The Best Ever!

Please keep in mind that this was the day after Mardi Gras...
The adventure began on a surprisingly gorgeous, sunny afternoon, where else but Times Square at the TKTS booth. The finale of the Texan and Kiwi. Two souls brought together in the melting pot of the world on Restaurant Row, each forever changed by the other. I, of course, am talking about myself and my closest friend Avi, a traveling, wine-loving, surfing, artistic, law school grad leaving March 1st to continue his journey. Ok, the scene is set, the players introduced, and so begins the best day in NYC...
Our mutual friend attends the King's College, which holds class in the Empire State Building. Upon our request, she drags herself from a mid-afternoon slumber to help us bypass the lines and receive a discount to the top! We had tickets to Billy Elliot at 2 p.m. and we didn't arrive to the top until 1:40 p.m. We gave ourselves 10 minutes to look out in each direction over the endless buildings of NYC. Despite the haze, its incredibly freeing to breathe above it all. The City is massive, but manageable up there. With little time to ponder much more, we raced thru the maze of commercialized merchandise one must walk thru when leaving the observation deck. We hit the street at 1:55 and hopped into a cab, b/c we had no other choice. The driver was informed if he could get us there in time for the curtain, there would be an extra tip in it for him. Yikes! Careful when you say that. I feared for the pedestrians. Avi and I were dropped at 45th and Broadway and ran down the street. Some of you may be thinking, "there is no way you'll make it. What's the point?" Well, a little insight for you ill-informed, all Broadway curtains are held until 8 minutes past the hour. However, despite this cushion we came in at the very end of the opening number. Billy Elliot made me cry. The first act final dance sequence blew me away. We loved it!
Next we ventured over for a drink and apps b/c we decided we'd try for the lottery drawing for West Side Story. Not a lot of people have the stamina or interest for two Broadway musicals in one day, which is why Avi is amazing! Ha! We dottle a bit too long at the restaurant and arrived to the theatre as they were closing the entries. I begged the guy to let us enter and amazingly relented. Three names in I heard my name called. Can I just say, if you ever enter a lottery drawing for tickets, please be enthusiastic when you win. So many people are just too casual about it. You get to see a Broadway show, on the front row for less than $30, is a little jumping and screaming too much to ask? That is precisely what I did. What is funny is as we waited inside to buy our tickets, we heard them call Avi's name too! We were just meant to see West Side Story that night!
With two hours to kill, we ventured to the Lower East Side to a bar we'd heard gives free pizza with each drink purchased, even during Happy Hour! How have I not visited this place before? We had our little personal pizza and drink and headed back to midtown arriving at the theatre with plenty of time to spare!
West Side Story has only just begun previews, opening in March. This particular production has Spanish mixed in and I LOVED it! Maybe its b/c I come from a land full of Spanish, but I thought it added something very interesting to the show. Another great performance that added to the magic of our day!
Eager to get out of midtown, we descended to the Village. At this point Avi pretty much took over with directions cause lower Manhattan confuses me. We stumbled upon a cute little Italian place and talked over a bottle of Cabernet. One of my favorite parts of the night. A good bottle of wine, lovely environment, great company and a conversation ended only by the empty bottle and closing restaurant.
We continued the night strolling the lively streets of Greenwich Village. We were invited in to catch the end of a free stand-up show, which I'm often leery of but we decided to check it out. We laughed but doubtful we saw the next Seinfeld. In the bar above, a live bluegrass band was playing. I haven't heard live music in forever, we were all about it. A little dancing, but mostly just listening.
Feeling a bit fatigued, we agreed to leave but we had one more stop before calling it a night. Av wanted to walk the Brooklyn Bridge at night. Now anyone concerned with my personal safety (parents) stop reading now. We hopped into our second cab of the day, which I never take cabs, but we didn't know the nearest subway and were too tired to look for it. We asked him to drop us at the bridge. He told us not to walk the bridge alone at this time of night. Isn't that great?! The cab driver was looking out for us. Of course, we did not heed his advice but thanked him anyway. As unsafe as this may have been, I'll never regret making such a poor decision. We were the only people on the entire bridge all the way across! We sang and danced our favorite songs at the top of our lungs. Incredible!
Falling asleep on the subway, I rehearsed my Shakespeare sonnet to Avi as he dozed. I am extremely grateful for everything that fell into place for this day to happen. A blessing!

From Up Here...

Weightless. I barely felt the thing move. Slowly we climb. Floating over the Upper East Side just along 60th St. Do you suppose the people that live in the buildings next to the tram notice us flying by? Is it just like living next to a busy street? Do they care we can see into their homes? Did the sales associate mention this special feature when they showed the place? Do they leave their lights on and shades drawn to show-off their apartments? Do they even realize they're on display? Does it bother them that even though they are on the 21st floor, they are still not afforded the privacy one might expect when at such a height? Or is it just a fact of life? This is New York after all.
Its fascinating to note the differences in each apartment dweller's decorative taste. Its essentially the same space but the use is dramatically different. One place I love passing every time... Eloise. I have never seen a living (or non-living) person in the place. But I think, based on the furniture and style of the apartment that we would be friends. Maybe on one of my passes I'll eventually see who lives there. Will keep you posted...

