Nik's Trip - part 2

Friday - Didn't start quite as early as our first stop was a tour at Madison Square Garden at 11am. Er, scratch that - 11:15am (we were bumped due to a school tour).

We were fortunate that we were able to go on the entire tour as sometimes the lockerrooms are restricted if there is a game that day. We saw the Rangers Lockerroom which has a wider door than normal so the goalie can walk in w/out having to shed his gear and the Knicks Lockerroom door is taller than average to keep the players from banging their heads. ;)

This is the 4th version of the MSG. When it opened, Bob Hope and Bing Crosby hosted the opening gala event. The WaMu Theater has as many ceiling lights as seats. The Cure's roadies were setting up for a concert while we toured.

The tour seemed a bit expensive for what we saw but we did learn some interesting things tho!

After the tour we had lunch at brgr and then headed home for a bit before heading out to the Bronx for a Yankees Game (vs the Cincinnati Reds).

Neither my brother nor I are Yankees fans but we do respect the history of the stadium and so thus the going to the game.

We circled the stadium before entering and encountered a fan banging on a pan w/ a spoon chanting "Let's make it 8 in a row!" Time to head in... the ticket person told me I couldn't enter w/my small black backpack (the same one I brought to the last game I attended there). Ummm? Fortunately, the security person he sent me to didn't see a problem w/ it and waved me thru!

Before we found our seats we decided to grab some concessions - Jumbo Dogs ($5) and beer ($8.50). The concessions person asked for our i.d.s and that's when my bro remembered he left his @ the gym! Oops. Fortunately, the concession person let it slide. :)

Somehow our seats were near a lot of Reds fans. Unfortunately, that meant we had to listen to Yankee fans heckle them the entire game. Sheesh. I understand being devoted to your team but what about good sportsmanship? Meh.

We cut out before the game ended (Yankees lost) and stepped off the subway at Columbus Circle so my brother could see yet another part of NYC as we made our way over to the David Letterman/Hello Deli area.

Saturday - We grabbed breakfast @ SoHo and then went to a local hardware store to get wood to prop up my a.c. (I figured I might as well take advantage of my bro being there and have him help me install it! :) Plus, since he was using my room, it was an added incentive to get it hooked up!)

I had a Shakespeare Monologue Workshop to go to while my brother went to the gym. The original plan was to meet @ The Irish Rogue for lunch so he could see where Husker fans watch the football games. Today however, EuroCup fans were there so it seemed a bit too crowded and crazy for lunch so we settled on Vynl instead where my brother tried out the "Nelly" bathroom. ;)

A friend joined us and we decided to try the Rogue again for a drink after lunch and the bar was much calmer and cleared out. The Rogue beat Yankee Stadum in beer prices. They only charge $5 for a pint.

After drinks we headed to Ground Zero and then stepped inside the World Financial Center where we did a doubletake w/the presense of Palm Trees!

Then it was time to enjoy an improv show at The Upright Citizens Brigade Theater. (Where they won the best beer price w/ bottles for $3!) We arrived early enough that the show line hadn't even been started yet so we decided to wander Gristedes next door for a while. My brother made the comment that the prices are double what he pays in Omaha.

After the show we decided to walk to 42nd for the subway w/ the goal of finding pizza along the way. We didn't find a place for pizza but we did find 2 old men fighting at the 42nd street subway stop. There was a lot of people waiting for a subway so there wasn't a lot of space for people to go and get out of their way. Not sure what started it but at one point one of them took a bag out of the other one's hand and threw it on the tracks. Then a few minutes later they appeared to be okay w/ each other. I assured my brother that this is not something I've experienced regularly! ;)

The subway finally came and it was CROWDED! My brother was amazed and due to his height he had a bird's eye view and decided to take a pic. (Which you can see here in addition to other photos during his visit.)

Once we got home, we decided pizza still sounded good so we stopped @ Frankie's.

