May 31, 2008- Duran Duran in Central Park

Mike and I looked in a few places like the Swatch store and Virgin Megastore before going to the park. I can’t believe that we actually walked there.

   I saw Stacey on the line but felt too anxious to talk to her. I heard a girl mentioning how she had seen DD in Vegas and Connecticut this year.

   The security guard was telling my brother and others not to run when they let us in. My brother had just been walking swiftly. We managed to get into a center, 4^th row spot. The girl next to us had bought a necklace from the souvenir stand.

   A few upsetting things did occur during this show which are unfortunately more vividly in my memory than the good stuff. A girl in front of me had on a backpack and I was being hit by this occasionally. The girl next to me was dancing around a lot and also bumped into me sometimes, esp. during the first 5 songs.

   It started raining lightly during one of my favorite songs, “Planet Earth”. This lasted for about 4 more songs. I put my dorky rain hat on.

   I was wishing that I had remembered to wear my cap. I reminded my brother to do so. If I had, then my glasses wouldn’t have gotten wet. When I was wiping them off, I was so worried that I would drop them and they would be stepped on and broken.

   They did a bonus song, “The Chauffeur” which was good.  I wish that I could remember more about their performance.

     Roger handed his drumstick to a girl in the front row. Another girl got injured when the drummer from the opening act, Your Vegas, threw his drumstick out into the crowd.

   I was feeling so confused and upset when we had trouble finding the subway station. I was so relieved when we finally did. I was very tired and headachy at that point.  

   I brought the binoculars again just in case we wound up further back in the crowd. It was stupid that I stood on the case yet again; can’t I ever learn my lesson. Mike looked displeased when he saw me doing so.

   I am so glad that I had gone to the show the night before; I was able to enjoy myself much more then. I wish that I could have had a great time at this one too. Not that it was a totally terrible experience. It is always a pleasure to see them and I got to be close to them again. I doubt that I will be that lucky in the future.

Tour Book

Duran Duran- May 30, 2008- Central Park

I made a last minute decision to try to get a ticket to this concert. My brother and I were going to the one the next night but part of me wanted to see them both times. Also, rain was in the forecast for Saturday so I wanted to see them on a perfect day; the weather was lovely on Friday.

   I feel sort of guilty for lying to my mother. I told her that I was going to the mall then a late night movie. I didn’t want her or my brother finding out that I would be seeing DD twice in one week.

   I was a bit worried that there wouldn’t be any more tickets but there were. I got them at the box office. I arrived at Central Park by 5:00 and only had to wait about an hour before they let us in the venue, the Summerstage.

   I was lucky enough to get in about the third row, to the left. I was talking to a girl for a little while. She moved back to sit on a blanket. She had asked me to join her but I did not want to leave that excellent spot.

   I was kind of annoyed when she interrupted me during the show to ask my name and if I wanted her to get me a drink. It was nice of her to offer but I don’t want to miss a moment of seeing DD.

   I had eaten my dinner at a deli place on 57^th Street. Their prices were kind of high; the orange juice cost $3.00.

   Another girl, Stacey, started talking to me. She asked me that question that I dread and am embarrassed to answer- who is my favorite DD guy. I didn’t really answer her. She said that hers is John and I smiled so she figured out that I like him too. She said that I should not be ashamed about this.

   The two girls in front of me were tall so I stood on my brother’s binocular case to get a better view. It got a bit ruined because of this. I probably should not have done that. My brother will surely be mad at me. 

   I hadn’t been sure that I would get that close to the stage which is why I had brought his binoculars with me. He had won these at Wildwood in the early 90s.

   Stacey asked me why I wasn’t singing along to “A View to a Kill”. When I told her that I don’t know the words she seemed baffled. I did sing along a bit during “Save a Prayer”.

   Simon asked everyone to hold up their cell phones during the latter. Stacey held up a lighter for a little while which made me nervous. I am afraid of fire. I jokingly said “Fire bad”.

   She jokingly offered me $20.00 to say hi and wave to John. No way could I ever do that. At one point, he was looking in our direction and smiling. I am embarrassed to admit that I smiled back. A small part of me wanted to believe that maybe he was just smiling at me but obviously that wasn’t the case.

   John had changed into an Obama t-shirt. I am pretty sure that he still had the armband on then. He threw his orange cap out into the audience. A girl near me caught this. If I had done so, I might have given it to Stacey.

