Birthday weekend extravaganza!

This is going to be a very long entry. Fair warning.
So, it's official, I'm 18 years old and a legal adult. Am I supposed to feel any differently than I did yesterday? Obviously not, but today (I guess it's yesterday now, it's 1:30 am), I allowed myself to feel a bit older and more sophisticated. Actually, I allowed myself to feel that way the whole weekend. Perhaps part of my attitude had to do with the fact that Alex and Colette visited, and I actually had the chance to show off the New York I know, the New York I have learned and become familiar with since arriving here that isn't familiar or known to others not at NYU. Greenwich Village, parts of SoHo, the areas of Midtown like Rockefeller Center that I have learned how to navigate around, that I know do without much thought.
It was so great to see Alex and Colette again...I've gotten to that point where I no longer actively miss people on a daily basis, but little reminders of friends and home trigger a fleeting sense of homesickness and longing for the way things were. It was almost overwhelming, though, to see my home friends again, and to experience that completely uninhibited laughter and fun that accompanies old friends. They arrived on Friday night, after an agonizingly long and very sketchy bus ride to Chinatown, so I ended up catching the B or D train downtown at like 11pm. The whole situation was really shady. Haha. But I met them at Chyrstie and Grand and we immediately got back on the subway. Alex and I headed straight for Rockefeller Center so we could get settled in for the night to wait for SNL tickets. Essentially, I looked like a homeless person...I was wearing like 3 layers and had a pillow stuffed with a towel and my comforter. Thankfully, this is New York and people are very comfortable around homeless people...basicallly, I didn't get too many strange looks. Alex and I set up our pathetic little bed on W. 49th...we laid out the towel and slept on top of it with my cream and beige comforter that I don't think I can wash. Good choices. We actually had a really good time (despite the bout of freezing rain around 2 am...not cool at all...) and I saw some of the SNL cast members and had a chance to chat a little bit with them. OH! Random coincidences! Maybe no one else thinks this is weird, but I do. Last Friday, I saw cast member Jason Sudeikis when he came out of rehearsal, and we talked about improv, etc. I then went maybe 3 blocks away, definitely around some corners and random streets, to the McDonalds to use the bathroom and get a McFlurry. When I came out of the McDonalds, Jason was walking past on the sidewalk, so he stopped and sort of said hi again. Then I talked to him after the show last Saturday, and he sort of mocked me for going to McDonalds. I was really embarrassed, because I never go there, it's just convenient in that situation because it's open 24 hours. THEN, this Friday, I went to McDonalds at a different time to get food for me and Alex, and when I come out, Jason is walking past AGAIN! So I get all defensive because he sees me with McDonalds AGAIN, and it was funny, and basically now we're friends. After the show on Saturday, he recognized me and started talking. I'm very proud of this encounter, but sad that I couldn't have been walking out of a Starbucks or something a bit classier than MickeyDs. Oh well.
Anyway, I warned this would be a long post, so deal with it.
Saturday, Colette and Alex and I just walked all around SoHo and Greenwich Village and a bit of Chelsea, because the weather was GORGEOUS. Warm sun, cool fall breeze, the air smelled wonderful, there were little farmer's markets and street fairs...very beautiful. Saturday night, Colette went to a Broadway play with one of her friends from Boston and her friends from NYU. Alex and I wanted to find a place in Midtown to have a rather inexpensive pre-birthday dinner. That proved to be way more difficult than we anticipated. We finally ended up settling on this place called Lindy's on 7th Ave. It felt SO GOOD to have REAL food again after all my dining hall eating...Alex described it as just getting back in the country from a long vacation where the food was sort of iffy. We both had huge burgers and fries and it was wonderful. And very expensive. Meh, I haven't been spending hardly money on food, so I felt it was justified. After dinner, Alex and I had to get ready to go see if we would get into SNL! I was number 21 AGAIN, even though we were farther up in line; no one wanted to go to the dress rehearsal, so we could've had numbers 4 and 5 for that show, but we really wanted to see the live show. This week was far more tense than last weekend, because they kept us waiting up until the show was about to start! People with real tickets kept showing up and we didn't think we would get in, even though we heard that 93 people got into dress. Finally they let me in, but not Alex! I was freaking out! How could it seriously get cut off after 21?! They seated me actually in the center of the balcony, which was a really good seat, but I could not relax until I saw Alex get seated, also in the center of the balcony, but sort of far away. We didn't get to sit together, but we both got in, so we were okay. The episode was not really that funny, but the experience was still really cool, obviously. After the show, I met Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph. I was happy.
Sunday, Colette had to go back to Boston, but Alex and I walked around Chinatown and a ritzy part of SoHo. Then, I obviously had to share my Sunday night tradition of Assscat at the Upright Citizens Brigade with Alex, my former Improv-A-GoGo buddy. It was a great show, with Amy Poehler, more Jason Sudeikis, and RACHEL DRATCH! And essentially the entire cast of 30 Rock, minus Tina, Tracy and Alec Baldwin. P.S. Everyone should watch 30 Rock...the cast is amazing.
Then, today, the infamous 18th birthday. Alex decided to take the sort of less shady Greyhound home, so I took her to the Port Authority. After I dropped her off, my roommates said I had to be ready to go out at 3pm, and they wouldn't tell me where we were going. We all got dressed up, even though we didn't really need to, and took the train to 57th. They ended up taking me to this themed restaurant called Jekyll and Hyde, which had a sort of Halloween theme. It was VERY elaborately decorated, with lots of talking mummies and animated paintings. Also, there were actors that would come up and talk to us that were supposed to be like gypsies and mad scientists...?! It was hilarious. Kids running around. Cheesy actors. Good times. Then I guess we walked around Midtown a bit, because I'm actually in love with that area of New York, and then we went back to the dorm. I'm supposed to be writing a critical analysis philosophy paper right now. Clearly, I'm not. Plato should understand that it's my birthday. My professor may not. I should get on that. Sorry this was an un-godly length...most people don't really care about my SNL adventures, but it's my blog and I feel like sharing them. They're very exciting for me. Okay, goodnight!

Oh, P.S. the pictures are of my roommates and I before getting on the subway and Alex and I after the SNL show. We were amazed at the people we were seeing.