October

Happy birthday Paula! I had to write that even though she doesn't want to have birthdays anymore, and I don't blame her.

My hunch about the Ravens winning last night was right. Too bad I didn't get hunches for all the other games last week. My NFL picks aren't very good this year. They'll probably get better as the season continues though (but everyone else's probably will too).

Last night was sad. Spalding Gray is still in a major depression, and I have no idea why he agreed to this interview. He could barely answer questions. And to make it even worse, the guy doing the interview (the editor for AARP magazine, or something like that) was awful! It was like this was the first interview he had ever conducted (maybe it was). And some of the questions from the audience were a bit personal. I can't believe someone asked him if he was on medication and if it was working. I guess they felt since he revealed a lot of personal information in his monologues that there wasn't anything they couldn't ask. Also, someone asked if he would ever move back to the city, and he said he might have to even though he doesn't want to. What does that mean? I hope it doesn't mean that things aren't working out in his marriage and a separation might happen. Even though that might be better for him, he does have 2 sons and a step-daughter. Personally, I just wanted to give him a big hug.

Marcell called me last night and left a message. She had gotten 3 callbacks for a Broadway show but did not get the role. It would have been wonderful if she had gotten it. Maybe it would put her in better spirits and give her a better outlook on life.

I stopped in a deli yesterday and the girl at the counter made a comment about my eyes. She said, "Your eyes. Are they like that?" Her English wasn't the best, but I knew what she meant. Yes, they are like that. Then she told me a story she said I might not want to hearabout her friend who had a clear eye that had to be removed. Thanks, hon. Fortunately, I do not have that sort of problem, otherwise she would have been right; that would not have been a story I wanted to hear.

Speaking of my eyes, I was thinking about telling the person in the scene shop about my lack of depth perception and how I don't think operating heavy machinery would not be a good idea. As much as I would like to be, I am not the kind of person who is good with saws and grinders. Although maybe I should give it a try since maybe I could do a good job with it. I just don't want to mess anything up.

Just got an email from Maxine. I had given her Jon's number so she could get a loan. She had an appointment scheduled with him yesterday at 4:30 and at 4:45, he called to say he couldn't make it. This makes me so mad! In current times, it's unfortunately very normal to have people not show up when they are supposed to, but it bothers me when someone you know has the same horrible habits! I'd really like to talk to him about it to see if this is standard practice for him, but I'll wait until after they get the loan (don't want to mess anything up for my dear family).

Now I have to do a little work and then quickly get ready to go.

My appointment this morning was very short. He was squeezing me in between 2 people and the next woman was already waiting for the room, so it was quick. He even forgot to take my blood pressure. I did get blook work done though. I was actually happy about that since it's always nice to know how everything is looking, and it's been many years since I last visited a doctor. The needle didn't even hurt. Oh, and since I never got the referral for the dermatologist in the mail, I asked the woman at the front desk if I could get a copy of it. She basically blew me off and told me to come back after my appointment. Dr. Paley asked me if I had made an appointment, and I told him what happened. He checked my record and saw that they had faxed the referral to Dr. Halperin and I just needed to call to make an appointment. I was happy not to go back to the front desk. Dr. Paley was right- they are pretty awful. He also gave me two names of ob/gyns. He said one was on the 5th floor of the building and I should go up there and see if I could get an appointment and then if not, I should call the other one. Well, I went up to the 5th floor and there was no one by that name nor could I find anyone up there to ask if they knew where her office was located. So I figured I could go home and search for her phone number and if that didn't work, I could call the other woman. Well, I can't find any information on the first woman and the second woman isn't taking new patients. I called Dr. Paley's office to get a referral and the woman who answered put me on hold. I was on hold for a while and then just decided to hang up. So, I'm back to square one. I'll call them again a little later.

Kids sometimes get lollipops for being good at the doctor's office. I decided to take myself to Norma's. It was worth it even though my server was practically non-existent- the manager was the one who finally took my bill and brought me change.

Yesterday.
We started talking about the group project for urban structures. We made a list of neighbourhoods we were interested in analyzing and sort of got our groups sorted out. I chose the Lower East Side as my first choice (since you can narrow down the topic by choosing immigration) and Williamsburg as my second choice (since you can narrow down the topic by choosing gentrification).
I got my music test back and got a 92%- better than I thought I'd done.
The theatre test went okay, I think. There were a few terms that I'd never seen before (I'm assuming no one else had either and he won't count those) and there were a few where my definitions weren't too good, but I probably got between 87-90%.
The scene shop wasn't too bad. For 2 hours, I sanded wooden boards. My hand got a little tired by the end, but I couldn't have asked for a better job.

Today I need to work, clean the apartment, and call Marcell. I hope to have a relaxing evening and maybe watch a movie.

Tomorrow I'm going dress shopping with Robyn. Wish me luck.

And I heard from Paula. She and Harvey will be coming up here Thursday evening and leaving Saturday morning. And they won't be coming back the following week after Boston.

Oh, speaking of Boston, I talked to Rebecca last night and she wanted to know if Columbus Day weekend would work for me. It sort of would, but I feel bad going there and not going down to Bethesda for Eytan's birthday. Rebecca's still trying to figure out when she should take the GREs and when, if at all, she should visit her father. Plus, I don't know when and if our urban structures group will be working on our project. So the Boston trip is still up in the air.

There have been a lot of random shootings recently.

I had a sort of adventure dream last night. I was involved in some show, and we were sitting around marking our scripts. Then everyone scattered. I realised some of the people in charge were evil people and some were safe to talk to. I don't remember any more of the plot, but I remember some random things. Who was in it? Among other people, Lisa, Jill, & Robb from Camp Debut. What were some random details? I believe some of it took place in Northern VA, I remember going to Starbucks, and I think one of the songs we were working on was Cole Porter's "Heaven Hop" (but maybe not). If I didn't keep going back to sleep this morning, I would remember more of it now. Oh well, it wasn't that interesting. I'm just glad I finally remember even this much of a dream.

I had an unsuccessful day of shopping with Robyn. I tried Daffy's, City Opera Thrift Shop, and Housing Works (don't want to take the time to link tonight) and found nothing. Then we walked across to 36th & 7th to SSS Sample Sale but couldn't find the place. Then I went with her to Port Authority so she could get a bus ticket for tomorrow morning. Now I don't know where I'll look for a dress. I guess I can try Macy's and/or Lord & Taylor.

My arm that had the needle in it yesterday hurts. Harvey thinks the woman may have hit a muscle or something. That might be why she kept saying, "Oh, I hate when that happens," and other things you don't want to hear when you have a needle in your arm. So now it just feels achy and bruised and sore. Hopefully it'll feel like normal soon. At least it's not the arm I write with.

Tonight, I met Paula and Harvey at Otabe for dinner and then came back here and chatted with them a bit before they went to sleep.

Tomorrow is classes, then I'll have dinner with Paula and Harvey at Los Dos Molinos since it's conveniently located near the theatre, and then I get to see "Burn This" (finally).

Harvey and Paula are leaving tomorrow evening rather than Saturday. But then they'll be up here for almost 2 weeks at the end of October/beginning of November.

I don't understand how Hunter decided that since they're closed on Columbus Day, to make Wednesday follow a Monday schedule. Aren't Monday and Wednesday schedules the same? What's the difference by saying today we'll have Wednesday classes instead of Monday?

Last night I went to Los Dos Molinos with Paula and Harvey. Yum! Nice and spicy!

Then I went to see "Burn This" and... WOW!!! I haven't been that enthralled with a performance since, probably, "Copenhagen", and that one was more difficult to watch since it required so much thought about physics. But "Burn This" was perfect in every way. The script was amazing, the actors were extremely talented and all 4 of them were wonderful, unlike the times when you see small casts and there is clearly a weak link, the set was perfect, and I think the audience gave the performance an interesting energy. I wonder how they get that intensity for every performance. It was truly an amazing production. I had more thoughts about it last night but was too tired to write them down when I got home.

I was thinking about writing an Epinion about it soon though. I checked into the site a few days ago and saw a great one on "Flower Drum Song". I left a comment, and the woman who wrote it replied, telling me she was glad to see me back and wanted to let me know that you can suggest things to add to their database now and they're pretty good about adding them. So, maybe I'll get them to add some of this season's shows and I'll try to find time to write about a few of them.

I watched Theatre Talk when I got back last night and it made me wish I could go see Philip Glass and Mary Zimmerman's Galileo Galilei.

I was reading something online this morning about someone taking an America West flight from LA to Detroit and got stuck in Phoenix, when that leg of the trip got cancelled. They're still the same crappy airline. I'm so glad that I'm not in Phoneix anymore dealing with the airline options out there.

Today I'm supposed to go with Sean to look for props for "Heartbreak House". But he's supposed to call around now and he hasn't called yet. When we talked about it yesterday and he said he would give me a call, I kind of figured there would be a 25% chance of him calling, so I got his number as well. I'll call him in a few minutes to see what's going on. It would be nice to get some more hours for the stupid production requirement. I just hope the extra hours I put in, beyond the production class requirement, gets counted as one of my theatre major requirements.

