threatening “do not hurt our grass” kinda way ;).  The multiculturalism and food offerings are just as varied in TO but volume of options is way higher here.

The only way to learn to speak a language is to speak it. Wait, what?

Cause otherwise it'd be too easy ;)

Every teacher I’ve had says to “think in Spanish” and “the problem is that you’re translating”.   And they’re right - but to do that, you have to already know the language 🤦‍♀️.    I’m going to dissect this sentence to show why it’s SO important to learn to think in the new language and also why people who aren’t at that level yet have to work so hard for simple sentences.   And heaven help anybody trying to learn a dead language 😂 Imagine reading trying to understand ‘butt dial’ or ‘booty call’ without a fluent speaker to help.  Esp if you knew the meaning of one but not the other.

The rest of this post is just for the language geeks.  Everybody else should stop reading now.

While not crazy now, it's an example of why you have to
think differently (and sometimes slowly!) in a new language

This one was a prime example.   It’s very simple vocabulary and verb tenses.  I know all the pieces (the words and structures) but my brain doesn’t yet compile them naturally in this order.  For a brand new learner, word for word in English this would be something like (depending which translate software): 

Ya = already 

Se = hisself/herself/itself/oneself

Secó = dried 

Mi = my

Terreno = land

A = to

Pesar = to weigh 

De = of / to  

Tanta = so much 

Lluvia = rain.

Which gives: already oneself dried my land to to weigh to so much rain.

WTF?!?!   Okay well to have any sense at all, realize that there are many instances where phrases are important rather than words.  So in Spanish “a pesar de” = despite.  And fortunately for me, I learned that particular one from the beginning so I don’t see those as three individual words anymore - just a long one w some gaps ;). 

So now we have: already oneself dried my land despite so much rain.

Which is almost there except that in a strict subject-verb-object language like English, it is somewhat confusing still.  So, what happened?  Well the first is Spanish is insanely repetitive.  So often you find the same thing twice in a sentence, esp when reflexive or indirect object.  What this means is that the answer to he/she/it etc is usually nearby - in this case the oneself is “my land”.  Which means we chose wrong and it should be “itself”.  

Giving: already (my land) itself dried (my land - duplication of itself not the object) despite so much rain.

Second hint is the “not my fault ‘se’” lol best phrase every from one of my teachers.  Which we use roughly as an equivalent to passive writing “it just happened”.  “It broke” - se rompió.  Not “I broke it” - lo rompí.  But also to mean “people in general”   

So if it just happened then we know that nothing was intentionally being done TO somebody/thing so that provides the last clue and leaves:  already my land dried despite so much rain. 

The placement of already is somewhat flexible in both languages; Spanish it’s usually at the front.  English often with the verb “already dried” or at the end of the sentence.  But understandable concept either way.  

Unlike, for instance, moving a word like "only" in English 😂   Consider how the meaning shifts depending where you insert the word "only" in this sentence: "She told me that she loved him". ;).  I love the English language for all the reasons I would hate it with a passion if it weren't my first language ;)

How has it been 15 years?!?!

So shortly before my 30th birthday, I wrote a post about 30 things in 30 years.   In reality probably 5-10 of them were important and a bunch were just included to get to 30, but that's what the internet challenge was and it was very timely that it happened right at that particular milestone.   At 35 I wrote a check-in/follow up on it.  And at 40... I just kinda let it go ;).  So I decided that at *gasp* 45 and half way through the 30 things, maybe I should checkin and see where we're at.

And what's really interesting to me is how the importance of some things has changed dramatically, some of it has evolved but the root is conceptually the same.   In the interest of my sanity, I've removed the ones deemed completed by 35 ;).  

