There's a place on Ocean Avenue...

Last night was one of the best dates I've ever had. I visited the Church of the Presidents in Long Branch, NJ, where seven U.S. Presidents attended services while vacationing in the area. It's under renovation right now, so basically I walked by and snapped a few photos and grabbed a brochure. Then I walked along the boardwalk, ate at a fabulous Greek restaurant, and saw A Midsummer Night's Dream at a local theater company. Seriously, top five best nights, and I was completely alone. It scares me how okay I am with my solitude. The play was wonderful! I love Midsummer, and I was so excited to finally see it live. This production added in modern music, including a big dance number, and abridged some of the longer speeches. Part of me was a bit bummed that my first performance wasn't a truer version of the play, but I quickly got over that after watching the actor/former Marine make his pecs dance while he played the wall in Pyramus and Thisbe. (Random thought of the night: You know how you watch reruns of Saved by the Bell and realize how much of a douche Zack Morris is? Even though you still root for him? I had that feeling when listing to Theseus mock the players.) Anyway, $24 well spent if anyone happens to be in the Red Bank area in the next few weeks.

Low-key school visits the past two days. Yesterday I only met with one kid: he was a senior at a fancy prep school, but he has no idea where he's applying yet. We chatted for 45 minutes, but at least 15 of those were spent discussing zombie invasions. I would have cut him off, but it was my last visit of the day and he was entertaining as hell. And then he asked me if our campus had any ghosts. I loved that kid. Today I had one extremely awkward group of juniors. Juniors can be frustrating because they don't know what questions to ask yet, so they just stare blankly at you and expect you to do all the work. Normally the counselor facilitates and asks questions to help spark ideas, but this one stared blankly as well. Sorry, but I'm not going to babble on for half an hour just because you want to get out of class. It's not that hard to ask about the food and the social scene.

More to follow, but since it's already 10 o'clock, it's clearly way past my bedtime. Night, all!