This evening will be spent cleaning the apartment, going through the mail and organising more of my paperwork and other random stuff that is cluttering my apartment, and reading the chapter on ehich I'll be doing my music industry presentation.

We talked about it briefly in class yesterday, and he has most of us confused. He told us what we should be doing but said it in 3 different ways. I think what we're supposed to do is write a research paper on the chapter and focus on one specific part of it. And then we're supposed to present the chapter and whatever other information we want to include, but we don't have to include anything extra. Or something like that. So I picked the chapter on the history of musicals and, I think, will focus on the section on Sondheim. Maybe I can use some of the information from my research paper on Broadway that I did 2 years ago, and if not, I at least know of a few sources I can use.

So, starting with chapter 4, the class will be presenting the chapters. That sure makes it easy for the professor. He won't have to do anything starting in 2 weeks. And when is my chapter being presented? Why November 19th, of course. Right after all the chaos of work, "Heartbreak House", and the black tie thing in DC. So, I'll have to work on it from now until the 20th of October and then just refresh my memory when I give the presentation in my sleep deprived state on November 19th.

In other news, my arm is now all bruised around the area where the needle was.

Sean and I went to a few costume shops to check out possible props. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon, but I wouldn't want to do it all the time. So now I get to add 2 more hours for the requirement. And Monday I'm going to the prop room at school to see what's in there. That will probably take less than an hour, but I'm also putting in 2 hours at the scene shop that afternoon.

I'm saving cleaning and bills for tomorrow. Tonight I'll just read the next chapter for the music industry class and read the chapter for my presentation.

Oh, and I forgot to mention all the fun I had trying to copy articles at the library yesterday. I went to the database and looked up the instructor's name, rather than the class name. That's where you could find the articles since the library screwed up and put our articles under the 101 class. So I scrolled through the ones in the database and played match-up with the list on the syllabus. I found them all except one. So I checked with the girl at the reserve desk and she couldn't find it either. I didn't expect her to find it. She complained that "the guy has a lot of stuff here". No kidding- 50+ articles with an average of 5 pages is a lot of stuff, especially when you can only check out 3 at a time. I only had time to copy 3 of them. I guess if I always use that hour between classes to copy articles, I can copy the 3 we need to read before each class rather than copy all of them in one or two trips. Oh well.

Oh, and I heard back from Rebecca. The weekend of the 19th will work for her. So I'll leave Saturday morning, drive up to Portsmouth, spend some time there, and then get to her place in the evening. Then I'll come home Monday morning.

Tonight I'm going to watch "When Harry Met Sally" because it's on and why not? And then I'm going to tape "Philadelphia Story" since it's one of those classic movies I've always wanted to watch and never seem to get around to it. But I'm just taping it (since it doesn't start until 2:30), so who knows when I'll actually get around to watching it?

Went to sleep around 2:30 and woke up feeling really rested. The problem? I looked at the clock and it was only around 4:30. So I went back to sleep and had a night of waking up every few minutes. Not a very restful sleep. I would have felt better getting up at 4:30 than falling back to sleep and getting lots of little naps.

Went through all my mail and took care of some paperwork while watching the Giants/Cowboys game. Now I need to continue sorting through paperwork while watching the rest of the Jets/Chiefs game. I wish I cared about these New York teams; it would make watching a little more interesting.

I read the music industry chapter for the next class and the one for my presentation last night. I wish I knew what exactly what I'm supposed to do with the paper & presentation. There is so much information in the chapter. It's the longest one in the book, and understandably so. As it is, the information given is an extremely brief history. But they manage to mention several hundred shows as well as every major (and some minor) composer and lyricist.

Happy birthday Neil! The big 4-0. You're still so young.

I finally wrote an Epinion last night. I wrote it on Artisanal since I'm planning on writing a few theatre Epinions soon and I want those to be listed on my main page longer. So far, all my ratings are "Very Helpful". Ah, it's so nice to get positive ratings- good for the ego. I know I can't make money on the site like I used to, but I'd still like to write again from time to time.

I feel like these baseball playoffs are fixed to have the unlikely teams win so fans will get their interest back in baseball after the mess with the almost-strike this summer.

Today I finished cleaning the apartment (still need to throw out the trash but the shute has been locked, maybe it'll be unlocked when I come home tonight), did a few odds and ends, and will be leaving in a couple of hours to head up to school. I'm meeting Sean and Veronica to go through the prop room, then I need to run over to Eddie Bauer to return a pair of pants and to the bank to make a deposit, and then I'll go back to school and do some work in the scene shop before going to the Ars Nova Theatre for the Matt Bogart concert tonight.

People who have been finding my website in a search have been contacting me recently about whatever they were searching for.

So yesterday I spent a little time in the props room with Sean and Veronica. We found very little that would be of any use, and then the lights went out in the room. That was a good time to stop, considering we couldn't really see anything.

Then I went to return pants and bought a pair of sunglasses (since mine broke), made a deposit at the bank, picked up a hair clip (since my broke yesterday, guess this things break in pairs), and went back to school to work on the set. We worked in the theatre, which I had a little trouble finding. I figured I would. That school is a bit maze-like. There are a million stairwells. And the theatre isn't marked at all, so I even when I knew I was in the right place, I still wasn't sure where it was. Anyway, I helped screw on the wheels for rolling platform. I actually had fun with the drill. And Noriko, the other girl working at the time, was a good person to work with. She got right to work and was quite good at picking things up quickly. Sweet girl too.

Then I headed over to the Ars Nova Theatre for the Matt Bogart cabaret. And... his voice was higher than I remember. He must have a fairly good range and used the lower range for "Side Show". I liked his lower range better, but then again, I just like most deep voices. But he is still very attractive. He actually reminded me of Kris in many ways- personality, looks, mannerisms, the romantic side, both have cute blond women in their lives (Matt's girlfriend is Jessica Boever, who played Ado Annie in "Oklahoma"), they both work for Disney... There were times I had to remind myself that I was not watching Kris up onstage. The best part of the show was when he had Nikki Renee Daniels join him for "Written in the Stars" from "Aida" (she was the understudy for Aida at one point). I saw her sitting in the audience before the show and half the people there seemed to know her; I didn't realise she was going to perform (obviously, I didn't know who she was). She's a quite striking girl with a beautiful voice!

After the show, I walked back part of the way with Ann, who works for the theatrical marketing department of Disney. She caught up with me to ask me a question, and then we got to talking. It was interesting that she works for Disney though since Matt kind of trashed them in his between-the-songs-banter. See, you should always watch what you say in public; you never know who's listening. Not that Ann minded at all. She was a real down to earth person.

Anyway, I'm very glad I went and even more glad I picked up his CD at the show- something new to listen to on the way up to Boston (I'll save it until then).

When I got home, I had a message from my doctor about my blood work. All he said was that my cholesterol was great and to call him if I had any questions. I guess I'll call tomorrow.

Big news from Harvey and Paula. I'll probably mention more at a later date.

I barely slept last night. I just wasn't tired. I think I finally fell asleep around 4:00 and had to get up at 7:00 (but hit snooze for a half an hour). It took slightly longer to feel awake, but now I feel okay.

I've been a spotty online connection the past 2 mornings. If it happens again tomorrow, I guess I'll have to call RCN. I got a letter from RCN the other day about how they know they haven't had the best customer service but they are working on that as well as making sure they have properly trained technicians. Do I believe it? Sure. Do I think that they really will improve? Doubtful.

Tonight I'm going to see "Hollywood Arms". I'm not entirely looking forward to the show but am interested in the cast. When I talked to Marcell the other day, she said it has a weak script (she knew since that's the show for which she had a few callbacks) but thinks the great cast should be able to work beyond the script and make it a good show. So, we'll see.

Happy birthday Eytan!

Like I said yesterday, lots of people are contacting me when they find my site by searching for something. But it was yesterday's email was one that completely made my day! I heard from Stephanie Podolny!!! Her fiance was searching for her name and found my site! I love the Internet! I called her last night and we talked for over an hour. It was really wonderful catching up with her and hopefully we can get together soon. She's living in Chicago- somewhere I've been wanting to visit recently, but who knows when I can actually take the time to do that.

So yeah, I think my site is getting more popular in general (or at least more people are finding it by searching for odd and interesting things). I wonder who it was that searched for a restaurant review of Caffe Cielo?

I still can't get tired at a decent hour. I didn't even get in bed last night until around 3:30 and have no idea when I finally fell asleep. But I did get to sleep in. I woke up at some point and told myself to go back to sleep, and woke up again and told myself to go back to sleep, and woke up once again...

I got something in the mail yesterday from both Eytan and Neil. I almost never get anything in the mail from friends/family, so I thought, "Are these two birthday boys reminding me to send them birthday cards or something?" I did do that. Just a little later than I meant to (like 2 days ago). But no, that wasn't why they were contacting me. Neil sent me pictures of Abby (she looks so adorable- I'll be posting them on my site when I get a chance to scan them) and Eytan sent me a Metro Card that he found and thought I would get more use out of it than he would (he doesn't know how much is on it- probably $1.50).

