The Daily Sweating Show with Jon Stewart

At the end of last year, Paul had discovered that we could get tickets for one of TV's most informative programs, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. The tickets were free, the only problem was that you had to sign up for them far, far in advance. So back in December, I signed up for some tickets in July, 2005. I picked a random date and we got our tickets. That date ended up being July 26th, yesterday. It was a stroke of genius picking that date because Tuesday is my night off from the gym and things at work are relaxed enough right now that I can take off a little earlier than normal to get in line (as the shows are all overbooked). So I got down to deep Hell's Kitchen yesterday afternoon at around 4:00 to wait in line for an hour and a half so four of us could see the show. Paul and Cathy joined me and since I had an extra ticket, they brough one of their co-workers who I'd met previously. If you've seen the news, you know that the weather here hasn't been ideal for standing outside for a few hours - it was around 95 degrees out yesterday, though the humidity was tolerable. Nonetheless, we finally got in the show at around 6:00, at which point my shirt was soaked with sweat. I felt sorry for the people sitting next to me until I remembered that we had FREE TICKETS to see an awesome show!

It was really neat - they had a comdian guy come out prior to the show to make fun of people in the audience and get our laughter going. After him, the host of the show, Jon Stewart, came out to talk to the audience for a bit and answer questions we had. He is hilarious and I really recommend you check out his show on Comedy Central. The show itself was classic Jon Stewart and one of the better episodes. It featured discussions about the recent space shuttle launch, including two men holding different rockets in their laps talking about "strapping into this thing" and about what a few thousands pounds of thrust could do. Take a picture and visualize the scene and you'll laugh. There was also a special report on the gayification of NASCAR and an interview with an interesting fellow that featured good editing work. You gotta see it to understand what I'm talking about. But it was great to see the show.

This weekend AC Milan is coming to play Chelsea FC at a stadium in New Jersey. Every summer we get the opportunity to see some good teams come to town for friendly soccer matches, so it's not something I want to miss. I think I've got someone lined up to go with me, though I'll have to wait for this weekend to make sure she's going.

In other social news, I've scheduled another festivus on a Friday this summer to attend the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Center's Summer Sessions, which is similar to the event at the Guggenheim where I celebrated my Name Day back in June. You get to go into the museum and check out their stuff and then sit out back in the fenced in gigantic lawn with seats and umbrellas and sip on cocktails. Should be a fun little get-together, I'm looking forward to it.

Finally, I've made some last-minute preparations for my trip to Poland at the end of August. I'm going there for Ewa's (from SF) wedding to her finance Brendan. After much discussion with Ewa today, I finally realized that I'm not in college anymore and that I can probably stay at the four-star, $90 Sheraton that is located in Central Warsaw for a night rather than staying 15 minutes away from everyone else at the local youth hostel. I LOVE youth hostels, and if/when I go back to Warsaw, I will definitely stay there. But I'm gonna splurge for a night since we will be staying in Warsaw the night following the wedding, which means I'm probably going to want a comfortable bed ;o) . Plus, Ewa says it's (and I quote) "down on Nowy Swiat which is a hella nice street with lots of shops and hot chicks". Oh yea, she said something about it being right near the tourist attractions, too.

Tomorrow I will be going to the NewYork DMV to get a new driver's license, as mine expires. I have mixed emotions about this because I've been looking forward to being an official New Yorker (at least, according to the state) and having proof of my residency for the future. But, at the same time, it is going to be sad to lose my California license and the picture of me when I was 16 and had a full head of hair. I mean, I look like I'm 10 in that picture! 5'8", 110 lbs (1.73 meters, 49.9 kg for my foreign friends). This license dates back to the pre-John-Hancock-inspired-signature days. We're talking like 12 years ago! I think I'll get a photocopy of it before the DMV workers force it from my Kung-Fu grip....

J. Riley, back to sweating in my room