Week #15: My NYC blog finale...finally!

So, I’ve had this last blog written out for a while, but I just realized I haven’t posted it yet! Even though I’ve been back in Iowa for over a week now, I figured I should update one last time with what happened during my last week in NY for anyone who is still checking this thing…

As some of you know, I turned 22 December 15th! Woo! The night before my birthday, I went to the Comedy Cellar with some people, where the comedian host for the night was celebrating HIS birthday as well (one day before mine). The comedians were the best I’ve seen there (the most famous was Colin Quinn, but they were all very funny).

My actual birthday was pretty low-key, but still lots of fun! After work, I went to a play called “Heaven Knows” at Ensemble Studio Theatre. Two NYAPers, Sally and Kevin, were interning with the theatre, so we got comp tickets from them. The audience was small, but the play was pretty solid in my opinion. For the most part it managed to tackle a bunch of really “light” topics like homosexuality, Catholicism, abuse, and family without getting too cliché or bogged down, which is admirable, especially since the play was written by one of the actors of the not-so-good production of Race Music that we saw at the beginning of the semester…aww full-circle moment. After the play, we went to a diner, and I had cake and hot chocolate. THEN, we went to Baskin Robbins. Yes, nothing says “Happy Birthday to me” like triple chocolate-y goodness ;-)

My last weekend in the city was pretty eventful. I started out Friday night with a Bikram Yoga class, and then I decided to do the SNL line again afterwards. Why? Because I’m apparently completely insane. And I was bored. And I’ve been a little bitter ever since I missed out back in October. So, I put on as many layers as I could (which made me look like I had gained 20 pounds) and set off at about 11pm. I went alone, which I know sounds kind of sad, but there are always plenty of people to talk with there, even though they’re generally a little weird! Weird people can be fun though :)

I ended up getting to know three girls from Arkansas, one who apparently drank too much before joining the line, threw up all over her friend, and had to go back to the hotel room. I also talked with two guys from SVA (school of visual arts), who were wearing matching hats (the giant, furry, Russian-looking hats everyone’s been wearing lately) and two guys who were visiting the city from Pennsylvania. There was also an annoying group of freshmen from Columbia in front of us. They started out as a group of three or four and “magically” got a lot bigger around 5 or 6am when a bunch of their friends cut in line to join them. Not cool, ivy-leaguers, NOT COOL. It was a long and cold night. VERY cold. I took breaks at McDonald’s (where they had a “bouncer” type guy who made sure you bought something before using the bathroom) and a random café to warm up. Somehow I managed to get free food both times…because I have skills. Ok not really, I was just lucky, haha. Finally, at 7am, I received my stand-by ticket of #31 for the live show!

Afterwards, I headed home to de-frost my feet and get a solid 2 hours of sleep before my last day of work, and then later that afternoon, I went ice skating at Bryant Park with some people from the house. It had just started snowing lightly, and if I hadn’t been so tired it would have been close to perfect. It was still pretty wonderful, nonetheless.

That night, the light snow turned into a full on blizzard, which made walking to SNL an experience to say the least. After a bit of waiting in the stand-by line at NBC, they took the first 40 of us through security and lined us up at the elevators. They put the first groups of people into the elevators and stopped RIGHT in front of me. That would have been a terrible moment if they didn’t take any more people after that, buuut…they did! When I got up to the studio, somehow I ended up getting seated in the absolute worst seat in the place. I was sitting next to one of the matching hat guys (sans hat this time), and we were craning our necks around set pieces most of the time. Even Kenan agreed that our seats weren’t great, giving us a shout out during his pre-show performance—“Hey over there in the crappy seats!” Even though I couldn’t see many of the sketches, just being there was a cool experience, especially after two attempts and so many hours of waiting… We were sitting right above James Franco’s dressing room, so we got to watch him run in and out to do his costume changes. I also really liked the band, Muse, much more than I thought I would, but certainly not as much as the guy behind me who as soon as the band stepped on stage whispered to the person next to him, “I think I just peed myself a little.” Too funny.

walking to NBC in the blizzard...

Walking back to 305 was even tougher than walking to the studios. By that time it was 1:30am and the subway line I took only went to Herald Square, so I had a number of blocks to trudge through the half a foot of snow that had accumulated in the semi-impractical boots I had decided to wear that night. I was covered in snow and thoroughly exhausted when I got home.

The rest of my time in New York was filled with lots of “lasts”—one last Sunday UCB show, one last Bikram class Monday morning, one last cupcake, one last bagel from Brooklyn Bagel (best bagel place in NY, located just a couple blocks from 305), and then I said goodbye to NYC before catching my train Monday afternoon. It’s been a little strange being back in the mid-west, but I’m adjusting, and I suppose a perfect way to end this blog is to announce (for anyone who doesn’t know yet) that I’m officially going BACK to New York in August because I was accepted to the City Year program (http://www.cityyear.org), and I recently signed and sent in my letter of commitment! So although my NYC adventures may be on hold for now, they are certainly far from over.

Nick, Kelly, and I waiting for our last show at UCB

my last view of NYC for a while before I went inside Penn station to catch my train

And with that, I hope everyone’s enjoyed my updates, even if I do tend to ramble sometimes, and I hope your holidays were wonderful and that you all have a very happy New Year!

Week #14: I ain't got nothing but love, eight days a week

Christmas is officially in NYC, and so are the tourists (more and more every day), but one thing that's NOT in NYC yet, is snow! That's more or less OK with me though...apparently I'll have plenty to look forward to when I get back to the mid-west. Blegh.

Last Monday I went to see the Radio City Hall Christmas Spectacular with Anna, Nick, Kelly, and Fallon. The Spectacular was just good, solid fun—no other way to put it—Rockette kick-lines, 3-d glasses, an interesting version of the Nutcracker, streamers, fireworks, and live camels, sheep, and donkeys on stage! Basically, I turned into a little kid again for an hour and a half.

dancing Santas!

pretending to be the Rockettes

Another major happening was the 29th anniversary of John Lennon’s death. I was making something to eat before going to sleep Tuesday night (Dec. 8), and someone in the kitchen mentioned that there was a vigil going on at Strawberry Fields (the Imagine circle) at Central Park where people were singing John Lennon/Beatles songs. My response was, “I’m going…NOW!” Ries decided to go with me, so we headed uptown at 11 and stayed there for about an hour and a half singing with the crowd (I put a couple videos of the singing at the end of this blog).

Unfortunately it started raining, so the guitarists had to pack up, and the singing broke up except for a few people who tried to drunkenly continue without the instrumentalists (which was a horribly unsuccessful attempt). I was bummed that they had stop because I was planning to stay there much, much later—maybe all night—but the night ended nicely with one guy who kept his guitar out a bit longer than the others and played “Imagine” on acoustic. It was wonderful! Yet another reason why I love this city…where else can you be getting ready to go to sleep, and then out of the blue go on an adventure to sing Beatles songs with a crowd of people at midnight? Well…except maybe Liverpool, haha.

One not-so-good thing about this week was that I got food poisoning Wednesday night. I suppose a semester in New York wouldn’t be complete without at least one case of it, eh? It was somewhat mild, but still not fun, and I can safely say I will not be eating at Dallas BBQ again, no matter how cheap their food is!

