My "Bucket List"

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New York is an incredible city with an eclectic array of sights, events and people. To visit New York as a vacation will merely just touch the surface on what the city offers. As of today, I've lived in New York for 4 months and I feel as though I haven't even scratched the surface on things to do and see here. To try and experience everything possible, I created a mental list of sights and events I had to experience. I researched, inquired and scoured materials on New York and came up with my own list of things I needed to do; my "bucket list."

Of course, the first sights I needed to see were the typical ones like Time Square, Madison Square Garden, Central Park, Wall Street, etc. These also happened to be the less expensive and more obtainable sights to visit, so I had no trouble seeing them. As I looked down the list, one event stuck out in my mind - I must go to a SNL show, and this past weekend, I did just that.







A combination of Saturday Night Live's rich history and excellent cast make tickets very difficult to get. Each August, SNL holds a raffle online where any person in the U.S. can insert their name into a lottery and if they are picked, they get an allotted amount of tickets for each show that season. Of course, this means that anyone in the U.S. could get tickets, so those New Yorkers who don't get tickets can expect a few people not to show up for each show meaning that their are stand bye tickets available.

The stand bye tickets process is extremely cruel and harsh. For some reason unbeknownst to me, SNL hands out stand bye tickets at 7 a.m. Saturday morning. To have a decent place in line, you must arrive at Rockefeller Plaza the evening before, preferably 6-7 p.m. Friday night. Then, you wait all night, enduring the outside conditions as you try to sleep on the concrete sidewalk. After 12 grueling hours, NBC gives each person a number. At this point, the number is meaningless, except for the fact that the lower the number, the better.

If you received a ticket for the "Dress Rehearsal", you come back to Rockefeller Plaza that evening and get back in line. A half hour before the rehearsal, SNL determines how many empty seats their are in the studio and if your number is low enough, then you get to go in.
With the Live Show, it works in a similar fashion. I return to the studio at 10:45 and when SNL has determined how many seats are available, then that many people are allowed in. It just so happened that 15 seats were available for the show I attended and I was #7.

Gabourey Sidibe, otherwise known as the lead character "Precious" from the Oscar Nominated film Precious, (a film based off the novel Push, by Sapphire) was the host with musical guest MGMT. She exceeded my expectations in hosting SNL and it proved to be a fantastic show.

Although I may not have visited or experienced everything NYC has to offer in my time here, I feel as though I have done a sufficient job in checking off my "bucket list".