The Invisible Man at the Circus

Today I planned a social networking trip to see "The Big Apple Circus" in the park behind Lincoln Center. I made the meeting time 3:45PM to give the group time to meet beforehand -- the show started at 4:30PM. This time, yes the Invisible Man did appear...again. You'll see in a few minutes what I mean.

I arrived at the meeting spot about 3:25PM. About 4:06PM, I got tired of waiting in the cold and went inside. About 10 minutes before the show started(4:20PM), I received a text message from one of the members of the group. Basically, she wrote that since they didn't see me at the meeting spot, they decided to go in. Didn't ask how I was, or my location. Later(during the first 4 or 5 minutes of the 15 minute intermission), there was still no reply, so I sent a vague email to see if I'd get a reaction. I texted about the show being great. The response I had gotten was basically, "Yep, it's great". That's it. Another 4 or 5 minutes later still no attempts to contact me. Finally, I asked where they were. The response, "Section 9 Blue Area". The blue area is the Mezzanine ring. I'm guessing there were about 40 or 50 seats in the "blue section #9". They were 7 or 8 rows behind me in the front row of the Mezzanine Area. I was in the front row Box Seats Area. After the last text, they still made no attempt to contact me, ask where I was, or to try and see if they could see me. Since the ring attendees were sweeping the dirt and straw (to the edges) as if there was no one in first rows, I got up and moved to the aisle separating the mezzanine ring from the box-seat ring. All the while scanning the "blue area" for the other two. After about 2 or 3 minutes, I see someone who looks like the RSVP profile picture laughing with the woman who also looked like her RSVP profile picture. They were making no attempt to find the guy who organized the meeting (or at the very least had the idea to go see the circus).

When I approached the two, the guy did most of the talking. He explained that they couldn't find me. I just said it wasn't a problem. However, since I received the first text about 35 minutes after the meeting time, I'm assuming they had arrived around that time. It would have been nice if they had contacted me (via call or text) to say they were running late, or that they wouldn't meet at the meeting spot. Actually, it would have been nice if they responded to any of the planning emails asking for feedback. The only response was from both of them at different times (and days) stating that they had (and would) buy their own tickets. The small talk ended with the guy suggesting we go for drinks after the show.

After the intermission, I returned to my seat to watch the second half of the show. When the show ended, I stopped to take a couple of pictures of the clown playing a trumpet in the music box as the audience began to leave. That was only about about a minute. The strange thing, when I looked to see if the other two were waiting (they were closer to the exit). I just assumed that they would have waited for me at their seats or in the lobby. Nope! I went to the bathroom area...nope. I waited 2 or 3 minutes outside the tent entrance...nope. I returned to the meeting spot (waited about 10 minutes [just to be sure]). They were gone.

So you see, the Invisible Man was at the circus.

I was a bit annoyed that I had managed the invisibility act once again. Over the years, I've managed to appear invisible in various situations. Now, I can add invisibility to an event that I planned (and had a couple of people accept my invitation). That includes the circus hand sweeping dirt and straw directly in my direction (in fairness to the circus hands, they did the "sweep to the perimeter" around the whole ring not just at me.

So, how was the show. It was nice. I was expecting the venue to be larger. I didn't need binoculars. I thought the circus was very nice. The performers (human and animal) were all very well trained. It was an enjoyable experience. It was a nice show, so I decided to end on a positive note and headed for home. I liked this circus better than one I saw many years ago in Madison Square Garden. Then, I was way up in the nose-bleed seats. This time around, I thought I might need binoculars, but I was wrong the Big Apple Circus was a nice size.

The attached photo is just one of about 178 pictures I took at the circus. I narrowed the selection down to 31 pictures I'll upload into a slideshow at another time. I'm posting this early, so that I won't have any excuses later on today to get online. Once I get online, I'll probably stay online for a few hours. I really need to make use of this vacation time so that I don't end up starting the new year repeating the mistakes of the past year(s).

Post Date - Monday, December 28, 2009 6:14AM