Sunday I went to the last performance of the Royal Family (a Broadway play) with Kelly and Nick because Nick got comp tickets from work. The show parodies the Barrymore family, and even though I'm not very familiar with their history, the show was really funny, the acting was solid, and the set was incredible. I was laughing so much, I hardly even noticed that it was so long (3 acts)! Nick also got us into the Patrons Lounge, where all the people who donate the big bucks to the Manhattan Theatre Club go during intermission. So I got to pretend to be rich while drinking free coffee and eating the most delicious chocolate-covered almonds ever! Thanks Nick!!

I've also been to two more UCB shows in the past week, one with Jack McBrayer and the other I was #6 in line, so I got to sit in the front row! WOO! I also went shopping at Canal Street for the first time all semester today and bought some hats and scarves (no fake purses this time around though).

Well, that’s all for now. Just one more week and one more update. Wait a second, I need to shed a single tear. Alright, well that’s done. Seeya next week!

^^ videos of the crowd singing "Eight Days a Week" and "Give Peace a Chance." The videos are pretty short because my camera was running out of memory...

Week #13: O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree...

Guess what? I got a picture of the biggest celebrity in NYC right now!

That's right. The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree. Who knew a tree could turn a city into such madness? More on that later though--I have to start with last Saturday first.

I went to see Bye Bye Birdie as I mentioned before. Although not the best Broadway show I’ve seen, I didn’t think it was as terrible as I was worried it might be. John Stamos was a little questionable as Albert at times, maybe just because he was trying to be a little too Dick Van Dyke-esque, and not too many people can pull that off successfully. I thought he had a decent singing voice though, unlike Gina Gershon (Rosie) who just about killed any good feelings I had for the show. And guess who was in the audience that night?? Aunt Becky! Aka Lori Loughlin… John Stamos auctioned off his glasses from the show, and to up the bids, he threw in a chance to meet “Uncle Jesse and Aunt Becky” after the show. Haha! When I got out of the theater, I found out I had a voicemail from the Tyra Show saying they wanted me on as a guest for the show!! Crazy, eh? It ended up not working out, but oh well, life goes on…

Sunday was UCB once again. Amy Poehler and Jason Sudekis were there, but no one too excitingly new. I sat by the monologist again—Nick Crawl I think?? He was funny. The show was funny. Another humorous Sunday night...ah, how I will miss them.

Skip ahead to Wednesday, which was the Rockefeller Christmas tree lighting! …possibly one of the most ridiculous things I’ve decided to do during my time here. I figured I’d just “stop by” after work and check it out, not realizing how insane it was going to be. The police kept directing the mobs of people in circles, and I was about to give up, but I got shuffled along in a giant crowd somewhere near the tree. I couldn’t see the tree though because we were by a building which was blocking our view. There was a lot of:

“Can you see the tree?”

“No, can YOU see the tree?”

“No, but I can see the TV Screen!”

“You can? Where? Where?!”

“Wait, I think I can hear screams.”

"Oh, the concert must be starting soon!"

I know, how very exciting… why didn’t I go home at that point? Because I was pretty much STUCK. We were packed in like cattle, cattle in the POURING RAIN, I should add. I had an umbrella, but as soon as the concert started, the crowd got very angry at anyone who tried to put their umbrellas up because it blocked their views of the giant TV screen. Why were all these people standing in the rain watching a TV screen that they could watch from their warm and dry homes? Because New Yorkers are CRAZY, that’s why!

Someone near me eventually broke through a metal barrier though, and I followed the crowd that flooded through it. We got to stand in an area that had been blocked off, and we could see the tree from there! Mission accomplished! However, we were packed even tighter then…I could not move even an inch, and it was a little hard to breathe at times. Soon after we were “settled” in our new location, I climbed onto one of the metal barriers to see if I could get a better look, and I ended up getting stuck up there because my spot got filled, and I couldn’t get back down. It was kind of uncomfortable to stay perched on that thing for over an hour, but the crowd inadvertently helped out because they were packed so tight that they pinned my legs against the barrier so I didn’t have to hold myself up. Um...thanks everyone??

But the best part was that I could actually see the stage from my “perch.” While I was up there, I got to see the Rockettes, Aretha Franklin, and Michael Buble perform. As soon as I announced that I could see the stage, people around me were like “YOU CAN?? Take a picture for me please!!” So I took lots of pictures for all the people around me. It’s strange how much you can bond with complete strangers when you’re mashed up against each other awkwardly, all trying to reach the same goal—to see the great and almighty Christmas tree! My section of the crowd even took to breaking out into random Christmas songs during commercial breaks. It reminded me of the end of "Elf." I got a picture of the cattle crowd of people behind me while I was up there so you can get an idea of what it was like:

a small portion of the "herd"

Eventually, after a couple hours of waiting, they lit that crazy thing...and the peasants rejoiced! I got a video of the glorious moment we all waited for:

So was it all worth it for that? Well, I don’t think I’d do it again. At times it was fairly miserable, and I’m pretty sure I looked like a drowned rat when I was walking home, but hey, it was another one of those “once-in-a-lifetime” experiences.

Thursday, I went to a poetry/theater performance called “Hello Failure,” which was published by UDP. I LOVED it. Funny, enlightening, interesting...definitely one of my two favorite pieces by UDP. I almost didn’t make the trek out to Brooklyn for it, but I’m glad I did! On the way back, since it was a nice night, I decided to cross the Brooklyn Bridge again.

Well, that's all for now. May your Christmas seasons be a bit calmer and less...tourist-filled than mine ;-)

Week #12: The tourists are invading!

…which is why I’m sitting here on my computer, even though I have the day off. Midtown is absolute madness, even more than usual—all the tourists are wandering around trying to stick with their giant, slow-moving groups of people. It’s mildly infuriating trying to walk anywhere, but oh well…I was in their position once I suppose.

So, starting with last Sunday, I went to UCB again (surprise surprise). Seth Meyers, Amy Poehler, and Rachel Dratch were all in the show. I scored the seat next to the monologist (story-teller), and I was hoping it’d be John Krasinski or Rainn Wilson or someone equally amazing. It was Andy Miles, who I had never heard of...I think he writes for the Colbert Report? Or the Daily Show? I can’t remember. He was pretty funny though at least—one of the better monologists I’ve seen.

Monday was the Tyra Show!!! Anna, Fallon, and I got to Chelsea Studios a little before 9 and we were some of the first ones in. There was A LOT of waiting and waiting and processing and more waiting before we finally got seated in the studio. We were in the front row of the main section for the first episode, which featured 50 Cent. The girl next to me won one of 50 Cent’s hundred dollar bills when Tyra threw it into the audience, so there’s a good chance I’ll be on camera then (and maybe other times too). I’ll probably be clapping and trying to look happy for that girl even though I secretly wanted to grab the money out of her hand, haha! There was an audience giveaway of 50 Cent’s new book and CD too. Yes, 50 Cent “wrote” a book, which is destined to become classic literature I’m sure. The 50 Cent episode is airing this Tuesday, so check it out! For the second taping we were shuffled toward the back (because they change up the arrangement). Aaaaand I was ALMOST on the show for one of the tapings on Tuesday! I got to hang out backstage before the show and get my hair/make-up done, which was sweeeeet. I ended up not being on because they ran out of time (though I was in the audience again). Fallon was on for the next taping, but I couldn’t stay because I had to go to work. It was kind of depressing because when I got to work I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning and taking apart bookshelves—woooo, the exciting life of a small press intern! One of the producers said she might be contacting me for another show though?? I hope so!