Sunday - It's my bro's last day here! We went to Neptune Diner for breakfast in which we found out that a Western Omelet has cheese, pepper, ham and onion in it. A substitute for fries is lettuce & tomato (like the toppings to a burger) and sausage does not come in patties but generous sized links.

As time dwindled til my brother needed to head to the airport we walked to Astoria Park for one more trip pic. This trip ended up being MUCH better than the last time he was here when I moved. So much so that I surprised myself by getting a little emotional about him leaving. Apparently I wasn't very good at hiding it either as the driver that picked my brother up assured me, "Don't worry, I'll be bringing him back soon."

Nik's Trip - part 1

Wednesday - My brother arrived in the Big Apple today. He hasn't been here since his brief stay after helping me drive my stuff out here over a year ago.

Met him on 5th Avenue after work and we checked out the NBA Store and as it started to rain we ducked into the Heartland Brewery for dinner - where he tried a Cornhusker Lager. ;)

Then we headed to the theater where Inside Spragg's Shorts is being performed. While I had to report early he went on a search for Red Bull (sugar-free) to perk himself up and later I found out he nearly got himself lost while checking out the Hudson nearby.

Since it was the last show of the run much of the cast went out afterwards and my bro tagged along as he was asked various questions about life in NE while we drank @ Dublin 6.

Thursday - We were up bright and early to head into the city and get in the stand-by line for Conan tix. We got there about 6:40am and already there were about 20+ people ahead of us.

When we arrived they were filming a bit for the show (Inflatable Conan) and also filmed us as we stood there to get bland reaction shots. They asked us to sign off on it and we called the folks to let them know we might be on TV!

While we stood in line we found out the people in front of us were from St. Louis and the people behind us were from North Carolina. Reps from the Fox Morning Show came by the line to recruit people as audience members for their show but no one would go.

At 5 minutes after 9am an NBC rep came out and handed us standby tix. We made the first cut and had to be back at 3:45pm to check in and see if we'd actually be able to see the show.

So then it was back to Astoria to work out @ the gym and get ready to go back into the city.

We had lunch @ Hard Rock Cafe and I discovered my Hard Rock Card had enough points on it to pay for $20 on our bill! Yipppee! :)

After lunch we still had some time to kill so we wandered Times Square, Rockefeller and the NBC Store. Along the way I noticed that a lot of landmarks are celebrating their anniversaries this year- Madison Square Garden is 40, Rockefeller is 80 and the Brooklyn Bridge is 125!

It was time to report back. We did. Then we were told to come back at 4:15pm.

So we did and then were sent downstairs to wait in line. The airflow wasn't the greatest down there so the NBC Page fanned us down w/the standby sign.

Finally they started to send people up. Little by little we got closer to the front of the line and they ended up letting 23 people in. We were 21 & 22. An NBC Page said that he has to give bad news to people everyday (that don't get to see the show) and then said, sometimes it's okay because they're jerks. lol! ;)

On my first visit to NYC, a friend and I had barely made it in then, too. That time we sat on the band side of the audience. This time we were sitting on the opposite side.

While we waited for the show to begin they showed a highlight reel and then one of the writers came out to warm up the crowd asking where everyone was from. Then Conan came out to continue the warm up. He danced and hugged a random guy (who also ended up hugging Max and getting his drumsticks!)

Then it was time for the show to begin!

They showed the skit - we weren't in it. :( But we were witness to the first of many more inflatable Conan sketches!

The guests were Anne Hathaway, Romany Malco and My Morning Jacket. And James Lipton even had an appearance...in a belly dancer outfit and then chatted it up w/ a member of My Morning Jacket in the bathroom. It's amazing what Conan gets people to do! ;)

After My Morning Jacket played their song, they went to a final commercial break and the band started playing "Creep" by Radiohead and Conan began to sing it. He sang it right up until the very last minute when he had to be on the air and close out the show. Then he proceeded to sing "The End of the Song Show" to the music that typically plays at the end of his show. One of the lyrics was "I know you want to leave but I'm still singing".