   I did the reaching up thing during “Sunrise” as I had at Roseland. I like that song a lot. Part of me was feeling embarrassed about doing so both times, naturally.

   Simon did that intro bit during “Girls on Film” at the end. I think that he did so at the Roseland show too. I am so glad that I went to this concert; I had such a good time.

   Stacey bought a hoodie and I got the tour book at the souvenir stand. We agreed to share a cab back to Penn Station. We walked around a bit beforehand. Central Park is nice; I had only been there one other time before twelve years ago.

   She showed me The Plaza Hotel. We saw a puffy shirt in a store window. She said that Nick would probably like that. I laughed and agreed with her.

    She asked me what my favorite DD song is. I said “Rio” and “Save a Prayer”. She also wanted to know which one I don’t like. I told her “Wild Boys”. She said that she likes it.

   She asked me another question that I am ashamed about replying to- where do I work. I usually lie and say at a small bookstore but this time I said that I haven’t had a job in 4 years. It has actually been much longer than that.

   I mentioned that I have a lot of dreams with DD in them like a revenge demon one. She seemed to think that this was cool.

   I am fairly certain that Stacey said that she got to meet them once. I should have inquired about more details regarding this. I wish that I could meet them someday but I doubt that this will ever happen.

   That cab ride was only the second one that I have ever taken. The first was in 1985 with my family when we were going to the ABC studios to see Regis and Kathie Lee.

   Stacey said that she would be attending the next night’s concert. I said that I would be there with my brother. She said that maybe we can hang out again then. Part of me wanted to but a bigger part of me felt very anxious about that. Plus, if we did then my brother would find out that I had been to the Friday show too.

   I am mad at myself for forgetting to clean off my glasses before the show. They were dirtier than I even thought. I was semi-obsessing that my view would have been better if I had cleaned them.

                                                    

 

  

                 

 

 

 

December 12, 2015- Our NYC Adventure-Christmas

Mike and I were so exhausted when we got home from our day trip into the city yesterday at around 2:55 p.m. He took a nap after dinner. I was on the computer then telling Sharon all about our adventure.

   We should have taken an earlier train there then we would have gotten a better spot in the Plaza for the “Today” show. It was really crowded there. Mike had gotten up about an hour earlier than he had intended on. I wanted to suggest that we leave at around 6:00 but was afraid that he would be annoyed about this.

   Maybe he wouldn’t have been. I can’t help still feeling fear that he will criticize me. He had done so about me wanting to get up and go to the “Today” show last month on Wrangler’s birthday. I wound up not going but it wasn’t because of him, or maybe it partially was.

   We didn’t see Wrangler today which was disappointing. I think that he will only be there for another 7 or 8 weeks. I wish that I had gone to the Plaza during the summer for the chance of possibly seeing him. Mike always says “He’s just a dog” as he did today when I got excited about the chance of possibly seeing him.

   We saw Willie, Tamron, and Al through the window. I don’t even know who the guests were going to be for the 9:00 hour; I should have paid attention to the screen for if it had been someone that I really wanted to see I probably would have stayed there for this.

    Michael Flatley and the guy dancers were outside sometime after 8:30. We had arrived there at about 8:15. We couldn’t see them and Al that well though. At least we got a bit of a view. I would have been more upset if it were a star that I really, really like.

   I had checked the guide on my TV before we left but didn’t see any guests listed, just a few segments like how to tie a tie. 

   We took photos of the tree there then went to the other one in Bryant Park. We looked in Forever 21 and the Disney store first. In the park, we were looking in the little temporary shops. They had so many jewelry ones. I saw nice stuff in some of these.

   We couldn’t find that diner that we saw last year and wished that we had eaten at then. I couldn’t remember if it was on 7^th or 5^th Ave. We came across it by accident. It turned out to be on 6^th. I saw a burger place when looking over on 6^th from 5^th. When we walked over to that I noticed the diner on the other block.

   We both ordered the Greek grilled chicken wrap. I had selected this and Mike seemed to think that it sounded good too. He liked it a lot. He even said that he is going to recommend this place to Tony. Tony and Debbie are going to the city to see the tree and Peanuts display on Sunday.

   I don’t know if Bryant Park will be a part of their plans but I will tell Mike to recommend this to them as well. I am pretty sure that Debbie would like some of those shops there.