Well folks, I think we have the next long-running French musical to replace "Les Mis". "Amour". Kidding. It was a total piece of fluff. Worse than fluff, in my opinion. I laughed at a few things (some sex jokes and silly rhyming lyrics), but otherwise, it was a bit pretty bad. I can't believe they spent a ton of money on that. But at least it was short (an hour and a half without an intermission- why is it always the bad shows that don't have an intermission? Do they know it's bad and don't want people to leave before it's over?), I was able to work for a few hours when I got home last night. Yes, I took a job. It was quick and easy.

It looks like I will definitely be going to Boston the weekend of the 19th. Now I just need to make a car reservation.

And last but certainly not least, my friend Robyn will be performing her first cabaret show in New York. If anyone wants to go, here are the details:
Thursday, November 7, 7pm
Danny's Skylight Room
346 West 46th Street, NYC
Reservations: (212) 265-8130
$12 Cover
$10 Food & Drink Min.
You can check out her website here.

Tonight is "Aida". I've been singing "Written in the Stars" and "Elaborate Lives" all day.

I remember that last time I wrote about "Aida", I listed comments. I think I'll do the same this time.
- The sound was awful- was this just a problem last night or is the sound always that bad from stage left?
- Matt was great!
- Simone was cold and wooden, just like I thought she's be.
- The couple behind me kept whispering through the show, made really audible comments during "shocking" moments of the show, and the girl actually took a call during the quietest part of the show- horrible!
- The people in the ensemble were weak- both individually and as an ensemble.
- The pace was too quick for most of the scenes, especially at the end with all the action. Two scenes after that, I was like, wait a minute, Mereb got killed and the king got away already?
- All I kept thinking through the show was how Disney it was, and I laughed a bit when they got to the part of "Written in the Stars" where, during his cabaret show, Matt broke away from the song and did a Disney rant.
- And both last night and tonight, I found myself focusing on the lighting, since that's what we're studying right now in my production class. Being able to watch how certain gels light certain costumes and faces is great when you're not interested in the main action on stage.

I remember 2 things about my dream last night. One, I was watching the end of tonight's Virginia Tech game and they were killing Boston College (hope I'm psychic). Two, I was waiting for my music industry class to start and overheard people talking about the test. I had forgotten to study for it and was looking over a ton of information trying to memorise it quickly in the 5 minutes before class started and realised I didn't know anything. I don't think I've ever had the forgetting-to-study-for-a-test dream before.

I called the doctor's office today and they're mailing me the information on my blood test and Dr. Paley will call me with more ob/gyn recommendations.

Tonight is "Hollywood Arms". But first I will go study for my music industry test at Edison Cafe.

Plans for the weekend? Seeing "Hollywood Songbook" cabaret show at the Algonquin Hotel with Robyn Saturday night. Working on (and possibly finishing) my music industry paper (we better be finding out tomorrow which part of the chapter we need to cover). Maybe getting together with Marcell. And on Monday I will once again try to find a dress for the thing in DC. I have 2 more places to try, and if I can't find anything, I'll break down and go to a department store and pay an outrageous price for a dress I won't like and won't fit.

Car rental prices in NYC are getting ridiculous. And of course all the deals are good for all locations except Hawaii and NYC. I'm tempted to try a no-name company but still a bit uncomfortable doing that. So for now, I'll stick with high-priced Avis. But I am looking forward to my New England drive- now I just need to hope for a rain-free trip.

will be playing at Mercury Lounge on October 25. I'm going to try to go even though I'll probably be exhausted for work the next day.

Busy day yesterday!

But first, my prediction of the Tech win came true. They didn't kill Boston College, but at least they won. Now they just need to win the rest of their conference games including beating Miami- not too difficult, right?

Thursday night was a difficult night of sleep for me. I got in bed around 1:30 and by 3:30, still wasn't asleep. I told myself that if I wasn't asleep by 4:00, I would just get up and start my day. Well, I didn't fall asleep by 4:00 but decided to stay in bed and just rest. I fell asleep sometime before 4:30 and had to get up at 7:00 but kept hitting the snooze button until around 7:30. And I did not want to get out of bed at 7:30. It was dreary and rainy and I was quite comfortable in my bed. And I tried a new thing Thursday night. I told myself that I did not need to fall asleep. Staying in bed and resting was just as good. I thought I could trick myself into falling asleep this way. Didn't work. But maybe I'll try that again soon.

Yesterday was a useful day at school. In Urban Structures, we finally got to get together with our groups. Granted, we only had the last 2 minutes of class to do that, but at least we had those 2 minutes. We got each other's numbers and email addresses and will contact each other over the weekend and probably do the walking tour on Monday.

And the Music Industry professor was unhelpful as usual, but at least I was finally able to see who else was doing the chapter I'm doing. We had a test yesterday, and they are short tests, but he still barely left us enough time for it. He started the class by going over the information on the test. I thought he was just making one point, but he went over several points and it took all but 20 minutes of the class. The only reason he stopped talking was because someone in the class asked how much time we would need to take the test. He also gave us a sheet of paper with our last names next to the chapter we would be doing. I asked him how we were supposed to talk to the other people in our group when we did not know their names, and so after he handed out the tests, he called out our names and we raised our hands. I saw who raised their hands for my chapter and stood outside the door to talk to them after the test. They both finally came out and we decided to break the chapter into thirds. I'm doing the middle third- 20's through early 60's (that's a lot of information). I still need to ask him a few questions, so I'll send him an email later today. In the meantime, I can start doing research and make an outline. Oh, and the test was basically okay, but there were a few questions that either didn't look familiar or were poorly worded. I overheard other people saying the same thing as they were coming out the door, so maybe he'll take that into consideration if enough people complain.

For Theatre Production we got to go down to the Kate Theatre (a union house) and talk to the electrician and sound guy. The sound guy seemed like a neat guy. And then 8 of us were supposed to go to wardrobe to learn how to sew. I was one of those 8, but he also wanted the props people to go to the prop room to get the stuff for rehearsals and so the powers that be can see what else we still need to get. So Sean, DeShay, and I went to go do that. We didn't get finished until after the class was over. It was nice not having to sit in the classroom for 2 hours. Also, Sean was supposed to go meet some people in Long Island City Thursday morning but told the instructor that he can't get up that early. The instructor said someone else on props could go, so I said I would. It will give me more hours for this time-consuming requirement. Oh, and the instructor also gave us a schedule for the tech rehearsals and show and put our names on the schedule. He told us to put an "x" by our name if we had conflicts. I not only wanted to put an "x" by my name for the tech rehearsals, I wanted to add my name to more of the shows. He only has me down for 3 shows and that won't nearly give me enough hours. I'll have to do something about that.

Last night was random. I met this guy, Dan, on the Upper East Side and went over his apartment to hang out with him and his girlfriend, Fran. I liked Fran but Dan, not so much. Fran left at some point to go shopping with a friend and I was stuck talking to Dan for the rest of the evening. We don't really have anything in common. He was smoking pot, so I got to smoke as well, which I thought would be fun. But I actually didn't enjoy it very much since the conversation wasn't too interesting and what I really wanted to do was go home and enjoy my stoned state in the comfort of my own apartment. He works in urban planning so I thought we'd be able to talk about that, but we spent most of the time talking about other things. I would try to bring stuff up and he wasn't interested and vise versa. So I doubt I'll be seeing him again, but I would like to hang out Fran, so maybe I will go up there again.

And the weather yesterday was very rainy! The streets had huge puddles, 59th St. was closed, there was tons of traffic, the uptown subway enterance was closed so I had to go to the downtown one and down and up and around. All these things made my normally easy trip uptown quite irritating. And I was trying to move quickly so I got a little sweaty, combine sweat and rain (which meant wet hair, although it was just the ends since I wore a hat) and you get a cold person. So I was very cold sitting around Dan's apartment. I really was looking forward to going home.

But I got home and the phone was ringing. I know I didn't need to answer it, but I did anyway. It was Carol. As in Les & Carol. I knew she was planning to call, but it would have been nice if it wasn't last night. I was sort of out of it from the pot and was cold and wet. So I had to try to have another conversation that was difficult. Last night was the night of difficult conversations. She did most of the talking but a lot of it was difficult to listen to. She's not a very happy woman (completely understandably). So she kept me on the phone for an hour. By that point I was just not in a good mood- 2 difficult conversations, cold and wet, hungry (I hadn't eaten all day- discovered that not only is the snack bar at school closed, but the cafeteria is as well- ridiculous), and pretty tired (it was a long day and I barely slept the night before).

I did get sleep last night though. I'm not sure what time I went to sleep but I know it was sometime before 3:00 and I slept until 9:00.

Okay, time to go email the music professor, call Robyn to make arrangements for tonight, and then start to work on this paper.

I'm meeting Marcell tomorrow morning and I'll go to Barnes and Noble after to look for more sources. Then I'll write the paper in the evening. I don't know if I can write a 6 paged paper in an evening, but I'll try. If I don't finish it, I can finish it up Thursday evening.

