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The Magic Room
Originally uploaded by MariGerard

Well not that I am abolishing this blog I am not, but right now I am participating in a blog experiment. A 365 Blog. One post a day for a year. Roughly. Follow me at: www.momarimomari.blogspot.com

I promise I will post stuff here as well- just not as frequently. :)

Hope you all are having a wonderful Spring. I am diggin' Philly more and more everyday! Come visit!

Call Center Me

Call Center Me
Originally uploaded by MariGerard

Some days...everybody just calls to complain. But I still love the job. Have a great Weekend Everybody!

JC Superstar at The Academy of Music

Academy of Music with Loreena, originally uploaded by kimmelcenter.

So this pic is inside the Academy, and it is from just about exactly where we were too. But this pic is of the Lorenna McKennit Concert there in 2007. Aaaaaannny hoo. I saw Ted Neely play Jesus at the ripe old age of 68 last night in Jesus Christ Superstar, the Rock Opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. And the Productions was pretty good. Except for Grandpa Jesus. Now before you think of me as blasphemous, let me say that the music for this Rock Opera is very much meant to be reminicent of say 1975's Led Zeplin. Lotta' Screamin' and whaling on the parts of Judas and Jesus for sure. And Ted at 68 couldnt cut it. His rythms were off. If he couldnt reach a note he would speak it instead of sing it, and the entire show he pranced around regally and etherially, and it took some of the raw, realistic edge the writers of this show had intended for the character to have away. And that made me sad. Some flashy tech tricks were nice, and plesantly distracting. And the beauty of the space was a real treat. I went with my friend Betty from Wilmington and we had a lovely dinner after at the Sushi place next to my work. all in all not a bad way to spend a Sunday. :)

Philadelphia Livin'

Philly Night, originally uploaded by MariGerard.

Hello All!! Long time no bloggy. Sorry about that. I have been wildly busy since arriving in the city of brotherly Love December 1st, but I finally have a moment to breathe. So Philly. Wow, what do you want to know? Is it dirty? Yep. More trash than I ever saw in Chicago. Are people rude? Yeah- a little. East Coast rude for sure, but once they see your face around they become far more friendly. How do I like South Philly? Oh I am so glad you asked! I LOVE SOUTH PHILLY!!

So Ok- South Philly isn’t granola crunchy like Germantown, or Mt.Airy. It isn’t super trendy like South Street or Center City. It isn’t hip to the kids like University City, but it’s totally great for so many other reasons. A) It is a mere 2.2 miles from Center City. That is 10 min on a train, or 40 min walking slowly, or 20 min on a bike. B) Geno’s Cheesesteaks. What more is there to say about that. World Famous and sooooo yummy. C) All the houses are cozy row houses on narrow streets. You get to know your neighbors really well. Little old Italian ladies smoke out on their front porches and scope the young ladies out for their Grandson’s. (It’s kinda adorable really) D) The Sports Complex is like 10 min walking distance from my house. And by Sports complex I mean to say the Baseball Stadium, The Football Stadium, the Basketball Coliseum, The Hockey Arena and an old school Sporting Facility are ALL located in ONE spot in South Philly. Surrounded by food and hotels, it’s kinda a really great idea if you ask me. I am hoping to catch a Hockey Game this year, and possibly baseball in the spring. E) Geno’s Cheesesteaks. Yeah I know I said it already, but they are so good I get to count it twice. F) Oregon Ave. Oregon Ave is the Street I live off of. It has a consistent stream of bakeries, corner groceries, wholesale seafood stores, Barber and Beauty Shops and someplace called Bums BBQ that has an amazing Grilled Pear and Goat Cheese Salad with raspberry vinaigrette that I HIGHLY recommend. G) South Philadelphian’s are funny, and caring and loud in most cases, and have really long nails and really big hair. I love them. I feel very comfortable here. H) Seeing as the majority of the community is South Philly is Italian, I being named Mariangela (a very Italian name if you didn’t know that) am getting along great with the locals. Every Grandma in town wants me to meet her Grandson Vincent.

