Friends!

Ok, Thanksgiving update to follow, but right now I want to tell you about the links on the side of my page.  They're links to blogs by my friends who are also on gap years and they're all really interesting:

Becca is traveling with a program called Thinking Beyond Borders, and they spend about a month in a country doing some form of community service before a week of enrichment/fun, then they go to another country.  So far they've been to Costa Rica, Peru, China, and Cambodia.

David and Jaime are traveling together.  They're traveling to different countries with different service programs.  Right now I think they're still in Russia, and I know they're also going to at least Australia, New Zealand, and China.

Zack worked on the Obama campaign for most of the fall in Ohio, and now he is traveling to China and after that he will be going to Bolivia.  He no longer uses his blogger account, however, so you can catch up on him via his livejournal.

Elliot is working with children in Chile, I think for the whole year.

Busy Weekend... Almost Thanksgiving!

I'm at work. I finished up what I had left to do on the spreadsheet for the holiday cards, and now I'm just waiting to hear back about some addresses, which I probably won't even hear back on today anyway. So I'm probably going to leave soon, and the day ends at 2:00 today anyway, but I'll stick about for a little while. I'm just getting a little antsy about getting to be home for 4 days! (even though I'll be really busy) AND I get to bake pie tomorrow, which I'm excited for since baking is one of my favorite things!

But anyway, I'll wrap up the story of this weekend and Emily and Kali's visit.

Saturday Emily and Kali saw "13" and "Spring Awakening," and I hung out by myself while they did those and met them by the stage doors to take pictures. Between shows we wandered to Rockefeller Center, contemplated skating, but decided against it since it was expensive and would have taken a long time. We had dinner at Junior's deli, which was great, and for dessert Emily had this specialty of theirs which is Devil's Food Cheesecake, which is basically a 2-layer Devil's Food cake with chocolate icing on top of cheesecake. I don't like cheesecake, but I had some of the Devil's Food and it was INCREDIBLE! I had a black & white cookie for dessert, and I gave some to Kali and it was her first black & white and she enjoyed it so I'm glad (I know the number of "and"s in that sentence is gross). But my god, that devil's food cake... wow.

Sunday morning they went to coffee with our friend Amy from high school and then out to tea with Emily's cousin at Alice's Tea Cup, then they went to the North Face store to get a jacket for Kali. I slept in and went to Bloomingdale's with my mom for brunch and half-hearted Christmas dress shopping. Emily, Kali and I met up around 2:00 at the Central Park Zoo, where I was dismayed to learn that I'd left my camera battery charging in the apartment! But the zoo was fun. We watched them feeding sea lions, seals, and penguins, and saw the polar bears which Emily in particular was jazzed about. We spent a long time in the rain forest exhibit, more out of the desire to be warm (it's tropical animals, hence WARM building), less out of love of the rainforest animals. Although I enjoyed the bats, the birds were colorful, and we saw some crazy awesome frogs and lizards and such. Water snakes are creepy as hell.

Then we went back to the apartment and got the camera battery, and returned to the park for a brief photo shoot (because I am nothing if not a photography addict). The pictures are here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/applegalette

They left Sunday afternoon a little after 4:00, then my parents and I went to the opening night of "White Christmas." This is one of my family's favorite Christmas movies. There was one really weird moment at the beginning where the main guy started singing the title song and, although it sounded good, I just kinda found it really jarring that he sounded nothing like Bing Crosby. Bing's voice is so distinctive, and that song is so iconic, I guess it was just a visceral reaction. Also, and this is a cultural/generational reaction, at first I was kinda thrown by the fact that these two super successful Broadway/performing stars (the two main male characters) had been in the army, since that's not the type of guy you associate with being in the army, but then I realized it was WWII, which a) had a draft and b) had incredible popular support, so pretty much everyone from most walks of life either enlisted or was drafted. But it was the first time that I'd really NOTICED the influence on my thought processes by the culture I've grown up in.

The desserts at the party were AMAZING. Since it was "White Christmas," all the desserts were white (sugar cookies, nutty cookies covered in powdered sugar, cheesecake, and, most importantly, white chocolate mousse). The chocolate mousse was so good, I had at least 3 (probably actually 4) of the little cups. And with the last one I had a cup of hot chocolate, and I discovered the amazingness of dipping the spoonful of white chocolate mousse in the hot chocolate before eating it. Wonderful. Writing about it right now makes me crave it...

But I get to bake pies tomorrow so hooray! I think I'm gonna leave here in 10 or so minutes so... yay! Thanksgiving!

Frozen Fingers!

