WICKED!

Wow! What an AWESOME day!

Work was great, meeting was great, tonight was great! It was all just GREAT!

So, first off, I got to work and started with my normal media search tasks. Then, I was doing some research on Mexican schools for one of the employees. At 11am Melissa and I met with Alison, our internship supervisor at Alan Taylor. We had a GREAT meeting with her and it was really helpful. I felt like things were going better and I was officially added to the Staples account (yeah!). But wait, there's more.

I prepared or organized some files for a scholarship program one of the agency partners is head of and although it was simple and tedious, it made time pass, cause I was starting to worry that I wouldn't have anything to do after that. Thankfully I was wrong. Matt, one of the guys on the Staples account, came by my desk and was telling me about a meeting he's having with the editor of Family Circle next week about a product. I was like, oh that's cool. But then, he added in at the end,..."oh, and I want you to go with me." I WAS STOKED!! Inside I was screaming "YIPPEE!!! Things are finally happening! This is something that's for reals!" Later he came to me with some more stuff to do for Staples, where I will be completely in charge of this project and working with other magazine editors. It was awesome.

I left around 2:20pm for my PRSSA meeting and by the time I found the building in downtown Manhattan, it was almost 3pm (the time of the call). Since I hadn't had lunch I grabbed something from a nearby store really quick and went up the to meeting. It went very well and I loved being in the headquarters offices to see it all. It was great being right there with Brent and Jeneen. I was able to literally just pass them information or add in comments where I could sense confusion because I could see them. I really enjoyed it there. After the call ended around 4:30pm, I stayed and talked with Brent and Sara (the executive assistant) about New York while I waited for Taylor Simmons (one of our BYU interns working at PRSA) to get off. Taylor works for the professional version of the organization (know as PRSA) and Brent, Jeneen and Sara are with the student version (PRSSA). They're both in the same office and on the same floor, just opposite ends.

Today was the only day I knew that I would be able to go to the lottery for Wicked. I was hopeful to get in, but since I didn't know anything about the process, I wasn't really sure if I had much of a chance. Taylor and I went and put our names in, and then Taylor's friend (Malani) came as well. So, the three of us had put our name in, and then three other girls had put their name in, as well. It was a fairly large crowd with close to 100 people waiting and hoping for their name to be called. Before the Wicked lottery started, we had put our names in the lottery for Spelling Bee, which was right next door. I have never seen a Broadway musical, so seeing either would be exciting. Taylor's seen Spelling Bee twice and she said it was hilarious.

The way a lottery works is you put your name down on a note card they give you and then you write 1 Ticket or 2 Tickets. They draw so many names depending on the number of tickets they have available. These tickets are for the front row and cost $25, compared to the regular $100+ that people usually pay for the shows. So, you can see why it's a big deal.

So, we all stood together while we awaited to hear the results. Malani's name was one of the first called so she got 2 tickets. We waited at the Spelling Bee lottery afterwards and my name was called for 2 tickets. Shortly after, Malani and Taylor's names were called as well. Malani and Taylor did claim their tickets though because we didn't need them. The shows are all at the same time, but we had already decided what we would do. Because I was the only one who had never seen Wicked, I got one of the Wicked tickets. Malani had never seen Spelling Bee, so she went there. Taylor came to Wicked with me and they sold the 2nd ticket to Spelling Bee. We grabbed some dinner at Cosi down the street before the show and had a fabulous salad. Really good.

Taylor and I went in to find our seats and they were front and center...literally. Taylor and I were LITERALLY the very middle seats on the front row. I could have touch the orchestra director's head if I wanted to because he was sure right there. The show was great! The costumes, the music, the acting...it was awesome! There was one part that was really funny, when Glinda (the "good witch) and Elphaba (the "wicked witch") were going to fight. Glinda started spinning her long staff-like wand around...twirling it like a baton. On the top of the wand was a big silver ball type of thing. She had been spinning it and as she went to stop, the silver ball completely flew across the stage to behind the curtain. It was HILARIOUS!! Like I said, this was supposed to be a fighting seen where they were both irate at each other. But they were laughing so hard they couldn't get into character. So of course, the audience was dying laughing, as well. It was really funny because they tried to go on but every line came out with a smirk until it turned into a smile, the audience would bust up again and then it made it harder for them to get back. Luckily for them, the scene was only about another minute long. It was hilarious.

The costumes were great and being up close we were able to see all of the intricacies. Very detailed and fashionable. Anyone who sees it is going to love it. It really is great. I loved everything about it and for $25! That's a deal you just can't beat.

I'm going to try for Spelling Bee again another day because I can actually make that lottery on a regular basis. I'm glad I got to see Wicked tonight since it was my only chance. Woo hoo!

See what I mean, great day. Laurel had a great missionary experience on the subway tonight and exchanged numbers with this girl for them to go to each other's church on Sunday. Good for her.

Well, it's almost 1am so I better get going.

I love NYC!

-mk

P.S. Sorry if you guys are running into spelling and grammar errors as you read. I'm usually not coherant when I write because it's so late, but feel free to let me know so I can correct them. Thanks!