I love San Antonio

There are many places I have lived and liked. Saudi Arabia, Louisiana, Nederland Texas, Delaware, New York City. There are many more places that I have visited and enjoyed. London, Prague, Italy, Seattle, Colorado, New Mexico, Memphis, Paris are just a few.

However the only one that feels like "home" is San Antonio.

I love it. I love breakfast tacos and the warm air. The wonderful old oak trees and the beautiful homes. Southtown and downtown and Hemisfair Park. The colors of Mexican folk art and the sound of Spanish. I love it.

Going back to places you have once lived is always awkward. And returning to SA this December was a little weird. But my friends are amazing. And the city welcomed us with open loving arms. We ate breakfast tacos and mexican food, visited The Magik Theatre and KRTU 91.7, walked the riverwalk, drove up to Austin to see Lani and Becky and helped Davey celebrate his new apartment. (Only 5 months after he moved in!)

We also went to Kerrville for a wedding, and I went down to Corpus for Christmas. Houston and Kerrville and Corpus are nice. But I have a special place for SA.

Go SPURS Go!

Keep San Antonio Lame!

Remember the Alamo!

Onward and Upward.

TheatreworksUSA

I got a job.

I now work for TheatreworksUSA and in the spring I will be out of NYC 60% of the time on tour with Max and Ruby. We will perform the show up to 12 times a week in school auditoriums, cafatoium/ gymnasiums and "real" theatres. Sometimes we will be under a "sponsor" which means a venue has brought us in to perform and sometimes we will be a "field trip venue" which means that Theatreworks or another larger organization has bought space in a theatre and we are performing for audiences to whom TW or the Larger Organization has sold tickets.

I will most often be sleeping in hotels throughout the country and we will travel in one cargo and one passenger sprinter vans. The company reserves 4 rooms. 3 doubles and one single. The single is for me. I have 4 girls and 2 boys on my show. Every night that we are staying in a hotel we will be paid a per diem which will cover the cost of the room. Once a week we get a day off from traveling/ performing. During that day we can re-pack, clean, repair, rest, go to the mall, see a movie or get the vans serviced. It isn't the same day each week so sometimes we will go 13 days between days off.

For this work I will be paid (fairly well especially considering how much I have been making) and I will get overtime AND my equity card. I will also get to travel the country and get to know 6 hopefully cool people.

I'm looking forward to it. TheatreworksUSA

Onward and Upward

Rockefeller Christmas

Friday night we went to a Ben Allison concert in Queens (for more on that check out one of Ryan's blogs) and on the way back uptown decided to stop by the Rockefeller Center to see what all the fuss is about.

They really fancy that part of town up for Christmas. I suppose that it is famous and it is a major tourist center but the amount of people within a 4 block radius was staggering. First we went to see the tree (of course) and then we made our way over to look over the ice rink. It's much smaller than I had expected. The ice is also pretty far below street level so it is a little like looking into the seal pit at Seaworld.

Right as we arrived someone was proposing in the middle of the ice. Somehow everyone else had cleared the ice and this couple was in the middle. She thankfully said yes and then they took a very awkward turn around the rink before the Zamboni came to clean up. I wondered how he got everyone off the ice without her noticing. Then I wondered how much 15 minutes of time at the Rockefeller ice rink costs. Probably a lot.

We took a turn up through the angels and watched the light show on the building at the top of the walk before walking over toward Radio City Music hall to look at the huge balls. I mean, huge Christmas ornaments. I tried to count the number of Santa's and quickly gave up. How do you think parents explain all those Santas to their kids?

Another NYC tradition off the list. Check.

Onward and Upward.

Vermont Speaks

Stealing from Shannon's blog ideas here is a look at a few notable signs we saw in Montpelier, VT.


And my personal favorite....

Apparently even Vermonter's dogs are independent.

Onward and Upward

Vermont

This weekend we went to Vermont to visit Ryan's cousin and her husband, Amy and Pete. Pete's mom and dad were there for a little while and his brother Paul stayed with us the whole weekend. Amy is a "homesteader woman" so the most of the bread we ate and all of the jams and jellies were homemade. The rest of the food was from their co-op. Pete works for Magic Hat brewery so all kinds of beer were readily available. They also had wine that his father had made and grapa that a friend of theirs had made.

We had a weekend of amazing food, lots of talks and cold temperatures. Their house is heated by a stove that burns about one bag of wood pellets a day. The bedrooms actually have holes cut in the floor so that the heat will come up to the second floor. On the cold nights that made it bearable but not particularly toasty. They live in Montpelier, VT which is a very small artsy town. You would never think of it as the capital. Burlington and Stowe are pretty nearby and they are both much bigger than Montpelier.

We had some snow on our last night in VT. The five of us walked down to the Mexican food restaurant for $2.50 margaritas which were actually not bad. The city looked beautiful all covered in powdery whiteness.

All in all not a bad way to spend a weekend. When we got back to NYC it actually felt warm! Also on the way back we saw the actor that plays Christopher on Gilmore Girls so that was super exciting! (at least for me) Above I have posted some pictures.

