NYC was amazing.
My plane landed Tuesday morning right as scheduled, and I trudged through the LONG corridors of JFK, until I reached the ground transportation area. I considered taking one of those airport shuttle buses into the city, but I would've had to wait a while on them, so I decided to just deal with spending the money and take a cab. It was a beautiful morning, and despite the traffic it was a good ride into the city. I also exchanged some texts with Jordi and we discussed the evening's plans and such. I had the cab driver take me straight to the Marriot so that I could get in line to get Follies tickets for that night.
When we got there, I found the box office and got in line- I was the 4th person. And its a good thing that I had my student ID, because to my surprise, I was in line for student rush tickets! haha. Anyway. It worked out quite well, and I got my 2 tickets (for me & Jordi) for $37 each!! Which is an AWESOME price. So I did that, and then went to the McDonalds that overlooks Times Square and had a tasty breakfast. Then I hung around the Time Square area for a bit.. went to the Forever 21 there which is amazing!! I love it.
From there, I walked in the direction of uptown and took lots of pictures until I ended up at Columbus circle & Central Park. I walked into the park and was taking some pictures when this dude walked towards me and said "What you need? You lose something?" I was like uhh.. no..?! And he was like "you know you're beautiful right?" I didn't say anything and he said "Can I talk to you for like 5 minutes?" and I was like oh no I've got to go, sorry. I mistakenly walked down a path where there was some sort of construction, so I had to turn around and go back to where that dude was so that I could get on another path. When I did that he was like "You coming back? Can I talk to you now?" And I just walked fast and said nothing. I stayed in the park for a good while, and I took LOTS of pictures. I love it there- so gorgeous. I also love seeing the horses and carriages looking all cool and old timey that people pay a lot of money for rides in. :) From there, I walked up 5th Avenue because I LOVE to go in all the stores there... Versace for H&M is TO DIE FOR. Gosh. I wanted so many clothes.. haaha. Also: the Forever 21 on 5th Avenue is EVEN MORE AMAZING than the one in Times Square. There was French pop playing in there.. Yelle to be exact. GAH. It was great times.
I took a Starbucks break and had an amazingly tasty caramel brulee frappuccino. Its a new flavor and I looooove it!!
Then I went over towards the place where The People's Court films.. I was supposed to be there by 2, and I was a few minutes early so I decided to hang out outside for a little while. Its funny because I was trying not to be awkward by being there early, but I ended up being MORE awkward by waiting... I was standing there, and there was a family about 6 feet down the sidewalk from me (a mom, a dad and a little girl who looked like she was about 7 or 8). So I'm standing there and all of a sudden (I had glanced down at this point) a couple exits the building hand in hand. The man was wearing suit pants, and the woman a tight black dress. I looked up at them, saw that unmistakable red hair, and my jaw dropped. My eyes widened as JUDGE MARILYN MILIAN who was off to get a quick lunch with her husband, LOOKED RIGHT AT ME. I am sure I looked like a complete fool, because it was SO CLEAR that I knew who she was and was amazed to see her out and about like that... She kept walking and said hello to the little girl before getting to the corner to cross the street. In my ridiculous awkwardness, I neglected to even snap a creeper picture of them from behind. What a fool am I. I wish I had at least SAID SOMETHING LIKE PERHAPS HELLO I LOVE YOU YOU ARE MY QUEEN. But alas. I did not. Although, she was two feet away from me for a brief moment, and I must say- she is even prettier in person than she is on television. Like, there is nothing fake about her at all. Her makeup is really not as heavy as you'd think it would be (she is 51!) and her hair - which in recent episodes has looked a goldish hue, is actually a brighter, slightly deeper & redder color than it appears under the tv lights. She is incredibly gorgeous.
I went in a few minutes later, and took the elevator up to the 8th floor where the People's Court is filmed. There was someone else on the elevator with me, and the doors opened on the 7th floor. I looked out, and there was a sign that said OWN- the Oprah Winfrey Network.. and some other wall decor which showed rather clearly that I was staring right into the offices at the studio where Gayle King films her talk show. What. How. Is this real life.
The green room was PACKED with people, many of whom seemed to know each other, and I sat in the back row (the room is basically a desk, a corridor, a water fountain and there are bathrooms through the doors at the far side of the room) next to some old ladies. I was basically very overwhelmed with the whole thing. After waiting a little while the lady in charge of the audience took us into the studio and arranged us in our seats. They seat you by basically putting those wearing the brighter colors closer to the front. I ended up in the 2nd row on the defendant's side of the room. It was a good seat.. After a little while Judge Milian, after her lunch, walked into the studio and out through a back door- she gave the audience a quick wave hello. Soon, it was time to film. Throughout all this, I was very distracted by trying to not make any weird faces and stuff, but the cases were hilarious and wonderful. Judge Milian made a heartfelt speech to a family, said a Spanish phrase, and yelled a little bit. It was pretty much awesome. :) We saw 3 cases, and afterwards Judge Milian came back out to the bench, read over some papers, and then re-said some things (which she had said in the cases that day that I guess didn't come out right.. like maybe she tripped over her words? Idk.) But she did that and then stepped off the bench to answer audience questions. Cameras were flashing all over the places, and she was so sweet and funny and very willing to be there. It was a wonderful experience. On the way out I asked the audience lady if I could come back the next morning- and she said that she had a group of 40 coming in and said I could come to the afternoon taping. I was like oh well I won't be here that late. She realized I was from out of town and was like "we can squeeze you in. Just get here by 10." Squee!