Thursday a bunch of us went to the Macy’s Day Thanksgiving Parade. The whole thing is a bit hazy because I was so sleep deprived, but it was very cool to see it in person. We got to 42nd St. at about 7am and we were just a row or two back from the edge—not too shabby. We had to wait about two hours for the parade to start, but at least the weather was nice! It was hard for me to see what was going on near the ground, but I could see all the floats and balloons, which is mostly what the parade is anyway. Later, we had Thanksgiving dinner at the 305. I stuffed myself silly with the typical turkey, mashed potatoes, etc.

Today I attempted the Ragtime lottery, but I didn’t win because there were a bajillion people there. I’ll probably try again during the week when there are fewer people. Instead, I went and got a rush ticket to Bye Bye Birdie for tonight. I’ve heard not-so-good things about it, but I think it’ll still be entertaining, and there are two Cedar Rapidians in the show, one whom I remember pretty well from my backstage days at Theater Cedar Rapids, so that’ll be fun to see them at least! On my way home this afternoon I finally tried Junior’s cheesecake, which is sooooo delicious! The slices are HUGE. I got chocolate mousse cheesecake, and even with my unhealthy obsession of chocolate, I only got halfway through before I felt sick and had to stop. That’s more for later though ;-)

And now I will end with some pictures from the parade!

The parade begins!

Spongebob is about to eat Katherine McPhee from American Idol (that's ok though...I never really liked her, haha)

Santa ends the show (I KNOW HIM!)

A marching band played "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey and the crowd burst out singing. Love it...

Week #11: Chevy Chase, Bikram, Broadway, and disappointing burgers

I'm going to get right to the meat of the week, starting with Sunday night. We went to the free show of UCB again and...CHEVY CHASE WAS IN THE SHOW!! Yes, THE Chevy Chase from classics like National Lampoon's Vacation (including Christmas Vacation, Vegas Vacation, etc.), Funny Farm, and so on and so forth. I could hardly believe it when they announced him and he burst through the curtain--very exciting! He was absolutely insane and ridiculous. He seemed almost a bit senile, or perhaps he was just taking advantage of the fact that he's Chevy Chase and therefore he can say and do whatever he wants. Either way, there were a lot of moments when I put my hand over my mouth in a "Wow I can't believe he just said/did that" fashion. Oh Chevy Chase, you crazy man... Lisa and Fallon got to sit by him too...lucky lucky.

Waiting for UCB with our tickets...the beast is coming!

Monday I decided to enter the Next to Normal lottery on a whim, and I won! The show was incredible--great music, excellent singing and acting, compelling storyline, and best of all, it's an original musical. Most of the musicals nowadays seem to either fall under the category of revival or adapted from a movie...not that that's always so horrible, but I enjoy seeing that people are still courageous enough to put original stories out there. The only not-as-good thing was that Alice Ripley, the lead in the show, was out for the night, but I thought her understudy, Jessica Phillips, was quite good, so my disappointment was short-lived. I wouldn't mind seeing the show again so I can compare performances and because the show was SO GOOD.

I've seen four Broadway shows now during this semester, but there are still so many more I'd like to see! The next two on my list are Ragtime (just opened) and Bye Bye Birdie with John Stamos as Albert (which is Dick Van Dyke's character in the movie, if you've seen it). I mean, who wouldn't want to see Uncle Jesse from Full House dancing around singing "Put on a Happy Face?" I think it could either be wonderfully awesome or completely terrible--possibly both at the same time...

I also tried Shake Shack earlier this week. Shake Shack is a burger place in Madison Square Garden that is kind of a mini legend around here apparently. On nice days it can create a long line with a 1-2 hour wait from what I hear. I was in the area after work so I checked it out, and there was virtually no line, so I got a burger. I think this is one of those "mostly hype" situations. The burger was good but certainly not the best I've had, and it was pretty small for almost $5. Oh well, it's always trial and error around here.

Tuesday I went to another Bikram Yoga session with a few girls from the house. I forgot how tortuous it was. In fact, I still forget how tortuous it was. It's as if I go into a trance, and I don't remember the details of the class very clearly. I do remember that I didn't have to rest at all this time, and after the class I was on a HUGE natural high. It was almost frightening. I was mildly skeptical at first, but I really do think there's something to this whole Bikram thing. During the past few days, despite the sun setting in mid-afternoon, I've been in an oddly good mood and had more energy than usual. Coincidence? Perhaps. But I think not. Also, it's been harder to eat junk food without feeling sick afterwards...I can't decide if that's a good or bad thing yet ;-)

Thursday I had my City Year interview. It was pretty laid back, but I got a good vibe from it. I might be hearing back from them as soon as 2 1/2 weeks from now, so we'll see how it goes! If I get accepted, then I'll have a decision to make by January 5th. Oh life decisions...

Yesterday (Friday) I went with Kellie, Kelly and Ries to "Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind," which is a show by the "neo-futurists" that tries to do 30 short plays in 60 minutes. I actually saw the show (with different short plays of course) five years ago on my first trip to New York with Xavier's thespian troupe. It was in a much less sketchy location this time around, but the show was just as high-quality. Surprisingly, the show was both very funny and also quite thought-provoking, a very cool combination. I'm not sure if it was that way five years ago too or if the significance was just lost on me at 17-years-old. Either way, it was a great, great show.

Today was a typical press day at UDP. There were a lot of volunteers, and someone brought pumpkin pie so we had a mini Thanksgiving feast on the press table, UDP style. Haha. I'm also learning about the frustrations of printing books. The other day I spent almost 2 hours putting book "guts" (the inside pages) into covers, but it turns out the covers were cut 1/16th of an inch too short, so we had to "un-nest" all the guts today. Soo.... those 2 hours were reallllly well spent. That's just the way it works sometimes though!

Well, now I need to go and scrounge up some dinner from the little bit of groceries I have left (potatoes, carrots and oatmeal I believe...). Coming soon to a blog near you: my account of the Tyra Show and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade! Oh yeah, it'll be good times ;-) Have a happy thanksgiving everyone!!

Week #10: Less than 5 weeks left? Really?

Apparently, I didn’t take any pictures this week...just to warn you that my blabbering will be uninterrupted this time ;-)

Last Saturday Lisa and I went to the Lower East Side to see a band called Walk the Moon. I had never heard of them but they’re from Ohio and Lisa has been listening to them. Having seen a lot of college bands, I wasn’t expecting much, but they were pretty good!! Then we hung out in the LES (yes, I'm cool enough to abbreviate it). It's known for being another "hipster" area like Williamsburg, but a cooler hipster area apparently. Oh, the social complexities of the city never fail to amaze me...

Sunday I finally tried this place in Brooklyn called “Arepa Arepa” that I’ve been meaning to go to for a while. An arepa is a Venezuelan sandwich with a corn pancake-like shell with stuff in the middle. I got one with white cheese, black beans, avacado, and honey plantains. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I think it was the best non-dessert food I’ve tried in the city so far! The mix of the flavors was soooooooo delicious. If the place weren’t in such a sketch area and so far away, I’d probably eat there multiple times a week!

Sunday night was UCB once again, and it was a crazy-awesome UCB show—I can hardly believe I saw it for FREE! Amy Poehler (SNL), Seth Meyers (SNL), Jack MacBrayer (Kenneth from 30 Rock), John Lutz (author and also in 30 Rock) Bobby Moynihan (SNL), and John Hamm (Madmen) were all doing the sketch comedy this week (along with a few other lesser famous but very funny regulars). Pretty incredible! Side note on life: Jack MacBrayer is my new hero—so funny! And I brushed past him after the show…yay!

