Monday, July 28, 2008

Festival & Marathon

It was a mish-mash of a weekend.

"Jump!" opened at the Strawberry One-Act Festival.

(Note the pic of me in my costume - I'm wearing my old cheerleading shoes and the socks were meant to cover my tattoo but apparently it did peak out as I got some comments after the show...oops. I guess I'm a church lady w/ a past!;) I'm also wearing a cross necklace that came in a "Buffy" set I have - teehee. Also note the guy in the stocking cap in our cast pic - he is not that much younger than me but played my son at the end of the show. Eh. It worked.)

"Jump!" is the first show in the lineup for our section - which is good because we can leave right after instead of waiting around (or watch at least the 2nd half of the show after us and the rest in the section) but it is bad because often times the first one up has a harder time sticking in the heads of the audience than the last one. (Since advancement in the festival is based on audience votes...having the audience remember us so they vote for us was kind of important!)

Aside from a near slip and fall on some lettuce on the ground (another actor spills her salad on stage in the show). I think it well well!;)

Will see what happens...
My friend from Boston came into town to see the show and also be in the city to prep for the NY Half Marathon on Sunday.

After the show, we got her pasta'd up at John's Pizzeria and then went to see Wall-E. Admittedly, I wasn't all that eager to see the movie but I'm glad I did. I loved seeing how much they could do with so little dialogue.

Cut to the next morning where I went to the race and stood watching for her about the time she thought she would cross thru. I never did get my eyes on her. But I took a pic of where I was instead! ;)

Finally made connections w/ her @ Battery Park. We wandered the various booths (and got free mini Jamba Juices) and then my friend headed to another friend's to recoup while I performed another show. Later we met up again and watched another movie via rental this time - 27 Dresses. Once again, a movie I wasn't all that excited to see - it proved to be cliche after cliche but at that point we weren't looking for anything too brain boggling to watch anyway I guess! ;)

The Strawberry One-Act Festival posted videos of our show online - but you have to pay to watch them. My parents did and for the money they paid were a bit disappointed in the quality. When I watched the rest of the shows after ours on Saturday I saw a guy w/ a recorder that used the full size tapes and during the last show the tape stopped and he had to switch it! Eeps! And they charged for that?! You'd think they could upgrade...maybe. It seems like there has be a decent amount of money brought in but what do I know...

Hopefully the Strawberry One-Act Festival blog will post semi-final results soon... :)

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Unexpected Siting outside of K-mart!

I need tall yellow socks to match the outfit (and cover my tattoo) I'm wearing as "Francine" in the Strawberry Festival One-Act - Jump! Since I got to the area where we rehearse early, I decided to see if K-mart might have some. They had yellow socks - but they were anklets. Boo.

So I exit K-Mart and I hear this somewhat familiar voice. I turn my head and see freakin' full of facial hair Sam Rockwell on his cell phone!!!! OMG!!! I couldn't believe it. I desperately wanted to turn around and get a better look but I wanted to play it cool so I just kept walking. Had he not been on his phone I might have said "hi" @ the very least but instead I heard him mention Jake Gyllenhaal's name as I passed. Curious.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

In The Metro & on YouTube

Last night, the cast, director and writer of "Jump" went to the Strawberry One Act Kick Off Party. It was an event meant for networking & mingling but we noticed that most groups kept to themselves and so it actually ended up being an night for our own group to get to know each other better as we noshed and drank the wine & snacks they had set out.

In the same room as the festivities they were filming people talking about their plays. Which is a cool idea except, they didn't have a mic for people to hold. The only audio was being picked up by the camera mic and we were actually told to yell so the camera could hear us. Uh...

You can see our interview here.

We had gotten a detailed email telling us what info we were supposed to include in our interview and I typed out some of that info on a sheet of paper so we could reference it. The idea being that the camera could focus in on it but much like the mic sitch they weren't putting themselves out by zooming either. Oh well.

This morning I was flipping thru The Metro and found myself! I had submitted a book review for The Metro Summer Reading Club and was told they'd notify me if I was going to be published. I never was notified so it was quite a surprise to see myself in there! Woot! :)

Then over lunch, a co-worker and I walked to 6th Ave to see what we could of the All-Star Parade. It seemed like everytime I went to take a pic, someone's head got in the way but I did manage to get a couple shots of Hank Aaron. My co-worker had to go back to work and as I walked along the route a guy behind me started shouting at whoever would listen to him- "What's the big deal? These guys make millions a year and you're cheering for them?!" He had a point as by this time it was the current All-Stars passing and not the Legends. Long gone are the days of the ball player working a 2nd job just so he could afford to play the sport he loved.

