president's ball was last night

Last night was the best night of events yet! We got to watch a flamenco troupe perform and it was amazing. I want nothing more to take classes now.

Today John, Dylan and I ordered pizza. It will be my breakfast and lunch. Later I am going to HERE to see Too Little Too Late with Jeanne, a French exchange student and fellow intern.

I am excited!

postcards from italy

It has officially been one month since we've moved to New York and I must say, it certainly doesn't feel like it. Some days it's as if we've been here forever. For example, when you're riding on the subway in major traffic at 9:30 in the morning and all you want is to not be touching several people or overhearing very loud music through everyone's headphones at once. Although, some days it feels like we just got here. For example, when you're wandering around Bowery lost and alone in the cold, without anywhere to go or anyone to see. You could wander and wander forever. Right now, I have the feeling we just got here.

I've been looking into other internships - most at literary agencies. I've been hoping to change internships for awhile. When I moved here and began working at HERE, I realized that it's not what I'm cut out for. So I figured why not give literature a go. I've only emailed one place thus far because everywhere else is looking for summer interns, which I'm just not capable of doing. Reasons why I can't intern over the summer: 1. too poor, 2. going to New Zealand, therefore making me more poor, 3. very very poor. New York City is ridiculously expensive. And by that, I mean every object of food costs 3 dollars more than it should. Which adds up and pisses me off.

I also looked into apartments, and let me tell you, the experience was mindblowing. The majority of apartments (the cheap ones in Brooklyn, even) were close to 1,000 dollars...for one bedroom or just a studio apartment. That means two people living in one bedroom would each pay 500 a month PLUS utilities. PLUS food and travel expenses. Literally everyone has two or more jobs to foot the bills. I don't know how people stand it or when they have free time to enjoy living in New York. I mean, why live in a city like this if you can't even go out into it because you're working all the time?

I've also been looking into grad schools here. I know for a fact that I cannot afford grad school, let alone school here in New York, however I'd like to keep my options open.

Living here makes me even more uncertain about the future. In fact, it makes the future seem impossible, painful and no-good.

Perhaps New Zealand will be the perfect opportunity to turn this pessimism into something more productive.

Today's news: Stayed in bed all day watching movies and such, until John went to work at Bowery Poetry Club and I took the movies back to the Redbox at Walgreens in Times Square. Afterwards I wandered around Houston and Bowery until John was off of work and then we came home to Europan for pizza. He paid because he owed me. He also bought me canolli, which was underpar but beyond sweet in thought. I really like that kid.

puppets

I've decided that I want to be a puppeteer. Or a robot conductor. (Conductor?)

Recap of the past two days in a nutshell:

- Julliard Jazz Ensemble above Central Park in the Time Warner Building.
- Emperor Jones at the SoHo Playhouse which is just around the corner from HERE. The puppetry was wonderful.
- Meeting with Jess and John for Starbucks and then heading back to her Fordham apartment. I've missed them so much. It's nice to have a little bit of home.
- At work now. Listening to Stacey (my boss) interview two other possible interns.
- I want muffins. Or black-bottom cupcakes. Which doesn't have anything to do with the last two days but I don't care.

After work I must order pizza for our music meeting with Murray. I already printed out my journal. Whew.

I suppose I will write more later. I do have quite a bit to talk about.

farkel and other such adventures

I honestly do not remember the last time my body was this sore. From walking.

A little about today: Woke up at 8:30 today to shower, ate breakfast and then met up with the group to head off to the Guggenheim Museum. Located on the east side of Central Park, this amazing museum is in the shape of a honeycomb, with outward slanting walls and a winding path that circles around the inside - the paintings line this path. The museum itself almost distracts from the artwork displayed inside: that's how beautiful it is. (The picture above is of the ceiling of the Guggenheim that I took from the lobby. If you've never seen the building, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, you must look it up for pictures. Or visit yourself. 1071 5th Avenue at 89th Street.)

Lucky for us, we made to the museum just before the Kandinsky exhibit closed. I started at the top where his oldest works were displayed and made my way down the spiral to the earliest works.) I'm uncertain as to which was my favorite, however I do know that it is somewhere in the middle of this career. I also enjoyed Kandinsky's series of watercolors which were reminiscent of Paul Klee with their almost-airbrushed coloring and almost-stenciled forms. In all of his works you find a battle for non-objectivity and rarely do you see him succeed. It's quite sad.

Also at the museum was a installation sculpture by Anish Kapoor called Memory. It was absolutely unbelievable. A must-see. I can't even begin to describe it in the time allotted.

After the museum, John and I bought our first New York hot dogs and then attempted to find our way home on our own. We failed but luckily ran into Mitch and Kendra - head to a cafe (the name escapes me) and then the two of us followed the two of them home. John had an almost-lost-metro-card situation which was hilarious to watch. You'll be happy to know that it was just a false alarm. The card was in his coat pocket.

At last we made it home and John and I had a small opportunity to rest our feet before heading off to do a test run to Soho where I could find my internship at HERE. (1 train to Columbus Circle then C,E train to Spring St..) Fortunately, the jog was quite easy. After finding the theatre we wandered Soho, and then head home where we searched far and wide for Dunkin Donuts. We did not find one - however, we discovered later that there was one quite near our hotel...in the opposite direction we had looked.

The night is not over yet folks. John and I made it home, found Dylan and Christine and then head back out to Times Square for Dylan's first adventure to the M&M store, Toys'R'Us and to the ever daring Marriott Hotel elevator. If you haven't tried the latter, you must. It's a free thrill. We ate McDonalds for dinner. From Times Square we took the subway to Dylan's internship at the Vineyard Theatre near Union Square where we saw the National Debt clock. (It was sad to watch the amount get bigger and bigger by the second.) Finally we made it home, where John and I watched another episode of Fringe as I uploaded pictures from my camera to Facebook. Huzzah for at last having a little bit of internet and a little bit of time!

Tomorrow I have to wake up early, shower, eat breakfast, and head off for my first day of rush hour traveling to HERE, where I get a tour of the space at ten o'clock. So here's (haha) to making it safely and on time. After I get home I get time to nap before heading back to the theatre district with the entire group to see Next to Normal on Broadway.

Now, my friends, I must get some shuteye.