I <3 NY

Maaaan, it's hard coming home and getting back to real life. Expect a couple of days of me blabbing and flashing photos while I come off of my vaca high.

Avenue Q was beyond funny, and it just so happened to be the 1500th show. Cool, huh? Jeff Marx was there, as were other original cast members and designers. The audience was given Q cupcakes. Paul bought a little Trekkie monster, and here's an impromptu, washed-out pic of Trekkie holding the Q cupcake. :-)

Besides Q, the American Museum of Natural History was fun, as was Toys 'R' Us in Times Square. The Museum of Modern Art had a few "Huh?" moments -- I guess I'm not elite enough to understand how a blank canvas qualifies as art -- but it was awe-inspiring to have my nose inches from Warhols and Picassos. The museum also was in the first week of an exhibition called "Comic Abstraction," which tied in nicely with my side trip to Midtown Comics. (Unfortunately, the latter was rather short because my feet were killing me after walking a bajillion blocks hither and yon.)

If you guys haven't been to Nintendo World, it's pretty cool. I was in fangirl heaven! Downloadable demos, multiplayer DS and Wii stations and plenty of shopping. There are a few exhibits upstairs of old Nintendo gear, including every style SP ever made, a Famicom -- I'd never seen one in person -- and a display of old NES gear, such as R.O.B. But the piece de resistance was a GameBoy damaged during the first Gulf War that still works (YouTube video here).

Ah, so much catching up to do! Tomorrow, I'll tackle all the cool restaurants, including rice pudding and Martian cuisine. Yes, really.