Tonight my friend Emily and her friend Kali from college at Case Western showed up to stay with me. (And by "showed up" I mean this was planned about a month in advance). We decided to order in both pizza and Chinese food (twice as delicious!), then we watched the new episode of my cousin's show ("The Suite Life on Deck"), then we went out to the Empire State Building. It was EMPTY, which was wonderful! :) We walked right through up to the ticket counter, and tried to purchase youth tickets (12-17, and $2 cheaper than regular tickets). The lady demanded ID. She started accusing us of stuff. I didn't HAVE ID on me, otherwise I would have presented my old student ID and gotten the discount.
(My high school ID just says "2008" on it, indicating my year of graduation, but it could easily indicate the year it was issued). The lady kept demanding ID and being mean about it, and saying that we shouldn't say we're youth when we're not and that three "youths" shouldn't be walking around alone that late at night. First of all, if tomorrow is my 18th birthday, today I'm youth, tomorrow I'm not, but I change just about not at all as a person. Also, if I'm younger I'm less likely to have ID than if I'm older, since I can't get a driver's license and, although almost every school does now, not EVERY school gives an ID. Whatever. We made it to the top:
And then we went outside, where it was WINDY and COLD, especially since it's 86 stories up!I stupidly did not wear gloves.
The picture above is me cringing in pain after coming inside. My hands were so cold it actually hurt to warm them up!
Mirror picture! With lovely NYC lights in the background.
And, of course, our visit concluded with the obligatory trip to the gift shop! (we purchased nothing, of course, but did have some fun in there!)

Tomorrow is our Times Square adventure. Huzzah!

It's Beginning to Feel...

Last night I walked out of The Public, looked around, and saw a very impressive display of Christmas lights to the south. Instant smile. This morning as I was leaving my apartment building I saw some guys stringing lights up on the trees by the curb. It's not even Thanksgiving yet, but I love it. It's also finally getting really cold, which is amazing (although it can get uncomfy for a California girl like me!). To me winter is what New York is supposed to be!

One of the other interns in our little intern office just called her boss on the phone to ask her a quesiton. I could hear both halves of the conversation just sitting here, since the offices are so open and close together. I found that amusing.

My friend Emily and her friend Kali from college and coming to visit me this weekend. It'll probably be exhausting, but fun. And it'll be good to pass the time this weekend until I get to go HOME next Wednesday for Thanksgiving (not that I don't go home ALL THE TIME, but it feels great every time I do!).

Road Show Party

Last night was the opening night party for Road Show, the new/revamped Sondheim show I've mentioned before that's playing at The Public. Interns and lower level staff weren't invited to the actual show, since the theater is pretty small, but I met up with my fellow interns (and their plus ones; I was unable to find a plus one that didn't have rehearsal that night) and hung out at the party. I finally formally met Michael Cerveris! I went up to him, introduced myself ("Hi, I'm Annie, we've microwaved together"), and he seemed pleased to be meeting me and remembered our microwave encounters. Success at not being shy and awkard on my part.

We also talked to John Doyle for a few seconds, just to congratulate him, but he got whisked away before we could get into any kind of real conversation.

The party was in a venue kinda the opposite of the venue for the Billy Elliott party (part warehouse, part castle, all cavernous). This was in the Union Square ballroom, which is big enough for a decent-sized party, but by no means an enormous venue. It's more... bar-mitzvah sized, less on the Grand Ball scale. Unless you know someone who's had an extremely lavish bar-mitzvah.

Today was a pretty normal work day (scanning, a little bit of filing). Oh! No, I remember feeling like this was a particularly good day in little ways, like finding a Metro Card with $7.00 on it in my coat pocket, and having some really good chicken tenders at this diner a few blocks from work, and just little stuff like that. I've also scored big on the free merch this week at work, first getting a Road Show opening night special thermos thing, then a Native Theater Festival notebook for working on that.

Now I have to finish my book and head off to bed (probably the earliest I'll have gone to sleep in a while, not gonna lie).

Airport Excitement

Dear Anyone who has ever called Kate Winslet "fat" or "full-figured,"

That is a load of bunk.  I saw her at the airport today (she and her 3-person entourage cut in front of me right before I was going to get my ID checked in security so she wouldn't get too harrassed by the stalkerazzi.  One of her people apologized kinda blushing, and even she kinda turned around and went "this is so ridiculous" as they were being let into line in front of me.)  She's very petite and beautiful.  I read the new "Vanity Fair" with her on the cover during my flight to L.A. for the weekend, so it was weird that she of all people would be the one I'd run into at the airport.

Also, I went to Harvard-Westlake and saw "Into the Woods" last night, which was good.  I also saw the new James Bond movie ("Quantum of Solace"), which was not so good.

Native Theater Festival

Right now the Public is putting on their Native Theater Festival, which they started last year.  It features plays by Native American (American Indian?) playwrights, panels on different topics relating to Native American art, especially in theater, and tonight there was a special concert by Martha Redbone in Joe's Pub.  This festival has been in the planning phase the entire time I've been at The Public, and even longer, and it's weird that it's finally happening.