Down 42nd towards 5th I found another All Star Liberty to take a pic of and then headed over to Garrett's Popcorn to find out what a popcornsicle was. (Further incentive was the fact that it was free...) As I stood in line, 3 guys lined up behind me going on and on about how weird the concept sounded and how they'd probably get cancer but yet they kept waiting in line...

It was finally my turn to get a popcornsicle and Top Chef's Richard Blais saw my face and said - You looked intrigued.

I said - I am.

Then he told me that the popcorn (Cheese/Caramel Popcorn molded on a stick) is dipped in nitrous oxide. It's edible and safe and that's what makes it a popcornsicle.

I referenced the "edible & safe" as being a concern and gestured towards the complainy guys behind me. ;) It was certainly tasty and worth the wait! :)

Friday, July 11, 2008

1 yr in the NYC Workforce

Today marks 1 year at my day job. Wow...in some ways it seems longer than that! ;)

Am thankful to have a job in this economy though and I know a lot more about the anchors on CNBC than I EVER did before working here so I got that goin' for me!

Good times, Good times...

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

PAID!

I'm currently in rehearsals for a one-act that will be part of the Strawberry One-Act Festival and the writer stopped by yesterday.

He answered any questions we had about the characters and then he left early. When rehearsal was done, our director said that he had left something for us. She handed out envelopes w/ our names. "A small stipend." We talked about how there was a cover charge for the Kick Off Party of the Strawberry Festival and it was suggested that it was probably money to cover that. How nice!

I tucked the envelope away w/out opening it and managed to forget it until this morning when I was rearranging my purse. I opened the envelope and it was much more than I expected!

Then I realized that this is my FIRST PAID GIG IN NYC!!!!!! How exciting is that?!

Well, I think it's exciting...and another step in the right direction. Woot! :)

Sunday, July 6, 2008

The 4th in Boston!

This year I decided to spend the 4th of July Weekend in Boston visiting my friend there. I took the bus out after work on Thursday due to a delay w/ the bus, I almost missed using the T when I got there! (They stop running around 1230am.)

Since I was recovering from a bout of food poisoning it was already a weekend predestined to be laid back. Friday morning we watched Good Will Hunting and picked out the spots to find or see the spots we recognized. Then we headed out to find lunch via Trader Joes and then back to Sarah's for some SatC viewing! :) Soon it was time to head out to our firework viewing destination and our journey there was full of good people watching. So many people! We passed the area where people were gathering to listen to The Boston Pops and got free souvenir programs in the process! Then we walked past the park w/ the infamous bench from Good Will Hunting but alas that section was blocked off. No pic opps today! :(

The party we were going to was BYOB and since my stomach was being picky I thought that a chocolate stout sounded good. Of course it did - a Bud Light would have been easier to find but eventually we did actually find some! (Thanks go to my patient friend as we searched. ;))

So we get there and we hang out and mingle w/ other guests right up until it's time for the fireworks to start and then we begin our journey up this tangle of stairs to get to the roof. (No, this was not a roof party by any means - this was a roof we probably shouldn't have been on but it still had a great view! ;))

We could hear The Boston Pops in the distance and see the fireworks @ first but then for some reason the smoke would not clear out so it was a bit distorted after a while - however, that aside it was much better than standing in the rain and watching like last year!

Once the fireworks ended we hung out on the roof for a bit and watched the mobs of people spill out onto the street below what a sight! Then eventually we decided it was time to join said mob and make our way to my friend's house.

Saturday we started our day w/ a lighthouse tour....right after a quick breakfast @ Panera. :)

You can see pics from the 4th of July weekend w/ more details about the tour here.

After the tour we meandered a bit and wandered into the middle of lots of free samples connected to HarborFest! Wheeee! :) Then we met a friend of my friend's at The Times where we had the unfortunate experience to sit near an awful pub singer. (It truly was so loud and bad we asked to be moved - and believe me, we tried to tolerate it for a while...)

The HarborFest flyer mentioned a parade at the USS Constitution so we walked over there only to find that the museum was closing shortly as well as the ship so we quickly walked thru and then waited in the stands for the parade to start...late. (The museum/ship closed at 6pm - the parade was to start at 7pm.) The parade didn't end up being what we thought it would be - it was several groups marching in colonial gear and playing instruments. Since it was actually a bit cold for July we decided to bail after the umpteenth delay. Interesting at first, but ultimately disappointing.

From a distance I saw the Bunkerhill Monument - will visit it more formally on another visit!

Time to call it a night and then back to NYC in the morning!