1/20/2009

Today was a momentous day in the history of the United States of America. I hate to sound like a cheeseball, but I can't help it. The day after Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we inaugurate our first black president. Rather appropriate, I think. Whether you voted for Obama or not, it was a great day for the US.

I happened to be in class this morning, but at the start of class our instructor asked us if we wanted to watch any of it. We all agreed that we would take our usual break, but push it back to noon so we could see the oath. As usual in any good acting studio, we were without a television, so we streamed it on the front office computer. Apparently other classes had decided to take a break for the same purpose, so it was a little crowded. In and around the small 10x12 room, 30 (approx--i'm bad with crown estimation) crammed to catch a peak at the screen. Some were crouched on the floor, others used their neighbors shoulder as a boost to look over heads.

I decided to go around to the front and watch through the glass, so I was facing most of the group. I didn't have a great view of the screen (which was delayed anyway) so I watched everyone else as I listened. It was a beautiful speech and the feeling of hope was tangible. Granted it was a room full of actor's with enduring hope about that next part, next audition, next challenge. A room full of artists propelled by passion watching what many thought improbable a year ago and impossible 60 years ago. Its a contageous ideal... hope. I know it got a little cliche during the campaign, but that is why people are constantly pushing to be better. When you lose hope, you lose ambition, become complacent and life loses its value.
So much of my life is out of my hands, but my hope sustains me no matter what my circumstance. My faith allows me the freedom to hope. Today I think the nation felt it.

Baby, It's Cold Outside

I'm officially tired of winter. Today it snowed and I was not entranced by its beauty, I was thinking, "I hope it stops before I have to go to class." When living in British Columbia, I never grew tired of the snow. It was magical when it floated silently down creating amazing conditions for snowboarding, which is possibly the missing element here. Snow in the city is simply that... snow in the city. Makes things wet (namely me) and slushy because it only stays on the ground while its snowing. Once it stops it goes away again.
I'll stop complaining about the weather. I'm just a little bitter b/c I walked home from work tonight and it was 8 degrees outside and my face was frozen! The high tomorrow is 16... yikes. I think I want to be a bear!

How Not to Plan an After Party...

The restaurant I work in was lucky enough to be chosen for the after-party of a reunion benefit for a Broadway show. It was doomed from the start. The catch phrase for the staff became, "no plan is a bad plan!"
For starters, the party was scheduled on the night off for our most capable manager, so we were left with the one who is terrible at handling large numbers of people. How he became a general manager is beyond comprehension. Lovely fellow, terrible manager. The party was due to begin at 11 p.m. We still had "regular" people eating in the restaurant at 10:30 p.m. when the guests started showing up (yes, they were early). Now our hostess staff is dressed to impress b/c there are some big names at this party. We had security at the door with a list, however the guests arrived before the security guys, so who knows actually got in! Madness from the start. As we're trying to rush the normal patrons out, the VIP guests keep pouring in. It doesn't help that it is raining outside, making people pour in that much quicker! In less than 10 minutes, the entire lower floor of the restaurant is packed with people wondering where the coat check is (we don't have one), when are the appetizers being served and when they can order drinks (neither until 11 p.m. when they were supposed to arrive). One poor hostess runs downstairs to inform the manager (who is hiding in his office) that the guests are early and we need instruction. In dramatic fashion, he whips around in his swivel chair, pulls his head away from the phone and yells, "I don't give a ****!!!" Awesome! So we're kinda left on our own for the first bit.When he did finally surface he tried to put a limit of the people allowed in the place. By doing so he kept the cast of the show outside!! Are you kidding me?! That is kinda when the staff decided to take things into our own hands. No longer consult management, just work with the party coordinators and make the party run as smoothly as possible. Luckily, I was friends with one of the planners, so I offered to serve some of the guests on our upper level, where no one had ventured yet.
As I am serving these tables, someone must have shared the info that there was a whole other level to the place with a bar!! All of a sudden the entire floor is full of people and I am left by my lonesome at the service bar as orders are being thrown my way. Yeah! So fun and overwhelming! Especially fun when I started getting tipped. Woohoo! Now I have learned how to make drinks in my months of employment,so I could totally hold my own, as long as everyone ordered stuff like rum and coke. Ha! Luckily the only martini I had to make came at the end of the night! My Kiwi mate, Avi, came to my rescue and worked the bar with me. It was like a dance behind the tiny bar. Despite the chaos happening everywhere, I think we ran our little world pretty efficiently.
Due to the cage of the bar, I was not able to circulate the party and rub elbows with the celebs, but at the end of the night I made more and had a ball! I think the cast and everyone had a good time as well. Its amazing what a very small group of people can do to make something happen. Our owners will probably get the praise for the party, but at the end of the day, we lowly servers, hostesses and runners know how the party really went.

Finally I get to see the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. My dear friend, Kristen, lives in an building at 34th & 6th, so we hung out her bathroom window to watch the parade pass us by. When it was cold or boring, we'd escape into the living room to our coffee and scones. Doesn't that just sound lovely? I'm just going to upload a bunch of pictures from the parade and other parts of NY. Enjoy!