We were finally able to leave and were very happy to catch Conan another time before he leaves the East coast.

After a quick bite @ Cosi it was time to head to the Brooklyn Bridge! Little did we know that our planned crossing of the Brooklyn Bridge coincided w/ a fundraiser for Crohn's Disease in which a mass was crossing at the same time. When you cross the bridge you are supposed to be wary of bikers but it was hard to do that w/ all the people. The bikers weren't happy about it either. Not good.

But we did get across and navigated our way to the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory and walked out onto the pier to enjoy our ice cream and the view.

We headed back over as the sun began to set so we managed to get pics in daylight, dusk and night. Nice timing! :)

Then it was back home to rest up for another day of touring the city!

You can see pics here!

Check out what else we did in the next blog! :)

Bird's Eye View

My friend from Boston emailed me to let me know her Dad was going to be in NYC for business and wondered if I'd be interested in joining them both for dinner @ the Marriott Marquis. Well, of course I was!

So after they spent the day touring in the city, I met up w/ them @ the restaurant. The bummer was that it was a bit overcast so the view wasn't as good as it could be but it was still awesome to be up there!

My friend has been in fine dining for a while and knows all the ins and outs of good service. She wasn't impressed w/ our waiter as among other things he told us what was unavailable AFTER we tried to order it. But we all concluded that service probably doesn't matter all that much as they know the tourists and the like will still keep coming for the novelty of it all. The way the food was presented on the plate though was a visual delight - and pretty tasty, too! ;)

When we were finished w/ our meal and had rotated once around and then some we went upstairs to The View Lounge where their cocktail napkins actually serve as reference to know what you are looking @ as you rotate past the city skyline! (Wished they had those downstairs, too....)

I was very thankful to my friend's father for the experience. And I realize that although it may be easy to get a in a rut there really is no reason to run out of new things to do in this city (even things that aren't quite as pricey as the The View Restaurant and Lounge...;))

Skating @ The Rock

Even before I moved to NYC I had planned on being in NYC for my birthday so I could celebrate by skating @ Rockefeller Center. However, since my b-day fell on a Wednesday this year I had to fudge a little and opt for the Saturday before. I let everyone know my plans and was fortunate enough to have 2 friends fly in and a few local friends join me for this "event".

The plan was to meet up @ 10am (I was told by a local, the earlier you get there the better - but I knew 9am would probably be pushing it for a Saturday Morn so thus the 10am.)

At any rate, we got in line and the line was not tiny. We found out that skating sessions were an hour and half long then they took a break for the Zamboni to go over the ice and then they started again. When we got in line, they were on said break. As we inched closer the reservation I had made for Brunch was inching closer, too.

After getting past the halfway mark my friends were determined to see it through and when all was said and done, we waited about an hour and half and paid $26 to skate 20 minutes minus the time it took to change into rental skates in a surprisingly tiny locker area. But we DID skate and scurried to get all the photo ops we could - including some with a skating Santa! ;) The 2 males in the group were also first time skaters! What a great place to make your first strides as a skater! It was my 2nd time and I had a moment of panic as I first got on the ice - what the hell was I thinking?! But soon I felt a tad more comfy - I think I managed to circle a couple times with pause for pics! ;)

Reservations were easily changed (thankfully) and as we were walking over one of my friends detoured to a street vendor. As she was looking @ ties, the rest of us started looking, too...out of the 6 of us, 4 made purchases and the vendor nearly missed the sale as he had stepped into a Cafe Europa a few feet away for a snack! I upgraded (?) to a hat with ear flaps for $5.