Today we had to make 5 extra welcome packets for some of the artists and other festival people, so Deborah (the other literary intern) and I had to go out and get five subway maps.  The problem is, the guys in the subway kiosks will only give you one map at a time.  So we each went to the uptown and downtown stations right near work, then I ran into Boram Lee walking down the street near the uptown station.  She went to Harvard-Westlake with me, and now goes to NYU.  It was super random to run into her, but not unpleasant.  We said "hey" and the usual pleasantries, then I asked her to go down into the uptown subway station and get me one more map (for a total of 5 - 3 from me and 2 from Deborah).  Boram did that for me, which was really nice of her, and I couldn't find Deborah when I came out of the station so I went back to the office.  But when I got back it turned out that Deborah had gone to a station about a block away to get a third map of her own, so we had an extra map!

Later in the day Lisa (my boss), Jess (Artistic Intern), Cate (Literary Fellow - as in she has a fellowship), and I had to go downstairs to meet the caterer and set up for the reception that marks the start of the festival.  The caterer was really late getting to the theater, because she was working another event in Newark, NJ earlier in the evening, so Lisa got a little stressed.  But Juliet (the caterer) got there in time and it all worked out.  Jess, Cate, Lisa and I had to work as the cater waiters for the event since Juliet only brought a bartender (not her fault, it was our budget, etc.).  What I mean by that is we had to wear all black, then stand in the corner and pretty much do nothing except occasionally throw away empty cups and discarded napkins left on the tables.  And help with set up/clean up.  At first Lisa had dictated that we couldn't eat the food, except for the occasional grape or piece of cheese we swiped while no one was looking, to maintain professionalism, but later in the evening she repealed that ban.  Thank GOD, since I hadn't eaten beforehand (bad call) and I was STARVING!!!  There were some delicious chicken skewers that I ate on some of the bread that was supposed to go with cheese, like a little chicken sandwich.  And I had one amazing strawberry!

We (the interns/temporary cater waiters and I) met this actor named Chaske, who is in one of the readings and on one of the panels.  I think Jess met other people but I didn't (I might have been too busy eating).  This guy looked super young, like our age (I say "our" but my fellow interns are actually all much older than I -- at least 4 years -- since they've all graduated from college already and I haven't even started), but he talked about being in school (i.e. college) in NYC when there were still hookers and drugs and strip clubs, etc., all over Times Square (late 80s/early 90s) and how he watched it all change, which indicates that he's older than he looks.  I think it would have been really cool to see that transition, though. 

Going back upstairs after the reception to put a bowl away and get my coat, I saw John Doyle also going upstairs.  I held a door open for me, he smiled at me like he knew me (!!!), and asked how I was (as he was passing, so obviously he didn't really care, but I still responded briefly and asked him how he was doing to which he responded "fine").  That was pretty cool.

Then Deborah and I split a cab home, because she lives across the street from me and the subway late at night is super creepy.  Especially since Deborah told us a story this morning about some serial subway rapist who operates on trains running from Union Square to Astoria.  Not fun.

Bad Day?

Ok, so, I've had a lot of good days that ended badly (like this past Thursday and Halloween), but today was a day that started out terrible (really busy at work + really really tired... which isn't being helped by me staying up WAY too late right now) and ended pretty well. I was trudging to the door at the end of the day literally falling asleep on my feet and I walk past this guy who looks familiar... I try to check it out casually, and it's Mandy Patinkin lounging on the couch in the reception area and talking to someone (I don't remember who)!! Mandy Patinkin is awesome! He's doing some concerts at The Public this fall and I'm really excited to go to them! Then I had dinner with my Aunt Linda which was surprisingly fun and VERY delicious (we ate at this restaurant called Island on Madison between 93rd and 92nd).

I got there a bit early, and asked if I could wait at the bar. After I didn't order anything, the girl manning the bar got snippy with me and kinda forced me into getting a table. I was STARVING and I was sitting there staring at my bread roll frantically drinking the coke I felt pressured into ordering wishing for Aunt Linda to show up. But then she did and it was all good. The roll was excellent, then I had apple/butternut squash soup which was very warm (GREAT on such a cold night) and had little apple chunks in it which were delicious, a hamburger as my main course (also excellent, every once in a while an expensive burger is worth it. And this one was only moderately expensive, as opposed to the $20 burger at the Marriott Marquis hotel restaurant in the 8th floor lobby), and then we shared a warm brownie with vanilla gelato on top for dessert -- AMAZING. I definitely recommend this restaurant if you want an upscale but still fairly casual night out.

Bed time.

Photographs!

So update: I now have all my pictures from my gap year (minus specifically facebook-genred L.A. pictures) up here: http://picasaweb.google.com/applegalette

Even if you're my facebook friend, there are some unseen "gems" in there. And if you take a look, maybe some commentary?

Jayson - Day Two

Today after finally waking up I dragged Jayson to Cafe Luka, this coffee shop a little over a block from my apartment, for brunch.  Brunch was unexciting, then we took a cab to the Natural History Museum.

