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.