Back in the NYC

Alright, I’m back from the West Coast. I got back LATE on Saturday (1/26) and I had a blasty. I sure miss my family and friends in Oregon.
I’m finally getting back into the swing of things here. I have several auditions lined up that I’ll keep you posted on. Also, I painted my living room today. It was lookin’ rather dingy much like my bedroom looked before a nice (several) coats of paint. I haven’t picked up work yet but I’m back on the schedule so I’ve been trying to have a productive few days off. I’ve hit the gym every day. I sure have missed it. I’m quite sore though.
The weather here is really holding up. It’s almost warm. I like that I don’t have to wear gloves, a hat, and a scarf every time I go out. I figure there’ll be time enough for that down the road.
I went to a meeting at my church to be an Apprentice Community Group Leader. I’ll be learning how to lead a bible study over the next twelve weeks. It’s an exciting opportunity and I’m a little nervous. I’ll definitely be keeping busy reading and studying.

As for Oregon…

I hit the ground running at about 3:30am on January 9th. I left my apartment in Queens and rolled my luggage about 6 blocks to the subway. Those rolly luggages are loud when you’re the only one on the road and there’s a seam in the pavement every three steps. I promptly got hit on or talked to by lonely/senile homeless people every few minutes on my trip. I didn’t realize I looked approachable. I thought I looked tired. Guess it doesn’t matter.
It took me about 2 hours to transfer myself and my luggage from Queens to the Airport in Newark, NJ. I took 3 different trains and had to carry, roll, and heave my luggage all over Manhattan. That was a chore.
My stand-by flights to Seattle then onto Portland where running right on time and I couldn’t have asked for a better day to fly. I even got a free beer on my flight from Seattle to Portland. I think they give you those to prep you for the land of micro-brews (aka Oregon). Nice.
I got to PDX at about noon on the 9th and my Dad came and picked me up on his lunch break. Aww Dad. I sure miss him.
Dad went back to the office and let me drive my little Ford Focus home. I haven’t driven in months so I was a little nervous at first. I made it home in one piece, and played with KZ and Scooter a bit. I was anxious to see if they recognized me. KZ jumped up and down like a psycho dog and I thought for sure that meant she remembered me. I soon realized she just needed to pee and chase a squirrel. I didn’t really matter to her after that. I think Scooter remembered me though. She’s so sweet.
I hung out with Mom and Dad that night and we had some tasty Baja Fresh. Haven’t seen a Baja Fresh in NYC so I was loving grubbin’ on that. We visited our favorite place to get produce and stocked up on some fruit and veg for the trip.
It wasn’t too late when we got home but I had jet lag pretty bad so I hit the hay while the Blazers where playing on the TV downstairs.
Thursday while Mom and Dad where at work I drove out to Walmart in Fairview. Oh Walmart. After living in NYC you really come to appreciate cheap places to shop. I spent a lot of money there mainly stocking up on things I knew would cost me twice as much in Queens. I have no shame only a three months supply of toiletries.
Thursday night I met up with my good friend Rachel. I saw her new place in NE Portland. It’s really cute. We went to Old Chicago and had a beer. The plan was to eat a little, have a beer then party at “Boss Hawg’s” like we used to. (It was Ladies Night with 75 cent well drinks after all.) Well, we got caught up at Old Chicago when some interesting gentlemen decided they wanted to buy us a round of beer. They didn’t even try to say “hi,” they just tried to play “cool cowboy,” and tipped their hats to us and then left. Who tips their hat? Seriously.
We finally got to the party at Hawg’s and boy what a night it was. I had told a bunch of my friends in Portland that I was in town and would be at Hawg’s that night. I was surprised to see so many people show up. We sang karaoke and tore the place up.
It’s really too bad that I had a dentist appointment the next morning at 7:30am. Wow that hurt. Note to self: Never do that again. Ever.
I got a nice little cleaning for my teeth then I went down to hang out with my Grandma. We hung out for the better part of the day. Ate some Chinese food, visited with a couple of my aunts and uncles, and even watched Jeopardy. I love me some good times with Grandma Smith.
Later that night I met up with some friends at “The Good Foot” in Portland. We danced it up a bit. It’s such a fun place to dance. They play a totally random mix of music and people aren’t kiddin’ around when they dance. They like to Boogie. I got to see a couple other friends from my good old bar tending days so that was fun.
Saturday morning I got up super early and drove out to Sandy, OR. I helped judge the District Acting Competition for the actors in the Mt. Hood Conference schools. It was a fun-filled day of watching high schoolers act and giving them written constructive criticism along the way. I got to see some people I went to high school with (they where judging too), some former students of mine from my stint as "Tech Director" at Centennial, and my former drama teacher Kellie. She’s the one that got me the gig judging. I had a great time.
After the competition was over and the kiddos got their awards I hung out with my friend Angela in Sandy. We ate some tacos and got caught up.
That night I met up with some new friends I made at the karaoke session a couple nights earlier. We played some pool and listened to some sad sad karaoke for a while. We quickly resolved to go dancing at “The Refectory” at Gateway in Portland. I had never been but I had always heard it advertised on the radio in Portland so I was game. It turned out to be a lot of fun. There’s a good DJ and a very diverse crowd to dance it up with.
Sunday morning I went to church at Eden Bible where I was attending before I moved. I surprised a couple old friends who didn’t know I was gonna be in town. It was neat seeing them. There was also a great sermon and I was glad to see the church is doing so well.
After church I watched the tail end of the Blazer’s game with my parents. It went into double overtime and I nearly had a heart attack. We ended up losing because some refs decided to go blind and/or make crappy calls. Boo.
All was made good again when; Sunday afternoon, my Mom cooked a huge feast in the style of the holidays. It was complete with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, everything that goes into a holiday meal and then some. Since I missed the holidays at home this year she spoiled me with an amazing feast. She even invited family over just like Christmas. My Grandma, aunts, and even a cousin came over for the party. It was awesome. I love my Mom.
We had a great visit and Mom, Dad, and I hung out for the rest of the evening. I made them some cookies that are my new favorite thing to make. My roommates in NY love them so I wanted to make them for my parents. I figured it was the least I could do after Mom made a huge meal. :)

