An Account of My NYC Life, So Far

[connielane]

Uh, don't expect this to be a running thing, but I thought some might be wondering about my first few days.

Day Minus-One

Panic finally began to set in.  Not about being in New York, though – about all the crap I had to do before I left town.  I went for my last day of work and worked all kinds of miracles to get done all I had to get done there (and I’m sure I forgot something).

The centerpiece of the day was my goodbye luncheon, which was incredible.  As I walked in, there was a DVD playing.  The horrid evidence of my first produced stage smash of Dinner Theater ’06.  There was stuff on all the tables, representing a few aspects of my life, old and new – a “stage” table, a “book” table, a “New York” table, and a “film” table.  There was catered PF Chang’s, gifts, many tears, a prayer, and the obligatory singing of “New York, New York.”  And after a few more hours of cramming in final duties, my days of working at FBN were over.  I thankfully made it to the car and shut the door before falling apart for a few seconds and going home. 

Then it was packpackpackpack.

 

Day One

Woke up early in the morning to finish boxing things up and labeling them for future moving.  Parents took me to breakfast, and we made our way to the airport.  I was SO glad I didn’t have to lug my heavy suitcases through the airport (so heavy, in fact, that I had to pay extra to check them).  And I think this is the least amount of carry-on crap that I’ve ever taken with me.

Flight number one went great, and arrived fifteen minutes ahead of schedule.  I had about an hour to kill in Baltimore/DC, so I grabbed a sandwich.  Flight number two was short and a bit rough (“that’s what she said”).  I think it’s actually the roughest landing I’ve ever experienced. 

Once I got my bags, I called the car place that was supposed to pick me up.  Before I knew it, I was riding down the Long Island Expressway in a Lincoln Town Car and texting Lori from former-work.  I couldn’t stop staring once the Manhattan skyline came into view, and I’m sure I looked like a first-rate boob, but who cares.  The driver had to circle around before finding my destination, and then there was the luggage fiasco.  I call it fiasco, but that’s overstating.  It was just kind of a hassle trying to get all that baggage up to one place at one time.  I used to have mad coordination skillz, but nowadays not so much, I guess.  Anyway, thanks to several kind people, I made it to the elevator and then I was someone else’s problem.

Got up to dianora’s apartment, which I didn’t know until today is where she has lived with her father for several years.  I was therefore mistakenly impressed that she had scored such a great apartment fresh out of college.  I mean, there are HUGE windows, and if you stand in the right spot, you can see the Empire State Building peering out from behind the nearer buildings.

After calling home to let the parents know I was okay, I had a few hours to kill before my hostess came home from work.  So I decided to venture out and find a drug store where I could get some immediate necessities – namely, toothpaste, a good hairbrush, and some water (it’s wicked hot up here!).  Well, obviously that took a little longer than I had anticipated.  Let me just tell you … you can study maps and do all the geography research you want to try and know where you’re going before you get here, but it’s not going to do much good.  You don’t know jack until you’re here, physically, walking the streets. 

Suffice it to say that after several wrong turns and what Bob Ross would call “happy little accidents,” I found my way to a Duane Reed and back, and got to the elevator just as dianora did.  I wish I could tell you that my first night in New York was full of adventures and romance and all that, but I’m afraid it mostly consisted of scouring Craigslist for apartment listings and, most importantly, sleeeeeeeep.  Ooooh – except for a lovely home-cooked dinner that I think my hosts were slightly self-conscious about but which was very yummy indeed.

 

 

Day Two

Woke up fairly early, showered, got ready, and made my first real venture out into the city.  I had breakfast at a diner down the street and started my day by doing something nerdy and touristy – I went to the Empire State Building.  I was always surprised that we didn’t go there as part of the high school trip, but I suppose they didn’t want us to do that and the World Trade Center.  (And for my money, I’m glad we did the WTC, you know?)

I immediately regretted choosing Saturday for my tourism fix.  I spent much more time waiting in line than I actually spent in the observatory, and there was a jillion people up there when I went, so in between snapping what little photos I could of the view, I spent the rest of the time pushing, shoving, and “excuse me”-ing. 