Onward and Upward.

New York University

Today we went to New York University area to get a book from the library. After riding the subway down to West 4th Street, we wandered around the area looking at the different kinds of stores and signs. That area of NYC is very beautiful and a little funky. It's been pretty cold here so all of the students and tourists were very bundled up. Even people's dogs were wearing down jackets.

Yesterday I ran into a friend of mine from Texas on 34th street. I was shopping for hats and walking down the street looking at everyone's hats. She was wearing a really cute pink one with ears. I noticed the hat and then noticed that I knew the girl underneath. She just got back from Africa and has a job as an elf at Macy's for the Christmas Season. She has been reading David Sedaris' Santaland book as pre-job prep. I'm very excited to go visit her at Santaland.

Onward and Upward.

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs

Jobs.

Sometimes I have one.

Sometimes I want one.

Right now I'm in the second category.

I arrived in NYC and was very worried I would not find work. Four days later I had a job with NYMF which led to a job with Lark Playwrighting and with Racoco Dance. Then I interviewed and received jobs with Ardea Arts and with NYTE. Then Sunday came and I was suddenly unemployed again.

I have applications out. I've applied to Columbia to be an SM, and I had an interview with Cirque on Tuesday. I have an interview on Friday with TheatreworksUSA as an SM. I also can call my temp agency or get fingerprinted by the NYDOE for subbing work or call the temp agency and start temping. I also have an entire word document of jobs I've found in the past week and want to apply for.

So hope is not lost.

Job searching is exhausting.

Maybe I just need some chocolate.

onward and upward, i hope.

Politics in NYC

Election Night. A night in which part of the US population is thrilled and hopeful, part of the US population is depressed and angry and part of the US population is not even paying attention.

In NYC it looked like only one part of the population is living here.

This was the most energetic election night I remember in a long time. I remember the Bush election when I went to sleep before the results were all back just because I was hoping for a miracle. I remember the last election when I knew beforehand that it was a lost cause and the group of us spent the evening flipping back and forth between channels on the TV and drinking heavily. Both elections were spent either in my own apartment or the apartment of a close friend with a private group of individuals.

This year we went another way. We went out to dinner and then to Times Square.

Times Square was amazing. There were people all over the street and covering the sidewalks. All of the huge screens were broadcasting election coverage and CNN was handing out free coffee and hot chocolate and popcorn. Obama shirts and stickers and banners were everywhere. I heard a ton of different languages, tourists were everywhere. It is impossible to describe.

I know I will get in trouble for the following comment but; I don't believe that Obama is the savior of the USA. I'm actually afraid that because it is unrealistic to believe that he can fix the problems we are currently facing, he will be remembered as a failure instead of the leader I think he could be. I think that there are some big problems. I feel that perhaps the current leader didn't always choose the correct path in his decisions. However, I don't trust that all of the issues can be solved by one administration, or frankly any administration.

However the love and excitement permeating the crowd on Election Night was exciting and refreshing.

Up by our apartment the party went on outside until 3:30am. The kids from the university came down the hill to Harlem and the kids from Harlem came up the street. People were hanging out of cabs screaming, people who have never met before acted like fast friends, posters and buttons and stickers were everywhere. The excitement was palpable.

No matter what the outcome.

Onward and Upward

Ice Skating at Bryant Park

One day Ryan and I went down to the Public Library (the one with the lions) to check out a book he needed for a class. While we were there, we wandered around the Grand Central area and stumbled upon a really cheap DVD resale store, some awesome street dancers, and an ice skating rink right in the middle of Bryant Park.

If you watch Project Runway then you know that this is where Fashion Week is held. If you watched the Election on national TV this is where NBC did their broadcasting from and where the ice skaters ran out and colored in the states after the votes were in.

This is also where, before Halloween was even over, the city of New York set up a free ice skating rink paid for by Citibank.

We haven't gone yet but we watched a few people skate.

Onward and Upward.

Is Ivy League Really Better?

I am proud of where I attended college. When I applied to Trinity University you had to have extra-curricular's, you had to have good grades and you had to have an SAT score of about 1270. I thought that meant you were pretty smart. Having attending a private high school in Wilmington, DE most of my classmates went on to Brown, Smith or Bucknell and I figured that since I was one of the smarter kids at my school, my choosing to go to Trinity meant that it was just as good as any of the East Coast names.

After college I traveled to Australia to visit my High School best friend. All of her roommates attended big name East Coast schools, she herself was enrolled at Smith. The entire time I was there they made me feel as if I had gone to a lower class school just because it didn't have a big name and hundreds of years of history. They insinuated that my choice of college meant that I wasn't as smart as they were and that I wouldn't have as many opportunities as they would have. The trip was fun but the visiting side was disaster- I left feeling like less of a person- all because of the so- called caliber of my school.

I later went on to get a Masters degree from Trinity and although my old best friend went to law school at Syracuse, I know enough TU students who have gone on to graduate programs at same level or higher level schools to realize that perhaps your undergrad is more what you make it than the public opinion makes of it.