We went to see this exhibit called "Lizards and Snakes Alive!" which I thought included petting of lizards and snakes, but alas did not.  We had a lot of fun taking pictures of the lizards, especially trying to catch the blue-tongued skink with its blue tongue sticking out (we only managed to get one really blurry photo of this event despite MANY pictures of the skink).  Then the camera battery died.  :(

We finished touring the lizard exhibit, then found an outlet in one of the main museum hallways and plugged the camera battery in to charge.  This museum guy came up to us to give us a survey.  He asked where we were from, and when we said L.A. he mentioned all the political stuff that's going on there and the crime rate going up because of that.  Jayson made some joke about how all the gangs have gone into hiding because they're afraid of all the protests and the guy just lost it.  Then we took the survey, which was about an exhibit they're thinking of installing about insects and spiders.  Some of it actually sounded pretty cool, and as much as I love the museum it really could use something new and exciting.

After the museum we walked back to the apartment through Central Park.  All I can say is I wish I'd gone to Central Park a thousand other times while I've been here.  I've only really been in the park in the winter (and this past summer to see "Hair"), but it is absolutely GORGEOUS in the fall.  It helped that today had absolutely amazing light and I was on a picture taking spree.  I'm not posting pictures here because it's SUCH a pain in the ass but I'll link to a website where you can find all my photography at the end of this post.

We made it back to the apartment to get Jayson's bag and discovered that he had to HURRY to get to Penn station in time for his train.  He made it, but he told me over the phone that he'd left his iPod in his cab and had to chase after it to get the iPod back.

After Jayson left I went back to the park to check out this traveling art installation that is on its last day in NYC.  It features work by different artists inspired by the Chanel quilted handbag, and travels in this really cool space-pod looking venue.  It's going to major international fashion capitols.

Unfortunately, they were out of tickets (which are free) and, like I said, this is the last day, so I couldn't get in.  I was a little bummed but I did check out the outside of it, which was pretty cool, and took some more pictures in the park.

Now I'm back at the apartment eating and relaxing and I'll probably work for a little bit before I go to bed but... we'll see.  I need to get a good night's sleep so I'll at least try to go to bed early.

PHOTOGRAPHY: http://picasaweb.google.com/AppleGalette 

A Couple of Squares

Last night my flight was delayed significantly because first the flight crew was late getting in from their previous flight, and then the plane was missing a medical kit so that had to be replaced.  So I got in really late, and then sat on the couch vegging and watching TV.  At 3:00 AM the Disney Channel movie "Brink!" came on.  This was bad, since I wanted to go to bed and "Brink!" is my absolute favorite Disney Channel/TV movie of all time.  I watched the beginning of it, but decided to go to bed since I needed rest and TiVO'd the movie for future viewing.

This morning I got to sleep in a bit, which was AMAZING, then I went to Union Square to meet up with Nicole and Matthew, who were having lunch with Matthew's friend Peter, an NYU student.  I also went to return a book to Barnes & Noble (the extra cash was a big relief for my fraught nerves).  So, Matthew, Nicole, and Peter come into the Barnes & Noble after a quite extensive waiting period, and it turns out that Matthew's church friend Peter is this guy who came on the Harvard-Westlake Edinburgh trip in 2005 (he went to New Roads, but the wife of the program head, Mr. Schrode, was a teacher of his).

We hung out in the book signing/readings area of the B&N because there were a whole bunch of chairs there which was nice, especially since it was raining out.  Then Matthew and Nicole headed back to Princeton, Peter headed back to NYU, and I headed back to my apartment.

I hung out in my apartment for a bit, watched about half of "Brink!," then my friend Jayson called.  He was touring the NBC studios with a group from his school, UPenn, and is staying in my apartment tonight.  He called to let me know he was done with his tour, but it was much earlier than I'd expected him to call.  I headed out and walked to Bloomingdales to return a bra (mostly for the money but also because I'd come to the conclusion that it was unnecessary and I didn't need it for anything specific at the moment since I don't wear a lot of strapless dresses), then tried to take the N or R to Times Square to meet Jayson at Rockefeller Center.  However, the N and R are all weird for a week or so, and I ended up taking the 4 to Grand Central and then the S to Times Square.

I walked to Rock Center, met up with Jayson, and we walked around Times Square for a bit.  We tried to get in for dinner at Bubba Gump, but the line was 45 min. and nowhere else was much better, so we went to the Marriott Marquis hotel and hung out in their lounge thing (and had to buy two VERY expensive glasses of coke to do that!) for a while.  Then we rode the awesome glass elevator up and down (one of my favorite Times Square activities, as sad as that sounds, although Jayson conceded that it was pretty fun -- "like a ride").

We went back to Bubba Gump and the wait was still 40 minutes long, so as a joke (which we'd been talking about in the lounge thing) I go "does it help if my dad helped found the restaurant?"  This is actually true, while my dad was working at Paramount he helped found the Bubba Gump restaurant chain and then acted as chairman.  You can read about it on his wikipedia page HERE.  Apparently, it did help, since they let us go right up.  I'm still laughing about it a little.