Brunch @ Cafe Un Deux Trois was a perfect capper to skating. It wasn't too fancy (they had crayons for you to draw on the paper tablecloth) and the food was fairly tasty and not terribly pricey for midtown Manhattan.
Once the meal was over, the group split up for the day. One of my out-of-town friends and I stuck together though, as we were going to try and get tickets to see Mary Poppins. On the way there we were sidetracked...by Ice T! Yep, Ice T is a spokesperson for Dell and they had him live and in person signing autographs and posing for pics (which later appeared on the ABC Jumbotron in Times Square) in the ABC studios building.

Back on track, we headed to the box office and got tix for $60 in the balcony.

Had a bit o time to kill before show time so we wandered over to Grand Central Station to see their light show.

Back to the theatre - When we went to find our seats we were surprised to discover that the "balcony" seats were in fact our own little side area - a small part of our view was obstructed (which would explain the price) but it was still a fun place to be perched! It had been a while since I'd seen the movie "Mary Poppins" so I'm not sure how much was added or changed but I do know it was quite a production! Very enjoyable (especially visually) and worth the money spent!

Post show it was time to celebrate another early birthday! We headed to Joe's Bar to have a drink with one of the first time skaters. I had never been to Joe's Bar before, but when walking in it felt like I had walked into a small town bar in Nebraska. There was even a guy sitting at the bar with a mullet! ;)

On the way to Joe's and back we ran into clumps of "Santas" that were participating in SantaCon. (Rather we tried to avoid running into them because at that point in the evening - the Santas were a little too jolly.)

Wonder if the skating Santa from earlier in the day was amongst that crowd?! Ho, ho, ho!

Here & There All Around the Square

I got the day off Friday and my visiting friend and I woke up bright and early to try and get standby tickets to Regis & Kelly. When we arrived the line was already about 30 people long (and that was just the standby - the actual ticket holders weren't there yet). I decided to make a trip across the street to *bucks to use an early B-day present from the 'rents - a *bucks giftcard! But upon my return I found out that I could have gotten my breakfast for FREE!!! (Even w/out a giftcard.) There is a guy that drives around to The Early Show, Rachel Ray, Regis & Kelly, The View and The Late Show w/ David Letterman and distributes coffee, hot cocoa, donuts, bagels, french toast sticks, fruit and more to those standing in line. A very cool deal - and somewhat of a consolation for those that stand and don't get into the show...

As we stood in line we found out that the couple ahead of us was there celebrating their 20th Anniversary and the couple behind us was celebrating their 33rd! Needless to say, they bonded and it sounded like they were going to hang out together as they both finished their trips. The couple that had 33 yrs racked up told about how they met because they both were scuba divers and he actually proposed to her underwater - adding that if she said "no" he knew how to cut off her air. Ha?

Finally it was time for them to hand out standby #s and we got the 3rd and 2nd to last #s. We were to come back in about 40 minutes to see if fate would smile upon us. Time ticked slowly as it was a bit frigid out and there weren't a lot of places open to hide in. We headed back and waited and waited until 9am and found out that alas...we weren't going to see Regis & Kelly that day. :( My friend did get to go in and buy a souvenir for a relative at their gift kiosk though.

Where next? To see what holiday displays we hadn't seen the night before, of course! As we headed to 5th avenue we walked past the Lincoln Center Tree. Then headed down 5th to see the windows @ Saks, Lord & Taylor (Windows alternated between mannequins dressed in white sparkling dresses and animated dolls in various old fashioned grand 5th ave mansions of yore settings) and Macys (one section of windows was inspired by "Miracle on 34th Street" and check out the sunglasses wreath!). In a very smart move - most businesses with window displays have a chained off area for people to walk and gawk so they aren't impeding the general foot traffic flow.

We decided to see what chaos there may be inside Macy's and found the New Year's Eve Ball on display! Much like a Wurlitzer Jukebox it changed color every few seconds and they had expensive replica ornaments on hand if you wanted your very own New Year's Eve Ball.

And all that was done before 11am! We went to Benjamins for lunch and visited my roommate who was working there.