To be continued…

A New Year!

Amongst the days of working that seemed never ending I did manage to have some fun.
New Year's Eve I worked in the morning and got off at about 2pm. When I got off work I went to Times Square to see how many people had arrived and to survey the area. There weren't that many people there so I was kinda surprised. It was really cold so I think that was part of it. there were a lot of tourists all decked out in New Year's gear. It was hilarious. I chatted them up a bit. Seems like every tourist in NYC is from Michigan. Am I missing something?
I got to see the site of the famous "Times Square Ball Drop." It actually looks pretty small in person. I mean, it's pretty high up. It was the 100th anniversary of the TS Ball Drop so I thought it would get pretty crowded that night. I was actually pretty impressed with the set up the NYPD had in the square. (which isn't actually square shaped) The streets and sidewalks get blocked off to through traffic gradually throughout the day until Times Square is closed down. You also can't just show up and pick a spot. The NYPD has a designate entrance at one point in the square. Everyone at the festivities had to enter through the entrance and they got shuffled around into one big blob of people. So there was no choosing of spots. Good idea. That way no fights broke out (at least over viewing spots).
There were also special bathrooms set up and sponsored by Charmin TP (pictured). Can't imagine what that was like. I did see in the paper on New Year's Day that a lot of people peed in plastic bags to avoid long bathroom lines. Yuck. The headlines read, "Hapee New Year!" Ahahah. I'd hate to be the person standing next to the plastic bag pee-ers.
I had to leave Times Square at around 3pm and I headed to Herald Square. I eventually traveled to Penn Station. I caught a train out to a little city in New Jersey where we performed a "Soapranos" show for a New Year's Eve party.
I had one hell of a time getting to the venue, (think ridiculously overpriced cab ride, thank you NYE). When I got to the venue it had this chintzy medieval themed decor that cracked me up. It was a huge and pretty fancy looking place though. The show was great. The audience was so full of energy that it made it a blast to perform for them. The show ended at 11:30pm. At that point we (the cast) caught up with the crowd (on drinks) and got our party gear on an noisemakers ready.
We danced and drank into 2008. We had a killer DJ, (our friend Dan from the show), free drinks, and tasty dessert. I really can't complain that I spent my New Year's performing. I think it may have been the best New Year's yet. Plus, the old folks (from the audience) cutting a rug with us into the wee hours was too fun.
Here's a shot of me right at midnight. Party much?
At about 2:30am I was back home safely in Queens. I called the west coast to wish them a "Happy New Year" and promptly passed out. (not literally)