   After that we went to Macy’s. We took photos of the Peanuts displays in the windows and of some of the decorations inside- an owl and a squirrel included. I wish that I had taken another zoomed in one of the big inflatable Snoopy. I was sort of afraid that my brother would criticize me for taking too many photos.

   I know that Sharon, Mom, and Amy would just tell me to ignore him if he did put me down about this but I guess that my brain is so tired of his put downs that it wouldn’t be able to handle hearing any more. I hate that I am not strong enough to not let him get to me.

   I was trying to find the nice cross necklaces that I had seen there a couple of months ago but they no longer even carry that brand of jewelry. I think that I did a thorough enough search of this but perhaps I did not. I might have been seriously tempted to buy one of them this time.

   The weather was so nice yesterday- high of 61 degrees, I think. It was a bit cool earlier in the day; I was wishing that I had my gloves then.

 

Rockefeller Center

 

Bryant Park

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                               

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beach Boys mini concert

My brother and I went to a GMA summer concert series featuring the Beach Boys on June 15th in Central Park. We got pretty close to the stage and I took lots of pictures. They did 4 songs including California Girls and Good Vibrations. We had a nice time. I hope that everyone is enjoying the summer so far. I'm just getting back into the blogging thing so I'm hoping to catch up on reading posts soon. I've missed everyone here.

I'm going to see Duran Duran tonight

I took these photos at the last Duran Duran concert that I went to at the Wellmont Theater in Montclair, N.J. on December 14, 2008. I was lucky enough to be close to the stage because it was general admission (is that the right term?) and I got there 3 hours early so I was 3 rows from it. I did use a bit of zoom which isn't that great on my camera. I kind of went bonkers with the photo taking and the battery ran out before the last 5 songs. I had never taken a camera to a concert before because I prefer to focus on the music so I don't know what possesed me to do so this time - never again.

Well, tonight my brother and I will not be this close to the stage. We are going to Madison Square Garden in NYC and our seats are on the first level but almost directly across from it towards the left which should be okay. I've never been that far down at a concert - it's normally nosebleed seats for us. I'm really excited but also nervous about this event. I worry that the NJT trains will be delayed which seems to be happening alot lately but I'm praying that this won't be the case. I hope that we will be able to get a spot in the parking lot at the station too. I will try not to let my anxieties spoil the evening though.

I read a review and set list from their Chicago show and they did 7 songs from the new album and 13 hits. No Girls on Film but it's alright if they skip it as long as they do Planet Earth which I always liked better than that anyhow. My brother might be disappointed though. I hope that they do Is There Something I Should Know and Careless Memories as they did for that show. My brother seems to like Wild Boys but I don't really care for that and even sometimes skip over it on the CD. I will be doing a post about our concert experience soon. I wish that I could go to the Atlantic City show too but after all I spent at the US Open this year that is definitely not in the budget plus I'm kind of scared to go there. It's easier going into the city for us.

Turtleback Zoo - 1974

I wish that I could remember my day at the zoo - looks like I was having fun there. My brother was just at the Turtleback Zoo earlier this month. I was only there this one time but really would like to go back there sometime soon. It is much bigger now and they have one of my favourite animals, a river otter. I sent my brother's photos to the Walgreens site and got copies of the 3 otter pictures plus 38 others for myself. I hope to get over my driving anxiety so that I won't be afraid to take the Parkway to get to the zoo. There is also a zoo in Brooklyn that has a river otter that I was thinking about going to instead because I can just take the NJ Transit train into NYC and then get on the subway that would take me there. I'll see which I'm up to doing this summer. I'm torn on my views of zoos though - sometimes I think that it's awful that animals are stuck in such a place but I do like watching the animals there. I've been to the Bronx Zoo and the National Zoo in Washington D.C. also.

Regis Philbin

I watched the news yesterday and saw the report about Regis Philbin retiring sometime later this year and was thinking about the 5 times during the 1980s that I went to see his show in New York City. The first time it was still called The Morning Show and was 90 minutes long. Dad came with Mark, Mom and I. We had called at least 5 months earlier to get these tickets. Regis was not there that day however and Ira Joe Fisher was filling in as cohost to Ann Abernathy. We got both of their autographs. I only remember that there was a cooking segment. My brother's memory about this is better - he said that Gary Coleman was one of the guests. I don't know if that was 1983 or 1984. Afterwards we went across the street and waited outside the All My Children studios. We saw some of the soap stars - Michael E. Knight, who I had a little crush on, Julia Barr, Peter Bergman, the 2 actors who played Myra and Sloan. Mark got the autograph of the actor who played Travis.