Once we were warmed up and recharged we walked down to Union Square window shopping along the way. While walking the area a guy hollered at me and I ignored him (as is standard in NYC) and then I realized that I probably should pay attention to him as he had picked up my pair of gloves that I dropped! (I had inadvertently left the house with my "nice" gloves and not-so-nice gloves in tow and the "nice" ones were what he found. Whew!)

From Union Square we headed to the NYC Library where we saw the Jack Kerouac display that includes the unfurled original draft of "On the Road".

Behind the Library we went to Bryant Park to see the Canadian Xmas Tree and to ride the carrousel! A while back my mom had found some info about the carrousel and said that the rabbit and frog (w/a rooster head for a rearend - not kidding) were the most popular ones to ride. So my friend rode the rabbit and I rode the frog! About the time we started whirling around it started to flurry and since we were the only riders, the carrousel operator was eager to take pics of us so he had something to do!

Time to warm up again @ *bucks and then it was off to the Young Frankenstein Box Office to sign up for lottery tickets. (Unfortunately, I had an audition so I wouldn't be able to go but was trying to win them for my friend! :)) McDonald's was a sponsor of the lottery (which happened to be across the street) so we had our dinner there as we waited for them to draw the lucky winners and my friend won!!!

We parted ways and I headed towards my audition by way of meeting another friend that flew in and was staying with another friend of hers that lives here (did you catch all that?!) She greeted me with a bag of frozen Runzas and then we headed to Cafeteria for a quick bite before I headed to NYU for my audition.

On the way there, I walked thru Washington Square and saw that area's Xmas tree framed by the Arch.

My audition was for a feature length film by an NYU student. I walked in and was introduced to the 4 people sitting in the room, was told I'd be filmed and so it began...I felt like I was doing okay, until the person reading the other lines totally skipped some physical business I was supposed to be doing and lumped the whole chunk of lines together. Uh, er...awkward pause, oh...I see what just happened - trying to fast forward any movements I had in mind, etc I got to where I needed to be but by then I saw it all going down the drain. Dang. Oh well. Another audition under my belt and another lesson learned - for all the prep you may have, you still have to be ready for the unexpected.

When I finally landed at home I had 3 of my 4 gloves left. Of course it was one of the "nice" ones that was missing - Doh!

Spectacular, Spectacular!

So begins the start to my b-day weekend!!! Hooray! :)

A friend from NE flew in and I got off work a bit early to meet up with her and 2 local friends @ Radio City Music Hall for the Christmas Spectacular.

The place was absolutely packed and every landing had souvenirs galore as well as lots of food and beverage - which was allowed to come into the theatre (all of us found that a bit surprising). Besides our program we all got a set of 3D glasses and a little light up wand that noted the 75th Anniversary on it.

"Spectacular" is certainly a fitting word to describe this show. I don't know that I would make a tradition to go every year but it is certainly worth seeing at least once! Note to first timers - If you hear "12 days of Xmas" and the Rockettes are dancing kinda weird...that's because they are acting out all the verses! It took us just a bit to catch on to that - felt rather "Durr" when I realized how long it took me to figure it out, but felt better when I knew I wasn't the only one! ;)

After posing for pic ops and weaving our way thru the crush of people we decided to check out the lit Rockefeller Tree and the Saks Snowflakes down the lane. (If you face the tree the snowflakes are behind you and vice versa.) Then we moseyed to the much ballyhooed Snowflake - which is just that, a ginormous lit up snowflake. Our party of 4 became 3 and we were hungry!

My visiting friend suggested Ellen's Stardust Diner - a diner where the waitstaff sings as they serve!

After eating our tasty diner food it was time for me to show my friends the Charmin Building! Although they arched their brows and were skeptical about this place I spoke of...once they were there they were glad I took them! :) (Since my last visit - Molly Shannon had been there and signed the door of the stall she used which was now deemed a VIP stall! ;))

Wandering Times Square

I have happily discovered that no matter how yulky of a day you are having if you wander around NYC for just a bit (especially Times Square) you are bound to find something that makes you smile, reset and forget the yulkiness.