I also had my first audition of 2008. I auditioned for the National Theatre for Arts and Education's touring production of "Tartuffe." It went really well and I could tell they like my reading for "Elmire." The only issue was that I don't speak French. (It's a bilingual production). They know (as I informed them) that I would learn the French but I don't think they are exactly desperate. Oh well; so I don't speak French? C'est la vie.

So far the new year has been spent working with an occasional time out. I've decided that '008 is to be the year of less working and more playing. To "kick things off" I'm headed home to Oregon for some time with the family and friends. Auditions here are really slow so I figured I might as well take a little time off. NYC is a great place to live but it's definitely a city you have to take occasional breaks from. It's a cement jungle over here. I want me some trees and horizon. Can't wait!

I'm flying out Wednesday morning and I'll let you know how things are on the left coast.

Happy New Year!

One hot mess.

Ahhh Christmas Eve…. T’was the night before Christmas and all through the house…I got the freakin’ flu. Yeah, some holiday. Sick on Christmas Eve, practically dead on Christmas. Sad times.
I felt better Wednesday morning just in time to go to work. Yipee. I was in a bit of a haze for half the day.
I basically have been working non-stop but I did have an interesting night Wednesday. My foot has been bugging me for about three weeks now so I decided to go get it checked on. I’ve basically been limping around like a goof. I kinda need my foot in order to walk (A LOT) in this city so I thought I should get this problem fixed.
After work Wednesday I walked (yeah, ironic) to the ER at Beth Israel Hospital on the Lower East side. I walked in and braced myself for a zoo. I mean, it is the ER in Manhattan, at night. I was waiting to see a scene from the movies or something. I was also a little anxious. I was about to have my first (and hopefully only) visit to the ER in New York City. (I actually don’t think I’ve ever had to go to the ER anywhere. Jumping straight to the big time.)
What actually happened was this:
I walked right in to a quiet waiting room and walked up to the nurse at the check-in window. She, very nicely, took my information and gave me a nifty ID bracelet. Then I sat in the waiting room with a few drunken bums and waited to be called. I had just enough time to pull my hand sanitizer from my backpack before I heard my name called. I had a nice nurse lady take my blood pressure and look at my foot. She decided to order an X-Ray, "Just in case." “Ok,” I thought, “Now I’m gonna have to wait.”
I sat in a different waiting room, alone. A couple different doctors and nurses walked by and said hello to me. One guy even made a crack about my last name. “Are you, by chance, related to Freddy Krueger?” Ahahaha. How does he know my last name? OK.
Just then I got called in to get my foot X-rayed. About 3 minutes later I was talking to “Yaakov” my very Jewish doctor for the evening. He was a very nice little Jewish man. Together we discovered that I don’t have a broken foot and all I really need to do is stop walking so damn much. Well, that’s not gonna happen anytime soon so Yaakov, myself and a bevy of lonely, bored nurses and doctors chit chatted a while. They told me that how slow the ER was that night was (obviously) not normal but they were kinda of weirded out by it as well. They teased me and said that I had a spy who told me when the ER would be slow so I could get in quick. You'd think I did.
I was in and out of the ER in New York City in 35 minutes. WHAT?! I mean, that’s a good thing right? I guess it’s just weird. I got some friends in the ER now too.
Plus I got this super cool bracelet!