Monday and Tuesday were not that exciting. I was starting to feel restless Tuesday night because it’s been getting dark before 5pm (blegh), so I decided to walk along the Hudson almost all the way down to Battery Park again like I did a few weeks ago. Then I realized I didn’t bring my metrocard, so I walked all the way back to 29th street. I walked for two hours, more or less. It was good though because it certainly cured my restlessness. Plus, it was an extremely nice night and the city looked beautiful.

Wednesday I sat in on a CLMP (Council for Literary Magazines and Presses) meeting for one of my bosses. The point of the meeting was for some big-time publishing professionals to instruct all the smaller avant-garde ahhhhrists (the prolonged syllable is necessary in this case) how to market their books more effectively. I felt a little out of place, but I took my notes like a good little intern. I also found out that afternoon that I got tickets to the Tyra Show!!! Heck yes! I'm going with Anna, Fallon, and possibly someone else (extra ticket for any NYAPer who can get work off and wants to go). The taping is a week from Monday and it’s for TWO episodes—double the Tyra fun! I can’t wait to see what the topics are—hilaaarious.

Thursday when I got to work, I found out Ed Sanders from the Fugs was stopping by to meet with my boss. The Fugs are known for being a fairly influential pre-punk band. Ed Sanders also ran a literary magazine and helped bridge the beat and hippie movements. My boss described Ed as Allen Ginsberg’s “mentee” of sorts. This is almost a direct quote: “Ginsberg was a mentor as much as anyone could mentor someone on how to be a beat-nik. ‘Here son. Here’s some weed. Go smoke it.’” Anyway, Ed was a cool guy—very gracious. He introduced himself, talked to me about a famous musician he knew in Prague named Charlie Soukup, and after the meeting, he went out of his way to find me (I was doing some filing) say goodbye, and wish me luck on my writing—like I said, very gracious. He also referred to Allen G. as just “Allen,” and I eavesdropped while he told stories of his days in New York. Some of which included Burroughs and other such characters.

Tonight I went with Amanda to a Bikram Yoga class. WOW, it is INTENSE yoga. The classes are 90-minutes long, and they keep the studio so hot that I practically started to sweat as soon as I walked in. I don’t think I can explain the ideology behind it that well, and I’m not exactly positive what it is anyway—probably something about detox and clearing the mind and all that jazz. I do feel quite good now, even though toward the end of the session I started feeling as if I was going to throw up. Participants in the class are allowed to stop and rest, but they can’t leave the room except for emergencies. I only had to stop a couple of times for a moment, so I think I did pretty well considering it was my first yoga class ever! I’ll probably go a few more times before I leave…it’s quite the experience!

In other news, it's getting colder and the mice of NYC are taking refuge in 305. Today I saw a mouse in our ROOM! There have been mice in the basement and kitchens, but I think this is the first one in a room. Agh! We cleaned everything and haven’t seen it since, so hopefully it’s gone.

A bit of good news before I get some sleep: I was selected for a second-round interview with City Year! The interview is this Thursday at the New York office, so wish me luck! I’m sure I will write about how it goes next time.

Weeks #8 and 9: Dear New York, You are ridiculous. Love, Amy

I’m going to take my starting point of this blog at a little over a week ago on Wednesday night. Like I mentioned at the end of my last blog, my roommate, Anna, and I decided to enter the lottery for the Broadway show of Hair. What that means is we entered our names into a bucket two and a half hours before the show. At two hours before the show, they drew names of who gets the chance to purchase a pair of $25 tickets. My name wasn’t drawn…but Anna’s was! Happy day! The seats were box seats, so they weren’t always the best views, but the cast is constantly running throughout the audience, and the sound was great too, so it didn't really matter. The actors definitely get up close and personal with the audience. They attacked my head and played with my hair about half a dozen times, and at one point a guy leaned all over me and just about stuck his sweaty chest in my face. Haha, it was very weird, but an awesome weird! At the end of the show, we got to dance on stage with the cast and sing “Let the Sunshine In.” Woooonderful.

Thursday wasn’t too exciting but I had my poetry seminar again at night and our instructor said something along the lines that I could make a great career in writing poetry. I didn’t know it was possible for career and poetry to co-exist in the same sentence! I’m a bit skeptical, but I will take it as a huge compliment nonetheless.

Last Friday I worked and read poetry manuscripts until my eyes were about to fall out of my head. Toward the end I couldn’t even tell what was good and what was bad anymore. It all just kind of melded together. Then we had our 305 Halloween party, which pretty much just meant that I spent a couple hours stuffing my face with candy, cupcakes, and cool whip instead of eating dinner. Bad idea! I’ve never eaten so much sugar in one sitting, and I probably never should again. Ugh.

Halloween party at the 305

Saturday was Halloween! I didn’t have to work because they asked me to work the Sunday market instead, so I wandered around Williamsburg in Brooklyn a little while because I’ve been meaning to check it out—apparently all the “hipsters” hang out there. I didn't see as many so-called hipsters as I expected, but it was during the day, and I only wandered down one street since I got side-tracked by a thrift store. I found a pair of really nice boots there for $10. Score! I also saw the world’s fattest pigeon that afternoon. I’m serious—the thing was OBESE. It could barely fly. I spent a good five minutes just watching it and laughing to myself. After my lone venturing, I went to meet everyone back at the house to go out and see the giant Halloween parade in Greenwich.

I wasn’t planning to wear a costume because I’m lazy like that, but the NYAPers all peer-pressured me into wearing one. I had just about nothing in my closet though, so I put together a dumb, really unoriginal idea in about three minutes. Yep, you guessed it—the 80s look. Honestly though, I pretty much just looked like myself with a side pony-tail and leggings (which I wear sometimes anyway). Oh well. We all went down to Spring Street and it was CRAZY. It took a while just to find where to go to be in the parade (yes, we were IN the parade). Then once we found it, we spent about an hour or so waiting for the parade to start. It was claustrophobia central! There’s nothing like being squished up against a bunch of strangers in weird costumes. I did find a lot of amusement in all the people who kept walking up to Matt (who was dressed as a NY cop) and asking him when the parade was going to start, thinking he was a legit cop. Niiice.

Once the parade finally started, they let a wave of our section go, but about halfway through our group they started pushing us back, and when I say pushing I mean PUSHING. “Man-handled” might be a more accurate term. I was one of the five unlucky ones from our group to be pushed back and sent behind the caution tape.

stuck behind the caution tape...

Eventually they let us go, and we started walking the parade, just as it started raining. The parade wasn’t as exciting as I expected, but there were some cool things to see. One group was performing Thriller. Another huge group of people (maybe 100 or so?) did a dance to “Beat It.” There was a girl who was probably only five or six years old on stilts that were about three times her height. I must say I’m surprised I only saw ONE person dressed as Michael Jackson. Also, there were still way more jokers this year than there should have been. My favorite costumes were a couple dressed as John and Kate plus 8 and four guys as the teletubbies. Also, I heard Gumby let loose some profanity. Gotta love Halloween in NYC…Anyway, by the end of the parade, we were all soaked and exhausted, so we stopped for some scrumptious dinner at a diner, and then I headed home because I was tiiiired.

Teletubbies! ...with some girl in the middle...

It's Thriller! Thriller night! I sooooo wanted to join in...

Sunday I got up early to work the American Can Factory’s Sunday market for UDP. It wasn’t too eventful—I sold only two books in four hours, but I talked to a few interesting people. Sunday night was the free show of UCB again. Chris McDonald (Shooter McGavin from Happy Gilmore) was in the show this week, and even more exciting…we sat RIGHT behind Natalie Portman for the entire show. We didn’t realize it until intermission, but yep, it was her. My first major celebrity sighting!