Then we wandered around Times Square a little, exploring the Toys R Us, the M&Ms store, and the Hershey's store.  Once again, I got hit on by some guy passing stuff out in Times Square.  This time, he asked "are you two together?" to which we replied "no!!!," then he offered me his arm and said "you can go with me then."  I said, "Sorry, I have a boyfriend," but he then asked what I was doing hanging out with Jayson.  We both virtually simultaneously responded "brother!"  Then we came back to the apartment and now we're watching a rerun of Saturday Night Live hosted by James Franco (whom Jayson did not know of until tonight).

(Another note, Jayson got sucked into a debate on Prop 8 by someone at Penn who is offended by the idea of gay unions being called "marriage."  He tried to persuade Jayson to how offensive this is by appealing to his Judaism (since clearly only Christians have marriages), and asking him how it would feel if gay marriages were called "bar mitzvahs."  The ridiculousness of this argument is not even worth discussing, but I find it hilarious so I felt like sharing.)

Election Night Adventure

ELECTION 2008

So, The Public did a competition with a theater in Florida for who could drink the most cups of free Starbucks coffee on election day.  Alas, we lost 43 to 44 (although it was very symbolic that they had 44 when we elected the 44th President)
I first went to Times Square, because my mom had told me there was viewing going on there.  Half was sponsored by ABC (the south half) and half by CNN (the north half, which is shown in the picture above.  Please also note Santa Claus).  There were a ton of people there, and, since it IS New York after all, a TON of Obama support in the crowds.
These kids (and one more kid and some adult supervisors) were giving out Obama Victory Mix-CDs -- and this was at like 8pm eastern time!
There were a lot of guys out selling Obama/McCain/Palin condoms (as I noted on Facebook, clearly no one wants Joe Biden on their penis).  Each set of guys or individual guy was selling them at a different price though...

One guy in Times Square (no one in the picture above, this is a different story) came up to me trying to give me a postcard ad thing.  Then he started hitting on me, and then he tried to sell me weed.  I tried to get a picture of him but he made me uncomfortable so I didn't stick around for too long trying to get a good shot.  The picture wasn't very good so I didn't put it up here, but the guy was pretty sketch.
There were also premature Obama victory stickers all over the place.
Outside of Fox they were taping election coverage, and I ran into it on my way to Rockefeller Center.
Rockefeller Center was the home of the MSNBC election plaza, and it was AMAZING.
I saw this guy and he looked pretty familiar so I started taking picture of him, and then it hit me that he was named Casey and I'd met him at that cocktail party for the New Musical Festival I went to a few weeks back.  So I went up to him and he kinda-sorta remembered me and it was nice and awkie so I went away.
They had a map on the ice rink and they would paint in the states red or blue when they were called for McCain or Obama.  I could barely see it, but I did manage to get this shot of the east coast.  I thought this was amazing, though.
They had these ribbon-looking bolts of cloth hung from placards that said "Obama" and "McCain" and then signs saying "270" on each side of the building.  As electoral votes were called for either candidate, the fabric thingy would move up in proportion.  Obama's got HUGE cheers for upward movement, while McCain's got tepid cheers mixed with boos.

Next I took a cab to Union Square, where people were having a drum circle/parachute party under a giant American flag.  It was awesome.  I went up to a Filene's that overlooks the square to get this shot.  Then I went to my friend Madeleine's dorm room at NYU to watch more results come in with her, her roommates, and her friends (all democratically inclined, of course).  We were anxiously awaiting 11:00 eastern, and when it came:
Obama is announced the winner on MSNBC!!!
Much celebration occurred...
...and Madeleine was moved so much she teared up a little, as did many around the world.  It was a really emotional campaign and a really great moment in history, so I understand how many people would be moved to tears.  After McCain's very gracious concession speech and Obama's characteristically eloquent acceptance, Madeleine & co. went to bed from what I understand, while I went out to Union Square again to join the celebration.
It was basically a riot, except everyone was really happy so I don't know what the good word that implies the same level of emotional gathering as a riot is...
People were using all kinds of things to make noise, and chanting "YES WE CAN/YES WE DID," "USA, USA," and singing the national anthem.  My friend Siena got a little emotional telling me about chanting "USA" with Obama supporters at Harvard after the win, saying that she was so moved being able to finally chant the name of her country with true pride.
There was a LOT of American-flag apparel and OBAMA supportive clothing and banners, of course.

And people (and puppies!) were being lifted above the crowd of revelers!

Some guys started climbing on lampposts and knocked one down...
Then this guy went up there (his near foot is resting on the bar from which the above broken lamp fell), waving the American Flag in our very own "Les Mis" moment... until the cops got concerned... (see the lamp on the left of the picture that's about to fall?  That was the concern, as well as messing around with private property)

The guy was led away by cops and taken away in the cop car.  This is pretty much when I decided I should go home soon.
People came streaming into the square witht he brand new issues of the Daily News announcing the new President!!
Fancy old people for Obama!
These nice people took this for me so I have a picture of me actually there at an (yes, AN) historic moment!

