Mindless Juices

So, we wake up and head out on Friday. I handed off all of my work responsibilities, save a few minor ones, and threw care to the wind. We drove up to Virginia to find out that God had allergies and was sneezing all over the town of Lynchburg... it was SO windy! We picked up our Impala and met up with Nick and Kelli and hit the road after a quick goodbye to Charlie. Now, one might wonder about a road trip with friends with whom you've never really spent an extended amount of time with. Sure, we've stayed with them before for the Vroom weekend, but we're talking road trip here... 8-10 hours in a confined space... However, it was actually quite nice. While it was difficult to find a good sleeping position (it always is), we all managed a little bit of rest along the trip. Conversation was the usual good, no pressure, easy-as-pie conversation. We played a little CD trivia that Sabrina's mom got her for her birthday. We listened to music and I believe, only one veto was used the entire trip. We went and saw "The White in White," Andrew Lloyd Webber's latest musical. The scenery was AMAZING. The lighting was AMAZING. Now, if you've ever been to newhope when I've run lights, you know that I'm a lighting tech moreso than any other type of tech. There's no possible way I could describe the scenery and lighting to do it justice. There were two moving curved walls with doors in them and another stationary curved wall upstage and it had a smaller wall that came out of it, but was replaced by another wall, but the smaller wall came out and rested on the turntable on the stage so it could rotate around and it had doors in it. Moving walls isn't a big deal. Les Mis builds and moves a gigantic barracade. However, the walls were made out of projection screen material and there were, at least, 4 projectors that projected down at such an angle that they completely covered every inch of wall and didn't have any shadows from actors or scenery cast on them. Additionally, the lights did not spill on to any of the screens in any significant way. They utilized the wall movement and projections in all sorts of different ways. It was truly unique and entertaining. We went to the top of the Empire State building. Sadly, it has reclaimed its reign as the tallest building in NY. It was very cold and very windy. In fact, at one point, I found out that the phrase "chilled to the bone" was a literal phrase. My bones actually HURT. Specifically, my shin bones and my jaw bones. Interestingly enough, it was only cold and windy on three sides. There was one side that was VERY pleasant, but it did not really have anything to look at. On the NBC studio tour, I learned a lot about the history of NBC. I was very surprised at the small sizes of the studios. I suppose growing up in FL and visiting MGM and Universal, you get used to the size of sound stages. I guess we always assumed that TV studios were smaller, but still very big. One interesting factoid is that the nightly news has a one minute video loop running behind it to make you think there's hustle and bustle. There's just a desk and a camera, no hustle, no bustle. Also, there is a guy that walks in with some papers. If you watch the news, keep your eye out for him. He'll come in about every minute. Oh, while the other three stood in the cold on the TKTS line, I was sent to wait in the "Wicked" cancellation line. I was the first in line for tickets to "Wicked" that night. Behind me was a nice older couple who own a travel agency in West Palm, Florida. I taught the wife how to second act. A couple left the matinee performance. They checked their coats, so they couldn't leave until they found someone to get their coats out of the room. Interestingly, there is a sign that says they will not open the room until after the performance, but apparently, that didn't apply to these two jerks who thought, "I won't even bother to stay for the rest and find out if my inclinations of dislike are fulfilled by the second act." Anyway, I knew there were two extra seats for the second act. I explained it to the wife, but her husband was nowhere to be found. She probably would have done it if she could have found him. Behind them were three rich college girls. How did I know they were rich? Two were in their first year in medical school. One was in her second year of law school. They were taking a weekend trip to NY and seeing a Broadway play. They were friendly and had seen a lot of plays. All in all, it was very good conversation while I was waiting. Perhaps my favorite part of the trip was on the way back. The girls were sleeping, more or less. It was relatively late. Nick and I were just chatting about our jobs, LEDs, million dollar ideas, blue collar vs. white collar... While there were many talks, there was little time for nothing but talking. So, it was a nice way to end the trip. All in all, I can honestly say that I would gladly take a road trip with Nick and Kelli. I am sure I would want them on a plane trip. I can only hope they fell the same way. Sabrina and I were usually the second couple down to the lobby. We were never late to anything (thanks to the flexibility of the schedule), but still, it's pretty unusual for us. It's very unusual for Sabrina. Upon arriving back to NC, I had an interview for my new job. That'll need to be another post.