Monday I read more manuscripts and then went to the Hungarian Pastry Shop to chill and write for a while. Maybe it was the spirits of writers past in there or something, but after about 10-15 minutes of initial writer’s block, I did some very solid writing for an hour or two. I discovered the joys of prose poetry! I absolutely love it and I can’t believe I hadn’t tried it before—so much fun! Also, I tested out the bathroom there for the first time. It’s pretty sweet…everyone writes crazy stuff on the walls. I can’t remember a lot of it, but one memorable thing was, “Kerouac wrote the first twitter.” Really, who comes up with that out of nowhere? Love it. Later, I had a phone interview for City Year, which I think went pretty well, but it’s hard to tell because the woman who interviewed me was so formal and matter-of-fact about everything.

Wednesday Anna and I decided to enter the lottery for West Side Story. This time around, I was the one who won! We got tickets for around $25 each again, and the seats were in the FRONT ROW. Really? Front row tickets to a Broadway show for just $25? I spent over $50 for nosebleed “are-those-people-down-there-or-just-colored-specks?” seats in Grand Rapids for touring Broadway shows. NY truly is a wondrous place! I can’t even begin to explain how great the dancing in this show is. INCREDIBLE. The singing was good, and the acting was pretty decent (for the most part), but the dancing made me want to explode with happiness, and of course it was that much more amazing because I was just a few feet from the stage.

Thursday I had my last poetry seminar. I wrote a pantuom, which at first I absolutely hated but after some moments of frustration I finally got to work—success! Then we attended a poetry reading, which reminded me that not all poetry in New York is good. That’s all I will say about that, but it was really quite cringe-worthy. Oh well, at least I got some free food! Then Nick and I went to get some dinner from the oh-so-classy Dinersty chinese place down the street. Some guy was freaking out for about ten minutes straight complete with very long strings of profanity and a lot of yelling. He only left when the guy behind the counter started to dial the police. It was a very fun experience, but Nick and I just carried on a conversation about our internships during the crazy man freak-out.

Which brings me to my title of this week--New York is so very ridiculous, it makes me laugh! The perfect example of the ridiculousness happened after work today when I decided to get a cupcake from Billy’s Bakery (recommended to me by some fellow NYAPers as having the best cupcakes in NYC...side note on life: Billy's is good but Amy's Bread still gets my vote for best cupcakes in the city!). Anyway, on the way there, a little old lady fell over in the middle of the street with her walker and couldn’t get up. I know that sounds cliche in a funny way, but it actually did happen! I was about half a block away when I saw it, and one lady had already stopped to help her by the time I got there. I stopped as well, but even with both of us, we were having trouble helping her up. It was only moments before about four other people swarmed us and between all of us, we got her on her feet again. She only spoke Spanish, but it’s NY, so of course one of the guys who stopped knew Spanish, and together, the little army of us made sure she was OK to go on her way. So there I was walking to Billy's, feeling all warm and fuzzy thinking how New Yorkers truly are kind and good-hearted people despite the stereotypes. On the way home from the bakery, however, a guy darted across the street in front of a car, and the following dialogue I witnessed between two strangers was quite the opposite of the earlier good-Samaritan moment. I’ll have to censor it to make it blog-appropriate, but it went a little something like:

Woman: “You’re a jack____!”

Man: “______ you!”

Woman: “Go ________yourself!”

Then the person standing next to me started to laugh. All of this happened in less than ten blocks. That is New York City right there in a nutshell!

Week #7 (plus some...again): NYC, the land of cupcakes.

I've been neglecting this blog again. I need to go all the way back to a week and a half ago I believe...

Well, Friday after writing my last lovely blog, I wasn't planning to go out, but a group was heading to some place Matt knew, so I decided to go with them. It ended up being kind of a bust. It was the first time I wore heels in quite a while, and we walked for dozens and dozens of blocks, and we didn't even find anywhere good to go. At least I didn't get blisters this time around! ...kind of a disappointing night, but Matt made me soup when we got back, so that made up for his poor club-picking skills? (notice the question mark...haha)

I don't really remember a lot of the rest of the weekend. Monday I went out for pizza at St. John's in the West Village with my seminar group and then I went wandering the city with Ben. We did some people-watching at Grand Central Station, which is one of the best things to do for free in NY! The funniest people we saw were this bald guy with a Christmas-y sweater, a striped scarf, and lime-green pants with a really short guy who followed him around like a little puppy dog. I soo wish I had a picture of them, haha. After that, we went to South Street Seaport, an outdoor mall-like area by the water (the Hudson? I don't know...) with ships and such. I'd been there before during my interviews last May, but it was way different at night when everything was closed...very quiet and cool.

Nothing toooo exciting to report for Tuesday or Wednesday that I can remember now. Thursday was a Futurepoem book party for Ronaldo Wilson's book, "Poems of a Black Object." Everything went smoothly, and I even got to have my first NY taxi ride on the way to help set up for it. So exciting! It was exactly how I would have imagined it...very jerky, and a little smelly. Expensive too! Almost seven dollars for less than ten blocks...good thing I didn't need to pay for it! After the party, I went out with everyone for Thai food, which was mucho delicious. I was the only one in the group of about a dozen to finish all of my food, which they all noticed, of course. What can I say? I like to eat! I didn't get home until almost midnight, and I was completely exhausted, but it was a good night.

Saturday I worked, and again, the subways were messed up, and it took an hour and a half to get to Brooklyn. I accidentally stabbed myself with an aul (little pokey tool thing), and then I got caught in the rain on the way back to the house after taking another hour and a half to get home. Yes, the subways are definitely one of my least favorite things about the city! It was kind of a rough day, but I made up for it by sleeping in Sunday until mid-afternoon...a record-setting laziness! I was feeling a little suffocated from staying in the house, and since it was a beautiful day, I decided to just head south and see what I could see. I stumbled upon Magnolia Bakery walking through the village, so I "hit up Magnolia and macked on some cupcakes" (thank you to everyone who appreciates the "Lazy Sunday" SNL reference). I have now decided that few things in this world are better than coffee, double-chocolate cupcakes, and sunny fall days. Doesn't that just sound like a happy time? It was. All the little kids were running around in their Halloween costumes too. Not sure why they were dressed up a week early, but it was cute.

Magnolia Bakery

After that, I walked South along the water (once again...I'm not sure what water!) all the way to Battery Park. It was such an incredibly gorgeous day. I saw some guys with intense roller-blading skills weaving in and out of little paper cups too, which I know some of you in Michigan would appreciate!

Eventually, I took the train back uptown in time to meet Lisa, Fallon, and Bryce to go stand in line for the late show of Upright Citizens Brigade. It was even funnier than last time, and we didn't end up in stand-by so that was a plus because we got to go out for dinner in between getting tickets and seeing the show, and we actually got to sit in SEATS. No way! Apparently, last week, Kenneth from 30 Rock was in the show. I'm bummed that I missed it! Oh well!

Bryce, Lisa, and Fallon waiting in line for UCB

Monday, I was supposed to work until 5, but since my boss is in Spain, and it was a beeeautiful day, I gave myself the afternoon off (I'll work extra hours later in the week to make up for it) and headed to Central Park for a few hours. Great decision on my part--it was another gorgeous day! I found this sweet part of the park with a pond and lots of ducks. I read for a while in the sunshine and completely forgot I was even anywhere near the city. All the trees were turning colors too...it was soooo pretty. The only bad thing was that I had to go to the bathroom at one point and it took me about an hour to find one! But that ended up being good because the bathroom search took me to Strawberry Fields again and there was a guy singing John Lennon songs, so I chilled there for quite a while. What a wonderful and relaxing afternoon--it's so great to get out of the house when I can! Don't get me wrong...the 305 is a decent place to live, but hanging out here isn't my idea of fun when I can be elsewhere.

