December 31, 2008

It's New Year's Eve, and I'm going to Leland's house tonight so I won't get another chance to post in 2008, so I'm taking the opportunity now.  I still have a lot to write about re: the end of my time at The Public and in NYC, but for now I have just a few things to say.

First of all, I ran into one of my teachers from 7th grade in the Ralph's parking lot today.  Crazy.

Today I also tried to go to the post office, but the doors were literally locked.  I got there JUST after 4:00 PM, and on the door it said they closed at 5:30 Monday through Friday.  But the doors were locked.  It listed holidays, and today was not one of them, so, thanks Post Office for being a jerk.  But I went to the nearby Kinko's and Fed-Ex'ed what I needed to send, and the guy there was nice, I didn't have to wait in a long line, and it was pretty cheap, so I'm not that upset.

Finally, is there like a law somewhere that states that all 7/11s have to be super sketchy?  I was driving in Westwood today, which is the area of Los Angeles near UCLA and is a pretty nice, clean area, and I passed the 7/11 and it just looked so sketchy.  Is it in the franchise agreement that the location has to be the seediest lot on the block?

New (Old) Photos

So yesterday I went to Harvard-Westlake and hung out with Mr. O'Malley for a little while and got some CDs of my old photo projects from the backup files O'Malley keeps, since I'd lost my own backups when my external hard drive fell on its head.  One of the CDs didn't work, but on the one that did work were some portraits I took with the digital Hasselblaad (nicest camera I will ever use) in the photo studio last year of my friend Sarah, Jordan, Laura, Catie, and Angela, which I've put up on facebook here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2015939&l=a2f33&id=1063440464

You don't even need to log in to facebook to look at them, although if you're my facebook friend I always love photo comments, haha (clearly I am not above begging).

Book List

So, I'm still trying to make sense of what NY meant to me and how I feel about moving back to LA (not so great right now), but in the meantime I'll share the list of books I've read so far on gap year and some thoughts.

Pyramids, by Terry Pratchett

-  Very funny, usual discworld stuff from Terry Pratchett.  My enjoyment was also heightened by my prior investigation into/infatuation with ancient Egyptian history in my early years, since this is highly mocked (in a loving way) in this book.

The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells

-  I wrote a previous blog post about this, but I adored this book.  It was wonderful.

The Thirty-Nine Steps, by John Buchan

-  nice little thriller, the basis for the movie and play of the same name.  However, those two are very loosely based on this book.

Bright Lights, Big City, by Jay McInerney

-  I thought this was going to be more about NYC drug culture in the '80s, but it was more about one guy and his dissatisfaction with his life and stuff.  It was good, though.  And a quick read.

Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley

-  This prompted SO much thought, my goodness.  It describes a world controlled, not by fear like in 1984 (George Orwell was a colleague/I think a student of Huxley's), but by genetic predestination and euphoria-inducing drugs.  It's pretty good, and, like I said, very thought-provoking.

Brave New World Revisited, by Aldous Huxley

-  Huxley discusses why the world of Brave New World is still feasible 20 years after its publication, in the '50s.  He discusses how he didn't include nuclear technology in the book and wishes he did, as well as ways in which he thinks we can avoid the future of Brave New World.  I took a lot of notes in the margins in this book, since quite a few of his ideas are pretty outdated, and I want to write more about that at some point, but not right now (especially since I don't know exactly where the book is at the moment...)

Stiff, by Mary Roach

-  This is a book about cadavers.  Quite a good book, actually, although the first half, when discussing the more direct scientific uses of cadavers, is better than the second, which gets a bit metaphysical.  I'm also pretty morbid, so... yeah.

Just After Sunset, by Stephen King

- As much as his novels (well, mostly the recent ones, but really anything since like Misery) are quite self-indulgent, he's still a great story teller and the short story form really helps him stay focused.  I was so happy to see that he had a new book of short stories out when I found this at the airport.

The Mayor of Castro Street, by Randy Shilts

-  This book was AMAZING.  It's a biography of Harvey Milk and it's so inspiring.  It tapped into the part of me that, in the sixth grade, wanted to join the Peace Corps or save the world or something like that.  Harvey Milk has a lot in common with Barack Obama, actually.  Both were charismatic leaders who changed the face of politics.  Also, Milk's stump speech was called the "Hope Speech" since it revolved around the message that life is always worth living because there is always hope.  And Milk relied on grassroots volunteers, and had his swearing-in outside because he knew so many people would want to see it, much like Obama had his convention speech in a football stadium for increased capacity.

The Tales of Beadle the Bard, by J.K. Rowling

-  I had to, for completeness.  Not amazing, not incredibly disappointing.  Obviously a must for Harry Potter fans and those of us who have grown up with those books.

So... yeah... that's what I've been up to, at least reading-wise.

