Wouldn't you know, another delay in moving. Originally, the tenant was supposed to be out on Monday of this week, but since he is the super of the building, the rules apparently don't apply to him. He didn't make it out of there until the middle of the week, so therefore the painting got pushed back until this weekend. Therefore, my plans of residing there as of this weekend haven't worked out so well.

After scaring my realtor (and my coworkers) with a wild phone rant at work this week about said issue, I've come to accept it and will deal with a November 1st move-in date. Alex and I signed the lease yesterday for November 1st, and we will be able to pick up the keys tomorrow, so it's a done deal. I'm so glad that Jen and her roommates don't see having me stay with them as an imposition, otherwise I'd be pretty miserable.

I swear living in the city for just 2 months has made me pushier and has turned me into a little bit of a schmuck. But I'm embracing it. You just need a little bit of an edge to get things done 'round these parts.

I had my mid-term review this week at my internship, and apparently all my bosses love me and want me to stay on another semester. I've told them this most likely will not be the case primarily because of the financial situation, but I technically have until November 7th to decide. It was nice to have a check-in though because now I feel more validated in my work.

Last Monday I met up with Lauri for dinner with her friends that she was staying with in the city(one being Leslie, the voice teacher I was talking about before). They picked me up from work in Leslie's Lexus (loved riding around town in that) and took me down to Little Italy. We ate at this great, authentic restaurant and then went to a famous Italian dessert bar. They were incredibly fun and interesting, and they paid for everything against my will. It was almost like having a relative in town...an awesome opportunity for catch-up and a little pampering. It made me miss Italy, too.

Tues/Wed/Thurs were pretty event-filled for MTC. I worked a wine tasting provided by our wine distributor at one of our theatres on Tuesday, and then Wednesday was our first patron night for The Receptionist. These patron nights are way better than the ones for Mauritius, because instead of a pre-show dinner, there is a post-show cocktail party. One of my tasks for the evening (in addition to schmoozing patrons at the party) was to escort the cast from the performance to Beacon, the restaurant for the reception, after the show. So I got to go backstage before the show and introduce myself and give them the run-down, and they were all awesome. Very down-to-earth. And after the show on the way over I chatted with Jayne Houdyshell and Kendra Kassabaum about their runs in Wicked and (of all things) Minnesota.

Another patron night for Mauritius on Thursday, so Jen and I worked the lounge for that, as well.

This weekend I've been working on revamping my resume and writing new cover letters. They're looking pretty good at this point, I believe. It's time to start getting them out, and there's one job in particular that was recently posted on the NYFA website that I want to apply for ASAP.

Tuesday is Opening Night for The Receptionist! And our third play, Pumpgirl, is in heavy rehearsals now. I'm working at the front desk today and one of its actors practiced a monologue on me a couple minutes ago...that was intense.

more building

This is it! A six-story pre-war building.

I think the corner one on top is ours.

Taken from the cross street.

the new building

Walkway up to the front door

No worries: A hospital right across the street! (Now all I need is health insurance)

I just met up with my college friend Aditi! (the one who's basically Kelly from "The Office"). She's in town for the weekend seeing high school friends. It was really great: we sat in a restaurant and caught up. It was almost like we were back in St. Paul. She's got a great job as a study abroad coordinator at Macalester, so she was telling me all about the going-ons at Mac.

My old voice teacher Lauri is also in town for a long weekend, so I'm hoping I'll get to see her before she leaves. She is considering moving out here to focus primarily on performing.

Yesterday, I had a little bit of time before I had to work in the afternoon, so I went to Jackson Heights (my new neighborhood) and walked around to orient myself. The area is really great: it's very ethnically diverse and there are a ton of great restaurants, markets and shops. Our apartment is a block from a Duane Reade (New York's version of Walgreen's), less than a block from a hospital, and close to several other amenities I will be discovering soon.

About 4 blocks away is a very well-known area of Jackson Heights commonly referred to as "Little India". On a single block, there are about 20 Indian restaurants and clothing stores. It's one of the perks of my neighborhood I'm most excited about. Also, I took the E express train into midtown Manhattan, and the ride took less than 15 minutes! I originally thought the subway stop was about a 15 minute walk from the apartment, but it's really more like 8! So my commute really is not going to be bad at all.