Central Park

Today I went to Amy's Bread for lunch, a Panera-like cafe that has a few places in the city. So nice of them to name it after me, isn't it? Kidding! Bad joke, I know... Anyway, I usually take my lunch to a nearby park, but since it was rainy, I stayed in to eat, and as I was eating yet another delicious double-chocolate cupcake (I can't resist them!!), a random guy struck up conversation with me, and we ended up talking for a while. I found out he does photography and film work, and he's worked closely with Conan O'Brien, David Letterman, Comedy Central, and other famous people/networks! He was telling me all about what it's like to work with comedians and whatnot because apparently that was his specialty for a while. Apparently he used to tell Conan and Letterman, "Ok now, do it again, but this time, don't hold back the funny stuff," and they'd get irritated/angry. Niiice. It's amazing the people you randomly meet in NY! He mentioned he may be able to help me get Letterman tickets too. Sweet! I'm not even a big fan of Letterman, but I certainly wouldn't give up the chance to see it!

After work I had planned to enter the Hair lottery, but I mixed up the street numbers and was too late for it. I ran into Kelly waiting to get standing-room tickets to God of Carnage though, so I went to that with her instead. I haven't been taking advantage of the cheap Broadway tickets I can get (usually around $25 for either standing room, student rush, or lottery depending on the show), so I definitely need to change that! God of Carnage was pretty good...I was more in the mood for a musical, so I wasn't necessarily feeling a play instead, but it was pretty funny. I'm not going to rave about it, but it was definitely solid. Anna and I are planning to go to Hair sometime soon, so watch out for a description of that if we get chosen in the lottery! I'm sure it'll be interesting! ;-)

Until next time...maybe Friday? We'll see...

Week #6 Back on schedule!

Even though I updated earlier this week, and I don't have TOO much to say, I figured I'd update again so I can get back to my Friday blogging schedule. Looking back, it's hard to even remember a lot of what I did this week, so these will probably be more general thoughts than "I did this, I did that."

One thing that happened this past week is that we started our next round of seminars. I'm taking a poetry seminar with Dean Kostos. The first one was last night and it went pretty well... it's geared mostly toward beginners, so it probably won't be Earth-shattering for me as a creative writing major, but there are always new things to learn and take away.

It seems I'm adjusting more and more to life in the city. Sure, I'm still far from being a native New Yorker, but I find myself going on auto-pilot when I take the subways, instead of constantly checking the maps and such. I don't get nervous walking around anymore, not even at night. I'm still cautious and aware, of course, but I'm never afraid. Now, maybe if I was lost in the Bronx at night, THEN I'd be nervous, but as long as I'm familiar with the area and know where I'm going, there's no need to be afraid, in my opinion. New York is a much safer place than people make it out to be. There are people around all the time, even in the dead of night, and most areas are pretty well lit. Don't bother anyone, and they generally won't bother you.

Summer is officially over it seems. I've been busting out the scarves, boots, and winter coats this week. So far I don't mind the cold, especially since it hasn't dropped too much below 50 yet, but I'm not necessarily looking forward to the REAL cold. I like being able to hold my coffee as I walk without my fingers becoming icicles. I'm going to need to invest in some decent gloves, that's for sure.

Life in general has been really good lately. There is always some uncertainty, and minor things don't go as well as they should sometimes, but lately everything seems to be falling into place. I'm liking it. I'm taking life as it comes, and it's nice. I do need to start figuring out the near future though. I'm applying for internships in Michigan for the spring semester, and I'm also applying to a program called City Year for next year. Look at me--making decisions about my future! I know you're all so proud considering how indecisive I am ;-)

Anyway, City Year is a 10-month Americorps program working with kids in at-risk areas of cities all over the US. Participants of City Year specifically work with kids on literacy (kind of my thing...yes?) and after-school programs including fine-arts groups and newspaper clubs (once again...kind of my thing!) I wouldn't get paid a salary, but I would get a stipend for living expenses and money to help pay off my college loans, so it's a pretty good deal. I really hope I'm accepted because it sounds like such an awesome program and it would give me another year to figure out the grad school vs. job decision I'll need to make. City Year is in several cities all over the U.S. but I'm applying to City Year New York, because if you haven't noticed, I'm kind of fond of this crazy, crazy town.

That's all for now because it is very late, and I need to work in the morning. Sorry about the lack of pictures...next week should be more exciting?

Week #5 (plus some): I now hate the words "stand by"

I slacked a bit this week on my blog-posting, but better late than never, right?

I have about a week and a half to talk about, so here goes! Last Saturday was press day #3 at UDP. I spent most of the time sewing together chapbooks (small books of poetry). At one point, one of the other interns and I decided to grab some lunch, and halfway to the café it started POURING. Getting caught in the rain is starting to become a trend, but fortunately a very nice lady stopped her car and handed us her daughter’s tiny Snow White umbrella for us to use. A perfect example that New Yorkers CAN be generous and kind. It is possible.

Saturday night I went with some NYAPers to an Asian club that Matt got us into for free (because apparently he has connections). We were definitely in the minority (besides Matt), but it was still pretty fun. And the club had bathroom attendants–you know, the people who squirt soap for you and hand you paper towels? It seems like a pretty unnecessary job to me…but I suppose it’s nice for the germaphobes of the world.

Sunday about a dozen of us went to Central Park for a picnic. We each brought something—peanut butter, jelly, crackers, cheese, fruit etc. Then, we put it in the middle of our blanket square and chowed down! Mmmmm….

They were having “Ecofest” in the park, and this guy came over dressed in a giant inflated ball-shaped costume. When we asked the people who were walking with him why he was dressed that way, they responded, “It’s for climate change!” Wait, it’s FOR climate change? I wasn’t aware that anyone was FOR climate change. I think they meant that it’s to raise awareness about climate change. I sure hope so anyway! Nevertheless we all gathered ‘round and took a group picture:

Monday was my free afternoon, so I trekked over to E 45th St to find this new place that just opened called Kolache Mama! For those of you who don’t know, Kolaches are a type of Czech pastry. My grandma used to make them all the time when I was younger, so I was pretty excited when I found out about this place. I had two—tomato mozzarella basil and baked apple. The baked apple was definitely my favorite. Here’s a picture of the ultimate deliciousness:

I also discovered another new love in the city. Trader Joes!!!!!! Trader Joes is a grocery store that has the best prices I’ve seen yet. All the food is organic, and the selection is great! I got a basket full of food for only $17. The lines wrap around the store, and it’s a subway ride away, but it’s so very worth it. I then made some delicious banana pancakes with my newly bought groceries. And yes, I did pretend it was the weekend while I was doing so. Thank you to all of you who get that reference ;-)

There’s not much to say about Tuesday. A bird pooped on me while I was eating lunch in Washington Square Park. I was not ok with that. Oh, I also went to a free dance concert in Bryant Park that day after work. It was part of their “fall festival” where they have free concerts of all kinds every weekday for two weeks. Unfortunately, it ended today, but I’m so glad I got to see that dance concert—it was amazing, and best of all, FREE.