Last Day

So this is probably my last blog post ever from The Public Theater. I'm incredibly sad to be leaving this office. New York I won't miss, but working at The Public has been amazing. And I mean, where else do you have experiences like this? Yesterday I had to scoot around Tony Kushner in the hallway in order to get to my boss' office, on top of which, said boss is also a very well-regarded director. Crazy. And the people I've met here are all incredibly kind and supportive.

And I'm writing this from reception, my last day as a sexy secretary as well.

This is depressing. I'm sure I'll write much more about this tonight or tomorrow on the plane, but I'm just sad to be leaving.

What the...?!

I just found this article and it's crazy. There was an episode of "Monk" about this, and probably many others. Check it out:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/11/actor-slits-throat

Road Show - Take Two

I went to see Road Show again tonight with Zoe.  They've changed a lot since the dress rehearsal, which was the last time I saw it.  They even added a new song to help establish the relationship between the two brothers/main characters.  I talked to Michael Cerveris afterwards and he said that the new song was added a week before the opened, so that's pretty intense for the two men to learn and everything.  There were some props added that gave it a little more sparkle, but it still wasn't amazing.  The music is good, very Sondheim-y, but I just can't get over how similar to Assassains some of the themes are!  But that's my own problem so... yeah.  Like I said, we talked to Michael Cerveris afterwards for a few minutes.  Once again he was very nice, and looks so different offstage than on!  He asked me if I was an actress/singer person, which I guess is fair since I work in a theater.  He isn't the first person to ask me that recently either.  That guy Isaac I met while flying home for Thanksgiving also asked me if I was an actress (although I think that's because I looked vaguely familiar).  Anyway, maybe I give off actress vibes?  Also, apparently Zoe's NYC-based voice teacher coached Michael Cerveris for something at some point.  The voice teacher was at the show tonight but didn't stick around afterwards so I'm not sure exactly what the connection is.  But yeah, they know each other somehow.  Anyway, it's pretty much my bed time so good night everybody!

Oh Yeah

So here is something interesting(ish) I forgot to mention in my post about last Thursday:

Before going in to The 39 Steps I wandered over to Rockefeller center to take some pictures of the tree (up online here), and I popped into the J. Crew store to look for a Christmas gift for my friend.  I didn't find a gift, but I did see a woman getting taken out of the store/handcuffed by policemen.  She was probably shoplifting.  Some girls in the store were talking about it amongst themselves and they said she was kinda standing in the corner doing god knows what/acting sketchy, so yeah I'm guessing shoplifting.

Today was not the most exciting day at work, I was just working on my usual stuff.  But at the end of the day there was a meet-and-greet (like I've mentioned before), and this time it was for Mandy Patinkin's concert series.  He's rotating three concerts, one featuring yiddish songs, one featuring general Broadway music, and one featuring the Sondheim songbook.  I'm going to the Sondheim one this Thursday.  Anyway, there was sadly no food at this meet-and-greet (although that was probably good, since I was about to leave for dinner), but we all circled up and introduced ourselves.  Apparently the last time Mandy Patinkin performed at The Public was 20 years ago.  He gave this speech to the assembled staff people that was very heartfelt, mostly about his friendship with Joe Papp (founder of The Public).  It was pretty cool.

After that it was time to go so I walked up to Union Square and met up with Madeleine.  We went to dinner at an NYU dining hall and the food was surprisingly good and the space very nice.  It was fun.  We also saw some of her friends I'd met before, and some new people I met tonight.  Also cool.

So I have stuff to do and I'm watching House, so I'll catch you all later!

By the Way, Racism

So in my last post I talked about going to see The 39 Steps on Broadway last Thursday. Well I forgot to write about this incident:

The family behind me all had their cell phones start ringing one after the other during the first act, and it was INCREDIBLY annoying. Finally, the girl sitting next to me turned around and hissed "Shut your phone!" at them. The family seemed to be trying to turn their phones off (I hope so, anyway, and they should have at least been silent to begin with), but then one of them got a text message and it made a noise again. The girl next to me turned to the friend she was with and said about the family, who happened to be Indian, "They're either stupid or about to blow us up."

I was so appalled by this I don't even want to start. I mean, yeah, they were really, really obnoxious with their cell phones and I was pissed, but really, lady? Seriously?

Monday, Monday

It's really weird to sit here and think about how this is my last week at The Public. It's been really busy lately, with Holiday Cards, Education Task Force research, and a host of other activities, but I have a little down time now as I wait to hear back from people about various things, so I'll give a little update. Except I feel like I have a lot to write about right now, so maybe kind of a longish update...

