Cari Stewart

I have been keeping this a secret for a long time, but I think the time has come to let the world know. There are lots of rats in New York City. I know what you are thinking, “Wow, this is brand new information!” It was a shock for me, too.  Especially when you see one of them scurrying across your kitchen counter. Which is also the point at which you make the conscious decision not to make sandwiches directly on the counter.

The building where I worked was also known for its infestation of the little vermin. It was interesting to see that few people would flinch when the fire alarm would go off, but a whole floor could be instantly vacant at the site of a mouse.

One such occasion was when our intern group was meeting to do our final run-throughs the night before our presentation. I had just finished my totally sweet part of the presentation and was leaning against the wall. I was feeling calm and confident and ready for anything. Just then, I was caught off guard by a certain someone who had not invited to the meeting.

I looked down to see one of our little mouse friends run right in front of my feet. Without saying a word, I began to run, but I was moving in slow motion. Despite my lack of verbal warning, everyone knew what was going on; screaming and yelling commenced. As I ran out of the room, I saw one of our advisors, Stacey, bolt out the door before me. One of the guy interns jumped into the lap of the remaining advisor, Ralph, while the rest of the interns made it to safety by jumping onto tables and chairs.

I finally made it out the door. Far from the chaos of the conference room, Stacey and I panted and laughed in the hall. We walked back into the room to find interns slowly and cautiously returning to the ground from the safety of tables and chairs.

Don’t think for a second that this was the only visit we got from our mouse. However, the second visit did not elicit the kind of the reaction the first one did.  Instead of running and screaming and jumping into grown men’s laps, the guys actually acted like guys and not scared little girls.

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….. one belongs to it as much in five minutes as in five years. - Thomas Wolfe

I’m back in Utah. After being away for only four months, I was sure the transition back would be seamless. Not so.

For those of you who have returned home from missions, try to remember how not cool that was. You leave a place you have grown to love and then you feel like you have taken one giant step backwards as soon as you get home.

Don’t get me wrong, I love being home with my family but things feel weird. Just last week I felt on top of my game in New York. For a clearer picture, please refer to the Newsies scene when they sing “I’m the King of New York” …. that’s what it’s like everyday in the Big Apple. Now I am back in Provo and I have never felt so unsure of myself in my life. Shouldn’t it be the inverse?

I figure this depression and lack of eating and constant pajama wearing should only last a month … tops. Logic: usually it takes guys about 6 months to be totally normal after their missions, or a fourth of the time on their mission. My stint in New York lasted only 4 months, so a month should do the trick.

What I miss most about New York:

Walking through Times Square at night while listening to Michael Buble on my iPod (product placement :)).

Walking alone through Central Park while listening to the Amelie soundtrack. (If you are not familiar with the Amelie soundtrack, I highly recommend.)

Finding Central Park gems. (Deven knows exactly what I’m talking about)

Walking.

Knowing that I can get off at any subway stop and find something interesting.

Meeting new kinds of people that could never be found in Provo … or LA, for that matter.

Listening the gay guys critique Broadway shows as they leave the theater.

Witnessing bank robberies without even being aware of it.

Getting kicked out of McDonald’s in the middle of the night because of gas leaks and then being interviewed by a reporter while eating our food on the curb as the police and fire department show up.

Hanging with my peeps in NYC.

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Friday was the last day of my internship. Reports were finished, sushi was eaten, my desk was cleaned, mugs were taken, and tears were shed. I walked through the city and rode with subway with sunglasses on to hide the evidence. We’ll see what self-control I can muster when it’s time to say goodbye to New York…..

P.S. I hope some of you caught my reference in the title.

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For those of you who were not aware, Wicked is amazing. Diana and I were able to go the week she was in town and it rocked our socks right off. As a testimony of how good it is, I was possibly the one person in the world that was not a fan of the music – excluding a few songs – but I still fell in love with the show. There were parts that literally took my breath away. The singing was amazing. Glinda was so funny. And the sets were perfect. I will admit, however, that I will not be purchasing the soundtrack (and not just because I steal other people’s music in order to avoid spending money on media). This may not make sense, but I would not want to listen to the music everyday, but I would want to watch the show everyday. Without seeing the characters, the music just sounds like a bunch of crazies belting out weird songs. In conclusion, it’s an AMAZING show.

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The Air Guitar Championships were in Brooklyn and Deven, Shelley, Diana, and I had the honor of attending. I have been joking for a while that I am training for the Air Guitar Championships, but you better believe this is not a joke for these people. One guy quit his job in order to train. Naturally, the best air guitarists were those who actually played guitar. Which begs the question, “If you are actually able to play the guitar, why are you spending your time air guitaring?” The answer, of course, is because it is totally awesome. Why play a real guitar, when you can rock out with just a pick and atmosphere?

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The day started out at Coney Island for the World Championship hot dog eating contest. It was astonishing to see how many people take competitive eating seriously. It was absolutely ridiculous. In conclusion, the Japanese guy and the American guy tied after 10 minutes with 59 hot dogs and the American won in overtime with 5 more hot dogs in 2 minutes; pretty disgusting but totally entertaining. By the way, all of this was put on by Nathan’s (as seen below) which has the best corn dogs I have ever had in my life … and I have had a lot in my day.

