Yes, it is time for the halfway point, aka day 4, of my Fabulous 40 in NYC birthday trip, and today is the whole reason for the trip – my birthday! Hard to believe the trip is half over, but then again – I still have half to go!!!

Started as all mornings tend to start, waking up and having breakfast. I ate in my room this morning as the breakfast area was full. The hotel doesn’t have much space, so the breakfast area isn’t always large enough.

I then headed on the MTA again to go to the National Museum of Mathematics (MoMath). Yes, I celebrate my birthday by celebrating math! (says the person who owns mathwhiz.org). It is a wonderful little museum with lots of interactive displays that all relate to math and how we can use math in the world. Each has a display that describes the math principles behind the activity. I even road a tricycle with square wheels, but because it is on a “bumpy” (very certain type of bumps) road, it rides very smooth and easy. After a few hours there, I headed out to go to play #3.

Play #3 was “Once on this Island”. It took me awhile to get into it as the dialog and songs were a bit hard to understand at first because of the accent used for the show. Once I got into it, it was very wonderful, and I’m glad I had my Kleenex with me. The staging of it was amazing. First, it is in a circle in the square theatre, but it was also several floors underground. The set was covered with sand (whole island thing you know), one area actually had water, and part of the stage/set came up into the audience. It is a very powerful play about how stories are important to share from generation to generation because they connect us and bring us hope.

I then headed back to my room to charge my phone and to relax a bit and figure out dinner. During this little break, I opened some packages I got while I was here. I got some nice gifts from my parents and my friend Vicki. Also, when I picked up the packages, I mentioned that I got them because it was my birthday. So, the hotel gave me a bottle of wine!

I really needed dinner today because I didn’t have time for lunch and I was starving. I found a close by Italian place that is part of SB Local. I went there and they said it would be a 20 minute wait, but I was seated in about 5 minutes. It wasn’t a fancy place, but still had great food at a reasonable price I thought for NYC.

Then back to the hotel to freshen up and get into my newly bought tuxedo for the special night! I’ve been planning this for months, and some people knew about it already, but wanted it to be a surprise for some. I figured since this was a super special night, why not go all out. I thought about renting one and the length of time I’d have to rent one from Michigan or the hassle of renting one here, so I checked on how much it would cost to buy one, and it wasn’t actually that bad. And thanks to Swagbucks, I got it from Amazon using my Swagbucks! I think I was the most dressed up person in NYC tonight! (Now tomorrow night is another story considering the Tony’s will be happening). I then headed out for the pinnacle event of my trip.

Before stopping at the Majestic Theatre I went to Times Square to do a “Live from New York, It’s Saturday Night” video. I haven’t watched it, and not sure how well it came out and if I even got the line down correctly. I am just loving being able to share this adventure with all of you. Then I headed back to go see “The Phantom of the Opera”. This was my 10th time seeing it and first time on Broadway. (For those who want to keep track, 2 times in Toronto, 1 in Green Bay, 2 times in Grand Rapids, 4 times at Wharton Center, and now once on Broadway!) I did my little warning speech to those sitting next to me that I will hyperventilate and become emotional, but I will be OK. One family was from Michigan, and more to the point – the UP! They are on a summer vacation and their daughter is really into Phantom, but had only seen the movie, so they treated her! So I had some nice chats with them.

It was great seeing The Brilliant Original again, there were parts that have faded from my memory a bit as it has been awhile since I’ve seen The Brilliant Original. There are parts I still prefer, but there were some parts of The Spectacular New (the current touring) version that I missed as well. It was still great as always and loved every minute of it. The seat I picked was perfect! Close enough up that I felt like I was under the chandelier, but just a bit back that I got a good view of it without having to look straight up.

I did notice a difference in the audience for this show compared to the others I’ve seen so far in NYC. The other shows as they are still new or for short runs, the audience felt to be more like regular theatre goers who pretty much knew how to behave and that they were there to truly enjoy the show. The audience for Phantom had a more “touristy” feel to it. Tons of people taking pictures when they shouldn’t – I feel bad for the ushers to have to go through that every performance with trying to stop people from taking pictures. I’m not talking about just before or after the show, but actually during it. I prefer to capture the memories of the show in my head and let the adventures continue there.  Overall I really enjoyed the show and reacted as I typically do to it.

A few more thoughts on a tuxedo. First, twice I think people thought I was an employee. First was coming down in the elevator in the hotel. Two people got on and told me what floor they wanted. They were going to the lobby where I was going, so I just mentioned that is where we are already going. But then I got the strange feeling they thought I was working as an elevator operator. I don’t know any place that has those any more. I could be mistaken, but it was still interesting. The second time was when I was getting ready to have my picture taken outside the theatre and someone stopped to ask me questions about their ticket. I finally realized they thought I was working there, so I directed him to someone that should be able to help.

Both going into the theatre and inside the theatre several people complimented me on how nice I was dressed. After the show a couple caught up to me on the sidewalk and just wanted to let me know how nice it was to see someone who knew how to dress for the theatre. So, the tux was a hit! Who knows when and where it will appear next!

After the show was out, I hobbled (yes, hobbled, not walked, since after overly emotional experiences, my legs get weak and it makes it hard to walk) over to visit my friends Ben & Jerry. I got a dish of ice cream and headed to Times Square to enjoy my birthday dessert! It is mesmerizing to sit in Times Square and just relax and enjoy ice cream – I think I could get used to that! I think i was the best dressed in Times Square – definitely compared to the guy who was walking around in what looked like a two-piece women’s swimsuit. People were taking pictures of him, and because he walked right by me, I may be in some of those pictures – what an interesting contrast!

I then headed back to my hotel to unwind, recap the day, and get ready for tomorrow.

Before I go and before a few final random thoughts – just wanted to thank everyone again for virtually joining me on my trip and wishing me Happy Birthday today and for allowing me to share my adventures with you.

Now for some random thoughts.

The act of blessing people when they sneeze is weird. First, why just sneezing, why not coughing, or hiccups, or just because? It is a weird cultural habit. Also, it is the only thing that complete strangers will say to someone and people accept it just fine. I was reminded of this twice on this trip because I remember one time saying “Bless you” to someone and realized how strange it is to say it to a total stranger (not wrong, just strange). Then tonight at dinner I sneezed and the lady sitting next to me blessed me.

New York is very different on the weekends than the weekdays. The streets are less hectic during the day, but then at night Times Square was a lot busier. Makes sense that more people would visit on a weekend.

I have also noticed that a lot of people around here smoke while walking on the sidewalks and then just flicking their butts into the street. That would be a reason for me not to live here. Also, I have noticed that not all smokers are smoking cigarettes, some smell a little different 🙂

That’s all for now – on to another busy day tomorrow – church and two more shows, and who knows what else!