I got bitten by a venomous spider, and all I got was this tetanus shot.

When I was 13, I saw the national tour of the musical "Les Miserables" in Philadelphia and fell so completely in love with the score that I got the original cast recordings and listened to them over and over again. Eventually, I would switch my allegiance to "Phantom of the Opera," but really- nothing would have made me happier than having a chandelier crash into the middle of the French revolution.

My mom tolerated the non-stop musical assault coming from my room, telling me she did the same thing with the first musical she ever saw: "Promises, Promises," on her senior class trip to New York City in 1969. The story of the class trip was always accompanied by anecdotes about her classmates throwing water balloons off the balcony onto pedestrians below and drinking Robitussin to get drunk. Just sayin.'

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine- also named Angela- emailed me about visiting New York and listed all the shows she potentially wanted to see. "Promises, Promises" was on the list. I jumped at the chance and asked if maybe I could bring my mom along? Long story short, plans were re-arranged and tickets re-counted and counted again. My mom wasn't feeling well the last few days and still wanted to come but wasn't feeling up to the drive. So my dad came to and took the remaining ticket and even though we couldn't sit together, we all got to see the show at teh same time.

And it was GREAT. I've never seen Kristin Chenowith perform live before, so that was awesome. Sean Hayes (Jack from Will and Grace) was so funny, but the coolest thing was the give and take of energy between the audience and the cast. The script- or perhaps just Hayes handling of the material- breaks the fourth wall a lot through audience asides. His schtick was a little... well, more than reminiscent of Jack from Will and Grace... but it worked. The more we laughed, the funnier they were. Katie Finneran shines in a supporting role in Act II as Marge MacDougall, and somehow this blog entry started sounding a lot like theater review.

Bottom line: show = good.

Anyway, I haven't even gotten around to the title topic, have I? Yeah, I got bitten by a venomous spider and had to go the emergency room on Thursday. I woke up with a welt on my right arm that eventually swelled to the size of a softball. It was hot to the touch and excruciatingly painful. Any bug bite with its own pulsing alternative energy resource is alarming to say the least. A course of anitbiotics, a tetanus shot, and some Benadryl seem to have done the trick, though my right arm still smarts where I had the shot. I'm still waiting to wake up with rippling muscles, web-slinging capabilities and extra-sensory perception- Peter Parker style. Nothing yet, but I'll keep you posted.