Beer Gardens, Brazil and Broadway

It has been a fun weekend! It all started on Thursday when we joined up with an old friend of mine from high school, Lauren Chapman, who has lived in Queens for a few years now. We met up at her apartment in Astoria and then all went to the Bohemian Beer Garden (http://www.bohemianhall.com/). It's a fun out-doorsy place with live music, polka dancing, and, I'm sure somewhere, leiderhosen. Pictures 1, 2, and 3 below are from the Beer Garden where we got to hang out with Lauren's friends, Nick, Bobby and Jen (pic 3). Ryan also attempted to order a basket of fries, but oddly enough came back to the table with a large sausage. Not sure what was lost in translation, but we enjoyed it none the less (pic 2).
Then, tonight we decided to hit Manhattan for a theater night. I called up a friend, John, who gave us the inside scoop for getting theater tickets at good rates. He directed us to several shows, and we ended up getting student rush tickets for $25 to Spelling Bee. So, since it was 6 and the show wasn't until 8pm, we headed down 8th Ave. and ended up a Brazilian BBQ. It was fabulous, but I'm sure PETA will find me soon. I ate my body weight in meat. What they do is bring you 10 different types of meats one after another, along with the most amazing black beans I've ever had, and some mediocre fries. But, we ate everything from pork and beef ribs, skirt steak, tenderloin, chicken legs, etc... and they're all done over open flame on a huge skewer. Let's just say me and Ryan rolled out of there (pics 4 and 5). Then it was time to get to the theater.
We showed up early and while we were waiting for the doors to open we were approached by a guy working there who asked if we wanted to enter the Bee. Intrigued by the concept, we did. Then he handed us our report card and sent us to a different table where a woman interviewed us. After that she said to meet in the lobby at 7:50pm where we would find out if we were going to be in the show. We showed up at 7:50, and what do you know, they picked me along with three other people! So, I got called up to the stage and took queues from the actors until it was my turn to spell a word.(pic 6) They gave me the word "pukapoo", but of course I spelled it with a c instead of a k. They gave me a hug and a juice box and then sent me on my way. What a blast! We got pics with some of the cast members after the show.(pic 7 and 8)