My next stop was Upper Harlem for some apartment viewing.  I spent a lot of time waiting, but eventually saw three cute studios.  I was iffy about the neighborhood, but the complex of apartments is really nice.  And did you know you can pay for loads of laundry with your credit card now instead of quarters?  I can’t do anything about a “real” apartment until I have someone who can write me a letter of employment (*crosses fingers that tomorrow will be a big day on that score*), but I think it will be a good alternative if the residence facility doesn’t work out.

I was nearly dead – or felt it – as I trudged back up to my temporary home.  I was starting to regret that I’d bought a ticket for that night, because I couldn’t imagine my feet being able to take me even as far as the nearest subway stop.  But a short rest did wonders, and I made it back to 46^th Street to see “In the Heights.” 

Dude.  I can’t imagine a better show to have seen at the end of my first full day in town.  It’s about this neighborhood in Washington Heights – a street corner where everybody knows everybody.  There are lots of main characters and featured characters, but the heart of the show is Usnavi, the guy who runs the coffee-shop-slash-store.  He’s played by a rather remarkable guy named Lin-Manuel Miranda, who conceived the whole show and wrote the music and lyrics.  The music is kind of a Latin hip-hop, which is something entirely new (*in my limited knowledge*) for Broadway.  I mean, “America” from West Side Story was one thing … “96,000” from In the Heights is something amazingly fresh and you have to fight not to get up and dance.  Seriously, it’s one of the most exciting musical numbers I’ve ever seen.

What got me, though, was another character, Nina, who was a great student and got a partial scholarship to Stanford, but had to drop out because she was working so much to cover the rest of the cost that she couldn’t study and got put on probation.  There was something incredibly poignant to me about this girl who couldn’t face going to her parents and admitting failure.  I’ve been there, and it’s taken me twelve years to get past that and try again at being Something.  So when I say this was the perfect thing for me to see after my first 24 hours in New York, that’s the absolute truth. 

I was excited to see this with the original cast – the first time I’ve seen an original cast for anything.  When I saw these guys on the Tonys a few weeks ago, I knew I needed to see this.  I was really impressed by Lin-Manuel Miranda’s story of getting this on stage, and I LOVED that when he got up to accept one of his awards, he said “Look! Mr. Sondheim! I made a hat! Where there never was a hat!”  That’s from Stephen Sondheim’s Sunday In the Park with George, and it’s just about the perfect description of what it’s like to create something and mold it into art.  And it’s also about the bittersweetness of it, because it means you can’t really connect with other people (George’s relationship with his lover, Dot, ends when he breaks his promise to take her to the Follies because he has to finish detailing a hat in his painting).  Perhaps the most incredible part of the show last night was the curtain call, when Miranda took his bow and you could see the pride he has in his own “hat.”

After that wonderful experience, I was powerful hungry, so I went to Ray’s for a slice of pizza.  It was very yummy, but I immediately regretted my plan to dine in the establishment itself. Reason #1 was the immense heat.  I mean, it’s hot enough outside, but add to that the heat of a pizza oven and gah … instant steam room.  Reason #2 was a pair of very obnoxious Eastern European guys, who kept aggravating the staff. 

Despite my feet feeling fine on my way to the theater, the vinyl shoes I was wearing caused them to protest again, much more painfully this time.  So it was back to the Village and straight to bed, with the hope that my feet would forgive me and allow me to walk the next day.

 

Day 3

Time to start shopping for a church.  I went to Riverside this morning – a trip that is ALL UPHILL once you get off the subway.  *ahem*  It’s a lovely building and has very friendly members, but I don’t think it’s for me.  After church, I went to Sylvia’s, and though I was tempted to ask for an “m-f-ing iced tea” I refrained and had an incredible meal – though, for the record, they’re not that forthcoming with drink refills, which was a problem for me on a hot day.

I stopped off at 42^nd Street for a couple more toiletry items and a CD of In the Heights and made my way back, where after another lovely home-cooked meal I’ve been trying to give the old stems as much rest as possible before a (hopefully!) busy and eventful day tomorrow.