Here is the day 3 summary of my 40th birthday adventures in NYC!

Slept pretty good again, I’m waking up early, but am not fully rested – I think because too much light comes into my room once the sun comes up. So I finally slept a bit again and then was running a tad late from what I had planned. I had breakfast and then headed out up to the Bronx to go to the zoo. It was a nice MTA (won’t say subway, because part way we went above ground) ride and some of their lines have better announcing and displays in the trains than others.

The Bronx Zoo was very nice, although I think I’ve preferred some of the other ones I’ve gone to more. Also, today was a popular day for school field trips, so at points it was a bit too loud and hectic with so many school kids there. Hard to be really annoyed at that though, since getting students around animals and science is always a good thing. The most interesting part of the zoo was the monorail that goes through their Asian areas. It was nice to just sit and watch while riding and having the wonderful (and darn good looking) driver/guide talk about the animals and the zoo. You can tell he really knew his information and wasn’t just reciting a memorized script.

It is a decent sized zoo, although if you ever go, make sure to get the all experience pass, otherwise half the things in the zoo you have to pay extra for. This took up all of my day, and I did feel a little guilty eating meat during lunch, since it just felt wrong to eat animals while in a zoo. But it was still delicious! 🙂

Just before the zoo closed, I was done with seeing everything and headed back on the MTA to my hotel to rest a bit and clean up and get ready for the evening. I again didn’t have time for a true supper – too much to do, and I get stressed out about picking a restaurant, because that is how my mind and personality work when making a decision.

Tonight’s show was “The Boys in the Band.” The play originally came out (no pun intended) in 1968, so this was a revival in celebration of the 50th anniversary. This was a ground breaking play in that it dealt with the lives of gay people at the time. As someone who is still dealing with “what it means to be gay” and how to handle it in this world, it is sobering to realize that people have always been struggling with this. We’ve come a long ways in some standpoints, while in others we haven’t moved at all. Reminds me of “Medea” a play I saw at CMU a few years back, but that play was written in 431 BC, and still resonates very true to today. So, there seems to be some things in life that will never change. Gives me hope to be reminded that I’m not alone, while a bit of sadness that things don’t change.  I did remember my Kleenex tonight, but alas didn’t need them. I loved the staging of the play and the acting was great! Didn’t take me too long to get “Sheldon” out of my mind while seeing Jim Parsons in the show.

I ended the evening with some wonderful cookies and a milkshake at Schmackary’s Cookies which is right around the corner from my hotel.

Now time to rest up for day 4 (and the 1/2 point already!) with the Museum of Mathematics, Once on this Island, and the crown jewel of my trip The Phantom of the Opera!!!!!!!