Since I'm leaving New York so soon, I've been trying to cram as much theater as possible into my last 2 weeks.  Last Thursday I saw The 39 Steps, which is a 4-person tongue-in-cheek stage version of the Alfred Hitchcock movie, which in turn is based on a book. However, having read the book I can say with some authority that the play and movie bear little resemblance to the book except in the following ways:
- character names
- the moors of Scotland
- bad guy with a distinctive physical feature that allows the main character to recognize him
- murder in the main characters apartment of the character who tells him about the:
- plot of international intrigue
- the phrase "The 39 Steps," which, in the book, refers to actual steps, which in the play/movie it refers to a spy organization
I am a lover of both Alfred Hitchcock movies (I once threw a Hitchcock-themed pool party) and British comedy, so I went into this with EXTREMELY high expectations. In that regard, it was a bit disappointing, but, that being said, it was still silly and a lot of fun.

After the show I grabbed some take out dinner from Junior's Deli, which is a great restaurant. I got this chocolate cake that was awesome. The guy behind the counter tried to send the other guy there to get my chicken tenders so he (the first guy) could talk (flirt) with me, which I was really hoping wouldn't happen, and it didn't. He was like "can you go get those chicken tenders for me?" and the other guy just went "uh, no." So the first guy got kinda mad, hinting VERY strongly that he wanted to NOT get the chicken tenders, but eventually he got so forceful and realized he was embarrassing himself so he got the chicken tenders himself. He did say something to me that I found hilarious/am so happy about. He went "you're not from around here, are you?" and when I said "no," he said "I could tell because you apologize." This other lady had been in the take out area, and while I was getting a straw for my Coke I'd sorta been in her way so, as is my custom, I apologized like five times for being in her way. I just love that New Yorkers recognize me as not one of them by my politeness/apologetic nature. This guy I was on a plane with from NYC to L.A. also recognized me as a Californian. He asked, "So are you from New York or Los Angeles?" and when I responded "L.A.," he said "yeah, you seem too relaxed to be from New York."

Anyway, trying to get home after getting my take out food, I opted to wait in the taxi line at the Marriott Marquis hotel, as has become my habit. Even though it's still a long wait to get a cab there, at least there's a heat lamp and a roof. I think at least 4 people got out of the line from immediately behind me, though. I met an attractive couple a bit older than me, the guy looked like either a successful business man or an actor who plays a successful business man. His wife was blonde and had a vague sense of plastic surgery to her face. They looked kinda familiar, so I'm leaning toward the "actor" option, but maybe they just have familiar faces.

I ended up sharing a cab with this older couple from Georgia, who weren't exactly going in the same direction as me but I only really realized that when we were already in the cab. When we got to their destination (which was first), the meter read a bit under $7, so they pulled out $8.00, and promptly gave it... to the cab driver. He didn't stop the meter, and the situation made me uneasy, but they were innocent Georgians who probably voted for McCain so I tried to suppress my internal anger at this not-so-smart move. Which was well founded, since when we got to my apartment the cab driver stopped the meter (it was a bit over $12), and I said "well... they gave you eight dollars..." and he said "those eight dollars don't count." While I tend to be a bit door-matty in my day-to-day dealings, I've slowly grown a New York backbone while I've been here and I wasn't going to have some cab driver rob me for going somewhere in the opposite direction of my apartment from Times Square. So I responded "What?" in a tone that indicated I would have none of those shenanigans, thank you very much. He said, "fine, give me seven dollars," which is what I was planning on giving him in the first place (although after he tried to blatantly rob me I was less happy at the tip he was getting), so I gave him the money and that was the end of that.

Friday was a pretty interesting day. I hope I can remember. I've been (trying to) keep a journal but last week was really busy so that's fallen way behind as well. I thought I'd have that education meeting I'd been doing so much research for lately, but it was postponed. So I got to go to a reading by this playwright named Rinne Groff. I'd scanned work by this playwright before, and for some reason I'd assumed they were written by a man (not that I read many of the plays, and none in their entirety...), but she's definitely a woman, and fairly young (or at least young-looking) at that. I'm really glad I went to this reading. To loyal followers who read my post about Anne Frank and the Meyer Levin play, this is particularly interesting. Since I was already fascinated with the story, I was SO excited when the play turned out to be a pseudo-fictionalized version of that story! The names were changed, as a literary device a la Levin's book Compulsion, a loosely fictionalized version of the Leopold & Loeb murders. And, also relevant to my blog post, the reading even had a moment talking about Holocaust denial and conspiracy theorists who believe Anne Frank did not write that diary.
(Anne Frank post is here)

That afternoon I delivered a script to an actor for Jess, another intern who is working on a reading of Craig Lucas' The Singing Forest (also Holocaust-related). The actor lives in the Gramercy Park area, where I'd never been before, so that was interesting. I had to take it over, vs. sending it through a messenger company, because this actor was the only one who needed a script delivered but didn't have a doorman. Jess was too busy to take it. The apartment building looked like the set of a movie about a struggling actor living in NYC. The halls were lit with dim fluorescent lights and the whitewash was peeling off the walls. The actor himself was very cute, long-haired and blonde, wearing an Urban Outfitters/American Apparel-style striped sweater. He seemed very nice and mild-mannered. I think he thought I was Jess, since he said "I'll see you later." I was on my way out and he didn't seem like he wanted to get into a whole discussion about anything, so I just said "yeah, ok," and left.