I forgot to mention seeing "Hollywood Arms". I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. It was a bit like watching a TV show, but the plot moved along better than what I was expecting- yes, it's more like vignettes, but it wasn't as choppy as others were making it sound. The cast was talented, the story was interesting, and there were some cute moments. The main problem I had was the way the characters were written. None of them were developed enough and the minor characters (Dixie and the 2 cops) weren't even needed. And it was a little too long, but I'm glad I went.

I'm meeting Robyn at 9:00 and having dinner somewhere (if it's okay with her, I'd like to try Teodora- can't believe I've never been there) and then heading down to the Algonquin for the 11:30 show.

I am finally feeling fall! I am nostalgic, melancholy, and bittersweet. Walking up 3rd Ave. today, I felt peaceful and comfortable. Now I'm having flashbacks of driving around the New River Valley- Rt. 603, Rt. 723... Those roads and the roads in southern Utah are my favourite roads in this country to drive on. I really want to find time to take a trip to Virginia/West Virginia. Maybe I'll go between Christmas and New Years. Most of the students will be gone so it will be quieter (which is a good thing). I should really look into doing that.

But I wish I could take a drive right now. I just have the urge to get in a car and go. If I didn't have this paper to deal with, I probably would have rented a car this afternoon and gone up to the Hudson River Valley or something.

So last night at the Algonquin, the performance was not so great. Eric Comstock was a wimpy performer who has no reason to be arrogant. The other performers were just as bad and just as arrogant. I was excited to see Bill Henderson perform but his attitude bothered me as well. I found myself focusing on the lighting again. Whoever did the lights for this show did not know who they were lighting. They used soft pink, yellow, and pale blue and everyone except Bill Henderson looked awful in those lights. I didn't even enjoy being in the Algonqin. The atmosphere wasn't pleasant. Oh well, at least it was free (except for the $20 minimum). Before the show, Robyn and I went to Cafe Buon Gusto for dinner.

This morning I met Marcell at her apartment, and after an unsuccessful attempt to get her computer out of Windows 95 "Safe Mode", we went to a little cafe for tea. It was a short visit, which was good since I needed to go to Barnes and Noble to do research for this music paper.

Barnes and Noble had exactly what I needed, and I was able to get what I hope will be enough information in a short amount of time. Now I just need to get out of my current mood (or figure out how to use the mood) and start writing.

There is always so much I want to do on Sundays and never enough time to get it done. I've had a long enough break now though (writing this entry, checking sports highlights, and doing the Zagat New York Nightlife survey) and it's time to get back to the paper.

I just had a flashback of going to White Flint (in the late 70's/early 80's, before it got too ritzy) with Paula and going to the eatery and getting a frozen yogurt.

It just hit me that my apartment will be turning into a hotel in a few weeks, so I need to make sure I know where all the sheets and towels are since I don't have time to do laundry in between one check out and the next check in (I believe that will be done on Friday when I have classes and then maybe again on the following Sunday- though I'm not sure about that one). I'm pretty sure Lori (my cousin, Steve's, wife) will be staying with me Wednesday the 23rd through Friday the 25th. That means after the dermatologist appointment when I get to fret about his recommendation and working in the scene shop for several hours when I'm really tired, I have to come home to a condescending woman I really don't like. Lovely.

Rough NFL Sunday for me. Picking against the spread is killing me.

Long day down on the Lower East Side. I met up with Jordan, Sarah, Vladimir, and Renee at Des Moines and we talked for almost an hour about what we should do. I'm so glad these people aren't lazy and/or clueless. After we talked, we walked around the neighbourhood for over 2 hours, talking about our observations, taking notes, and taking pictures. I think we'll all go back down there at some point on our own to conduct more research and to take some more pictures. We're getting together during class tomorrow (since tomorrow's class is cancelled so we can conduct fieldwork) to discuss things further.

I was carrying a heavy bag (since I took home a book that Sara let me borrow, on the history of New York till 1898) and was a bit tired and hungry, so I didn't go buy a dress today. Bad me. Now I'll have to go Wednesday before I go to the scene shop, which means I'll have to go early so I can come home and change into grungy clothes before heading back up to school.

Last night I tried the tricking-myself-into-falling-asleep-by-telling-myself-that-I-didn't-need-to-go-to-sleep-and-it-was-just-as-good-staying-in-bed-and-resting thing. I think it might have worked. After I told myself to just rest, I think I fell asleep shortly after. Or at least I don't remember being awake much longer after that. I don't really remember, but I think that's what happened. I hope that's what happened.

I worked on my paper a little more this evening but didn't finish it. I'm not worried though. I have late evenings at home this week, so if I do a little bit each night, it'll get done before I leave for Boston on Saturday.

Jon called me tonight on my cell phone so he could get my home number and email address to give to his cousins, so they can contact me about babysitting their son in December. It's a little early to talk about that, but I'm so glad he called tonight. We were finishing up the conversation and he said, "See you on the 17th", which confused me. I had completely forgotten that he was coming up November 17th to see "Hairspray" for Michelle's birthday. Oops. That wouldn't be too bad, though, or so I thought. I told him I wouldn't be here, but I would leave the keys like last time. No, not good enough. He needed me to watch Steven as well. Uh oh, that's when I need to be down at the Smithsonian for the black tie event. I can't miss that, and even if I could, I would need to be up at school to do running crew for "Heartbreak House". So we discussed other possibilities and came up with his asking their afternoon nanny to come with them and she would stay here for the weekend with them and stay with Steven while they went to the show. I decided that was okay with me since even though I don't know her personally, she's Rebecca's sister (Rebecca being Brian's fiancee). So they'll come up Friday night while I'm doing running crew, I'll come in late and try not to wake them up, and then if they're up early Saturday morning, I'll say hello before I go to Penn Station to take the train to DC. Then I'll see them late Sunday afternoon/early evening when I get home and before they head home (unless they're staying Sunday night, in which case, I can spend that evening with them, sort of, I really should look over my presentation for the music class that evening even though I'll be exhausted, and now that I think about it, I can bring the presentation stuff on the train and work on it on the way down to DC, and if I do that, I can hang out with them Sunday evening if they stay over that night). That was a fun, rambling thing there. Anyway, I'm so glad Jon called tonight. I felt terrible enough, but would have felt even worse if I wasn't reminded of his visit until the last minute when it would be more difficult to make other babysitting arrangements.

So I was feeling pretty overwhelmed this evening. That led to getting upset about the school thing. I wouldn't mind all the ridiculous rules and obsessive amount of work if there was a happy light at the end of the tunnel. But sadly, theatre degrees don't leave happy lights. Theatre degrees leave a rather dim light. So I started thinking about what the hell I was going to do after I get that little piece of paper and that led to feeling miserable and thinking of a way to convince myself that marrying Jeff could be a good idea, since then my work wouldn't be absolutely necessary to survive. But then I gave up on that and went back to the casting director or government idea. I called Maxine and talked to her about the government thing, and it sounds more difficult than I realised to get a job with the Federal Government and a state, city, or county job would require me to stay put for the long term. And maybe I will stay put, but I don't know for sure. So who knows? I am done thinking about that subject for now. I managed to go back to the think-about-one-step-at-a-time thing. And the first step is getting a degree. I can't only think about school for much longer (soon I will need to worry about taking steps for after graduation), but at least right now I can make that my main concern of the near future. And with everything I have on my plate right now, not dwelling on the post-graduation stuff is a very good thing.

And I remembered this morning that I have a ticket for "Take Me Out" on the Wednesday night that Lori will be arriving. So rather than go to the dermatologist in the morning, the scene shop in the afternoon, and then go straight to the theatre in my grungy clothes and being tired and hungry, I will skip the scene shop that day and come home so I can be here when Lori arrives. I don't want her to get here and not know where anything is. I don't want her going through my stuff, trying to find things. I'm sure she'll find something that she can use as ammunition against me. I don't know what that would be, but I'm sure she would find it. So I'll just have to find more free hours that I can use for the theatre requirement. Perhaps, even though I'm not needed, I can show up at a rehearsal during the week before the tech weekend and they can find something for me to do. It doesn't completely sound like it will work, but I can try. And I'm assuming that after the trip to Long Island City on Thursday morning, I'm assuming we'll be going to school. Maybe I can stick around and help out in the shop that afternoon. That one sounds much more like a possibility.

I just hope I don't get sick from all this time with no rest. I started taking ecchinacea yesterday, so hopefully between that and remembering to eat, I'll be okay.

Now I need to do a little more research on the Lower East Side so I don't seem like a complete idiot when I meet up with my group tomorrow morning.

Feeling good today. I got very little sleep last night but woke up bright and early and feeling fairly awake, and it didn't take long to feel completely awake. And I'm not completely unhappy about going to school today. I know I won't be happy sitting in through the music class, but it's not that bad. At least that's the way I feel now, and I usually don't feel this way in the mornings before class, so I'm hoping the mood will continue. Don't know where this good mood is coming from. Maybe I had a nice dream that I don't remember.

So we're going to have a California World Series. Good for the players and California fans, not so exciting for the rest of us. I was routing for Minnesota since it would have been interesting to have a team that was going to be eliminated in the World Series, but oh well.