2 Earn PhD - changed this to my MBA for purely practical purposes and am deeming it complete ;).  I may someday do a phd cause, well, professional student ;). But I don't expect it to be till after I retire, and I *do* expect it to be in a completely arbitrary and not particularly career-oriented field.
5 Repay student loan - about that *facepalm* - also, let's extend to all debt in general.  Adulting sucks sometimes.
6 Get (and learn to use!) a serious camera - done - see Africa and Dog Park pics for proof :).  Always room for improvement, and again, this one will continue.  But for the intent of this list, complete.
7 Sleep - actually getting better at this?!?!  lol still not good, but better than I have been in my adult life.  This is one of the ones that amuses me to realise how consistent a thing it's been in my life.
8 Learn enough Latin to be able to read medieval texts - couldn't care less anymore, but AM passionate about learning Spanish to at least pass B2 level.   It stays on the list with the Spanish rewrite.
10 Make time for self - significantly improved and undoubtably tied to why 7 has improved.  
11 Make time for friends (hmmm do these two conflict?) - ironically I see my friends a lot less now than I did before, partially because I moved too far away and partially because real life on all parts.  However, I actually think I'm far better now at making time when it's important than I ever was before.   Those who know can contradict me if you so choose ;).  Otherwise, I'm marking this done.  Or potentially evolving it to "see a non-work friend at least once a month" lol - that's probably a better start!
13 Compete intermediate level eventing - didn't happen.  Given the state of the sport combined with my life, probably will never happen.  Partially disappointed, partially moved on so far from that world it's almost surreal.   This could possibly be restated as "start riding again in a way that makes me smile"
16 Travel: visit Egypt, South Africa, Ireland  - Tanzania was a good start!  Galapagos is now also on this list ;)
17 See the northern lights 
18 Change someone's life (preferably for the better!) - I'm going to say this is done.  I know I've done it through work.  I suspect I've done it through volunteering.  I hope I've done it for those I'm closest to, but even without, I'm confident in marking this one complete :)
19 Get a massage - so done.  Regret it took me so many years to realise how much I would benefit from these ;)

20 Buy some fashionable clothes - not done and am old enough that I no longer care.  😂 Updated to replace clothing before it's unwearable.   Bonus points if it happens to look good.  lol but in reality, just removing this one.

21 Ride Trans-Wales Trail - STILL want to do this!   Not sure how I'll get fit for it w no horse to ride, but company still exists so potentially still achievable
22 Do something w/ genealogy notes - I feel like this is getting moved to retirement.   I still care, but not a time-sensitive priority and not even sure where all the notes went at this point.
23 Climb to the top of a Mayan pyramid - I'm not sure if this is still culturally appropriate?  If so, still on the list.
24 Go on a Canadian road trip w/ no predetermined destination - I'm going to mark this close enough to done thanks to the Maritime trip with Mum; we had a destination but changed it so many times it counts :).  And super open to more!
28 Parasail - done.  With Chris on our trip to the Dominican Republic.  Sadly no good photos :(   Tried to buy one from the pros and even that didn't work out.   Booo :). But the experience still made me smile, although surprisingly not one I enjoyed as much as I'd expected.   

So, sometime in the next 15 years I'll check in and see how it's going.   Partially, I just can't believe how long this BLOG has been active.  Wild.   In the interest of new short and longer term goals I'd add:

- Be able to hold a handstand for at least 30 seconds

- Learn to play piano

- Learn to draw

- Improve work/life balance (aka a job I enjoy and am challenged by that I can do in a normal amount of hours that doesn't require an insane commute)

- Be fit and active in whatever way amuses me at the moment

Till next time!

Office Life

So I feel a little like I'm back in high school cause each time I've been going to the office I've been loading my locker (intentionally) with things I need - in order of priority.   Extra contact lenses, grown up shoes, and eye drops were day 2 for instance after surviving day 1 without.  Most are there now; for perspective, today is a locker mirror (yeah Amazon) - last time I was questioning my sanity with did I really need dental floss?!?!   These lockers are not large and clutter stresses me out. Well rn the raisin in my teeth (I hate raisins!) suggests “yes” was, in fact, the right answer 😂.  Go Past Laur!

Ah well - at least it's artistically broken?

Also - had to laugh when I unpacked my new mirror, and not only was it the wrong colour, it was also artistically broken.  Classic.