Pre Black friday success.

Belated Thanksgiving to everyone.   Yeah let us celebrate the European whites killing the native Americans and taking their land.  Haha.   But I diverge.  Well, Thanksgiving came and went.  So did Black Friday shopping mania.  This Thanksgiving, me and my mom decided to skip the meal and "celebration" and take advantage of the big shopping deals.  We went to Santa Clarita Walmart and bought some stuffs we needed.  Then we decided we do not want to wait there with the crowd waiting for the door buster deals.  We got out so fast afraid of being trampled to death.  It was not worth it.  We were not that poor or that desperate for a deal to save a couple of bucks.  On our way home, we decided to pass by a Kohl's for some deals we saw on the papers.  There was a line outside so we left since lining up for >30 minutes till they open the doors was just too much.  As we arrive at the valley, it was 6 PM and Kohl's was to opening that time.  So we passed by the Kohl's near my house and the line was moving .  So I decided to line up since it was a short wait.  As I entered the store with all the other eager shoppers, I headed straight up to the Home Appliance section to grab that griddle and slow cooker for $7.99 each!  There was a lot of people up there but not as chaotic as I thought it would be.  Perhaps the people at Kohl's are more tamed than Walmart...  I saw the griddle and grabbed one.  I searched and searched for the slow cooker in vane.  Then I saw a mother and daughter team with a cart and boxes in them.  One of the box was the slow cooker on sale.  I asked and they directed me to the pile in the middle of the aisle away from where I was searching.  I grabbed the slow cooker box and balanced the two boxes on my way down to meet my mom and check out.  My mom suggested that we should grab a few more to give as gifts so I rushed back up to get a few more.  To my surprise there were a lot of boxes left.  It looks like that if you get to the store within 30 minutes of opening, you will be able to get the door busters deal.  This was a realization.  Now I know how these door busters deals work.  There may be a lot of pushing and shoving at Walmart or other lower end stores but for the most part, it was pretty doable. So from now on, Thanksgiving for me is shopping!

Pippin comes to Pantages Theatre

Ever since the revival of Pippin happened in Broadway, I have wanted to see it.  So when I found out that it was coming to LA, I decided I must see it.  Then my friend told me that Matthew James Thomas will be performing the role of Pippin for the LA shows.  Matthew is cute and my friends gave him a rave review.  Matthew was the original cast of Pippin in Broadway.  That got me even more excited watching Pippin.

The day of the show arrived.  As I got my program, I dreaded seeing that small white piece of paper they insert to indicate who will be subbing for whom.  Alas, my worst fear was realized as I saw that I won't be seeing Matthew perform as Pippin.  In his place was Kyle Dean Massey.  I did not know anything about Kyle so I was pissed.  Really pissed.  My day was ruined!  For the first two songs, I sat there fuming over the fact that I won't see Matthew.  I felt robbed!  Then Kyle grew on me.  He was cute and he was good.  And when he took off his shirt, I was taken aback at how hunky he is.  Also the whole production was lively and riveting that I forgot about Matthew.  I love the acrobatics of the show.  So different from the Pippin I saw on video with William Katt and Ben Vereen.  It was like Cirque du soleil meets Broadway.  Love the iconic Fosse dance moves.   I love most of the songs.  I did not care much for Catherine and her songs but it was not that bad.  In fact I enjoyed the whole show that much that I decided to cough out 25 dollars to get the cast album at the lobby on my way out.  I listened to it in the car and visualized the show as I listen.  To this day, I still listen to the album in my car every time.  After reading more about Kyle, I realized that he is not some nobody understudy but was an accomplished Broadway actor.  This further improved my opinion of the show I saw.  In fact, Pippin is becoming one of my fave shows.

Our Pippin, dreamy Kyle Dean Massey.