Wednesday was the windiest day I think I have ever experienced. On my way to work in Brooklyn, the lid from a grill flew off of a balcony and landed literally a few feet in front of me. When pieces of metal are flying, you know it’s windy! After work, I grabbed some dinner, and I was planning to eat it outside before checking out a museum, but I could hardly even stand outside with the wind, let alone eat, so I sought refuge in the Staten Island ferry building. While I ate my sandwich, a woman played the Simpsons theme song on a saw. Talk about some dinner-time entertainment…only in New York, right? She also played Edelweiss from the Sound of Music. Well, at least she’s musically versatile!

After wandering around in the wind for a while because Hopstop yet again gave me terrible directions, I found the museum I wanted to check out – NYC’s Jewish heritage/Holocaust memorial museum. No, I’m not Jewish and no, I don’t have Jewish heritage, but I’ve always

been oddly interested in the holocaust and WWII in general, and it was “pay what you can” night, so I figured I’d take a look. Wednesday night was the usual ice cream run to Baskin Robbins, always a highlight of the week!

Thursday I finally finished inventory at Granary. Woo! I also got some time to sit and talk with my boss about how he ended up in NY and life in NY in general—I’m always fascinated by how people end up here, especially people from the mid-west (he’s from Iowa).

When I got back to our housing after work, I had to wait outside for about 5-10 minutes because there were people shooting a scene for an independent film in our front “yard” (we have a small gated area). Hey, maybe the NYAP building will be famous one day! Ha, doubt it because the film didn’t look very good from what I saw, but I’ll keep my opinions to myself.

Friday I went with a guy, Ben, to try to get stand-by tickets to Saturday Night Live. We got there about 1:30 or 2am and waited in line allllll night. There were some interesting people there, for sure. Some were really intense about it and brought air mattresses and everything. Apparently, in the winter, people bring tents and turn it into a sort of urban camping trip. At 7am, they gave us a free breakfast and our tickets—numbers 48 and 49. Stand-by tickets don’t guarantee admission, but we were hoping we were high enough on the list that we’d get in. There were probably about 100 people behind us… so we showed up at 10:45 for the show. After they took the first 30 people up to the studio, they took the next 30 (including us), and had us go through the metal detectors and line up outside the elevators. We then waited in anticipation for the “signal” if we were going to get to go up or not. It was all very official. They took a handful of people in front of us, and then about five minutes before the show, we got the announcement: “Sorry, we’re full, thanks for coming! Try again later!” It was horribly depressing after ALL that waiting to be turned away. Not a good night to say the least.

I had to wait in line AGAIN last night for the free improv show of Upright Citizens Brigade (a comedy club, more or less). We waited for about an hour, and then we were put toward the beginning of the stand-by line, which meant we had to wait another hour to get in, but hey, at least I got in this time! The show was very funny, and I’m sure I’ll be back again sometime this semester.

And that's all I have for now. To end, here's a picture of the Statue of Liberty taken from Battery Park on that horribly crazy windy day!

Week #4: I'm gonna live forever.

Another week in the city, and my immune system has finally decided to go on strike. My sinuses and throat have been protesting the fact that I’ve been spending too much time riding germ-infested subways and not getting enough sleep. I took the day off Thursday and I’ve been trying to get some extra sleep, so I’m hoping to feel better soon.

Ok, I guess I’ll start where I left off. Saturday night, like I mentioned before, I went to see the opening showings of Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, which was only opening at the IFC in New York last weekend (now everywhere!). Like I said, John Krasinski was there to introduce the movie, which he directed and stars in. It was bizarre (but extremely cool) to see him in person! I would have taken a picture, but about half the theatre had the same idea. Camera flashes were going off the whole time he was talking, and I thought about how annoying that would be if I was trying to speak in front of a crowd, so I didn’t take one. Sorry. You’ll just have to take my word for it that he was there.

The movie itself was EXCELLENT. I had my doubts, but it was definitely one of the best movies I’ve seen in a while. GO SEE IT. If you don’t like indie movies, you might not like it, but if you keep an open mind, I think you can take a lot away from it.

Story of the week: I got recruited to work at Hollister on my way to lunch one day (I was nowhere near Hollister, I should add). I still don't understand why, but it makes for a funny story. It's too long of a story to write here, but I'll give details to anyone who wants to hear! By the way, the Hollister here is on STEROIDS. You can smell the perfume from almost a block away. I swear, they must be pumping it outside the building...

Early in the week I went back to the first place I ever ate in NYC almost five years ago--the Hungarian Pastry Shop on the upper west side, near Columbia. It’s hard to find a spot to sit there, but once you do, you can stay as long as you like and get free refills on coffee, so I spent a couple hours there reading and doing research. On my way back, I walked through Bryant Park and ended up getting stuck in the pouring rain without an umbrella. I huddled under one of their giant park umbrellas with about ten other people until the rain slowed down enough that I could make a run for the subway. That night, a bunch of us went to see Fame, which made me laugh a lot, even though it wasn’t supposed to be funny most of the time. In other words…it was a pretty bad movie.

most of us who went to see Fame...doing Fame poses?

I don’t remember much about Tuesday except for it involved more heavy lifting at my internship, and on the way back from our seminar, we walked over the Brooklyn bridge at night. It was the most beautiful view of the city I have ever seen! Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera. I REALLY wish I did, but at least I can replay it in my mind.

Wednesday and Thursday are a bit foggy, probably because I haven’t been feeling too well. Today at work, I had to pick up the biggest pile of manuscripts yet from the Post Office. Usually the workers there are extremely grumpy, but there was a nice guy working today, and Mr. Nice Postal Worker actually offered and helped me carry my overflowing shopping cart full of mail down the stairs of the giant post office on 8th Ave. It was much appreciated!!

This week was lacking in pictures. Sorry about that. I’ll try to do better next time!

Week #3: "Dressing for fall in a rigid ocean way, leaving sun guts behind"

Another week = another update! I keep meaning to update sometime during the week so my blogs aren’t so unbelievably long, but the week goes by quickly, and here it is, Friday again!

I suppose I should start with last weekend then. On Sunday, Fallon, Kelly, Nick, Jess, and I made a trip down to Coney Island for the day since it was the last day of the season that the Cyclone rollercoaster was running. Prices are high at Coney, even higher than I expected. It even costs a quarter to use the bathrooms--it’s like Urinetown (the musical)…or Europe! We rode the “Wonder Wheel” and the Cyclone once each for a grand total of $14, but I don’t regret it because it was a good time! Both rides are fun but extremely uh…historical. Some would use words such as old, rickety, dangerous, but I choose to think of it as charming—always best to look on the bright side! Plus, there’s a sign next to the Wonder Wheel saying there has never been an accident in its 89 years of existence. I don’t remember seeing a sign like that next to the Cyclone though, which is just about as old…hmmmm…good thing I've gotten over my fear of rollercoasters!

the five of us about to take the subway to Coney

I wasn't kidding... and they were pretty uncleanly for costing a quarter, too

The rest of the day we spent on the beach and the boardwalk in the absolutely beautiful weather. I got to see the Atlantic Ocean in all its glory for the first time since I was 10, so yay for that! We also ate authentic Coney Island foods such as Nathan’s hot dogs and funnel cakes. I normally despise hot dogs, but I made an exception for Coney, and I wasn’t disappointed. I was pretty happy to satisfy the funnel cake craving I’ve had for a year or two now. The vendors dumped about half of pound of powdered sugar on top of the one I shared with Kelly, and it was a breezy day, so by the time we finished eating, we were covered in sugar, but it was delicious.

view of Coney from the Wonder Wheel

one of many pictures Nick took of us jumping on the beach

Also, if you’ve ever wondered what the worst job in America is, you can stop wondering because I’ve found it. We came across a game called “Shoot the Freak,” which is really just a chance to use paint-ball guns to shoot at a kid who runs around in a black hoodie in 80 degree weather. That kid better get paid more than minimum wage…

historically charming? maybe not so much in this case...

