Now it can be told

I crammed a month's worth of awesomeness into the last seven days. Here's a very cursory summary of all that transpired over the past three:

Friday: The last day of Advertising Week. I was both relieved and sad to watch it end. The whole thing was a bit of a spectacle, and it sure was nice to not worry about grabbing breakfast or lunch on my own if I was covering anything between the hours of 9 and 2. But my last two events helped me go out with a bang: a three-hour presentation of ad campaigns from high school students around the NYC area (impressive stuff by all, even if some blended into the others) and the Advertising Icons parade. The parade itself was fairly interesting (I mean, it was in Times Square after all), but seeing all the icons backstage at the Hard Rock with their heads off really sealed it for me. How many people can say they've spoken to a headless Chester the Cheetah, the AOL Running Man and the guy who plays Col. Sanders in a 5-minute period? Sooo weird...

My cover story ended up getting pushed back a week because the photo was, in the words of Susie the awesome photo editor, "too much 'Saved by the Bell' and not enough 'Rolling Stone.'" I agreed, even though I was a little bummed to wait an extra week for my cover debut. I was comforted by the fact, however, that I am now the second-ever intern to have a story run on the cover. And the first one has been employed by them ever since, which is certainly a good sign... I got wind of a work-related rumor on my way out, and though it made me very happy, I'm too superstitious to discuss it here.

Finished the night by taking Amy to dinner at Serendipity (only the famous frozen hot chocolate is worth their extravagant prices, and even that's really pushing it at $8.50) and grabbing a nice German beer at a bar by my place called Heidelberg. Made me think of, but not miss, Tiffin. Crashed on Amy's air mattress in her ginormous Brooklyn loft so I could explore Williamsburg with her.

Saturday: Had an incredible burger at Teddy's on Lorimer that filled me up the rest of the day and window-shopped around W-burg with Amy for a few hours. Loved the mix of industry and urban culture and decided I am totally singling that out when I start looking for apartments in the coming weeks (that's right, I'm sticking things out past December.) Had to take a bus and two trains back home because the L was down for the weekend for a "police investigation" and trucked over to the 1,2&3 Cinemas to see "The Queen" with Joey. The longest line I've ever witness for a movie — in Kent terms, it was like waiting all the way back at Giant Eagle to see "Scary Movie 4" or something. Luckily, it was worth the wait, and Helen Mirren was just as fabulous as the critics made her out to be. If not more so. Makes me want to watch footage of the real one now.

The best part of the weekend: rushing out of the movie to Times Square to return to Town Hall for another concert, which came up at the last-minute: SUFJAN STEVENS!!! Morgan Phillips randomly e-mailed me on Friday to say her friend Amy had an extra ticket to see him while she was in NY, which couldn't have been more vague. Who was this Amy person and what night was the show? (He played all weekend.) Nevertheless I arranged for Amy to have the ticket waiting for me at the box office, which I arrived at just in time to make the end of Sufjan's first song. And what a surreal thing to walk into. Sufjan and his 14-piece band (folkestra?) were all decked out in forest ranger-esque uniforms with eagle wings and feather headresses, with bright purple streamers framing a video screen that played footage of Sufjan and the band throughout the set. His songs sounded downright hymnal in a live setting, and Sufjan himself is way dreamier in person. I'll admit I imagined he was singing "To Be Alone With You" to me the whole time. Absolutely fantastic. Amy and I ended up hitting it off, too, and grabbed food and raspberry cocktails at Yaffa Cafe in St. Mark's.

Just when I thought my night was over, my drunk friend Kate calls me to say she's heading to a bar in midtown, specifically rigiht next to my work on 44th and 3rd, so I find myself hopping back on the subway to meet up with lovely self at a bar I didn't even know existed called Overlook. Met her two awesome friends, including one guy who may become the topic of a freelance story. Stay tuned on that one..

Sunday: Slept in till 1 and hung around the room doing laundry and reflecting on the amazing week till finally leaving the dorm to see UCB on a whim. Made the free ticket cutoff by 8 people and saw the best UCB show yet: Amy Poehler was finally there (YESSS!!!), in addition to Seth Myers, Dan Bakkedahl from "The Daily Show" again, this cute blonde dude from "Talladega Nights" and "30 Rock" and Paul Scheer, who stole the show. He's the bald-headed, gap-toothed dude from "Best Week Ever" who always says the most ridiculous things and makes them hysterical. Tonight was no exception.

All in all, a totally surreal week full of crazy occurrences (did I mention I totally interviewed Howie Mandel on Thursday and threw off his OCD?) that confirmed why I wanted to come here in the first place and why I should definitely not leave after Christmas. Hallelujah!