1. I was at the pizza place less than a block from our apartment, waiting for them to finish our calzones, when I overheard an interesting conversation between two other locals.

Big Tall Guy: “Good Gracious, it’s cold out there!”
Brown Hat Guy: “Uhhhh huh!”
Big Tall Guy: “Too cold!”
Brown Hat Guy: “Too cold!”
Big Tall Guy: “Black people ain’t built for this weather!”
Brown Hat Guy: “I’m keeping my long johns on til it’s 95 degrees!”

I assume the conversation continued after I left with my food, but that was the excerpt I caught. I just thought it was a good example of the kind of characters one meets in my neighborhood.

2. At about 10:30 last night, someone knocks on our door, and it’s our new upstairs neighbor. It seems he’s accidentally locked himself out of his apartment and wants to see if he can shimmy the lock open with one of our keys. Always up for an adventure, we see if there’s anything we can do to help the poor guy, but to no avail. He also unscrewed the front plate of his doorknob and bent it slightly, but was no closer to getting back in.

Then Aryn has the brilliant idea of climbing up the fire escape through our window. Evidently, there’s no ladder or stairs on our building’s fire escape, so he climbs out of our window, goes over to the buliding next door’s fire escape, climbs up their ladder, and carefully makes his way back to the landing outside his apartment. He was eventually able to force his way in, and said later that if we ever need anything, he’s our man. It’s nice to know we’ve got someone watching our backs.

Aryn took me to see Wicked last night for my Christmas present, and it was amazing.  I experienced the peculiar sensation of having all the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and stay there for minutes at a time.  Then I would sloooowly start to calm down, only to suddenly come to some big show-stopping moment where they all stood up again.  I really can’t say enough good things about the show.

We got to see an understudy playing Elpheba, which I was actually excited about.  I have very vivid memories of seeing the touring company of Rent in Boston years ago, and the understudy who played Mimi absolutely stole the show.  This was a somewhat different experience, because I was already familiar with the songs going into Wicked, and I had Idina Menzel and Kristen Chenoweth to compare it to.  But even with such huge shoes to fill, I thought the cast did an amazing job.

There were a couple little things I could pick at, like the actors’ microphones occasionally picking up each other when they got too close, but I wouldn’t notice them if I wasn’t such a dork, and if I wasn’t already so completely in love with the show.  I’m also glad I read the book first, because they’re so completely different that the plot of the book probably would have confused me thoroughly, had I gone into it expecting it to be like the musical.

Anyway, it was a great show.  If anyone is planning a trip to the city, I highly recommend you book your tickets now, since it’s sold out for awhile.  Maybe it’s a stretch to relate to the Wicked Witch of the West, but it’s just so inspiring to see it in person, you can’t help it.  I guess it must have a pretty universal appeal if it can make me wish I could put a spell on a broom and fly out of this place.  It also inspired me anew to write a musical (as if I really need more projects right now), so we’ll see how that plays out.  In conclusion, go see Wicked.  That is all.

Update your bookmarks to www.ultrajoebot.com and change your trousers, because UltraJoeBot has been given a facelift of sorts! Many thanks to UltraWifeBot, who did the actual lifting of said face.

P.S. This probably screwed up your RSS feed too, if anybody has that.

So, it’s only been 2007 for 12 hours, but I feel like this isn’t going to be my year. Call it a forboding of evil. We woke up at 7:00 this morning because one of our bedroom windows is leaking, just days after our radiator threw up radiator water all over our floor, forcing me to obtain a second copy of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. Two voicemails and five hours later and our super still shows no signs of caring. Super. Finally, our cheer-up waffles were tough and soggy, and I dropped mine *apple butter side down* on the chair.

So having concluded that this year is a lost cause, I thought I would recap my top 10 CDs of 2006. I wouldn’t be surprised if I lose an arm or get attacked by bears this year – possibly both, as bears often have an appetite for arms. But no matter how many times the super ignores my calls, there should at least be some good music. So let’s take a look at last year’s list, shall we?

01. My Chemical Romance – The Black Parade
02. Brand New – The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me
03. Jeremy Enigk – World Waits
04. Boy Sets Fire – The Misery Index: Notes From The Plague Years
05. Muse – Black Holes And Revelations
06. Tool – 10,000 Days
07. Killswitch Engage – As Daylight Dies
08. The Mars Volta – Amputechture
09. Thursday – A City By The Light Divided
10. Mastodon – Blood Mountain