However this feeling of levels of education still persists. Ryan is attending Columbia University for his Masters degree. Does that mean he is smarter than me or just that he chose a different kind of program? Since it is an Ivy League school does that mean that the student body as a whole is smarter or better than the student body at Trinity or just different, or just from a different location? I would assume that the population of both schools would be heavily swayed toward their respective general geographic location. I wander through campus listening to conversations and wonder if I should be feeling inferior to the students I am passing or if we just both found schools that fit ourselves, our financial situation and our emotional situation at the time of application.

Then I stumble across comments like this one written in the elevator of our graduate level housing building.

And I feel brilliant.

Seriously? You are getting a Masters Degree or Phd from Columbia and you misspelled a word on a fourth grade spelling test?

Nice. You teacher should beladedly give you an F on that one.

Onward and Upward.

Fairway

Today I was released from rehearsal at 1pm and managed to escape from my other rehearsal which left me with the entire afternoon/ evening off.

So what exciting adventure did I embark on? What titillating experience did I choose to fill my scarce free time hours?

Fairways Grocery Store.

Fairways is a large grocery store about 10 blocks or so north of my apartment right on the water. It is popular and notable due to its low prices, reasonable delivery fees, large free parking lot and the fact that it is a crazy crazy place.

For real- a crazy grocery store. Google it and read the reviews. Go ahead. I'll wait.

This grocery store doesn't really do sections, apparently it prefers not to be tied down by sorting or sectioning foods in any noticeable way. At Fairway cleaning products should and do go next to the frozen pizzas, and cereal should be segmented throughout the store not just placed in one aisle. At Fairway they see no reason why chips, dips and most of the fruit should not be placed outside in the foyer even though once you walk into the store to get a basket you cannot then go back out to pick up any of these products. And craziness incarnate- they have refrigerated half the store and placed all the cold products; meat, cheese, milk, beer inside this area. They even offer jackets to wear when entering... The Cold Zone.

But it is bright and warm and the staff are pretty friendly and the view while waiting for the checkouts is amazing.

Ryan and I just might like crazy. I mean, we are pretty wild and crazy ourselves.

Onward and Upward.

Hodgepodge

So I have had several random thoughts running through my head this week but none of them are really substantial enough for a full blog so hopefully once I put them all together it will create some sort of blog like substance.

First Thought- New York City is an excellent diet plan. Both Ryan and I have lost most of our extra Mexican food weight. All my pants including my new jeans are too big for me but I figure once I start needing to put on those wonderful long underware contraptions I will need the extra space. I suppose all the walking and the not eating out and the no snacking and the living economically is really paying off.

Second Thought- The Daily Show is even cooler in person. He is very intelligent and that comes across even more in person. Watching them put the show together was really interesting. We were seated right behind the writers who watch the show and it was cool to see how everything works. Besides the waiting in line for HOURS just to get in- I highly recommend it. We are now trying for Colbert tickets but think we may have to wait until after the holidays and election to get in. We went Wednesday night if you want to watch, full length episodes are on the website.

Third Thought- New York is supposed to be a fashion capital. Oftentimes I see very stylishly dressed people walking down the street or sitting in cafes. However there are some fashions that are popular here that I do not understand. New Yorkers wear black and brown together all the time. I am personally against this. I will match my belt and shoes and clothing to either be in the black color family or brown color family but I can't do both. Same vein- Tights are not pants. I know leggings are in, but some girls seem to think that regular tights or hose work in the same way that pants do. I see tons of girls walking around looking like they forgot their mini-skirt. Today I saw a girl wearing tan hose with grey splotches on them and a regular length top. From far away she looked like she had on no pants and had big bruises on her legs. Every guy she walked by stopped and stared and so did most of the women. I can't believe that she paid money for that outfit. (I don't have any pictures of this because it would be rude.)

Fourth Thought- I got a haircut! His name is Tres Jordan and he is really good at his work. He made time for me to come in to his Chelsea Studio at the last minute which was great but I will have to wait for the color because he didn't have time. Not only did I get a great haircut for a good "by NYC standards" price but I also got to see the police take someone down AND I found a Boston Market. All in all a great day.

Time to think about catching the A Train to 42nd street for rehearsal. Woohoo- Friday night!

Onward and Upward.

Employment

I realized that I hadn't updated the blog with my current job.  Not only am I working for NYTE with the Capture the Flag Festival but I am also the PSM for a concert style reading of Animal Tales with the Family Opera Initiative or Adrea Arts.  This is a family friendly 2 act musical/ opera about a collection of animals who are unsatisfied with their lot in life and go complain to their vet.  He suggests a cure (usually travel or a new experience) and they come back in the second act contented with themselves.  For those of you who experienced The Bug Opera with me last fall, it seems that animals that learn to be happy with themselves is a big theme in children's opera. 

So this week I sit around all day and then go work for Capture the Flag at nights. (Every night because they still haven't gotten another SM) But next week I work from 10 to 6 on Animal Tales and then from 6 to 10 on Capture the Flag.  I'm not really sure how that will work.  Ahh.  Adventure.

