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.