Today was one of those days!

I had already planned on checking out the Nascar cars parked around midtown over my lunch. It is Champions Week and our FedEx guy had told me about how they are circling midtown tomorrow - when I looked it up I discovered that they have little display areas for each car and more importantly, there was mention of freebies! :)

The closest stop was Bryant Park, but I couldn't get my eye on a car so I continued on to Military Island. There I found a car, but not too many freebies - just a map of where the other cars were. As I headed towards the M&M store I saw Naked Cowboy standing on another part of Military Island. I'd only seem him in vendor pics so wasn't even sure if he was around anymore but sure enough...there he was! (I suppose he thinks it is only a novelty when it's kinda cold out...) I continued on and decided to check out Virgin Records $10 sale where I finally caved and bought Kill Bill 1 & 2 - now that I have, be prepared to see ads about QT releasing a fantastical boxset. ;) I journeyed on and saw giant red & blue bears posing with people and a woman dressed as a toliet. (yes, you read that right.) Thanks to my former job and time to read Ad Age - I realized this was the Charmin rest stop that they started last year to promote their product! Of course I had to check it out!

Once inside you have to ride an escalator to get to the showcase floor which is equipped with several toilets that are free to use and have staff on hand to keep everything tidy (a lovely thing to see in Times Square as even the Starbucks restrooms can be dicey at times...) Then there is a coupon area where you can choose your favorite - soft or strength. Televisions hung here and there show a Charmin dance that a worker performs live at a station using pom poms. There are more photo ops with bears - although these are the stuffed variety not humans dressed as, a gift shop in case you want everyone to know how much you love Charmin and a postcard station where you can fill out a postcard w/ coupon and brag to your relatives about how great Charmin is! ;)

The guy stationed at the gift shop asked me if my Charmin experience was better than my Virgin Store experience. I told him it was hard to compare. Then he told me I need to come back in the evening because that's when the real party started as they have live entertainment.

On the way out, I was met by survey guys who once again wanted to know if I preferred soft or strength. Or in really basic terms - Blue Bear or Red Bear. I chose Red.

Had just enough time to make it to the M&M store and once again it didn't look like they had anything to give out but I lingered. I watched as two guys in very official looking M&Ms jackets posed for a pic near the car on display and then I saw the lady behind the table give a passerby an Aflac duck. The guy with the camera saw that I wanted one and put one on the table for the gal to give me. It turned out to be a photo op! So she hadn't it to me and we froze for the pic and then he needed some more of just me with the duck - I really wasn't sure if I was supposed to look @ the camera or not so I just looked at the duck. (No clue who he was taking pics for either, should have asked...) While looking - I discovered that there was a button on the back of the duck. When I pushed it he says Aflac twice and then screams it. Sweet! I think my mom will like this... ;)

Back to work.

Macy's Balloons

Admittedly, going to the Macy's T-day Parade was not a priority to me when I moved here. I'd even lost interest in watching it on TV in recent years. So I was fully prepared to let the opportunity to be a part of that tradition pass me by when I read about the night BEFORE the parade. Apparently, every year people can go see the ginormous parade balloons blown up the night before. Now THIS I found interesting and a bit exciting as the balloons were really my fave part of the Macy's Parade anyway.

So, I trekked over there after work and when I got off the subway the masses were already congesting the area before we even got above ground! The amount of people did give me pause...is this worth it? Will I actually be able to see anything once I struggle thru these bodies? I was urged on by the occassional open pocket of true walking (not inching) and then the crowds converged and got even worse! I can't even imagine what the parade must be like and the lighting of the Rockefeller Tree? Forgettaboutit. JetBlue was on hand giving out free cups of cocoa. (One guy had a rocket blaster looking dispenser strapped to his back and a guy stood on either side of him with cups to fill.) I started to wait for a cup but then decided against it - I still had a street to cross and about a block to go in this crowd and hot cocoa with no lid probably wouldn't be mix well with that scenario. I trekked on...past garbage cans overflowing with the remnants of an apparent earlier promo - half eaten bags of chips.

