About Susan

Last night I went to Rogers Park (the most north east neighborhood in Chicago) to the BoHo Theatre to watch Saren in Ghosts. I get there early so I can get a seat that's not front row because it's awkward when you know someone on stage and they can read your every expression. Pass.

I sit down and this party of four sit in the row in front of me. Being a small theatre (six rows of five seats) we're going to be part of an intimate audience. The woman with brown hair (Brown) starts talking about Susan.

Susan moved to L.A.,  not for acting reasons I soon found out. Woman was sitting in between Brown and a man with a ponytail (PonyBoy) who at that point says, "she'll be back, they always come back." PonyBoy tells Brown that she owes him $2. Brown asks for what. PonyBoy soon reminds her of the bet they made about Susan's boyfriend. The bet was that he would not make it as a famous sports writer. Brown shakes her head. PonyBoy reiterates that he is in fact and will never be a famous sports writer now. Brown states, "well of course not he's dead."

Brown and PonyBoy tell the story of Susan's boyfriend's tragic demise to Woman. PonyBoy did not like Susan's choice in men and in fact was not entirely broken up over the fact that he was dead. He was afterall "terrible to her" and not a very good person. Brown reminds him he died of a heart attack while driving, it was heart disease that did him in, it was all very sad. PonyBoy perks up at hearing the words "heart attack". "It wasn't heart disease that killed him, it was the coke. They always say heart disease, but it's usually something else. Like when my father died of heart disease, it was actually suicide." Woman appears stunned, let's be honest so am I.

Brown continues that she went to see Susan after she moved to L.A. they started to make plans to meet up, but Susan just stopped returning the messages. She thinks maybe it was too soon and that seeing her would remind her of what she left behind. They all nod their head in agreement.

Woman says, "so he died of the car crash?" Brown, "no, he was dead before the car crashed, he had an enlarged heart." PonyBoy, "coke tends to make everything enlarged. It was the coke that killed him. So you owe me $2." Brown, "I paid for drinks, so I owe you nothing." PonyBoy, "true."

Susan's a real person, this conversation actually happened 10 minutes before the play started. I feel really bad for Susan and I hope she's doing well in L.A.


The play Ghosts was really great. I enjoyed it a lot and so did PonyBoy who said my roommate was, "really good and the best in the play."

...and We're Back! (The Good, The Bad and the Ugly)

It was suggested I wait a few days or even a week before posting this, but when have I been known to listen to suggestions? I wrote this on Monday, but being the slacker that I am I finally found the right pictures (two are not mine, you can determine which one it is).

I am back from NYC after three whirlwind days of traipsing around Midtown, Central Park and Murray Hill. Borrowing a format from my friend MommysStillFab I decided to bypass my normal diatribes and go with this.

The Good

• Seeing Central Park by foot and rickshaw
• Viewing Lower Manhattan 86 floors up in the Empire State Building
• Midtown, in all it's touristia-chic it's a lovely place
• Radio City Music Hall, the place has got to be one of the best places to ever see a concert in
• I'm pretty sure I sat where a Broadway star sat during the Tony's the week before
• My last boy band concert for a long while
• How quickly taxi drivers got to places
• No Sales Tax on clothing, what?!
• Starbucks on every corner
• Seeing a college friend I hadn't seen in over a decade
• Red Mango frozen yogurt. YUM! YUM! YUM!
• Being able to stay in an apt for free instead of paying a lot of money for a hotel room

The Bad

• Trash on the street at night
• The potential to run into rats with balls, ew!
• Not being able to get a taxi easily
• Lack of cleanliness in the subways
• Little sleep

The Ugly

• Patty with little sleep after three days
• and I'll leave it at that.

Big lights will inspire you, let's hear it for New York

Going to NYC in three days with a sprained foot. Walking down steps and talking at the same time, fail. Will that stop me? Hell no! Will I utilize the douchey Segway? Hell no! Will I be slow? Oh yes. I can envision grandma and her walker passing me by.

I believe the five of us that are going may have different agendas for NYC (minus our concert attending nights), but that's a-ok! Having properly googled and asked around I've compiled a list of things/places I want to visit. Stoked is a word that keeps popping into my mind when I think about these things.

My list of places to see while I'm in NYC:

• Gray's Papaya
• Grammercy Park
• Empire State Building
• Museum of Sex
• Radio City Music Hall
• Central Park - Alice in Wonderland statue
• Central Park - Balcony Bridge
• Central Park - Belvedere Castle

I am fairly confident even with my big gimpin' I'll be able to cover these in two days which leaves a third day for mystery pahtying. WooHoo!