Hamlet and the Big Apple

On Friday I'm leaving for New York City!

I've never been there before, so I'm really excited. Unfortunately, I'm coming back on Monday, so it's going to be a really short trip. One of my friends is going to meet me there, though, so we'll have a lot of fun.

The reason it is such a short trip is because the main reason I'm going is to see a play. Just in case you've missed all the Shakespeare-themed entries in the past, I'll let you in on a little not-s0-secret fact about me: I'm a HUGE Shakespeare nut. I love Shakespeare in all forms. LOVE it. Especially Hamlet. Hamlet is my all-time favorite. It's my favorite book, my favorite play, my favorite, period. Have I gotten it across that I love Hamlet?

Well, early this fall I started to hear/read about this new production of Hamlet that started out in London and then moved to New York in September or October, I can't remember exactly when. It has Jude Law playing the titular lead, and all the reviews have been really good (see here and here). Now, that's a little unusual because, as the fabulous Canadian TV show Slings and Arrows satirizes so well, movie stars doing serious theater often get bad reviews simply because they're movie stars doing serious theater. And all of these reviews have been raving over Jude. Plus, I've seen a few clips and they were phenomenal, which explains the positive reviews. So I really really really wanted to see it, but knew that I didn't have a snowball's chance in hell. However, I did post the reviews on facebook, and as I had just recently become facebook friends with my mother (it's something I had sworn I would never do and then did; long story), she saw my posts, then apparently saw a review on The Today Show, decided it must be good if The Today Show likes it, and asked if I would like it if she and I went to New York for a weekend to see it.

Anyway, long story short, my parents decided to send me to see this amazing play for my Christmas present, so they're paying for my flight, hotel room, and the Hamlet tickets. Everything else is on me, though, so it's also going to be a cheap vacation, because I work a minimum wage job and am therefore perpetually broke.

And any of you intrepid readers might have noticed a contradiction in my story, as I mentioned above that I was meeting a friend there but also mentioned that my mom had planned for the two of us to go. Well, that had been the plan (which I wasn't too thrilled about because my mother and I aren't that close, but it would have been more than worth it to see that play), until my mom called and said that since she's got all these health problems and hasn't been feeling that well lately, maybe it would be better if I called my good friend who lives in DC to see if she would want to meet me in NYC instead.

I'll admit, I liked this plan better, so I called my friend and she got really excited so I'm meeting her in New York. Needless to say, I can't wait! We've been planning everything we want to see and do, which means we're going to try to cram a lot into two days. Luckily, she's been there before so she somewhat knows her way around--which is really good because with my abysmal sense of direction I'd never be able to get us anywhere we were trying to go. Usually when I go somewhere new it falls on whomever I'm with to get us around, because I get completely, hopelessly lost.

On a slightly different note, I just blew $200 (that I maybe don't have) on a zoom lens for my camera, because that is something I've lusted after for years and am absolutely tickled pink to finally have. I'm definitely taking it and my DSLR to NYC, so if all goes well I'll have tons of new, hopefully fantastic pictures to post up here upon my return.

See you on the other side!