Once the street was crossed, the block left seemed to turn into the Vegas strip where you can see your destination but it takes FOREVER to get there. I know this is a mostly family event but if I had a kid in a stroller I would NOT subject them to those crowds - they are just too vulnerable down there with people shoving by or having their parents use them as a plow to get thru people. Yikes!

Finally, balloons in clear sight! The crowds started to filter out but taking pics was a problem as constant announcements asked that you keep moving - needless to say many of my pics are blurred and have people's heads in the way but at least you get the idea.

Being around ALL those people I certainly heard a lot of interesting bits of convo. The best was hearing people trying to figure out who the balloons were. Can you guess them all?

I wish they would have had a flyer or something that would have told about how many people it takes to corral some of these balloons - many were netted down rather than just tied to keep them in place. (I'm sure it is on the internet somewhere.) It was nice to see them completely blown up, but I was curious to see how the whole process begins - perhaps I'll take a half day next year and find out! ;)

Note: The lit up creature was a dinosaur in front of the Museum. Also, I found this youtube clip from a year ago that gives a good moving visual of the experience...

When I watched the news (two sides of the block had balloons, the other two had news vans) they said the nice weather made the crowds bigger - so maybe on a not so nice day there are less people?! Once again - will maybe check and see next year!

Oh Christmas Tree...

A coworker and I decided to head to the Rockefeller Godiva Chocolates location to get a free sample of chocolate over our lunch. After braving drizzle-y weather we made it there to get a small bite o chocolate and a gulp of hot chocolate. We lingered in the area and looked at what Xmas decorations were starting to be put up and then we walked outside just as they were unloading the Rockefeller Xmas tree! What timing!!! It is hard to see in the pic but every branch was heavily wrapped for the trip. (And to think we would have totally missed it if it wasn't for Godiva Chocolates! ;))

You can see how they've progressed with the tree since our siting on my friend's blog.

Plays and Panaroma

Headed out to another part of Queens today to watch some one-acts that a friend directed in "Queens Scenes II".

Prior to the show we stopped by the Queens Museum to take a look at the ginormous miniature version of New York that was originally built for the 1964 Worlds Fair.

I had heard about it but had no idea how big it was. There is one part that expands under the glass walkway and apparently some parts of the miniature have movement as there is a demonstration given from time to time (unfortunately, not while we were there.) Pics include the span of the mini NYC and surrounding areas, Manhattan skyline, Queens w/ Unisphere/Mets Stadium and Central Park.

The one acts in Queens Scenes II were a mixed bag but helpful to the writers as they had a talkback after the show giving the audience an opportunity to ask questions, suggestions and praise.

After the show I headed off for a couple auditions. The first was for a play. A guy rode up with me in the elevator and I asked him if he was auditioning, too. He said he didn't know. Hmm... He added that he was new to town without representation and he just goes from theatre to theatre to try and get in on auditions. Ah.... He got in line ahead of me and the lady checking in auditioners asked his name (of course it wasn't on there), he played dumb as if it should be and sure enough she made a spot for him. After we sat down with our sides, he waited a couple minutes before sitting by me and asking me what the play was about. Niiiice.

When I was called in a cold that had been brewing decided to start spilling out my nose while I read. Lovely. We (another actress was called in with me) read thru the scene a few times switching characters once, then we were sent on our way.

The next audition was for a series of one-acts written by women and were to be directed by women. After waiting for a bit I finally got in, performed my one minute comedic monologue (I didn't realize they were timing it until I bowed my head, looked up and a gal said - "Time." - At least I didn't go over!) and that was that.

Time for bed and cold meds.