I was off from there, and went back to the Times Square area where I was to meet Jordi. I found her and we were happy and we walked around trying to decide where to get a quick meal. We went to this deli thing where there is a buffet, and they charge by weight of the food. I ate a hodge podge of mashed potatoes, pasta, fried rice and macaroni & cheese. It was tasty shit.
Then we went to the theatre- our seats were in the mezzanine, but they were surprisingly good. I could see Bernadette Peters quite well and the show was SPECTACULAR. Completely flawless. I don't even know what they could have done with it to make it once OUNCE better because it was fucking perfect. SO well cast, well danced, well sung, well acted. Just glorious. My favorite part was the top of act 2 where the 4 main characters are arguing... they walk downstage and a greyish flat curtain falls behind them. Then, in a SPLIT second, the curtain is GONE and we see this incredibly backdrop made of bright red flowers, showgirls and everything that embodied the Follies era. It was breathtaking. Then they did a series of big, showy numbers... after that, Bernadette Peters came out to center stage to sing the eleven o'clock number- Losing my Mind. And after ALL the high energy dancing and singing, Bernadette just STOOD THERE and EMOTED and SANG... and it was brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Said so much about Sally's character in comparison to the others, and I just ate it up.. Amazing.
After the show, Jordi and I took the subway downtown to this restaurant (Max Brenner) where they are famous for CHOCOLATE. We ate mac & cheese (made with bacon and topped with tiny chopped tomatoes and marinara on the side) waffle fries with spicy cheese dip, and of course we both had dessert. I had this chocolate cake thing topped with strawberries, that came with a tiny chocolate shake thing and a salt and pepper shaker-looking thing in which there was melted chocolate to pour on the cake. Incredible.
Then we Subway-ed uptown to where Jordi lives.. Her apartment is adorable, and yes, small, but more than enough space for one person. I would be thrilled to live in a place like that! So cool. :) We hung out and Jordi serenaded me on the ukulele and then went to sleep. We woke up to an alarm at 7:30ish, but then decided to forego breakfast and sleep a bit more. We eventually got up and got ready, took the subway to midtown, and parted ways. I had to head straight to the studio to see the People's Court again, and Jordi headed off to work. I got to the studio and the green room was packed again. The group there was a high school government class from Long Island (and DUDE what an amazing field trip that was for them!!).. The lady took them all in first and seated them, and then returned to pick about 7-8 other people out of the remaining 10-15 in the green room, because there was limited space for seating in there. (The studio is a lot smaller than it appears on tv.) I was the 2nd person she picked out. At first she thought I was a wayward high school kid, but then she remembered me as being the out of towner from the day before. That day, I was seated AGAIN on the 2nd row, defendant's side.. just a little bit father towards the outside of the bench (away from the center) than where I had been the day before. It was the PERFECT seat.. the day before I was annoyed because the lady in front of me kept craning her neck to see the judge, so then I in turn could NOT see her at times at all. So annoying. That day, I had a GREAT view. The only time I couldn't see her was when the defendant had a witness standing next to them who was talking to the judge.. which, luckily, was only once or twice. We saw SIX cases that day!! I was worried that the high school kids were going to be boisterous and immature, but they seemed happy to be there and were very attentive. It made for a really fun crowd actually! They gave us mini-chocolate bars in the middle of all of it... it was a good time. The hallway guy hung out and spoke to the audience for a little while.. he is shorter than he appears on tv, and also looks a bit older than he does on tv!! He is an attractive fellow though, and very funny and nice. Judge Milian did a Q&A both days after the filming was over.. but that day, I was the ONLY person taking pictures.. lol.
It was fun though of course. I loved going there, because it became even MORE clear to me that Judge Milian is fucking amazing. The cases get edited down quite a bit- each one lasts about 30 minutes real time in the courtroom, but they are edited in order to fit into a 45 minute (because of commercials) show ... and they put 3 cases in each episode! So yeah. She DEFINITELY hears both sides very carefully, and is extremely fair. The woman knows her shit. It is a very legit system.
Anyway, after that I went to yet another McDonalds with one of those amazing soda machines that I love, and ate and sat for a little while. It was raining that day.. boo.
I walked from there and went to various places- more stores (another H&M), the M&M store, other random places like that which I had neglected the day before. It was fun, but I was getting progressively soaked, and water had soaked all the way through my shoes & socks, so I was basically walking in a swamp.
At around 5, I got a cab to head to the airport... traffic was absolutely horrendous. I gave myself ample time to get to the airport, but of course I was late for my check in time .... so... they had to rebook my flight, and I spent the night in JFK, sitting on a very uncomfortable bench being freezing cold. It could have been worse though. I got some snacks and paid for some internet so at least I was occupied. I flew out at about 7:45 the next morning, got home, and slept all day.
It was a great trip. :)
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