After the competition, we explored Coney Island, which is possibly the dirtiest and most ghetto place I have ever been to in my life. It really feels like you get off the train and you are in 1975, except for there is rap music playing everywhere. It was really fun but, really, it was like nothing had been upgraded since the 1970’s. However, Coney Island did not forget about inflation. It was $6 to ride their ferris wheel. Sure it’s the only one of its kind in the world (totally fun and scary), but totally not $6 worth of fun. The Cyclone cost $8 to ride and was constructed in the 1920’s. Call me crazy, but I don’t think I should have to pay $8 for death. It was so shaky; I thought I was going to die. Don’t get me wrong, it was the time of my life. The lap bar was about 8 inches from my legs and when I would put my arms up on the dips, I felt like I was going to shake right out of the seat. And you better believe I had a wicked headache coming out of that ride! And my elbow was damaged as you will see in one of the pictures. But really, so fun.

We down to the beach, too, and walked the boardwalk. I heard that you need a tetanus shot if you want to go in the water there. It probably isn’t true, but from the looks of the rest of the island, I wasn’t about to take my chances. But I have now officially been in the water at both coasts.

Everyone went their separate ways the rest of the afternoon and met up again for the fireworks. We went to a friend’s apartment in Queens right on the river facing the city. His apartment is on the 26^th floor, so we were about at the level of the fireworks. And his apartment had the most amazing view of the city. The corner of the apartment facing the city was all windows and directly across from the Empire State building- Amazing. The fireworks were unbelievable. I have never seen fireworks like this ever. There were fireworks in all kinds of crazy shapes (my favorite being the cube). At one point there was a giant red heart. But the most insane fireworks were these ones that would float in the air forever. I don’t know how they made fireworks that defy gravity, but they did it. There is a video that kind of shows the lingering fireworks, I hope you can tell, but it doesn’t fully show how amazing it was.

There were about 9 padrillion people underneath us watching the fireworks. It was like watching little ants herding everywhere. Our bags actually had to get searched before we could even go on our friend’s street. Security was pretty crazy that night. We knew the subway was going to be out of control after the fireworks so we hung out at Clark’s house for a while longer playing guitar hero; it was pretty intense. And we were able to mooch food off of the guy living above Clark because he had tons of food left over from his party. In one of the pictures, you will see Eric and I making an “F” with our hands; this stand for FFC or the Free Food Club. In order to be a member, you have to be dedicated to getting free food whenever possible. Whether you are hungry or not, you must get free food if the opportunity is presented. Because of their willingness to go into a stranger’s apartment to secure free food, we were able to accept a few more members that night. If you have any questions about securing membership, you may talk to me as I am the co-President.

Floating Fireworks

Fireworks

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Last weekend, Mike, his cousin Brett, and I went to Palmyra. I have never been so excited to ride in a car in all my life. There is something magical about sitting in a car and being able to drive wherever you want after using only public transportation for any amount of time. It took about 5 hours to get to Palmyra from the city and it was absolutely beautiful. Everything was so green and lush and we could actually see the sky for the first time in 2 months.

While in Palmyra, we were able to walk through the Joseph Smith, Sr. log home and frame home. The log home was the first house they lived in while in Palmyra. This is the house where Moroni first appeared to Joseph. It was unbelievable to see the size of the room and beds that Joseph was in with 5 other brothers when Moroni appeared to him; sooooo small. The family lived in the frame home by the time Joseph was able to take the plates home.

The Sacred Grove was definitely the best part of Palmyra. I can’t really explain the feeling there; it’s something that everyone needs to experience. It’s overwhelming.

It was cool to walk up the Hill Cumorah. There is a memorial at the top of the hill and a little landing down the hill a little bit where Joseph found the plates. There is really no way to express how cool it was to be in Palmyra where such momentous events occurred. It was absolutely amazing.

For more information, the invitation to call me on my cellular device is still open, as I feel a little weird to essentially bear my testimony on the world wide web. J  

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For those of you who are familiar with Monty’s Python and the Holy Grail, you know what Spamalot is all about and that it is totally hilarious. I was surprised at how funny it was, actually. I was a little skeptical about how a 1975 comedy and musical theater would come together, but it did so beautifully. Patsy was definitely my favorite; who was played by none other than 98 Degrees’ Drew Lachey! It’s shocking, but he was super good as Patsy … and totally dreamy. King Arthur was played by Stephen Collins, the dad on Seventh Heaven. It’s interesting to see these celebs on Broadway; it kind of throws you off when they are good at it.

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Last Tuesday night was a free concert in the Park with the New York Philharmonic. I am not sure what they performed because we were pretty far out and everyone was talking around us. It was really cool, though. I know for next time that I am supposed to bring cheese and crackers and wine. Oh yeah, and I am supposed to light candles on my picnic blanket … Psyche! When you have 8 padgillion people walking around trying to find a place to sit, let’s not add fire to the mix, mmkay? So the real rules for concerts in the park are 1) Get there early 2) Bring a blanket and 3) Enjoy the music and fireworks at the end. That, my friends, makes for a superb night in New York. 

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