My internships have been showing some improvement, so I think I’m sticking with them. I had my first “press day” with UDP last weekend and even though it included folding endless stacks of papers, I also got to meet a lot of people within the presse. We’ll see how many of their names I can remember tomorrow. I do have to say, Brooklyn is certainly a different world than Manhattan, but that’s one of this city’s charms! Each area has its own “feel”—styles, quirks, people, etc.

a canal I walk by to and from work in Brooklyn

I’ve started doing a bit of editing and review work for UDP too along with my more typical office and organizational duties. I’m still getting plenty of chances to work on my upper body strength though—don’t worry! Just the other day I did inventory for one of the presses, which meant I got to carry very heavy boxes of books up and down ladders all afternoon. I feared for my safety more in those moments than I ever have while walking in the streets of the city, but I lived to tell the tale, and my boss was very appreciative of my efforts. Yay?

Since some of you have said how much you love my literary facts, here’s another one for you! I got the wonderful chance to meet John Ashbery (previously mentioned famous poet) at a book party Wednesday. The book that was being published and celebrated, Faster than Birds Can Fly, costs $2000 (within the college student's budget, no?), so I opted for another book of John Ashbery poetry, and he kindly signed and inscribed the book for me. It was pretty loud in the gallery and he seemed a bit hard of hearing perhaps, so I didn’t get the chance to ask him for poetic words of wisdom, but it was still an honor. The title of this blog is from the new book. Anyone who includes “sun guts” in a poem automatically scores some major points, in my opinion. I know you’re all dying to know what all is involved with a NYC book party. Well you know, the usual: strobe lights, techno music, hard drugs and lots of alcohol. Just kidding…except for the alcohol, but it’s just champagne and wine.

I have discovered a new love in NY: thrift store shopping! Let’s just say that if my feet were one size smaller, I could have bought a pair of Prada shoes for $20. Normally, I don’t care about designer labels one bit, but I kind of want a pair just to say I have some (and I know you’ll appreciate that especially, Raquel).

Another new love in the city: La Bergamote Café. There are many great eating places in NY, but this is quickly becoming a favorite among favorites for me. It’s just nine or so blocks from our housing, and one of my bosses takes me there for breakfast once in a while. It’s an authentic Parisian café and they have the most delicious pastries. Ever. Think of the best croissant or danish you’ve had; now multiply that by a million and add a little bit of heaven, and you might get an idea of what I’m talking about.

Some of us went to Comedy Cellar again last night, which was wonderful because I had a pretty rough day and I was in need of some laughs. My favorite was a comic who’s been on Flight of the Concords—James Smith, I think? Dry humor is the best. Dave Artell also fought off a couple of pretty intense hecklers, so that was entertaining, though slightly uncomfortable, to watch.

A night out on the town: at "La Esquina," a little Mexican restaurant in Soho

Tomorrow night, I’m going to see a screening of "Brief Interviews with Hideous Men," and John Krasinski (Jim from the Office) will be there in person introducing the film and doing a short Q&A session. Can’t wait! Did I mention I kind of like this city a little bit?

Week #2: Tonya Harding, manuscript mania, the beats, and the blues

Another week has gone by so it’s time for an update!

New York is a funny place. I always knew that, but I truly realized it last Saturday. Where would a bunch of college students go on a Saturday night in NY, you ask? Why, the Trailer Park Lounge, of course! Yes, there is such a place, and lucky us, it’s located just a few blocks away from our housing. The Trailer Park has some interesting décor, but I think the shrine to Tonya Harding takes the cake. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a picture of that, but I did get a picture of the place in general:

Yes, those are paper towels instead of napkins and yes, that deer head is wearing a mullet wig. Only in New York…

Sunday, I worked a book fair in Brooklyn, and by “worked” I mean I sat around and listened to poetry while baking in the hot, hot sun. Later, a bunch of us went to check out the red carpet for the VMAs (MTV video music awards). We got there at about 6, and when we saw the crowds of people and realized no one was arriving until 8, we left, but I can say I was there! Here’s a picture of the madness:

Instead, we crammed into one of our TV lounges and watched the VMAs toget

her, and what a crazy awards show it was! If you saw it, you know. Gathering around the TV is kind of a norm here. Every Wednesday night a bunch of us watch Glee together after going to Baskin Robbins for dollar-scoop Wednesdays. A dollar for ice cream in New York? Sweeeet (literally…sorry, bad pun). P.S. Josh Groban was on Glee last week! Only for a couple minutes though, and he didn’t sing. Sad day.

Ok, time to talk about the reason I’m technically here: WORK!

Let’s start out positively. I absolutely love my internship at Futurepoem! September is Futurepoem’s open submission period. My main job at the moment is to go through all the manuscripts (probably will be about 250) to pick the top 30 “finalists” that will be reviewed by the entire editorial board. This morning, after a trip with my boss to the giant post office near Penn Station, in which the workers berated him for letting the manuscripts pile up so long, I got to start going through what we’ve received so far (a whole shopping cart’s worth). It's a strange feeling of power to be able to open up those packages and sort those giant manuscripts into yeses, maybes, and nos. Each writer puts hours and hours into these works, and I can dismiss them in minutes. Weird.

My other internships…I’d rather not spend too much time talking about them. I have nothing against the organizations themselves or the people I work for, but the work I'm doing...that's another story. At one, I’m basically a UPS worker, without the truck. For six hours Tuesday I did absolutely nothing except deliver/pick up packages and package books. Don’t get me wrong, that needs to be done, but if that’s all I’m going to be doing, the guy really should have looked for an intern with muscles instead of literary skills. He could have at least warned me to wear better shoes for that glorious experience. I had to print out three years worth of e-mail the other day too. I could just hear the trees crying. At the other press, my project for the next month is to reorganize some shelves. Enough said.

one of the presses I work for, located in the basement of an old factory in Brooklyn

It’s in the works to find a new internship for me though, something more journalism-related. A lot of the good internships are gone now, understandably, but we’re looking, and there are a couple of hopefuls.

Negativity over. Want to know another reason why this city is so weird, and yet amazing? Yesterday, at a lecture we attended for seminar, we had two empty seats next to us and our adviser invited a woman to come sit in one. They chatted for a while casually, and later, she told us the woman was Anne Waldman…wait, THE Anne Waldman? The Anne Waldman I studied in Beat Literature? The Anne Waldman that worked with Allen Ginsberg and founded a school with him? That Anne Waldman? Really? I couldn’t have known about that while she was sitting about five feet from me? I guess you just never know here…

Anne Waldman and Allen Ginsberg

Well, I suppose it's time for me to go to sleep, since I have a busy day of organizing shelves tomorrow! Haha! No...really. Anyway, I will end with some pictures I took while in Central Park during my day off Monday. The weather was absolutely beautiful!

Strawberry Fields: a tribute to John Lennon

fountain you may recognize (it's in a lot of movies)...I can't remember the name of it

video of two excellent musicians under a bridge in Central Park

P.S. If Nick is reading, sorry for stealing your blog title, even though I didn't know about it. Haha!