I am a blogger, so I am blogging

I am constantly reminded that my blogs are really a personal journal that I make public. It is very hard for me to gauge the readership on my blogs because I really get NO commentary from anyone either through my website or on Facebook. There also seems no good way to “like or comment” so I am a ghost writer. On occasion I hear from Alice’s friends and find out many of them have read a lot of my blogs. This blog is for Alice and her friends to enjoy.

I had decided to take Alice to New York for her birthday. Why? Well she totally deserves it! It was time for me to spoil her. This blog will be mostly about the day of her birthday and other blogs may have more detail on the 5 exciting cold, snowy, rainy, BUURRRRR days we were there.

We decided to pack it in on her birthday. Of course this was not only her birthday, but was her birthday week and birthday month. We woke up to classical music which we listen to nearly every morning. We were staying on the 42nd floor of the midtown Hilton. Room service started our day with a POT of coffee and a wonderful egg and cheese sandwich.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

We had big plans for the day. The weather was snowy and cold. Good thing we brought our down jackets, hoodies and gloves as they were much needed. Following breakfast was a TAXI ride to the MET. Don’t get confused boys, this is NOT the Metropolitan Opera, NOT the New York Mets. The MET. You know the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I had never been, but of course I love art even as much as Alice does.

The ART, the sculptures the HistorY… oh my

We had such a great time at the MET. For me it was almost information and sensory overload. We could have spent days there, not 4-5 hours.

Kids on Social Media

Included here is a photo of a class of students not so interested in the ART but sitting on the bench doing what they do….. SOCIAL MEDIA. Come on kids, get off the phone, you are in one of the most incredible places in the world!

Students at the Met — Students on social media while at the MET?

I had to pull Alice out of the museum as we had other plans for the evening. We had dinner at HELLS Kitchen right on Broadway next to the Al Hirschfeld Theatre where we had booked our only broadway show…. Moulin Rouge. Before I discuss the show I digress….

Mens room please

During intermission nearly the entire audience (a fully booked house) got up to get drinks, socialize and go to the bathroom. After taking some photographs I decided I needed to go the bathroom as well. Alice agreed and headed off to the ladies room. The mens line was long but moving. In front of me were two middle aged women, attractively dressed and waiting in the MENS line to go. I thought, this is weird, but it is New York. Maybe they are men dressed in drag. I went with it. Finally it was my turn at the urinal. Men to my left and right all doing their business.

I zipped up and turned around and noticed a line of 20+ women inside the bathroom walking right towards me. Oh MY. This was a first for me. A few seconds later, there is Alice walking by me in the mens bathroom. I was now in total shock and almost lost it. I found my way back to my seat, and Alice soon followed. She had given up because even the mens bathroom line was too long and the curtain call had already sounded twice. So there you have it, I will never think twice about a woman cleaning person in the mens bathroom while I am taking care of business. It’s a new world, probably just for me.

I got this from the New Yorker…

Did you know that a recently proposed Indiana law would make it a crime for a person to enter a single-sex public restroom that does not match the person’s “biological gender,” defined in terms of chromosomes and sex at birth. The punishment could be up to a year in jail and a five-thousand-dollar fine. Similar laws proposed in several other states have not passed. These proposals attempt to counter recent moves in many states to allow transgender people to access bathrooms that correspond to their gender identity.

Sorry there are no pictures, but I so wish I had.

Moulin Rouge what a show!

I must discuss the show Moulin Rouge. First of all, I have seen the movie made in 2001 starring Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman at least a half a dozen times before. I have been to many broadway shows before albeit I have not been for well over a decade, this show was a WOW. The best show I had ever seen. Every actor, singer, dancer performed flawlessly. The music, the lighting the props and backdrops were all so amazing. Remember I was a singer and involved in the theater for many years. This was OFF the chart. The show ended with a high energy BANG of fun songs and dancing. For me this was an experience of a lifetime,

Times Square

After the show we walked to Times Square, and it was just a magical night there. Finally the weather was bearable and the sights, sounds and people just blew me away.

To top the evening off we walked in to an OLD IRISH PUB and had a nite cap.

Happy birthday Alice

How is that for a birthday? Did we pack enough in? We always say…. “just another Tom and Alice day.”

If I find out some people read this blog, perhaps I will write another one, maybe even more filler on our other days in New York. Now can someone tell me where the mens only toilet is? If Alice walks in on me I will slap her with a $5,000 fine just to keep my buddies in Indiana happy.