Safety Not Guaranteed

Friday:
Linda had purchased tickets to see the musical "Safety Not Guaranteed" at the BAM Strong theatre in Brooklyn NY. She bought a lot of tickets, thinking they would sell out because Guster announced they'd be doing a little campfire set/dumpster show style thing at the end. 

Well. There were a lot of tickets still for sale, but she had eight. Doug didn't want to go, Ronnie had to have his arm twisted to come, Our friends Angela and Eric had dragged their feet on buying tickets and they didn't want to sit up in the balcony so they were thrilled to join us. And our other friend V took the other one that would have been my pair.

I didn't want to go. I'm not motivated on a school night to go places other than bed. But I rallied. My friends Robin and Ben took her up on 2 of the tickets, and I hitched a ride. They were staying at a friend's place in Fort Lee, so I got a hotel just south of where they were staying (I'm there now, enjoying some alone time while they're out to breakfast with their friend). 

The ride up yesterday was flawless. Perfect. Low traffic, stellar weather. Once we were settled in the spots where we'd be spending the night, I got my blouse ironed and hair curled (I need a haircut soonly!) 

Ben used to live in several towns in the area from Hackensack to Teaneck, to NYC, to Brooklyn so he's kind of good with how to get from one place to another. One of the challenges for me mentally is getting from NJ to NYC or Brooklyn by mass transit. I used to be good at this. 

We opted on the way over to the city to take an Uber because we were short on time to actually grab a bus. And the next bus would take us out of the way further south to go back north and take an extra hour ... we could have made it, but we opted to not. 

Ben and Robin love this little yakitori restaurant near Madison Square Garden, so they really wanted to go there and I was flexible. Linda and Ronnie weren't going to make it into the city until after 6, but had found a german restaurant near the venue and other folks were aiming for going there to meet up. We were having meat on stick. It was a lovely sampler of foods, Ben had a giant bowl of Ramen, they serve their cocktails in a ziplock style bag, which is super cool. 

I love this picture of them, because it looks almost like an ice cream soda shop from the 1950s or something. Only they each have their own cocktails. 

After dinner we took the subway over to Brooklyn. From where we were, it was literally 4 or 5 stops to get to the Barclays Center stop and walk to where Linda had invited folks to come for dinner. Since we'd already eaten, a beer and company with many of our pals was in order and we had about a half hour to spare to catch up and chat. 

It was a short walk to the theater, more friends in the lobby including musician friends we love. Guster fans were out in force for this show. I'm sure if anyone was there who didn't know who they were, they knew by the end. 

The musical itself was lovely. I have chills thinking about some of the scenes. I'd suggest watching the movie (with Aubrey Plaza and Mark Duplass) if you're interested in learning more about the story. Then, imagine amazing poignant songs mixed in about chocolate milk, time travel, wanting to change the past to save the future. 

One of the super interesting things they did was take One Man Wrecking Machine and change one line, to really fit the story's main subject Kenneth. Video of that song is here in the trailer. 

And another one of Ryan's new original songs called Gaming Laptop is pretty great. 

Throughout the show we all were saying "oh this song is about XYZ situation or person in the play but wow. You can hear it is a Guster song." Ryan's songwriting and style ride through it all so perfectly. Some of this is just sitting on me today, how wonderful the acting and singing was. The stage production was so minimal, but they did so much. So much with the space and the set. Just outstanding. 

I didn't expect to burst into tears, twice. Maybe three times. Thank God Linda was next to me with tissues at the ready.

They use "Do You Love Me" in one of the scenes with Kenneth and the love of his life are singing together in a coffee shop. Soaring harmonies, and perfect musical accompaniment. Kenneth sings "Two Points for Honesty," which just FIT so hard with who he is, and how he feels about himself, and life. And the chocolate milk song sent me. I wish that one was on youtube.

After the show, Ryan came down from the audience (he was sitting 2 rows behind us with Adam) and the crowd went wild for him. These are his people, and hopefully others who didn't know him yet were learning about how great he is with this kind of stuff. He talked about the genesis of the project back when the movie was made and how the musical idea was pitched to him and he ran with it. 

Adam and Brian came down, and they treated us to a couple songs. The cast all came out to sing One Man Wrecking Machine. Everyone in the audience sang the original line that they changed for the musical as it is written (maybe then I'll get in her pants, whatever...")  they all laughed and smiled and Ryan laughed too. It was so cool to hear the audience singing along with them, and singing harmony parts and little interstitial things back at the band. Adam looked authentically entertained by it all. 

I have got to figure the camera out on my new phone. The pictures should not look this crummy from the second row. But I think you get the idea. 

By the way - that's the time machine Kenneth builds, and Kenneth is sitting in it on the left. I thought it would be a riot if Guster sat in it to perform but no.

We went back to the German restaurant because Linda's car was parked right in front. We had a quick sit and chat until the place closed, and people had to start heading home, to Boston, to out East. Or to a hotel in New Jersey. 

Once again, Ben proved fruitful and wise. We weren't sure about getting an Uber from Brooklyn to NJ, it would probably be 100 dollars, so we took the A line on the subway up to 177th street, right by the GWB. We got an Uber from there and that was pretty awesome. 

I think it was well after 2am when I went to sleep. Thinking of time travel, this show, the music. 

I'm glad I didn't refuse to go. I'm glad I went. 

After sleeping in, and getting a breakfast burrito from the lobby restaurant, I fell down a rabbit hole of reading and watching videos about this musical. 

Robin and Ben picked me up at 1. We got to their house around 5 and it took me 90 minutes to get home. Pretty good timing, I must say. 

Whirlwind tour, I would have liked an extra day but I was super happy to come home to the family, and the doggo. Digits below.

Saturday digits

exercise: 9/12 hours.  slept through 9am. 4700+ steps by bedtime. Spent a lot of time in the car.

blood glucose:

10:30am: 174
xpm: no reading in the afternoon
10:30pm: 134  

food:

coffee/water
11am: breakfast burrito from lobby restaurant; metformin
6:30pm: Metformin+jardiance; cheese and pepperoni off of a french bread pizza slice. The bread was really doughy and I didn't like it. 

Friday digits

exercise: 11/12 hours.  29 min walking in rest area while my friend dealt with a work disaster. 18 min walk from somewhere to somewhere. 13,200+ steps by midnight (more by bedtime)

blood glucose:

7:30am: 143
3:30pm: 155  
2am Saturday: 202 (pretzels and beer after the show)  

food:
coffee/water
11am: metformin, pepperoni & cheese snack at rest stop
4pm: Yakatori ... lots of beef and chicken, veggies, gyoza, 2 beers
7pm: metformin+jardiance, 1 small beer 
11 something pm: some pretzels, some french fries at the german bar on Fulton St.