I'm still putting out resumes for all sorts of jobs.  The problem with meeting people through Sming is that then that is all they see you as.  I feel very able to be many other things but once someone meets you as an SM it's hard to break out of that mold.  Apparently good SMs are actually in short supply here and directors and producers would rather keep you as an SM than consider you for another (better paying more full time) position. 

Well- gotta keep at it.

Upward and Onward.

Happy Second Birthday To Me!

7 years ago today I was involved in a life changing car accident. Not only was my physical being changed but after some ups and downs and the consequences following not only my accident but several other personal issues, my mental and emotional being changed as well.

This blog is just to say thank you to all the people who supported and support me, who loved me and love me, to those friends/ family that were there for the whole hospital/ horrid year situation and to those friends who have become my lifeline since that time.

I always try to take some time on this anniversary to think about how precious life really is, how lucky I am to still be living in it and how my words and actions affect the lives and emotional well-being of others.

My love and support to you all.

Onward and Upward.

Job 3.0

My newest job starts today.

I will be the SM (under a Production SM) for the Capture the Flag Festival with New York Theatre Experiment.

I like this company for several reasons. First- the members are all about my age and finding the funding and inspiration to put together several pieces a year in NYC. That is pretty cool. Second- they have interesting ideas. The show I will be working on is actually a bunch of short pieces based around or inspired by iconic American photography. Instead of using the original piece they decided to recreate each photo using friends and family as the subjects. They get pretty close to the real photos. And Third- They spell theatre with an re. Which means the act of theatre not the building- not all theatre groups know that.

Anyway. I will be assisting the rehearsal process for the next few weeks. And on November 6th it will open and run through until the 16th. Different pieces will run on different nights so people don't have to sit for 4 hours. I mean this isn't "Dances with Wolves" or the Ring Cycle for Pete's sake! (Because seriously can you see Pete sitting and watching something for 4 hours?)

Onward and Upward.

(Edits in red- thank you Shannon!)

A Shout Out to My Tech Boys

I just want to say "thank god" for my tech boys. Not only do I miss them terribly, but the amount of useful information gained over the past few years from the amazing men at Magik is extraordinarily helpful. Among the offers of skinny dipping and the useful information that I in fact do not want to get into any cages, they also taught me the ins and outs and tricks of sound equipment, lighting board and how to jerry-rig sets, costumes, and props.

Today I needed that information.

Badly.

The dance company that I am currently working for does not regularly produce performances. Because of that they do not have a tech crew that they are used to dealing with. Therefore they contract lighting designers, master electricians, spot ops, prop masters, costume designer and stage management. They also fit the artist, not technician mold and are not particularly helpful in terms of disaster relief. Very friendly, excellent performers, willing to assist but lacking much technical knowledge.

I came into the theatre today for our 3pm show. One of the speakers wasn't working, and I fixed that. The masking USR isn't covering the entrance, and I fixed that. The floor isn't really safe for bare feet, but I can fix that. One of the set pieces tends to lean to the left, but I can fix that. My spot op/ master electrician was late, but I can turn on backstage lights, change gels and power up the boards and dimmer packs. I even ran through a few cues just to check them. I noticed a few were looking awkward but I figured my Master Electrician could fix that.

At 2:00 my ME was still missing

Same again at 2:10.

So I called.

He thought the show was at 8pm and therefore wasn't coming in until 7. He can't make earlier because he has his daughter.

Oh shit.

I can run the sound board and the lights at the same time- at Magik that is pretty standard. I can't run the sound board and the light board and the spot - which is about 5 feet away from the boards. I call my NYC theatre people- all are busy. I pull my prop master to run spot.

Ok.

Then I run the dimmer check and notice that out of 36 lights only 10 of mine are working. All the side lights work. The curtain wash works. The spot works. However none of the FOH lights are working, none of my stage lights are working, and none of my rail lights are working.

I focus on all of the problem solving I have seen my boys run over the years and I run down the list. Board? Nope. Connection to Dimmer? Nope. Connections? Nope. Fuse blown? No. Lightbulbs out? NO. Dimmer power? NO. Electricity? Not a problem as far as I can tell.

I start calling.

I call the ME- he runs down a few solutions- none are the problem

Building Operator comes down and looks- no solution.

Call the LD- no answer

Call the ALD #1- no answer

ALD #2- no answer

Temporary ME from last night- no answer

Dave M, Dylan- no answer

Max- answer

THANK GOD.

We run through all of his suggestions and nothing.

At this point the show is 7 minutes late. So we start and I run the entire show off subs with 10 lights. No house lighting, except the fluorescents which take 5 minutes to turn on. And a follow spot operator that hasn't actually seen the show yet.

It was dim, and it wasn't perfect... but it went up.

Without the knowledge learned from my favorite boys I would have been screwed.