As I walked back to the subway station I walked through a sidewalk Christmas tree stand. This is something that I LOVE about New York. I'm walking down the street and I smell pine all around me and it's wonderful. I also passed this old man feeding pigeons, which I found very endearing even though usually pigeons make me upset.

Friday night I was planning on going to the Met Museum, since I haven't been this whole time I've been living in NYC, but I was at work pretty late so I didn't do that. Saturday morning I flew home to surprise Leland at his jazz concert (he guessed the surprise, but it was still a nice thing and the concert was really great). The only reason I'm sad I went home this weekend is because it's like teasing myself - I got to be in sunny wonderful L.A., and then I had to go back to FREEZING NYC. Although now that I'm leaving I'm realizing a lot of stuff that I'll miss about NYC. But on the plane I spilled some water on the side of my leg and I was terrified that my pants would freeze to my leg if I had to wait for too long in the taxi line. But I didn't, which was good.

Today I went to lunch with my dad's college friend/Public Theater board member and we went to this cute asian-y place called Republic that was good food and fast service and it was a nice little lunch.

Anyway, work beckons, and it's my last week so I need to finish this stuff pronto! So yeah, that's my epic post for the week (probably for a while).

Baby, it's Cold... Inside...

I'm currently sitting in the literary/artistic/Joe's Pub intern office in a sweater, scarf, and full winter coat. I was wearing mittens earlier (the flippy kind that double as fingerless gloves), but I took those off. I even wish I'd worn my earmuffs today! Seriously, the intern office is like 10 degrees colder than the hallway, and we're only seperated from that hallway by a couple of bookcases that form an entrance to our little area. I think it's that there's this piece of paper blocking the AC from getting out in our area, but earlier it fell off so Deborah and I fixed it, but air can still get out the top/it's starting to fall off again. That's a really lame description, but I didn't bring my camera today so it'll have to suffice.

I was thinking about seeing Road Show again tonight, since I haven't seen it since the dress rehearsal, and maybe trying to talk to Michael Cerveris again, but I think I have too much stuff to do once I get home. :( Today has a post-show "talkback," so I wanted to go, but I don't have a ticket yet and it's probably sold out anyway, plus the previously mentioned too much stuff to do, so I'm thinking I won't go.

Anyway, I'm writing right now because the laptop they give me to work on Monday-Wednesday (Thursday and Friday Deborah isn't here so I use her computer) has gotten progressively slower and more evil over the months I've been using it, so it's taking forever to open the holiday card address list that I'm working on. I might go help Niegel stuff envelopes since this computer is being such a pain in the ass. It also likes to kick me off the Public Theater network every once in a while, so I have to close everything I'm working on and re-synchronize. And it happens pretty often. I'd go to IT about it, but I'm only here for less than 2 more weeks so it's not really worth it.

Thanksgiving Weekend Recap

Last Wednesday was the first time in a while I've flown out of JFK airport and something horrible hasn't happened to me that day.  Hooray!  I was in business class because we'd booked it enough in advance that business class wasn't too many miles, so I got good food and a comfy seat.  I met this guy named Isaac who was sitting next to me.  He's about two years out of USC where he majored in business, and he and his friends founded a nonprofit called Save the Brain, which raises money for brain tumor research.  He commutes back and forth between L.A. and NYC about once a month.  He thought I looked familiar, asking me if I was an actress, but we might have just commuted on the same flight before.  Anway, I got in early and went home and slept which was AMAZING!!

I had to get up early on Thursday (well... early-ish) to make pies.  My mom made pumpkin and this weird pudding/cool whip/pumpkin filling pie, while I made pecan, chocolate pecan, apple, and dutch apple.  I felt very much like my hero, The Piemaker on Pushing Daisies.  For dinner we went to my friend Jayson's house (yes, the same Jayson that stayed with me here in NYC).

Friday night I went to Leland's house for "leftovers night," this thing his family hosts where everyone brings over and shares their Thanksgiving leftovers.  We, of course, brought TONS of pie.  It was a lot of fun and I got to see Leland and a bunch of other friends which was great.

Saturday was boring and stressful, then Sunday afternoon I flew back to NYC.  Today at work I saw a reading of a play called Agunah, which was written by this woman named Karen who works at The Public.  It was mostly about Orthodox Judaism.

And tonight I finished something super stressful, so that's a big load off my shoulders.  Yay!