Listening to "By Jeeves" is keeping me in a good mood. What a cheery, fun musical. And oh so British. I was really born in the wrong country. But of course if I was born in the UK, I probably would have wished that I was from Switzerland or something.

Just checked the weather and of course tomorrow it will be raining. I get to go buy a dress looking like a drowned rat. Maybe it won't be raining too hard when I go (oh yes, that's just the kind of luck I have).

I got an email last night from Sara in my group, and she had emailed our instructor about the area we should include (I guess that was her question), and he replied telling her that we should include Chinatown and Bowery. That's A TON of information to cover if we include those 2 neighbourhoods as well. Doesn't he realise how much information there is in the area we walked around yesterday? We're meeting this morning and I'm hoping I can get the others to agree that it is too much information and we should all tell him so. If not, we have a huge project ahead of us (and it was huge enough already).

Okay, time to go get ready to go.

I remember bits of my dream. I was at Kim and Dana's old house and one of the actresses from HBO's Oz was there. I've never seen the show, have know idea who is in it or what it's about, so I have no idea why this was a part of my dream. Terry was there too. I was trying to find an extra Christmas card for the actress, so I went upstairs to Dana's old room and thought I brought a blank card back down to the den, but it was Paula's card. Good thing I checked before I gave it to the Oz actress. Terry was trying to help and showed me a Christmas card of his. He didn't know what card I was looking for. Written on his card was, "I know you're looking for a card maybe like a card for me". It went on to say how good it was to see me again and stuff like that. It was like no time had passed since we saw each other, he was not married, and there was a serious connection. Bad. Then the dream switched gears and Michelle, Jon's wife, was there. She was asking me what I did with my days in Baltimore while everyone was at work. I told her Eytan wasn't working so I visited him, and Jeff was in town not doing anything during the days. Then I remembered Jeff was not there that year. Then the dream switched gears again and I don't really remember that part. It was sort of an adventure type dream with a bunch of Koreans in Rockville and Terry was still around as well.

Yesterday was exhausting. I met up with my group to go over a few details and exchange information (books, articles, etc.). Then I happened to look at my theatre notebook and saw that I signed up for shop yesterday. Good thing I saw that! So I left theatre class early and went down to the shop. Of course I don't have time to eat on Tuesdays and was a bit hungry at 4:30. But I forgot about the hunger once I started sanding boards. Then we got to paint the boards. Not a bad day in shop. I would have stayed longer if I had more stamina, but I thought going home, getting something to eat, and doing other important things was a better idea.

I got home and my feet were killing me. They are just not happy in anything except sandals. And some part of the shoe hits a bone in my left foot, so I have a huge red bump on that foot. And my leg muscles were sore from sanding and painting at awkward angles (my arms are too short to reach the middle of the boards). Combine that with the not eating all day and you get one exhausted person.

Last night I was thinking about when I would have the time to do the work for the Lower East Side paper/presentation, and before I could figure that out, I started thinking about the midterm for that class. I wondered how much the midterm would count and decided that the paper/presentation would probably count much more. Then I thought about the other assignments for that class and remembered the other research paper on a city that I completely forgot about until this thought process. If I couldn't figure out when I was going to work on the LES thing, I certainly couldn't figure out when I can work on another research paper. Eeek.

To say I'm overwhelmed is an understatement.

I got the address yesterday of where to meet for the loading stuff thing tomorrow. I'm actually looking forward to it. Plus it means more hours for the stupid requirement. Can I actually complete all the required hours? It doesn't look like it, but maybe they'll fudge it a little if they know how hard I worked (seriously doubtful, but I don't know what else to do).

When I get back from shop tonight, I need to look into Boston details (directions, Portsmouth, etc.) and hopefully finish my music paper.

Now I need to get a little food energy, work on my music paper, and then figure out Boston details.

Another tiring day.

After a long wait for the R train, I made it to Materials for the Arts on time (barely). But I got there before Louisa, she was almost 30 minutes late. I waited by the loading dock for the Hunter van to show up to tell the drivers not to leave. I also was waiting for a locksmith since Louisa was getting her truck door lock fixed. Of course everything happened at once, and I was directing the Hunter guys upstairs to help Louisa and then riding in the locksmith's van to Louisa's car. After the Hunter guys left with the big pieces, Louisa and I searched the place for other random things (twine, fabric, computer parts...). Then we went up to HousingWorks for a chair. We didn't get back to Hunter to load the stuff into the theatre until after 1:00. Then Louisa sent me to Staples for computer paper. By this point I was tired, hungry, my feet were killing me, and I was walking (limping) through the city in an exhausted daze. But until the last hour, I was having fun. And I got 6 hours done for the requirement. Well, technically it was 5, but who's gonna know? I probably should have stayed at school and done some hours in the shop, but I was so exhausted and my legs wouldn't have been able to move to accomplish anything, so I just couldn't stay.

Rebecca called last night and talked about going clothes shopping while I'm there. That could be a useful thing, but I doubt I'll find anything except socks. But I'd really like to find a pair or two of jeans that fit me. And maybe I can find some dress shirts as well (wishful thinking).

Sad that the only time I have for clothes shopping in the next few months is when I'll be in Boston. And to really make sure I don't have too much fun while I'm there, I'm bringing my school books since I haven't opened them in ages. I'll bring them to Portsmouth and read while having lunch and perhaps I can read for an hour before bed on Saturday. Too bad I can't read while driving ;)

And my shower is dripping again. Of course I have no idea when I'll be home long enough to deal with that. I guess I can do that October 28th.

I didn't work on my paper at all last night. Bad. I was busy talking to Rebecca and getting directions and checking out Portsmouth info. So I'll have to finish the thing tonight.

The people in the apartment next to me (the ones against my living room wall) have been very noisy recently. I don't know what's going on over there, but it sounds like they're moving furniture around. And their dog was yapping all morning.

I decided to go through the mail tonight rather than save it for tomorrow. Wow! Could this jam packed schedule is turning me into a non-procrastinator? Nah.

So the elections are coming up and I spent about 10 minutes reading up on the candidates and will definitely have to make time to read more before November 5th. This is going to be a tough decision for me.

I'm typing with my eyes sort of closed since they're not doing well right now (I'll explain later so I can have this entry in chronological order), so I'll probably have some typos.

Classes were actually okay today. In urban strcutures, we discussed transportation, which I find interesting. We compared US and UK transportation which really isn't fair since the US is so much bigger than the UK, but you can still make some valid points comparing the two. We got our tests back in music and I only got a 76%. Those questions were worded terribly. He even realised that with a few of them since he allowed 3 of my answers (I guess since most people put the same thing). Theatre class was okay until 8 of us had to leave at 4:00 to go learn how to sew buttons. In class, we figured out the exact schedule of who will be working when. I'm not going to have enough hours to complete both the class hours and the theatre department requirement hours. Not much I can do about that, but I will try to talk to David (the technician and the only guy who seems to know everything) to see if he can suggest anything I can do to get more hours. Louisa teaches the class before mine and was still in the room as I came in. She said hello and told my instructor what a great help I was. Hopefully he'll realise that's true eventually; he didn't seeem to impressed when she told him.

So the problems today started when learning how to sew buttons. First, I couldn't thread the needle since it's just too damn small for my eyes to focus on. I told her I had poor eyesight and she threaded it for me. Then I had problems doing the actual sewing. She used mine as an example of what not to do. I ran out of thread later on and for the first time in my life, I actually managed to thread the needle! I couldn't believe it. But my eyes paid for it. Spending an hour trying to do the sewing thing really hurt them. When I left at 5:30, everything was blurry and the ground was peaks and valleys. For a minute I forgot I was in Manhattan and thought I was in San Francisco. I thought it would get better after a few hours, but so far, I don't feel much better. And it's giving me a headache and I feel a bit woosy. I thought part of the problem was that I needed to change my contacts. But I put in the new contacts and it didn't help at all. Hopefully it'll get better soon and if not, it should be better by tomorrow morning. They have to be better by then so I can drive up to Massachusetts.

Soon I will need to open my eyes and clean the apartment and pack.

I talked to Rebecca briefly this evening and she's not doing well either. She's having hand/wrist problems and needs to not use them much for a week. Hopefully the doctor will have some good news for her in a week. Until then, she has good friends who will help take care of her. She's lucky to have so many friends.

Neighbours are still banging next door. It's making my headache worse.

Random question: Has anyone seen the billboard in Times Square (near the TKTS booth) that says something like "Who am I? Find out when I retire"? I don't remember exactly what it says, but if anyone has seen something like this and knows what it's all about, please let me know.

My eyes are feeling better now.

I was IMing Josh for a little bit this evening. He's back in Virginia to get the rest of his things before heading back to Colorado. He's a little down being back there, so I've come back online after taking care of things around the apartment to cheer him up again before going to bed.

Tomorrow is Paula and Harvey's 33rd anniversary!

I'm home.

