cat whiskers and cookie paws

Went to see Fela! tonight on Broadway. Mick Jagger was there. In the audience.

That is all I have to say about that.

In other news, I wish it weren't so cold. Or that this trip was a fall thing because wandering around NYC right now is like running in giant wind tunnels. It's exhausted. And yes, I am writing this at 3 in the morning. That's what I get for napping I suppose.

Tomorrow we are heading to Astoria (Woohoo!) to the Museum of Moving Images. I'm not entirely sure what to expect, however our film teacher Alan is awesome. He used to go to Coe and actually went on the NY Term as well!

More news: I applied to work in the Writing Center over the summer. After New Zealand of course. This would mean free housing on campus and $1500 in my pocket. I'd have to buy food but after NY, I certainly know the way to save. I could easily walk to Hyvee on 1st Avenue. I could also get a job at one of the local restaurants or cafes! This is probably a pipe dream. I don't even have the job yet secured and am not sure I'll be the lucky consultant to get it. (I would DIE to write the Writing Center summer news letter!)

I suppose I should sleep.

smoky rolls down

I don't have much to say about the day. It snowed like it was supposed to and I barely got anything done. Just typed up one and a half journals. Which, I suppose, is one and a half more than I would have done on any other day.

Went to see Dear John and liked it as far as sappy romances go. John disliked it, which wasn't a surprise.

Stayed inside and watched the snow for the rest of the day. Until, that is, it got too dark to see.

Took a lot of pictures of nothing.

All-in-all, it was worth not going to work.

Tomorrow we head to another museum. Hopefully I am feeling well enough to enjoy it.

Now, to bed.

unmarked location every night

I haven't been up to writing very much lately. It's as if the days are slipping by. I wake up early and then voila! It's 8 P.M. and I'm exhausted and ready to watch television and cuddle. It's almost as if I've been making excuses for so long that they've become real. I literally am too tired to write, or at least, too tired to think about what to write. I am usually very detailed in my entries, picking through the day to chose what was important and what wasn't. I need to get back into the swing of things.

Ultimately, I am hoping that as the weather changes, I will be more motivated. I don't remember the last time I sat in the sun or went for a walk that wasn't painful and stressful. I yearn to do that. To take a walk to Central Park with a blanket just to lie down, read and people watch.

Speaking of, we did some very intense people watching at the opera. We went to see Ariadne auf Noxos (I think that's how it's spelled) at Lincoln Center. If you've never seen the buildings you absolutely must. They are humongous theatres with perilously steep seating and grandiose chandeliers which probably cost more than my house in Baltimore. A piece. Parts of the opera were fantastic and parts of it were painfully boring. It is not what I would have chosen to see if I was handed a hundred and forty dollars and told to spend it on a ticket to the opera. However, I didn't get to chose therefore I had to suffer. My favorite part of the night was getting to wear my new dress, because after all, I am a woman living in Manhattan.

Today, we awoke early, went to Europan for breakfast, ate half there and half on the go. Took the 1 train and ran into Alan (our film professor and previous Coe student/New York Term kid himself). From there we went the rest of the way with him, transfering to the A to West 4 and popping up directly next to the IFC Center. We watched Shoot the Piano Player, directed by Francois Truffaut. I found it to be perfect for the snowy morning. Filmed in 1960 (which is now the correct date, thanks to John), black and white with crackly sound and English subtitles, the storyline was funny and heartbreaking all at once. I would very much like to go back next weekend to see the next film of the series which is also a Truffaut.

Tomorrow we are heading to the Ensemble Studio Theatre for the I Got Dumped! brunch, which is basically a food, open bar, and five short plays about being heartbroken, dumping, being dumped - all written, performed, directed etc. by EST's Youngblood playwright's. I'm not really sure what to expect. I am hoping that it's funny. I'm not in the mood to be disappointed by sadness. I also hope there are mimosas...

I'm thinking about little yellow canaries in golden cages and watching Dylan use the microwave, John work on a City Dionysus play, and Mitch do some journaling.

Also, I bought a guitar for myself online. I can't really afford it, but I've been wanting a new acoustic for awhile and found a cheap Jasmine online. Hopefully it'll come on Monday...all in one piece. I've started writing some music for FAWM, but I'm not sure I'll post any of it.

I wish I was at home, enjoying the snow and sun.

the thing that

There are many things in New York that I love.

They would be better though if I had someone here to truly enjoy them with. Don't get me wrong - there are wonderful people here with me. Luckily, I've only been annoyed once or twice thus far. However, there is no one here that I can truly get along with. Better yet, the people here are either aquaintanced friends that I don't want to spend all my time with or ones who can hurt me most. Sometimes I think I am expected to be with certain people. I suppose none of this really matters. I came here to get NY experience on my resume. I am here for myself. Not for anyone else.

Anyways, I can't believe we've only been here for a week. It feels like much, much, longer.

This morning I ate breakfast at New Wave and then head to 53rd between 5th and 6th to MoMA to check out the Bauhaus and Tim Burton exhibits. Bauhaus reminded me of Ikea while Tim Burton was just a large array of film memorabilia. I put my paycheck in the bank. I came home and changed, then head out for chinese food before going to the Bowery Poetry Club to hear a little bit of literature.

Here I am now, working on my novel, a short fiction piece, my blog, my twitter and my facebook. Keeping in touch with people is a lot easier when you aren't expected too.

Speaking of which, I need to put stamps for my letters...

Work at HERE in the morning. Too bad the room is almost unbearable with heat.