Thank you-

Tony *
Dave *
Dylan *
Chris *
Tim
Cam
Billy and Brian P
Max
Rick M
Ricky

side note (apparently the dimmers had been turned off from the back- but only the first 8 which is why when I turned them on from the front all of them worked except the first 8)

The Apartment

Below is a video I took of our apartment a couple days ago. I think we did an ok job making it look homey. After getting rid of most of our things in Texas, (David is a lucky lucky man) we still weren't sure it would all fit but, thank Thor for Ikea. We also tried to "divide" the studio up into a one bedroom with the large bookshelf. That actually ended up working out better than we had hoped. It doesn't block noise or really much light but you feel more private. We are still working on the school and stage management clutter but all in all- not bad. We don't step on each other too much although I am a little concerned about this winter when we are stuck inside.



We will see how much we really like each other.

Onward and Upward.

Beer, Ballet and Brooklyn

This past Saturday we had a Brooklyn adventure. I had an interview with the Racoco Dance Company in Brooklyn and since I was going over to her "neck of the woods" I decided to call a friend who just moved to Brooklyn and see if she wanted to spend the day. Using google maps Ryan and I went for a "walk" from the train stop to the meeting location so I knew where I was going and just to see what the area was like. Then we wandered around the location to see what else was there and realized that my interview was across the street from the Brooklyn Brewery. Score!

After my interview we met up with Katie at the corner of 7th and Bedford in Brooklyn. Some pizza slices and a quick trip to the salvation army later, we walked through the rainy mist to the Brewery. It was pretty full. For $20 you can get 6 beer pogs which you then turn in for beer. They had around 9 beers on the list and I think we tried 5 of them. I had the Dark Ale and the IPA which were both good. I have to say that after drinking 2 beers I was a little more tipsy than I should have been. Thankfully in NYC you don't have to drive home. Also there was a cool resale shop across the street.

The three of us walked over to the resale shop and went in. They had all their clothing arranged by color. It was pretty packed with young hip brooklynites. Ryan found a cordoroy jacket and Katie found some pink plaid wellingtons.

Our next adventure was riding the train down to Katie's house and then up to our apartment. I think we rode on almost every letter known to man. We rode the Q, R, N, L, B, D, 1, 2 and M? I think that day. Up by our apartment we grabbed some cheap chinese and then got our stuff together for my first big NYC party.

A friend of ours teaches dance and through a friend of his we got invited to a blues party in an apartment on the 23rd floor of the Virgin Records building. The apartment owner had a nice apartment but what was really cool was his huge private balcony overlooking the 14th street area. It didn't actually face Union Square but the view was amazing. The party was fun and we left right before the building manager came up and asked them to be quiet.

All in all a pretty fun day.

Onward and Upward.

Thinking- Warning this Blog Not Like the Others

Its hard to breathe here. I feel stifled by the tall buildings, smoke, smells and the breath of other people. There is no place to really be alone, no place to think without noises and thoughts and desires of others intruding. No free spaces. No clean clear winds. No tall places to look down on uninterrupted nature. No low places where the only noises are the water and the wind. I feel a longing for space. For nature not covered in dark grime and starbucks cups.

I suppose I could have chosen differently.

I have work but it is sporatic. I work long hours in dark places surrounded by the noise of someone else's words, the sound of an audience I never see. I work one hour here and another hour there at a playwriting facility- worrying about the number of pencils I have lost or how many times the script should be printed, the script that will be re-written and printed again the next day- or perhaps even an hour later. I work a few nights for a dance company watching them move as if silent film stars with an orchestra of noise instead of just an upright piano to accompany them. Stretching their thin bodies to the limit- watching every morsel of food that enters it, smoking like fire breathing dragons- hungry. Always a new place, always the latest job, new faces, familiar strangers- stressing myself out for enough money to watch the numbers of my bank account count down slowly instead of pouring it out onto the street.

I have friends here. Old characters from my Trinity days. People I really liked or people I just knew are mixed up here. Everyone is dear- when you have only a few to chose from all friends are your closest. A few new project friends. Coffee, beer, lunch, secrets, mundane tasks until the project is finished and they fade to black. Faceless numbers in the cell phone. Deleted when you can no longer scrounge up their face or the name of the project.

I've only been here a month.

Its not all a mish mash of noise and stress. When the light is streaming down the sides of beautiful old buildings, when you can smell authentic ethnic food and hear real languages being spoken, when you see unlikely comrade-ships form and unform in the space of a walk or a train ride. People live their lives on the sidewalks, the subway, in crowded shops and stores and parks and sometimes that is gross and rude and unsavory but sometimes those moments are beautiful and special and...

Onward and Upward

Job 2.1

Yesterday Castronauts closed.

Yesterday the Lark Playwriting Week ended.

That means in theory I was back on the unemployment list. Until Kelly (Castronauts SM and Santa Clause of SM jobs) swooped in again to pass me work she can't fit in her schedule. My new job is working for the Racoco Dance Company as the SM for their performance this weekend. It seems to be a very interesting piece perhaps on childhood? games? game theory? Not really sure yet- but the pay is decent and the show and run are short.

wheew.