I Hate JFK Airport

So, a week ago I lose my driver's license, and now this happens (I promise my next post will be the story of election night, since at least I thought it was interesting, but I need to get this out there first):

I get to the airport in the cab, but the cab thingy rejects my debit card. Mind you, I bought lunch with the same card earlier in the day so I am not expecting this. I do not have any cash. I start freaking out and try the card a couple more times. No luck. The cab driver starts freaking out at me and yelling that he has to call the police because I'm trying to rob him. I start crying. I get out 50 Scottish pounds from my wallet, which I have from the Edinburgh trip over a year ago and have kept in case of emergency. I tell the cab driver that I need to go inside to exchange the money, but I will leave him my passport as collateral. He does not understand this, despite the fact that he is the first American cab driver I have had in New York since pretty much the first cab ride I ever took in New York. He starts yelling that I am going to run away and not pay the fare, so he has to get the police. I try to explain to him that I have the money, I just need to exchange it and I will leave my passport with him. Again, he seems to fail to understand that we're at an airport and I cannot travel without my passport, so obviously I will have to come back. By this point I am hyperventilating. The cab driver yells to a security guard/possibly sky cap guy to get the police. The guy is really really nice and takes me to go get the money exchanged. He tries to comfort me, telling me that some people just want to make you feel shitty (not in those exact words, of course). I say "I thought I still had American money" to him, implying that I was traveling to Scotland, so he doesn't think I'm a giant freak. I don't know why I'm compelled to lie like this all the time, since the situation was pretty much out of my control from the beginning. I pay the $45 fare and even tip the guy $5 because it's what you do in New York. Even though that's less than the normal tip (15% is standard), I wish I hadn't given him anything at all because he made me so upest. I go through airport security in tears, and go into a bathroom near my gate and start completely bawling because I'm so worked up at that point.

My plane is delayed leaving, and then we're delayed on the runway as well. I finally get to Boston but take the wrong shuttle bus so I have to double back to get the bus that will take me to the Red Line to Harvard. The Boston subway system is so much less sketchy than the New York subway system. The stations and trains are much nicer and cleaner, and I felt completely safe taking the subway even though it was midnight, which is NOT true in New York.

I stayed with Siena, and it was good to see her and her roommates at Harvard are really nice. The leaves are still changing and falling and it was beautiful. It was also a little rainy, and the smell of wet fallen leaves reminds me of being 1-4 years old living in Bronxville. I met with Jack Megan, head of the Office for the Arts, and he was really nice. Then Siena's mom took us to lunch and I had my first hamburger in over a month.

After that Siena and I ended up hanging out in her dorm for a little while just catching up and relaxing. Then I took the T (Boston code for public transportation, mostly the subway) to Carolyn at Tufts, and she took me for hot chocolate and we caught up and it was really nice because I always love hanging out with Carolyn. She's in two shows at Tufts right now as supporting leads, of course since she's really talented, and I wish I could go up to see her production of "Urinetown," but it goes up on a weekend I'll be in L.A.

Despite the horrendous start, it was a pretty pleasant trip overall, and at work right now I'm working on some research for Barry and his Education task force he's part of at The Public, which is SO much more exciting than the scanning project, (although some of the scripts I'm working on are really interesting), but I still can't wait to go home next weekend.

Two Sad Things

a) Michael Crichton died yesterday. As flawed as his views on global warming were revealed to be (at least as he put them in "State of Fear"), he was inexplicably one of my absolute favorite writers. Michael Crichton is what Dan Brown and Robin Cook can only achieve in their wildest fantasies. I read "Jurassic Park" for the first time in sixth grade and fell in love with this man's writing. Not all his books were amazing, especially the later works ("Prey"), but that is more than made up for by "Jurassic Park," its sequel, "Timeline," "Airframe," the list goes on... Although the movies weren't always great ("Timeline"), sometimes they were classics ("Jurassic Park"), and I think it's sad that his life ended at the same time his television show ("E.R.," which he helped create and continued to produce for its run) is coming to its own end. Michael Crichton's daughter was one year ahead of me at Harvard-Westlake and we were friendly aquaintences until she switched schools. I ran into her with her father at the "Timeline" premiere and he seemed like a very nice and intelligent (well, obviously) man.

b) I'm still sickened by the blatant denial of civil rights to gay people this country has decided is the right course of action. The adoption ban in Arkansas is the most disgusting piece of legislation, but the marriage bans are still incredibly offensive. My sister is friends with these two girls, twins, and over the summer my family went to the wedding of their mothers, which I believe I went into in my last post on this subject. Well, apparently at least one of those girls showed up to school yesterday and was in tears for most of the day. I can't imagine that anyone could see this and not be moved (I didn't see it, but I know the girl and I can imagine it and it makes me really sad and angry that people who profess to be in favor of "family values" would destroy her family like this. I mean, it's not like her parents are splitting up or anything, but their destroying the legal bond her parents made and as a consequence rendering their emotional bond as secondary to "normal" people). I'm also still angry at the girl I know who voted for the marriage ban in Florida (which needed 60% of the vote to change their state constitution and received 62%). Arizona is less personal but still really offensive. At least California was the closest of all these, but it's still horrible that it passed.