The second time that the 4 of us went it was now the Live with Regis and Kathie Lee show. Dad made us get both of their autographs and even took my picture with Regis. I was really not wanting to do so and felt really anxious. I wish that I had kept a journal back then. I would have written who the guest stars were at these shows. Mark said that the guy who played Freddie Kruger in Nightmare on Elm Street was there but that they were just filming a segment.

I remember the 3rd time a little more clearly. Our friends Stacey and her mom Barbara were with Mom, Mark and I. The producer Gelman made me move over a seat. When they called out the seat number for a prize it was the one that I had previously been in. I was mad about that. I think that the prize had been dinner at a nice restraunt. Mark said that Dom DeLouise was the guest and that Stacey had wished that it had been his son Peter because she like 21 Jump Street.

Mom and I went the fourth time. Mark didn't want to take the day off from school. When we were waiting in line a couple of girls asked if anyone had extra tickets. They had driven really far just to hopefully get the chance to see Phil Collins. Mom didn't even know who he was. We gave them our extra 2 tickets which they were happy about. Mom took pictures during the show and got a few of him. He only did a bit of the drumming part from In The Air Tonight. I was hoping that he'd sing one of his hits. There was also Elvis and Marilyn impersonators there that day.

Mom couldn't come with us the next time because she was in the hospital. Petula Clark was one of the guests. The audience sang part of Downtown. There would have been a 6th time of going to this show only mom was in the hospital again and Mark wouldn't take the day off from school. I was too afraid to go alone. Rosemary Clooney, one of mom's favourite singers, was the guest star. It's a shame that we had to miss out on this.

By the early 1990s we weren't really watching Regis much anymore. I am glad that we had the opportuites to go to this show. It will seem strange with no Regis on morning TV. They said that the show will go on though. I wonder who they will get to replace him?

Christmas Show

I can't really remember much about this show or even if it was a class or Girl Scout trip. I do recall that it was pretty exciting going to New York City and that I had a good time. I can't believe that this was 30 years ago.

Figure Skating Shows

My mom and I really enjoyed watching figure skating during the Olympics in the 1980s and early 1990s. We got to go to 2 shows in the early to mid 90's. Brian Boitano was at both of them. We took some pictures but they did not turn out that great. Boitano and Witt are in the first 2. In the bottom 3 are Petrenko, Kerrigan and Boitano. You can clearly see on the program page who was at the first one but it's harder to see on the second - Torvil and Dean, Nancy Kerrigan , Oksana Baiul and Victor Petrenko are included in this one. We went with a couple of friends. Skating 2 was at MSG in New York City and the 1994 show was in New Jersey at the Meadowlands. I'm not sure why after 1994 I lost interest in the figure skating. I must've been watching it in the late 70s a bit too because I remember getting the Dorothy Hamill haircut a couple of times back then.

My Only Nightclub Experience

I never was that interested in going to a nightclub, but last year a small part of me did want to see what it was like and I had an oppurtunity to go to one in NYC . There was a get together of DD fans that I read about at a fan site and I thought that it might be fun. I did almost chicken out though because of my social anxiety and the fear of going into the city alone.

I had only been to the downtown area once before with a boyfriend in the early 90s. I went to a site to get directions. I took the train into Penn Station. The subway line that I was supposed to take was closed so I had to overcome my fears and ask someone what to do. The lady was very nice. I thought that I'd have trouble finding the club but I didn't. I was there like an hour early so I went to McDonald's and had some juice.

I met some nice people at the party only I'm bad with names so I forget most of theirs except for Stacey and Paula because I used to have friends with those names. I remember them in other ways- kitty cat girl, nice necklace girl, Florida girl and DC girl. Everybody was nice but I was still feeling very nervous.

The music was very loud. It was mostly 1980s music. I heard about 12 Duran Duran songs. It was hard talking to people over that noise and it was hurting my ears. I felt like I ran out of gas in the socializing department after about 2 hours. I sat down on the comfy bench like chairs built against the wall and wrote in my journal. Part of me wanted to rejoin the party but I was feeling tired and like an outsider. Everybody was drinking alcohol which I don't like to do. After about an hour I decided that I should just leave. I didn't even say goodbye to anybody.

