My best friend from college is in the original Anything Goes Revival Cast, and is in rehearsals now. He’s Korean, but plays one of the Chinese men in the cast (I know, I know, I’m going to leave it at that).

Anyway, because he needs to intermittently use Chinese phrases, he’s been asking me to teach him Chinese phrases. Thank god for audio recording technology, because I’ve been recording short files on my iPhone for certain phrases he needs, and sending it to him. Aural language is a funny thing. Chinese is so tonal that I can’t just give him written pronunciations of the words. It’s much easier to just record myself saying certain phrases and sending it to him.

Switching gears, I love this song. It was playing at the end of this Mad Men episode, which reminded me of its existence.

(it’s Ella Fitzgerald’s “Manhattan” – amazing how references to certain streets and areas in New York feel so nostalgic…)