Yesterday this guy I did a summer program with in 2007 sent me a facebook IM asking what Prop 8 was (it was in my facebook status). I told him, and he said that he thought gay marriage was morally wrong but did not believe that the government should force one group's beliefs on the entire state (or, god forbid, the country). He also said that integration of people with different backgrounds and beliefs is really important to this country. I have to admit, I was little surprised by this. He is from Kansas, and is very religious and conservative. Although it makes me sad that he views homosexuality as being wrong, I'm heartened that I know someone who, even though he disagrees with the moral issue, can still understand that legislation like this is a complete violation of civil rights.

But seriously, I'm so mad I could puke.

I'm trying to get my anger out about this issue in this post, so that in the next I can put up some pictures and (attempt to) tell the narrative of my incredible election night exerience. This didn't end up being the rant I expected it to be, probably since thinking about Michael Crichton being dead was very sad and thus put me in a more somber state of mind, but at least I got to air some more of my grievances. I hear there are going to be a lot of protests, but I'm not going home for over a week so they'll probably have quieted down by the time I get back to L.A. If not, you know where you'll find me!

Prop 8 Passes

Honestly, as excited as I am about President Obama, I can't help but feel intense anger right now because of the anti-gay sentiments expressed by voters in various states, especially in California. California, Florida, and Arizona now all have explicit anti-gay-marriage laws and state constitutional amendments in place, which sickens me. What sickens me even more is that in Arkansas a ballot measure was passed that banned gay couples from adopting children. What the fuck?!

The Florida and Arizona measures were up this year (update on previous info I had here), and both have passed by wide margins (wider in FL), and someone I'm close with voted in favor of it in Florida which saddens me. If she's reading this now I know she probably doesn't appreciate that comment, but I'm OK with that since moral issues are an important part of a personal relationship and I feel very strongly about this.

I don't yet know of anyone I'm friends with in California who voted in favor of Prop 8, and I hope I don't find any. The first wedding I ever attended (only so far) was between two women who had been together for 30 years (longer than my own parents!) and have two daughters that are great friends of my sister. I'm a little embarrassed to admit this, but I actually teared up a little bit when their friends told the story of the 30-year relationship and the road to this ceremony. It was really beautiful and I'm so glad that was my first wedding, even though it no longer counts as legal.

And in response to all those people who have decided that gay marriage ruins the sanctity of marriage, I think we should have a boycott of the institution of marriage in a protest against denying gay rights. I know few people will follow through on this (if this is still an issue when I want to get married, which at least certainly won't be during Obama's first term, I don't know if even I'll be able to follow through on it, but hopefully I will), but I think if even in the short-term the number of marriages went down at least noticeably if not significantly it would be a great protest.

ELECTION NIGHT

Tonight was absolutely amazing.  I NEED to sleep now, so I'll give a full update tomorrow but I hit some major NYC hotspots as well as hanging out at NYU and it was all absolutely incredible.

OBAMA VICTORY!  HOORAY!

More Election Anxiety

Today has been an incredibly unproductive day at The Public. No one seems able to focus on anything. Well, anything besides getting free coffee from the Starbucks across to the street for our contest with a theater in Texas for who can collect the most free cups of coffee. But everyone here is really antsy about the election and it's affecting everyone's work ethic. It's not helping that the computer I'm using keeps freaking out and kicking me of the Public network so I have to re-synchronize in order to access the scan files I'm supposed to be working on.

Today was the birthday of Carl, one of the IT guys. We had cupcakes (delicious!) in his honor and forced him to give a little speech. He said thanks for the cupcakes, etc, and that it's exciting to have his birthday on such an important day, and then said if the election doesn't go the way we hope it will, we can all go crash at his place in Canada (come on, people, it's a theater. did you think it would be anything less than overwhelmingly liberal?).

The work day ends in 36 minutes according to the clock on my computer, and Madeleine doesn't get out of class until 6:30. Not like anything will be clear any time soon, but it's still very nerve-wracking.

Vote!

Don't forget to vote!

http://dedicatemyvote.blogspot.com

One Day Left...

So, if you have never read a blog post of mine, I'm very, very liberal and so tomorrow I will be rooting for an Obama victory (technically today on New York time, but BARELY).  I voted via absentee ballot this weekend while I was in L.A., and I'm also very nervous about certain state issues.  Prop 8, the ban on gay marriage, is a huge deal.  I really don't believe that anyone's civil liberties should be restricted, and I'm also in favor of gay marriage in general but in this case it's more than just that issue.  I'm also against prop 4, which would require parental notification for minors getting abortions.  This doesn't actually protect anyone and should definitely be voted down.  Then there's prop 2, which is about animal rights on farms.  The big issue here is chickens.  While I do believe that animals shouldn't be kept in tiny little cages and such, it is true that this would raise the price of California eggs and push consumers toward non-CA farmed eggs that cost less, ultimately hurting the California economy, which is highly entertainment and agriculture based.  I'm voting no on this because I thought about it and, as much as I love chickens, when I'm in the market I buy the absolute cheapest eggs, and especially with the economy in a downturn I'm not gonna change that in favor of protecting chickens.  Those are the big moral issues on the California ballot.