Onward and Upward

http://www.racoco.org/

Subways- notes and notices

Before leaving San Antonio I sold my beautiful wonderful Jetta. The Jetta was the car I chose to purchase after my poor Chevy Cavalier was destroyed in the accident. It took me hours in the hospital and on my grandma's couch to choose the Jetta. Selling it was sad-

In New York most people don't have cars. Instead we rely on the subway or the "train" as it is called. We live between 2 different sub stops. One only a few blocks away in an area that I feel comfortable in during the day but try to avoid at night and another station that is further away but right next to the university. These stations are only a few blocks away from each other but they are remarkably different.

The one near Columbia is kept very clean. They power wash it almost every night, including the stairs. There is a nice pattern on the walls in tile and all the turnstiles work. You very rarely see police officers inside the station but once you walk up the stairs there are always a few Columbia officers standing around.

The one in Harlem is not kept very clean. The walls are dirty and without embellishment. Some of the turnstiles don't work and there is always trash on the floor and spilled drinks laying around. Every morning there are police officers all over the station conducting random bag checks. It often smells like spoiled food or pee.

Just a side note- I've never been asked to stop and have my bag checked.

The largest difference between these stations are the patrons. At the Columbia station most of the people on the train are young, fashionably dressed in Ann Taylor and Hugo Boss and white or asian. At the Harlem station most of the people on the train are older, dressed for physical work and black or latino. The difference in maintenance could perhaps be explained if the city area around the subway pays for the maintenance. However, if the main city offices pay for the maintenance for all of the subway stations then I am afraid that there is racism/ class-ism/ money-ism going on.

The rest of the subway lines I frequent are in a similar position. I have noticed (since working in theatre gives you the opportunity to witness late night activities at the usually busy infrastructure locations) that "tourist areas" like 42nd street or grand central get scrubbed/ power washed/ bleached almost every night. Stations that are located on the edges of the main city areas tend to get washed once a week or so but stations that are located where the tourists don't usually go or are not on the famous "yuppie station list" tend to miss out on the scrubbing the washing and the bleaching.

That seems unfair to me.

Onward and Upward

Job Number Two

Today I started Freelance Job Number 2.  Or Job2.0 as I will call it.  Well Job2.0 is with Lark Playwriting Week.  This is a reading in which focus is given to the writer and the development of the play rather than production values.  Each play will meet for 9 hours over the course of the next week and at the end there will be a free reading of this new work.  The actors are all very talented and somewhat well known- as in I have been in 3 Law and Order Episodes and 18 off Broadway plays and on CSI: Las Vegas once and I teach at....

My job is to open up the room, put up signs, set up tables and chairs, make copies of scripts, start and end rehearsal and call breaks according to Actors Equity.  Then after 3 hours I clean up and walk over to the main office to let them know how everything went and then I go home.  It doesn't pay amazing but I get to know 3 directors and 3 new playwrights.  So far the shows are really good.

Job3.0 is already in the works but I am still looking for a Job 2.1 because I have several weeks of nothing before the next job begins.

Onward and Upward.

Saturday Mini- Vaca

Ryan and I are trying to take advantage of our new location by spending the weekends out and about in NYC.  A few weekends ago we went to Ellis Island and this past Saturday we spend the day in Midtown.  We started with Times Square.  Times Square is a really easy subway location from our apartment and I needed to return a prop I had purchased for the show.  I took Ryan into Toys R Us which sports a full sized Ferris Wheel, a huge Barbie Mansion and Star Wars extravaganza.  It was pretty fun.

 

After taking a few tourist photos in the actual Time Square- which because of the light and the height of the buildings always looks like it is around 6:30 pm- and then wandered down in the direction of 34th street where we entered the massive Macys.  Now I am sure that Macys is usually crowded.  However I don't think I will ever go there on a Saturday again.  And at Christmas- you won't find me within 10 blocks of the crazyness. 

We continued our meandering down until we found a Mexican restaurant on 16th and 8th Ave.  We wandered cautiously in.  We sniffed and then tasted the salsa. It was good. They had items on the menu that we recognized. Always a plus. They seemed to use the same language as the menus we  have experienced before. Ahh Spanish. I got a margarita- tasted limy and tequila-y.  Thank god.  I contemplated asking our waiter if he knew where I could get breakfast tacos.  But decided that was way too racist. 

Then we walked over on 14th street to Union Square and then to Trader Joes.  Trader Joes is a large cheap grocery store.  They sell more "natural" food and cheaper prices.  For example, up by Columbia salad is around 4 dollars a package.  At TJ's it is 2 dollars a package and isn't already wilted.  Morning Star Farms prepared food is almost 5 dollars a BOX up here but closer to 2.50 at TJ's.  We were not really prepared to shop (also we had just been to Target) but we will be going back there soon with bags.

 

After TJ's we took the subway up to Grand Central Station which I had never seen.  It looks just like the movies.  It also has an awesome food court and clean bathrooms- always good to note as per Weberonthelamb circa June 2008.

Fun was had by all.  Next is Chinatown!

Onward and Upward.

NYC Theatre Participant

After a tech, cue to cue, dress rehearsal, opening night and a load out all in one day I am finally an actual participant of NYC theatre.