Good news? Douglas gets into NYC on Sunday! Which is in TWO DAYS!

wolf pack

Today was a lazy day. First we wandered to The Strand bookstore which has 18 miles worth of books on bookshelves. It was super crowded and the books were a bit pricey, so I bought some postcards and a nice tote bag. Afterwards we got tacos (finally), head to Urban Outfitters for some clothing (oops), and then went home to change for the New York City Ballet. The final part of the ballet called Firebird was the best. Disclaimer: I know nothing about ballet technique so my judgement is definitely not reliable.

Now I have a headache, a purple mouth from my grape water, and bags under my eyes. Perhaps tomorrow I'll be inspired to be more graceful. And here's to hoping Patricia gives us dance lessons before this semester is over so that maybe we will know what to talk about in our journals.

Tomorrow morning I must wake up early to see a movie and then possibly head to the Museum of Natural History to learn some cool stuff about...natural history. Cheers and beers.

two in the morning

It's been awhile since I last wrote, and I've missed you!

Let's take a brief moment to talk about the subway. It's beyond easy - if you're capable of reading numbers and letters while hundreds of people are running around and pushing you forward to somewhere you probably don't want to go. It's a constant state of thinking uptown, downtown, express. The most difficult thing is getting your legs and stomach to cooporate with your out-of-town heart when the train is swishing from side to side and everyone is taller than you so you can't see anything but the man's lapel in front of you. I quickly touched hands with an attractive suit today when we both frantically reached for the same bar as the C train lurched to a sudden stop - so I suppose that is a plus. If you are lacking in human contact, the subway is certainly the place to be. I digress.

Yesterday was my first day of work at HERE, and it was a long one full of tech, cleaning and office work. (All of which needed to be done.) I suppose I won't go into much detail because that would bore you, but do know that I'm trying my hardest to make a good impression and to not complain. I had to go straight to the theatre district from work to make it in time for Next to Normal the musical. Long story short I thought it was only sub-par, but everyone else thought it was great. I suppose it simply was not my cup of tea. Luckily for us, we got treated to food and cheesecake at Junior's, which was placed nicely next door to the Booth Theatre. After food was sleep and after sleep was work again today.

Today was a little different than yesterday. The morning seemed to fly by as I helped clean the tech closet and dimmer room, yet dragged on as I helped do necessary office work in the afternoon. If everyone else in the office didn't work as hard as they do (and they are constantly working) I would probably have a problem with cutting out 800 or so tickets - which is very tedious busy work. However, my co-workers are in the office from 10 in the morning until god-knows-when and I know they need every shred of help available.

Best case scenario is that they'd want me to stick around or would help me get a job after I graduate. Even working box office a couple of hours a night would be wonderful, I think.

New York is a strange place. You can easily have a love/hate relationship with it. Everyone says, "How can you be bored? There's so much to do!" but I found myself wandering around town with John looking for food after work, and not one of the restaurants were tempting. I suppose this is because - sometimes, not always - I have trouble with unfamiliar places...that I prefer to stick to what I know. Fortunately, The New Wave Cafe on 78th and Broadway has breakfast all day and is cheap - two things that I love.

After dinner we came home and I fell asleep around 6:30, entirely accidentally, and now here I am at 2 in the morning unable to go back to bed and listening to the hiss of the radiator. Tomorrow is Georgia O'Keeffe at the Whitney and the silent film/guitar improvisation.

I think I'll wake early and get breakfast at Cafe 71.

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.

77th and broadway

This is my first official post from New York City. Let me go back. Yesterday we took the bus from Baltimore to New York, took a cab to the hotel and then walked to the theatre district with my mother and her friend, Buzi. So Mom and Buzi wanted to see a show - we ended up getting very last minute, third row tickets to Jersey Boys for cheap! It was a very like-able show. Peppy music everyone can recognize and sing along with and some cute actors for the women to swoon over. (Before the show we stopped at Cafe 71 for snacks and then a pub for drinks. You know how that goes.) After the show we walked back to the hotel. (Thats over 60 blocks total of walkage.) At the hotel I did a bit of unpacking, said goodbye to Mom and Buzi and then got to hang out with John! (I will write more about the hotel later...)

So, not having been to New York before, John had to see Times Square. Since it was nigh time, I figured why not take him. We walked there and back - which means I did the trip twice. It wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't of been so cold. No complaints, though. Taking John to see Times Square is much more satisfying then going with someone who's been there before. I took him to the M&M store and Toys'R'Us. On the way back home, we enjoyed the light-endowed trees, Lincoln Center and almost getting hit by taxis.

Today, I woke up relatively early and walked back to Cafe 71 with John, Mitch, Kendra, Erin and Dylan. We got our first New York bagels and then head off to buy our first subway passes! From there we diverted our attention to Central Park, where we wandered through Strawberry Fields, the John Lennon memorial, to the Bethesda Fountain and then to the Belvedere (sp?)Castle. Many pictures ensued.

In an hour we have a group meeting and then a mixer to get to know each other and our teachers. Should be nice. Who knows what else we will do later...

I slept well for the first time in weeks. It bodes well for the rest of the trip. Hopefully for the rest of the year.

beach house

Today is technically Friday which means...NEW YORK TOMORROW.

Things I still need as today progresses: finish doing laundry so that I can finish packing my clothes, find the lint brush, find the umbrella and jacket in a packet, find appropriate shoes, go shopping for groceries, and sleep more. I definitely need to get my normal sleep pattern back. I don't know how I'll make it through the next week if I don't. (Point in case: it's past three in the morning right now and I'm barely tired. I suppose I should just make myself wake up very early so that I'll get tired sooner. Or whatever.)

Enough rambling for now. Onwards and (hopefully) upwards.