I left the club and was crying a little. Part of me wanted to go back inside. The bouncer saw that I was upset and asked me if I was okay. I told him how I was feeling. He said some things that made me feel a little better, like if you do decide to go back inside to take off that ridiculous rain hat. I wanted to catch the 12:40 train- the next one wouldn't be until like 4 am.

I guess that clubs are not my scene. Maybe it would have been better if I had never even gone but then again, I might have regretted that decision.

Federer Day

I thought that my brother was joking when he said that Federer lost yesterday because he's always teasing me about him but he wasn't. That's a shame. In the past I probably would've been more upset about this but I'm not sure why I don't care as much anymore. Maybe it's because I like alot more players than I used to or perhaps part of me is thinking "well, he's won enough already, let the other guys have a chance." Another part of me is thinking that that is so mean. I was actually happy when Baghdatis beat him- was that last week or the week before? I like both players. I sometimes get conflicted in this situation but this time I was rooting for him.

It seems kind of unreal that I actually saw Federer in person last August. There was a charity event in New York City. My brother told me about it. Even though he teases me about him he also has him on his Facebook - it used to be on fan pages but now they have it in my friend section. I debated whether or not to go to this event. It was sort of a last minute decision. My brother came with me.

We got into the city very early. I forget exactly where this was - somewhere downtown, maybe not far from a park. Was it Madison Hill park or something like that? I have such a craptastic memory. We saw them setting up the temporary tennis court from across the street. I wanted to go over there shortly afterwards but was too afraid and also too embarrased to do so. We were people and doggie watching. We saw a lady talking to a guy with an adorable Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and were listening to them talk then were talking to her. I finally got up enough nerve to cross the street where we talked to a security guy for a bit then we walked around the block.

We got on the line when we returned. It wasn't overly long but we would've been about the 3rd and 4th persons in it had we not been sitting across the street for like 50 minutes. This would've guaranteed us spots on the bleachers. We wound up standing behind the camera people so we had a semi-blocked view. I was putting myself down mentally and telling my brother what an idiot I was.

We did meet some nice people there, although the one was talking alot and I really should not have responded to her when Federer was talking- I missed out on much of what he was saying. He did mention his twin baby girls, of course. John McEnroe was also there. I blew a chance to have a close up picture of him because I hit the on/off button on my camera by accident. The guy next to me and I were joking about this. No great loss- he's not much to look at or something like that. I got some really crappy shots of Federer. Only one or two okay ones when he was closer to us at the end.

Another girl asked me if I was going to the US Open and told me that she had tickets for the second week. I told her that we couldn't afford to go. I didn't mention that I was also to afraid to do so. I really wanted to be there in 2007 and 2008 but fear kept me from going as did my going into credit card debt for too many unecessary items. Part of me was thinking that after seeing Federer here that I really wanted to try to get over this fear. I did have some money saved but this was supposed to be for the eye doctor and new glasses. I was thinking well maybe I'd put that off for a while longer. I debated over what to do that afternoon.

We could've stayed to see more tennis stars, Monfils and Nadal, but we were tired and also hungry so we went to a cafe type place for lunch then back to Penn Station. When we watched the news that evening they didn't show that event on it but did show a tennis one that had taken place in Bryant Park. We didn't even know about that but might have if we went to the bakery near there like I originally planned on doing. Maybe we would have seen signs or noticed alot of people and asked what was going on there. Whatever - it just wasn't meant to be, I suppose.

That night I went to the Ticketmaster site to check the price of the grounds pass and it was less than I thought it would be. I asked Mark if he was interested in going and he said yes so I ordered us tickets for Day 1 and Day 2. I'd never ordered them on line before. I did the print out ones and got annoyed because the printer was giving us problems then was relieved when it finally worked.

I was both excited and nervous about finally getting to go to the US Open which was only less than 5 days away. I went to the site the night before and wrote down the schedule of play for the players that we were interested in. I was embarrased to be especially happy about going to the Haas match. I already had all the info about what trains to take - I had written that down 2 years earlier. I tried not to beat myself up about being too scared to go there then. I couldn't wait to be in Queens for this event. If we hadn't gone to see Federer would I have even contemplated going there? Possibly not. It's as if seeing him and also hearing that girl talking about going inspired me to become brave. That sounds kind of cheesy, doesn't it. More on this to come...