Anyway, I'm nervous for all of those tomorrow (mostly President and prop 8).  I also think I'm gonna go to the nearest polling station (which is pretty close to The Public, I looked it up online) and take some pictures at points during the day.  And hopefully I'm gonna watch election returns with Madeleine at NYU later, otherwise it's me and Chinese take-out yelling at the TV.

Today I went with my co-worker Jess, an intern for the artistic producer Maria, to help move some boxes for a friend of Maria into her apartment.  It was actually pretty nice to get out of the office, and walk back to The Public with Jess from Washington Square Park, which is a neighborhood I haven't explored.  I didn't do much else exciting, just the usual scanning, filing, and copying.

I have to shower and SLEEP now, so good night all, and to all a good night.

Halloween

Earlier today I told Leland "if they got rid of all holidays except Halloween and Christmas I'd be happy." He made a pretty good case for Thanksgiving (and Leftovers night!), but the point is that lately Halloween hasn't been everything I've wanted or expected.

Last year I spent Halloween frantically finishing my early application to Yale, and quite a chunk of that time curled up in the fetal position in my kitchen.

This year, despite having a nice time for a while with Leland at his house and Harriet's house, was even worse. I didn't even think it was possible. First I got to the airport in NYC just over 1/2 an hour before my flight was scheduled to leave. The self check-in kiosk wouldn't print my boarding pass -- it made me register for standby on a later flight. I tried asking an American Airlines lady about it, because I was getting pretty worked up and my flight was leaving in half and hour, but she kinda got snippy with me and was like "well you got here too late!" So I took my standby thing and decided to just go through security with that and get my boarding pass at the gate. However, I patted my pocket and discovered that my driver's license had disappeared. In the cab I had paid with a credit card, and I'd pulled my ID out of the wallet while I had it out so that I wouldn't have to go into it again. However, I guess the license fell out of my pocket when I got out of the cab. So I'm running around the terminal, searching for my license, crying, and muttering "This isn't happening to me, this ISN'T HAPPENING to me!!!," when I run into the same American Airlines lady. She tells me to go on standby or something, I should have shown up earlier (traffic isn't my fault, neither is being unfamiliar with the amount of time it takes to get to the airport in a city I don't actually live in), blah blah blah, and I just kinda went into how my flight was leaving so soon, I NEEDED to make that flight, I'd lost my ID. Then she started in at me, saying how I couldn't get through security without it and getting kinda upset at me, but clearly I knew that otherwise I wouldn't be standing there crying about it. I went to security anyway, and told them I was 15 and I didn't have a driver's license. Luckily for me, I look kinda young (since I am), I wear very 15-year-old type clothes when flying, and in my experience people tend to take a lot on faith if you seem worked up enough. I get into the terminal, and thank GOD my flight was leaving from a nearby gate, since they were giving the announcement for final boarding right as I walked up. I RAN to the gate, and, on the verge of tears, beg them to give me my boarding pass, which they do since thank GOD (again) the flight wasn't overbooked. I get on the flight at the very last minute, and I'm SO worked up. The guy in front of my leans his seat back ALL THE WAY, making it extremely hard for me to lean forward and sleep on my tray table. In my worked-up state I take it somewhat personally and start pushing my head hard into his seat. He turns around and says "you are pushing this forward" (gesturing to his seat -- he didn't speak English too well), and I just say "oh, uh, sorry." (Later in the flight I saw him trying to turn his light on by standing up and pushing on the actual light, rather than the button on the armrest. It's not the biggest mistake ever but I got some sick schadenfreude out of watching it). The flight wasn't too bad, and when I got in I got to see Leland which is always nice.

But later I tried to go to the parade in West Hollywood and I was meeting people there but they were maddeningly unspecific about where I was supposed to meet them and extremely bad about returning my increasingly frantic phone calls. I ended up just going home, because I was just too pissed to have any fun. I'm just annoyed. So now I'm sitting here eating Halloween candy (my mom "accidentally got two bags" this year, which is WAY more than necessary since my house averages about 2 people on a busy Halloween), drinking a big glass of milk, and getting ready to go to sleep.

I'm voting tomorrow on my absentee ballot! Very exciting!

There's a pro-prop-8 (the anti-gay marriage bill) rally tomorrow and I might go take some pictures. Or I might go to the Obama phone bank and make some calls/take some pictures. And there's an anti-prop 8 rally on Sunday that I'd love to go to as a participant and also to take some pictures, but I'm leaving Sunday afternoon so I'll probably either be sleeping or maybe hanging out with Leland. (or taking a nap with Leland, which would be the best!)