Getting out of the city on Saturday was a bit irritating. The only signs for FDR were for FDR south. I couldn't remember which street led to FDR north. Finally I turned onto 62nd St. and was going to pull into the gas station to ask and then remembered that 62nd St. did lead to FDR north. Why weren't there any signs? I had decided to take the Hutch to Merrit Parkway, so I was looking for signs to 95 north. There were only signs for 95 south. Did someone not want me to go north? I followed the signs for the GW Bride and 95 south, hoping that there would be a way to get onto 95 north. There wasn't. I quickly got over to the exit that said "last exit before New Jersey" and found myself on the Henry Hudson Parkway. At least I was heading north. I wasn't too worried since at least I was headed in the right direction. I paid $1.75 to go over the Hudson Bridge (and didn't pay anything on the way back in, this is probably the cheapest driving route in and out of the city) and eventually made it to the Hutch and Merrit Parkway. The rest of the ride was uneventful.

I got to Rebecca's around 2:30 (I left a little before 10:00) and she got home about an hour later. I spent the hour doing some reading for school on her porch.

The evening was spent running errands with her boyfriend, Jon. Rebecca's hands are in splints, so she couldn't do much on her own (putting on her seatbelt, eating, writing...). One of our errands was going to Kohl's and I tried on some pants but nothing fit. At least I got some socks.

Sunday morning I went up to Portsmouth. Cute town, friendly people. I definitely think I could live there. Then I went up the road to Kittery, ME to the outlet stores. I tried on some clothes and, once again, nothing fit. This is getting old.

I went back to Rebecca's and she was still at her party, so I hung out with her roommate, Rachel. Rebecca got home later that evening and Kristin showed up shortly after.

We went to a Thai restaurant and Kristin and I fed Rebecca in between eating our own meals. I told Rebecca it was much more pleasant feeding her than a 2 year old since she didn't throw the food back in my face. Then we took Kristin home and Rebecca and I went to the food store. By the end of the food shopping trip, I was very tired. I guess it was a combination of my recent jam-packed schedule, having bad eye days the past two days (driving at night on roads I don't know was getting on my nerves), and doing all the carrying of things for Rebecca. Jon came over that night so he and I both helped Rebecca do things before going to bed.

This morning I helped Rebecca get ready for work, gave her a ride to her office, and then headed home.

Once again, I had an uneventful ride until I got back to the city. I was looking for Harlem River Drive but never saw signs for it. So I kept going on the Cross Bronx Expressway until I saw a sign for the last exit in NY. I took it and it was, once agin, the Henry Hudson Parkway. At least I was heading south. So I took that to 56th St. and had to go all the way across town to return the car. I don't know why I have such problems getting in and out of the city on the east side. The only way I can get in and out of the city consistently is the Lincoln Tunnel. At least the traffic was light.

Not having a car on a regular basis makes me forget the little things that you automatically remember when you do have a car on a regular basis. Things like getting gas. Rebecca had to remind me to get it this morning and I forgot to refill it when I got close to the city. I remembered at some point, but then I was so concerned with finding Harlem River Drive (where the hell is it anyway?), that I forgot all about getting gas. The guy checking the car back in told me it would be $45, and I was about to ask him where the closest gas station was. But he did me a favour and let me give him $25, and he marked down that I brouht it back full. Hey, I don't care who gets the money and I'd rather give him $25 than pay Avis $45. So I saved $20 and he can go get drunk tonight or something.

The trip home took my 3 and a half hours to get to the city and 45 minutes to get through the city, return the car, and walk home.

So now I'm home and not really ready to get back to my life. This trip wasn't really worth it, except I was glad to be able to help Rebecca, even though she has 50 local friends and co-workers that can help (and I don't think that's much of an exaggeration). I keep thinking about the LES presentation and worried I won't be able to get it done in time. I have half of next Monday and half of next Wednesday to gather all the research, organise it, and write the paper. But there's not much I can do about that now, so I'm going to stop thinking about it until tomorrow afternoon when I go down to the Tenement Museum and community board meeting. For now, I can finish cleaning up the apartment, organise and deal with the rest of my mail, and hopefully get to bed somewhat early tonight.

I remember a little bit of last night's dream. I was in a cafeteria and was trying to decide between sitting with Spalding Gray and (I think) Denis Leary. They were sitting side by side and Denis was trying to figure out who Spalding was. I didn't want him to learn who he was, so I was trying to hide the information on a paper at Spalding's table that said something about who he was. But I was too late and when Denis saw who he was, he knew instantly that this was the man who recently was checked into a mental hospital. Then later in the dream, I was talking to some people (I don't think I knew them in real life) about Star Trek and Spiderman, and one of the guys was impressed with my knowledge. Then I was running around an office building which had a lot of delis and video stores, trying to find a specific kind of candy and was also buying other types of candy as well (or something like that). I think Andy might have been in this part of the dream as well.

I've been getting a little dizzy recently. I'll get dizzy a few times in one day and then it won't happen again for a few days. I think it might have to do with what I'm doing at the time. It'll happen when I'm looking back and forth from the computer to a piece of paper extremely quickly for prolonged periods of time and it'll happen when I'm bending up and down quickly for a while. I guess it's nothing to worry about, but it's a little scary to get light-headed and dizzy more than just once in a while. If I notice it happening when there's no reason for it, then I'll talk to my doctor about it. But hopefully that won't be happening since I don't know when I could find the time to call him anyway.

One more little thing I need to do tonight- get the hours and address for the Tenement Museum and address for the LES community board meeting tomorrow night.

Oh, and I still need to write the end of my music paper, but I can do that some other time before it's due. It's not due for a month and I should certainly find some midnight hour to do it between now and then.

Had "Easy as Life" from "Aida" in my head while getting ready this morning.

Miracle of miracles, I fell asleep very quickly last night. I think it took less than 30 minutes! I am just plain worn out. I did not want to get out of bed this morning as usual, but it didn't take me long to feel awake. I am ready to start my day. If only my day wasn't packed with so many activities. I wouldn't mind all these jam-packed days if I had a day or two this month and next where I could rest for a few hours or sleep in or something else relaxing.

So today is classes and then I'm skipping theatre and going down to the LES to do the Tenement Museum and then finding somewhere to organise the research I have so far before going to the community board meeting. I wish you could browse the Tenement Museum on your own. They only have tours every 40 minutes from 1:20-4:00 and, according to their website, they sell out quickly. I'm going to get down there around 3:00 and hope I can get into the first tour available (not sure yet if anyone from my group will be joining me- I'll find out in class today). If I can't get into the first tour available, I guess I'll get a ticket for the last one and then find somewhere to do a little work while waiting.

Hopefully today I'll find out what time Lori's getting here tomorrow. Hopefully she'll be able to get here when I'm home.

Found out in urban structures what subjects the questions on the midterm will be, and of course they cover areas I don't know enough about. So I'll have to find some time Thursday night to go over that and organise my thoughts even though I'll be exhausted and won't be able to concentrate on the information (maybe I'll do caffeine in the afternoon). At least he gave us an idea of the questions. He said since we only have an hour and 15 minutes to do them, he should at least tell us what the main subjects are. Good idea- especially since he's always late so we'll probably really only have an hour or even 50 minutes to write the essays.

Went down to the LES with Jordan in my group. We got to the Tenement Museum and found out that the only tour available that had room was one at 4:00 focusing on the garment industry. So we spent a little over an hour walking around, observing, and taking a few pictures. I have a feeling none of my pictures will be worth using, but I don't have any time to go back there and take any more. Hopefully I'll finish off this current roll tomorrow so I can get them developed and have them ready over the weekend so I can use them to write my paper around starting on Monday.

The museum tour wasn't that useful for what I'm covering, but maybe I can include a few things.

After the tour, I had an hour before the community board meeting, so I went to have a sandwich and read some of my articles at Grilled Cheese.

The community board meeting was too long and the subjects were too irritating for me to deal with for the entire thing, so I left early. I stayed for a few hours though and that was enough. I got a sense of what kind of people in the neighbourhood go to the meetings (although most of them live in the East Village which we're not including in our presentation) and I got a ton of literature, some of which I may be able to use for my paper.

I got home and there was a call from the dermatologist's office confirming my 10:00 appointment. I made the appointment for 10:45, so I'll have to call them in the morning to see about that. Good thing she called. I also want to double check the address since I wrote it down in a hurry and am not sure if it's correct.

Found out that Lori isn't coming up until Thursday morning, so I won't have to worry about not being here when she shows up. But she wants to stay until Saturday, so Neil will have to stay in a hotel on Friday night and then come stay with me on Saturday night.

But even though Lori isn't coming up tomorrow, I'm still not going to work in the scene shop tomorrow. I have a ton of other stuff I could be doing, like making travel reservations to DC (I now decided, with Harvey's help, that it would be better to fly, rather than take the train) and start looking over the urban structures material.

Then tomorrow night I have to go see "Take Me Out". I'd be looking forward to it if I didn't have so many other things I could be doing and if I wouldn't be so tired. I'm also not looking forward to the 2 operas I'll be seeing on Oct. 29th and Nov. 1 ("Marriage of Figaro" and "La Traviata", respectively). In fact, I may let Paula go to ("Figaro" with Harvey on Tuesday night, since I could use that time to either work on the LES project or get some rest if I'm exhausted, and then just go to "La Traviata" with Chris the following Friday.