And exhausted.

onward and upward.

Let's attempt to upload video!

Ok so I am typing from my new computer using Windows Live Writer to write on my weblog AND I am going to attempt to upload video. With that many variables, I make no promises. So here it goes.

The first video is my view from Ryan's Acura as we drove the 8 hours to OKC. This video is roughly 30 seconds long but if you loop it for about 8 hours you will know what my trip was like.

The second video was taken just as we were crossing the George Washington Bridge into NYC.

Let's see how it goes!

Onward and Upward.

Our First Adventure as "Tourists"

A couple years ago I met Ryan in NYC when he was visiting his brother and the only 2 things I asked to do was to go to Ellis Island and to see a show. Well, we did get to go to previews for "The Drowsy Chaperone" but when we went to Battery Park to see about the boat to the island it was packed full. So I didn't get to go.

Well this past Saturday we went to The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. We reserved tickets online so we wouldn't have to wait. I don't really feel like the Statue of Liberty is that awe inspiring. After spending the summer looking at ancient massive structures it really didn't seem that big. I don't fall for the liberty/ freedom aspect of her either, mostly because I don't think that she is doing such a great job watching over those qualities at the moment. I do respect that she stood as an important symbol for many immigrants, even though the tour almost made it sound like her status was inflated due to the amount of sickness and the quality of life on the boats. Knowing your journey in a small cabin with 36 other people was almost over could raise almost anyone to god-like status. She is big, she is green and it's a nice island.

Ellis Island was much more interesting to me. My family didn't come through that way but I still have almost a reverence for the amazing amout organizational magnificance that had to happen to "process" almost 2,000 people on any given day. And there is a feeling there- almost as if the spirits of the immigrants is still in the building- their hopes and dreams for the future, their excitement at getting to see long lost family members, the love they had for each other. That part was very exciting for me. That is probably why were were there for 4 hours.

Some tips for those of you who may be making the journey in the future- Eat at Liberty Island the food looks better than at Ellis. If you are going to eat at Ellis the cheese pizza is enough for two people. Also make sure to consider that you are standing on garbage. Almost the entire island is made from landfill. Oh and watch out for seagulls.

After landing on the mainland we called my old college friend to see if she was free to hang out. We met her up at midtown and had Margaritas. FOR REAL. They weren't amazing but they were pretty ok. AND they were 3 dollars.

After margaritas we had another friend call and invite the three of us to dinner. He said the apartment was in Soho but after wandering through Soho (which means south of houston street) for about an hour or so the directions were clarified and we took the J Train (no one rides the J train) over to the Lower East Side. The neighborhood wasn't the best. Everything looked shuttered and there was lots of graffiti. After dinner, and a group viewing of "Flight of the Conchords" that featured the street we were on, Ryan and I decided to head for home. Upon walking outside we realized that apparently we were in the hippest, most club-happy neighborhood ever. All around us were gay men in pastel polos and tight pants and women in short little dresses with winter boots. These two fashion trends seem to be very popular right now in NYC. The men look great but the women look like they are very confused as to the state of the weather. We took our lame underdressed selves to the train and almost an hour and a half later we were home.

On the way home we were accosted by an older black man who asked us for money and then gave us an important bit of information. Apparently Ryan needs to walk on the outside - because I ain't for sale.

Onward and Upward.

OINY (only in New York)

Several items I have noted in the past few days that we can call OINY.

1. Skateboarder pushing pink baby carriage with baby girl inside while also skating down Broadway on his skateboard.
2. Man in an Armani business suit with a four inch mohawk.
3. I stumbled into a prayer meeting off the side of the street on Broadway today. 8 people praying and discussing Bible verses.

I was also accosted today entering the subway by a man asking me to buy candy as a fund raiser for his school (he was at least 25) He followed me down the stairs and grabbed my butt. That was super fun.

On another note- shopping for the show today I had to go to Toys R Us at Times Square. First of all this store is huge with different sections for different brands; like Barbie world and Legoland. Secondly there are about a billion tourists down there, just crossing the street I must have starred in 25 tourist videos and pictures. Watch for me on you-tube.

Onward and Upward

My New Computer

So I ordered a new laptop. It is a Dell Studio and it will be purple. Very exciting. The computer guru at my dad's office actually ordered it and got an amazing deal. It arrived at his house and then was fixed up and went to my parents house. My mom mailed it out last week and I have been waiting "patiently" for it to come. According to UPS it was supposed to come today. Ryan and I were both off today so we waited. I waited until 3ish and then I went out to shop while Ryan waited. He went to class at 4 and I got home at 5. Apparently that one hour is when the UPS guy decided to stop by. It also happens to be the hour our super gets off work- so no one was here to sign for it. I have to wait another day and honestly I work tomorrow so who knows if I will be here to sign for it. pouting

Also, very exciting, we went to the Columbia Gym today. It is crowded and very hard to figure out but at least we attempted. We did go during "rush hour" right after dinner time so it was also crazy packed.

off to dinner and wine purchasing!

onward and upward.

