The Met, The LES, FedEX & Wicked!… oh, my!

Today was an adventure; Joyce spent her day at work, so I was free to wander the city and do as I pleased.  The Met, the Lower East Side, my own personal Amazing Race, and then my first ever Broadway musical…

The Met.
I spent a good deal of it at the Met (Metropolitan Museum of Art) where Patrick Stewart lent his voice to the fantastic audio tour describing the truly massive collection of Greek & Roman sculpture & other works of art.  The Egyptian exhibit was truly amazing, housing one ancient tomb and a truly incredible temple which were moved to NY from Egypt for the museum.  I think those two exhibits were my favorite part.  There was also a Superhero & Fashion exhibit which didn’t live up to my excitement, although I did get to see the actual “Dark Knight” Batsuit, the silver “Ironman” prototype suit, and the thousands of lil pasties worn by Mystique in X-Men.  It was pretty damn awesome to see those things close up and realize that not everything that is cool in movies is done CGI.
The LES.
After that, I wondered to the LES (Lower East Side) and toured the Tenement Museum (tiny tiny tiny homes for way toooo many people!) and ate at Katz Delicatessen (made famous by “When Harry Met Sally”).   Walking around the LES was fun and I really enjoyed it.  I wish I would have had a bit more time to see more.
FedEx is a turd.
And then there was the adventure for the tickets:  we had tickets to be delivered to us today for a show tonight.  FedEx tried to deliver them yesterday, but couldn’t, so we left the note on the door (signed) for them to leave them when they tried to delivered today.  They didn’t leave them.  I got back at 4 and they still weren’t here.  I called.  They said that they tried to deliver them at 10am.  Did I mention that we signed the slip for them to leave the package?  So, they said they’d call the driver and he’d be by.  I wait.  He doesn’t show.  I call back.  This person tells me no, no, no, he already went back to the station.  You’ll have to come here and get the tix.  Fine.  That’s insane, it’s far away, it’s already 5pm, and I have to navigate a new place on the NYC subway… but fine.  I need them.  And the show is at 8pm.  I’m pissed, but I’m down…  I can role with this.  So I head out.

An hour later, I’m at the FedEx station in East Brooklyn… only to find out the tickets aren’t here either. And they will never be there.  Ever.  Why?  Because this is the wrong station.  The address on the slip left on the door is an old address.  First, they try to send me to another station.  But they call the driver… again… and apparently he is still in Brooklyn near the apt.  He’ll meet me there at 7pm.  Off I rush back to the beginning…

So, he shows, I get the tickets, and I have to ask him: What The Hell, dude! Apparently he never even came by and was just covering for his sorry butt, because he had no clue… and was not even apologetic.  Was just basically like, well, you got what you needed so why are you upset.

I am mad because you just wasted 3 hours of time I was going to spend at MoMA, having dinner, and hanging out with my friend… and I now have less than an hour to make it to Broadway.  And you won’t even acknowledge that you screwed the pooch. That’s why I’m upset, jackass.  <sigh>  And, in the end, all I can really do is bitch…

Wicked!
But I recovered… and had a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful time watching Wicked! With Joyce.  It was the highlight of the day, and the rest of the evening was relaxing and fun.  The premise is great: how did the Wicked Witch actually become Wicked?  Or is she at all!?

We had a great time at the show and the dinner to follow was perfect.  It all worked out in the end, for which I’m very grateful, and it was very easy to get back into a great mood and enjoy the rest of the night.  I highly recommend Wicked!  Good story, pretty decent music (at least two of the numbers were over the top great), and the set/production was absolutely astounding.