Now I need to make some notes about the museum and meeting (but not as many notes as I would like since I want to go to sleep soon since I have to get up ridiculously early).

Probably won't have time to write any entries for the next few days, although I may make time Friday night and/or Saturday night to do that.

The one good thing about being this busy is that I've basically had no time to worry about the dermatologist appointment. I'll be worried tomorrow morning though, while getting ready and on my walk over there and sitting in the waiting room and during the appointment and after the appointment if he gives me any news other than "you have absolutely nothing to worry about and don't even need to get it removed".

I have a few minutes for a quick entry.

I went to bed around 1:00 and tried to get up at 6:00 but went back to sleep for a half an hour. In that half hour, I had a strange dream. My apartment was across the street from the dressing room of a Broadway theatre. I always wanted to look out my window to see the actors and never remembered until places were called for Act I, and I would see them leaving to get onstage except for 2 of the actors who weren't on until the end of Act I- my friend, Rebecca and George Clooney (I don't like this actor and haven't seen him in anything in years, so I have no idea why he was in my dream, nor do I understand why I've been having actors in my dreams recently). Anyway, as Rebecca and Mr. Clooney left to go have a snowball fight while waiting for their scene, I climbed out of my window and sat at the bar (I guess it was located at the front of the dressing room or something). The bar stool was very high up, and I had to climb up to get on it. I ordered a glass of white wine and the bartender said, "Okay little lady," but I thought he said "old lady". I asked him which one he said, and he said "old lady". I realised he was making fun of me since I looked like a child, having to climb the stool to reach it. I had brought my black tie dress with me, and I asked for another glass of wine to clean it. Huh? I started dipping the dress in the wine glass when my cell phone rang. The Caller ID said "George Clooney" at first and then changed to my friend Brian. He was calling because someone at the box office of the show (the one where I was currently sitting) was telling him something about me, George Clooney, Harvey, and marijuana and he wanted the details. I was confused myself and then thought that maybe the show that was running at this theatre was "Reefer Madness" (I was listening to that on the way back from Boston, so that's probably what I meant in my dream), so that was the marijuana connection but I still didn't understand the other connections, even in my dream, but I tried to explain what I could to Brian. During this dream, I think I was still slightly awake, so that made it even more strange. I think there was a little more to it, but I don't remember now.

I called Dr. Halperin's office and they told me they had me down for 2 appointments; one at 10:00 and the other at 10:45. That explains my confusion. I told her I'd take the 10:00 since I'm already caught up on things I wanted to get done this morning (except for making travel reservations, which I'll do either when I'm finished this entry or this evening before I go to "Take Me Out"). Then I'll have more time this afternoon for more important things like studying for my midterm and music test (I forgot to mention yesterday that I have a test in music on Friday as well).

Just had a flashback of walking to the guitar class I took through the YMCA at Virginia Tech. That was a useless class, but it gave me an excuse to visit the pretty campus. Oh, and I just remembered that Eytan couldn't go to the assertiveness training class he signed up for since he had to be in Baltimore, so he asked me to go for him. I thought it was funny going to that class since I have no problem in asserting, and when we went around the room telling each other why we were there and I told my story, everyone laughed. I also took a class on enneagrams through that program. That was interesting, but it wasn't anything I couldn't have learned on my own.

So far, I'm not worried about my dermatologist appointment.

I spent way too much time reading the news last night and this morning.

I thought I'd take a few minutes that I didn't think I'd have now rather than wait until Sunday night to write an entry since I know I'll be exhausted then and the less I have to write, the better.

So, yes, I got good news from the dermatologist. I have no idea why the guy I saw in Baltimore was so worried about it. Dr. Halperin said that it would always be benign and absoultely nothing to worry about. I was so relieved!

I used the rest of yesterday to go over some of the stuff for the urban structures midterm and ran a few errands.

I didn't want to take the time to see "Take Me Out" last night, but I'm glad I did. It started out slow, but definitely got better as the show moved along. Most of the cast was great, especially Frederick Weller and Denis O'Hare. It made me wish I had time to watch the 2 (or 3) games of the World Series.

My throat hurt a bit when I woke up yesterday and a few other times during the day. I've been eating well (lots of fruit and fish and vitamins) but haven't been getting enough sleep and I'm constantly running around and working too much. Hopefully I can fight this thing. I feel okay today. Harvey has a cold. I wish he would/could spend more time relaxing, resting, and doing non-work-related things. We talked for a few minutes yesterday about how honest he is in his business practices and almost no one else is. Being so honest certainly makes things harder for him, but I can't imagine him doing anything shady or illegal (which is a good thing).

Today I went to the Javits Center, and it wasn't too crowded so I came home early to do some more studying. I feel pretty confident on the urban material but haven't looked at the music material at all yet. I'll do that later tonight. I think I'm going to join Paula, Harvey, and Lori for dinner tonight at Kiroii-Hana. Even though I really don't like spending more than 5 minutes with Lori, it'll be nice to leave the school stuff behind for an hour or two and have a nice dinner. But I am tired. Maybe I should stay home and rest. Nah, going to dinner 5 blocks from my apartment doesn't take too much energy and the restaurant is always quiet which will be peaceful.

I forgot being at the Javits Center would mean seeing George. In fact, he was the first person I saw. Lovely way to start the day.

I've still been feeling light-headed and dizzy. Today is the worst- I seem to be light-headed more often than not. But I'm not too worried. Harvey said that you can get light-headed when you're under a lot of stress. I'm not under too much stress, but I am particularly busy and I guess spend too much time worrying it won't all get done. So hopefully at the end of December I'll stop feeling this way.

Okay, back to studying (want to look at some more gentrification stuff before dinner in an hour).

I did go to dinner Thursday night with Harvey, Paula, and Lori, but we went to Otabe instead.

My urban midterm wasn't great, but I'm sure I did well enough. The music test was much better than the previous 2. He was using some questions from the author of the book and realised they were the ones everyone was having trouble with, so he used only his own questions and they were much better. Seeing this professor actually try to do a good job made me feel better about the class. He still has yet to answer anyone's question correctly though.

The theatre instructor needed a volunteer to go to Park Slope during class and pick up a hammock. I volunteered since I could use it as another 2 hours for the requirement. It was in a bag that was almost as tall as I was, and by the last 2 blocks of the walk back, I was ready to drop the thing on the ground. The main problem was that my feet were so not happy in the shoes. If I could have worn my sandals, I could have carried the hammock bag another 10 blocks. Oh, and I learned that I can do some hours on the next show, but I don't know what I'll be able to do yet. Hopefully I'll find out soon.

That evening I met Neil at the Warwick, and we went to dinner at Caffe Cielo. I really love the food and the hostess (she definitely knows who I am now) and the owner, but the servers are pretty awful.

The walk back my feet gave up. I wound up taking the bus home from 6th Ave. I was in so much pain which made me incredibly tired. I got home, collapsed on the couch for an hour or two, and then went to bed. I actually got some sleep Friday night!!!!!

Oh, and Lori wound up going home Friday afternoon, so I had the apartment to myself Friday night.

Saturday morning, Neil came to drop his stuff off. I was sound asleep when the doorman called up to let me know he was here. I thought my alarm clock was going off even though it sounded different. I thought that maybe the battery was dying and that made the sound weaker. So I tried to turn off the alarm and when that didn't work, I realised it was the phone. Saturday at the Javits Center was pretty uneventful. Even though I did get sleep, I was still tired since I didn't get any food energy. The upstairs food area (with a few good choices) was closed and the downstairs footcourt was disgusting. I tried to eat a few french fries, but they were awful. Neil had something that was supposed to be a tuna fish sandwich. I was very tired by the afternoon but got a little more energy somehow in the evening.

That night Neil and I picked up carry-out from Trattoria dell'Arte for us and Paula and Harvey. It wasn't ready when we got there, so I had a martini while waiting. Then during dinner, I had 2 glasses of champagne. I was slightly tipsy. After I let Neil in the apartment, I went to Fitzpatrick's and had 2 glasses of sparkling wine.

When I got home, I was tired-drunk and absolutely ready for sleep. Between my sleep deprivation and the extra hour from changing the clocks back, I got a ton of sleep last night. I slept around 8 hours!! Very excited about that!!!

This morning Neil wasn't feeling well, so I ran out to CVS to get him some medicine (and was able to pick up my pictures as well). We went over to the Javits Center for the last boring day (and today, none of the food places were open). Neil left early to go home and we all left before the event was over (we were out of there by 2:30).

I said hello to Larry V there today, and he was super cheery. Asked for my phone number so we can go out next time he's in the city. I doubt he'll call- thought it was strange that he would even want to do that.

Tonight Paula, Harvey, and I went to Maya. It wasn't as good as previous times. I hope it was just an off night and not a sign that the restaurant is going downhill.