Wellies

Today after I reached the studio I was sent out prop shopping. For those of you who have been watching the weather channel you know that Hurricane Hannah was supposed to be making her way up here today. Well Ry and I don't have TV but we were aware that the storms were coming so I did take our (only) umbrella with me to work.

The first several hours of shopping was fine. I walked up and down Broadway picking up the items we needed and stopping into discount stores to look around. I noticed on my walk that a lot of people were wearing these rubber/ plastic boots. Honestly I thought they looked pretty silly. They reminded me of the boots my cousins wore when mucking out stables. I thought that even if it did rain we were in Manhattan- it wasn't like it was going to get muddy and gross. They come in all sorts of silly patterns and colors too- tiger striped and polka dotted. You can buy them with skulls and fairies. (probably not on the same boot)

Eventually it started raining. Just a light rain- I didn't even bother to get out my umbrella. Then it started POURING. All of the sudden the streets were rivers and people everywhere were having those splash moments that you see in comedy movies or in the opening credits of Sex in the City when Carrie sees her picture and then gets splashs all over her white skirt. In short order I not only had my umbrella up but my pants were soaked and my shoes were leaking.

I made it back to the studio before anything major got wet and when we were released at 6:30 the weather seemed fine. I walked down and got on my subway and waited for the train to let me off at 116th. One thing about subways is that they are blind travel. You can't see the shops and buildings you pass. You can't people watch or ... check on the weather. At 116th Columbia University stop it was POURING again. I live up at 122nd. That is 6 blocks north and 1 block over. It poured for all of those blocks. Having forgotten my umbrella at the studio- I was soaked through upon arrival, including my shoes.

Those wellies seem like a great idea. I'll take a purple pair please!

Onward and Upward.

Work Already??!!

Ok- so I kinda have work already. I know, I know I've only been here a week but I guess I am just that awesome. (just kidding) As I was looking through Backstagejobs.com I found an ASM position for a show called Castronauts that is being presented during the NY Musicals Festival. It had been posted for awhile so I figured it was filled but I sent a little letter to the SM with my resume just in case.

I guess the last ASM they looked at didn't work out so I am now the ASM of Castronauts which will be presented at the NYMF at the Zipper Theatre.

The money isn't amazing but the festival is and the show is pretty good so far. On the 15th there is a big event in which I will be able to hob and nob with some pretty influential people AND this festival is where shows like "Midlife: the Musical" and "The Great Trailer Park Musical" and "title of a show" first started.

Pretty good for 8 days in NYC.

I still need to find a "real" job but at least now I have something to do.

Onward and Upward.

Dorgan

This is Dorgan. He was given to me by my amazing friends Shannon and Dave Morgan. We took a few pictures of him over the course of our trip. He seemed to weather it well. He definitely got a little bored on the drive but the fascinating book on CD, "The Monkeys Raincoat" by Robert Crais really helped him pass the time.

This is him outside Ryan's parents house in Oklahoma City.




And here he is at the hotel in Allentown PA. You can tell he was pretty tired and tired of driving at this point. We took some with the cats at Ryan's aunts house but you will have to wait for that one because it is on Ryan's camera.

Onward and Upward.

The First Post

Ah. The First Post. Like starting a new journal or the notebook for your first day of classes the first one always is the hardest. You want it to be perfect, legendary. Looking back in my old notebooks I always notice that on that first page my handwriting is amazing, my columns are straight and everything looks wonderful. Turn to the last page and its a terrifying maze of scribbles.

Well- we made it to NYC. It was a long trip. We drove from San Antonio to Austin and stayed overnight with an amazing friend. (1 1/2 hours) The next day we made the drive up to OKC to see Ryan's family (7 hours) Then we took a drive over half the state of Oklahoma and then onward to Nashville where we stayed with Ryan's aunt and her crazy cats. We realized later that the reason TN felt so big as because we drove from the lower corner all the way across diagonally to the upper corner. We seriously couldn't have spent more mileage on their freeways. Finally we traveled up to Allenstown PA and after a little bit of wandering and some worries about gas levels found a Red Roof Inn. Our final day was actually most stressful with a trip to IKEA in Elizabeth NJ, a drive over the George Washington Bridge and then travels through NYC in a huge Penske truck.

(side note- I inquired about the Penske online. It was $450 for the trip. The next day I got a phone call from Penske and somehow got the guy to lower it to $350 for the trip and he upgraded us from a 12ft truck to a 14ft. When we went to pick it up the man was late so he gave us a discount $319 and upgraded us again. Our 16 footer was WAY bigger than we needed for our small amount of stuff even when we put all the IKEA in. Seriously we should have traveled to Mexico City first and picked up some illegals- we had that much room. Just kidding.)

We unloaded the truck in under 3 hours and were officially moved in. I will post some pictures of the finished apartment later.

NYC is loud and crowded when compared to Texas. Everyone is complaining that it is hot (at 80 degrees) but I guess that is because very few people have AC. We have 5 windows so the breeze is usually fine. Plus we are Texans and used to the heat. Wait until February and we will be the ones complaining.

Onward and Upward.