How’s The Job? OMG! OMG! OMG! I love my job!! LOOOOOOOOVVVVEEE it!
Ticket Philadelphia ROCKS! It offers exactly the challenges I was looking for, none of the IT hassles I had using Provenue Crap- uh I mean- Provenue Max at VGT, and I have a real office environment. I have a cubicle, decked out with my photo Magnets, and I get a real lunch break (1hour and it is recommended that I leave the building to get a true BREAK from the office.) The people I work with are all fun and wonderful. We have a ballet lady whom as her name would suggest is a former dancer. Her cubicle has signed Toe shoes from all sorts of important PA Ballet stars. We have the Orchestra Guru, he is English (go figure) and his Cubicle resembles my uncle’s kitchen with tins of Fortnum and Masons English Breakfast Tea, and London Philharmonic Posters. Our quality assurance manager reminds me of Dwight from The Office. (If Dwight had long hair and a cooler sense of humor) And the whole Patron Services team is really great at what they do and a pleasure to be around daily. I check in at 8:45am and at 5:00pm I check out. No staying late, no Will Calls. It’s brilliant!

Job Perks that I have enjoyed so far: Free ticket to see The Messiah Performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Philadelphia Singers Chorale. AMAZING ½ price tickets to see Bela Fleck and The Flecktones. (Such a good show) Free tickets to see Ruben Studdard and Frenchie Davis (Both of American Idol Fame) in Ain’t Misbehaving. (I was gone that weekend so I gave the tickets to my good friend Betty from NC who now lives here and she gushed about how great the show was) And I am hoping to get COMPS for Jesus Christ Superstar at the end of the Month and Rent in Feb Starring Original Cast members Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal. And Spring Awakening (The winner of the 2007 Tony Award for Best Musical) will be here in June…and I am sooooooo getting tickets for that. Plus it was just announced that we are selling tickets for Morrissey in March. Oh yeah! Wooooot!

So yeah- the job and the City Rock! I would love to see any and all of you here anytime. And I promise to Blog more often now that I am fairly settled. And hey- I can honestly say I am enjoying the 30-40 degree temps! I have yet to see a speck of snow, and it hasn’t been lower than 30 yet. (I know all my Chi peeps are struggling through like -12 right now. Hang in there y’all)

More to come! Till then GO EAGLES!!

Good Bye Chicago

My Party was hoppin, originally uploaded by MariGerard.

Happy December everyone!!

I have arrived in Philadelphia and will soon be posting pics and the like from my new home City!!

I have a great little house in South Philly with two awesome roomates I found on Craig's List if you can believe it! My new Job with Ticket Philadelphia who handles all the ticket sales for like EVERY OLD THING in Phily is incredible, and I could not be happier!!

Well I do miss my friends in Chicago, but slowly the pictures from my going away party are trickling in from those who remembered to take pics. :) This one here is a general shot of the party peeps.( Im behind the bar in the black shirt on the lower Right side of this pic.)

Click the pic and you can see some more on my Flickr site if you like.

More to come soon! Till then have a great December!

Todays edition of "Why GOD? Why?"

bacon11-24-08
Originally uploaded by MariGerard

I present for your consideration: Gummy Bacon. Strawberry flavored no less. Yep. Wow....



Happy Thanksgiving y'all.

Casting Auction=FUN!!

Flapper me
Originally uploaded by MariGerard

So this is me tonight. At the VGT Annual Casting Auction. Every year we pick a well loved musical and then Patrons pay 75 bucks a head to come to the theater- dress up like the characters from the show, drink and eat all they want, and then place bids on the lead roles in the musical. We make a KILLING on this event. After- everyone who won rehearses the show for 2 months and then they perform it onstage for 3 nights in February. They invite all their friends and family, and at $25 bucks a ticket- we make a killing on that as well. This years show: MAME.

So roaring 20's/30's was the theme. thus my outfit pictured here. Drink of the night: The Gooch (named after the character of Agnes Gooch in the show) I had 3 Gooches...they are yummy. I also had rasberry cheesecake, and White chilli. Something I intend to make very very soon for myself.

Right now they are all bidding on the roles in the theater and us (the staff) are drinking and eating in the lobby. In about an hour when the auction is over- Lorraine and I will snap to action and "check everyone out" i.e. we will take payment for the roles they won.

Right now the lead role of MAME just sold for $19,000. Yeah you read that right...$19,000. Someone paid more than my first new car for a role in a community theater piece...I cant even think what that's like.

I will audition for my roles thank you. But wow what a great way to raise money for our theater right?! :)

Griffin Rocks

Griffin Rocks
Originally uploaded by MariGerard

This is Griffin Davis. He is 3 months old. I babysat him on Friday night. He is funny...and wanted to put my camera phone in his mouth. He smells like pudding. I will miss him when I move in a week. : )