Now I'm still pretty tired even though I got a lot of sleep over the weekend. Tonight I need to organise a few things and then try to get to sleep early and hopefully get up very early to start my LES paper. I got put on the call sheet for tomorrow night's rehearsal, so I have less time tomorrow to work on the paper than I originally thought. Hopefully it will come easily and I can get most of it done tomorrow. That's really wishful thinking though. How can you do an outline, organise all your research, and write most of a research paper in 1 day? Then I'll have to finish it up Wednesday morning before working in the scene shop in the afternoon and rehearsal at night. I guess it doesn't have to be completely finished before meeting with my group in the middle of November, but I should at least have a detailed outline and most of it written. Plus, I just don't have that much time after the middle of November either. I have to work on and give my music presentation, write a research paper on Amsterdam, work on the other show (don't even know what show that is), go down to DC, have Jon, Michelle, Steven, and their nanny here for a weekend, and other major and minor things I can't remember at the moment. So yes, I really need to do the majority of my paper tomorrow.

And what's happening to my poor Patriots this season?

Once again, I got sleep last night! I finally feel caught up on my sleep. I'm even on a normal person' schedule- get to sleep by midnight and up by 7:00.

I remembered some details from my dream when I woke up this morning, but don't remember anything now except that Parker Posey was in it briefly. This seems to be the year for having celebrities in my dreams. Don't understand why though. It's never happened before and it's not like I'm thinking about those people before I go to sleep or even at all in recent months.

I made an outline for my paper and am still doing some research. Today I have to go do some work at the Four Seasons this afternoon, but it's more like babysitting, so I can bring all the articles and pamphlets on the LES that I haven't read yet and see what I can use from them for my paper (now that I have an outline, that will be much easier). I was looking at the call sheet for the show and realised that I'll have more time for my paper than I thought, so I'm not worried about not finishing it today. The only problem is the hours I'll need to put in for the next show. I'll hopefully be able to talk to David tonight to see what is required for that.

Tonight I go to my first rehearsal. Normally the word rehearsal would be exciting to me. With this show and this school and these people, I'm not looking forward to it at all. I don't even know what I'll be doing there tonight. Nothing is explained to us, but I don't think anything could be explained even if someone wanted to. It's so disorganised. I don't like not knowing what is going on until I get there (I like knowing what to expect), but that's just the way it is.

I called last night about my dripping shower and they put in a work order. I gave them permission to come in my apartment when I'm not here. I hate that, but if I didn't do it, who knows when it would actually get fixed. The other problem is that the light over the shower burned out and I have no idea how to reach it and fix it. I don't even know what kind of bulb I need. It's kind of strange taking a shower in the dark.

Since I'm not working the show on November 7th, I can go to Robyn's cabaret show. Anyone in the NYC area looking for a great performance that night, contact Danny's for more information and reservations.

Today I was walking down the street and saw 2 blind people coming towards me. One was a bit ahead of the other, and I thought it was "the blind leading the blind". Wish I could have taken a picture but then thought that would be too rude.

I had the worst week ever in my football pool. I think I only had 5 correct picks. I don't even care if Phili loses tonight- it won't make any difference to me.

How can I get better at recognising people? When I was walking into the building where the theatre is tonight, a girl came up to me and asked if I was working on the crew tonight. I had no idea who she was but figured she was in my production class. I really don't remember ever seeing her before. I'm going to look out for her tomorrow in class to see where she sits. Maybe she'll look familiar then, but I doubt it.

Woke up singing "Jimmy on the Lam" from "Reefer Madness".

Okay, so the Eagles won last night. So I have 6 whole correct picks from last week. Must do better next week.

Tonight is "Marriage of Figaro" with Harvey. I'll just find somewhere to get a quick bite to eat after classes this evening.

I just found out that an actor I really like (Lane Davies) will be on General Hospital starting next month. Do I really watch (and possibly get caught up in) the soap opera just for him?

Classes were rather boring yesterday. The only good thing was that we were able to sign up for more shop hours for the next show. I think I will be able to complete all the hours for this time consuming requirement after all. I'll be falling on my face by the end of December, but at least I'll get one of the requirements out of the way.

I met Harvey for dinner at Wolf's and then we went up to Lincoln Center for "Marriage of Figaro". Except for the Page, I liked everyone in the cast. Our seats were perfect (2nd row, centre). It really helps being able to see the performers rather than just listening and seeing blurry images on the stage. I do like a lot of the music in this opera. I can't believe I finally went to an opera, and it was much better than I expected. It was definitely an enjoyable evening even though we left after Act III. Harvey still isn't feeling well, and I thought he should get some sleep. If we waited until the end, it would have taken too long to get a taxi and he wouldn't have gotten back to the hotel until around midnight. So, I'm glad we went and so glad Harvey finally got to see a live opera- he hasn't been in around 15 years. Now I'm looking forward to "La Traviata" on Friday (even though I'll probably be exhausted for it and exhausted the next day).

Today I need to run over to Macy's to try to find black pants. I need pants anyway and I need to wear black for the show next week. Hopefully I'll find some other non-black pants too. And I need stockings to go with my dress, so I'll pick up some of those too. I can only go today or tomorrow and decided to go today so that way Harvey can use my apartment to make phone calls since clients will be in his hotel room today. This afternoon after Macy's, I'll work a few hours in the scene shop (or probably the work will be done onstage- I can't believe there's much left to do in terms of building the set and props though) and then have rehearsal. Then I can have all day tomorrow to work on my paper and read for music and theatre before rehearsal at night.

It's Halloween, and I've never been less aware of it. I've seen a few fliers for costume parties and I got the notice from my buliding to put up on my door if I want trick-or-treaters, but I'm not really paying attention to those things and I'm not paying attention to anything else relating to the holiday (conversations, ads...) either.

I am so upset with the pants situation. I went to Macy's, Ann Taylor Loft, and H&M yesterday, tried on 13 pairs of pants of all shapes and sizes, and only found 1 pair that fit and I can wear after majorly hemming them (which will be with safety pins until I can find time to get them permenantly hemmed). And I tried on a few shirts as well and wound up with a black t-shirt that's nice enough to wear out and can still be used backstage. I think I'm going to try to go to Barami and Bloomingdales on Monday. I really need clothes and am so frustrated that it's so difficult to find any that fit. I've even given up actually liking the things. I just want something that fits. Am I going to have to just buy anything that sort of fits and get them seriously altered? Do dry cleaners know how to alter things beyond simple hemming?

Rehearsal last night was so not necessary. Tonight I'll be bringing school books to read. Too bad I can't work on my LES project there. We set up the 3 props tables out in the hallway, set 3 props onstage, and then sat guarding the props tables for 4 hours. They didn't get beyond Act III, so we didn't have to move the set or change the props.

As for the set building I did yesterday afternoon, I finally had to use a saw. Another girl helping out sort of showed me how to use it, but I wasn't doing too well. David finally saw what I was doing and showed me how to do it properly. For one thing, I was trying to cut wood on an unbalanced stool that kept turning around, which I thought was the only thing available to use. Not smart. And because of the wobbly stool, I was trying to push the saw through the wood quickly to get it over with before the stool completely fell over. That didn't make the pieces of wood look too good (they were fraying and breaking apart at the ends). He got me set up on a more stable thing (stairs) and from then on, it was much easier. Then he showed me how to use the staple gun to staple the shingles to the wall. I was scared of it but had no reason to be. That was easiest thing yet. The hardest part of yesterday was sweeping. I am the worst sweeper in the world, especially when it comes to getting the stuff in the dust pan. Those things just don't seem to work for me.

I just had a flashback of driving on Blacksburg roads (Tom's Creek, Broce...). Now I just remembered part of my dream last night. I was in Blacksburg and someone wanted me to get something from somewhere. I was trying to remember what was where. I knew there was a Food Lion at the north end of Main St. and another food store at the south end of Main St. A resident was trying to help me get my bearings. That's all I remember now.

Today I need to do some demographic research for the LES (hopefully I can find all information without having to go to the library to look at Census data from decades past), call to find out why no one has fixed my shower yet (I called yesterday to ask why it wasn't done yet and they told me they would tell the handyman), call the dry cleaners to find out why my clothes weren't delivered yesterday, and then go to rehearsal.

I called about the shower and first the guy said he didn't see any work order, but when I told him I've been calling to get it fixed since last week and I know there's a work order, he said, "Oh yeah, Robert's here today and will be up to fix it today." I have a channel on my TV that shows the lobby of my building. I watched the phone call I had with this guy and he didn't look at anything during the conversation, so I know he didn't check to see if there was or wasn't a work order.

After some back and forth phone conversations and emails with Neil, Maxine, Maureen, and Paula, Neil will now be staying at the Warwick with Maxine, her mother, and Abby this weekend. So I'll have the apartment to myself.

They are short-staffed over at the Four Seasons today. I don't really have the time to go help, but I feel like I should take the time anyway (even though I'm sure it's not as much work as Paula makes it sound- she tends to overreact about that kind of work and how long it will take). I think I'll call back to see if I can be of any help for an hour before going to Barami, the dry cleaners, and rehearsal.

Now I can do a little research and maybe eat some breakfast/lunch/dinner before leaving this afternoon.

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