Not too much is new this week because I've had to work a lot of evenings. Therefore, I haven't been able to do that many things out in the city, but it was a good week for saving money. I went out with co-workers for Happy Hour drinks on Friday after work and I saw my first New York movie in a theatre ($11...arg). It was a vampire film called 30 Days of Night. I actually would recommend it to those of you who would be into that kind of thing (Claire, go see it).

The current renters of my apartment have to be out by tomorrow, and then they will clean it and repaint my bedroom (it's currently pink). So, I'm think that I will be able to move in toward the end of this week!

I will post the pictures I took yesterday of the exterior of the building when I get home from work.

goodbye, wash heights

It's been awhile since I've wrote much and a ton has happened. Overall, the last week was very busy because 2 people from my department were on vacation. I spent much of the week setting up the Patron Lounge for our second theatre, City Center, because our first off-Broadway show, The Receptionist, started previews there this Friday.

To accomplish this, I was out of the office for periods each day, running around Midtown like an idiot acquiring supplies to take over there. Aside from a roach problem in the Patron Lounge coffee closet (seriously so big I thought they were mice upon first glance), the lounge is now up and running and the problems have all been fixed (hopefully those traps will work).

Highlights of the week include:

1) OPENING NIGHT!
This was seriously kick-ass. During the show, Jen and I worked the Patron Lounge (open to everyone tonight, because these are celebs/press/industry people who are more important than patrons, anyway) at the Biltmore, and we got to converse with quite a few celebs, one of the nicest being Patricia Clarkson http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0165101/. During intermission, the P.Lo got completely slammed, and I couldn't even look up from pouring wine to see to whom I was serving it. We went through 20 bottles in 15 minutes.

At the after-party at Bryant Park Grill, I worked for a bit as a table guard right inside the door. This was an optimal position, because many people I had seen before on TV came up and started asking me questions. This involved Chris Noth (Mr. Big from "Sex and the City") throwing his arm around me and asking about the restroom. After I was finished working, I got to enjoy the food and the open bars. Everything was decadent, and much bonding was had by all.

There was also an after-after party for the staff at a bar nearby, and that was great as well. The next morning my commute and first couple hours at work were not as great.

2) I MOVED OUT OF THE SOON-TO-BE CONDEMNED BUILDING IN WASH HEIGHTS!
The other intern in my department, Jen, generously offered me a spot in her apartment in Astoria, Queens as a transition away from the crappy situation up north. She has two other roommates, and the apartment is huge (tw0-floors of a house), and it's a very homey place. My quality of life has so infinitely improved I can't even talk about it. I'm staying in the living room on a futon, but it's essentially my own room because it's off to the side and people rarely go in it. I am forever indebted to her, but she is very kind and insists that it's nice to have me there.

Oh, and I got my full security deposit back from Ybelka! That was a shockingly nice surprise.

3) I'M A PROUD PAPA OF AN APARTMENT
We finally got our apartment in Jackson Heights! We met with the realtor on Friday afternoon and paid him the rest of the dough after our deposit (broker fee, 1st month's rent, last month's rent, and security deposit). After that, my bank account looks a little sad, but at least I won't be living in the street!

We got a great deal on a great place, and I will post pics of it just as soon as we move in, which should be quickly after the 22nd (or earlier, if the people moving out leave sooner). As of now, I need to find a bed, so I'll be working on that this week. Now that I have an apartment, I can start looking for a JOB!

4) THE RECEPTIONIST STARTED PREVIEWS
This is our second play of the season and will be running at City Center while Mauritius continues to run at the Biltmore. I saw the show last night for free and brought Alex along, and I really liked it. The acting was very good overall, and the portrayal of the office setting is strikingly fresh, yet appropriately monotonous. There were some things, of course, but overall a very funny, strong show. We'll see what Ben Brantley (the reviewer for The New York Times) has to say about this one. I've learned that his word is the be-all-end-all of critics in New York, and he didn't like Mauritius a whole bunch, even though most other critics really liked it and the audiences still LOVE it http://theater2.nytimes.com/2007/10/05/theater/reviews/05maur.html.

After the show, Alex and I went down to the Village for celebratory drinks after our long apartment hunt.

I've found a huge load lifted from my shoulders after I know that I now have a place to live. My mind has time to think about other things now, and my schedule doesn't constantly involved running around Queens like a chicken with its head cut off chasing down landlords/realtors/supers. While the frantic search and occasional hysterics have shifted now to tracking down short-term health insurance (a near impossibility to find for under $200/mo) and a job, it's nice to know that my life in NY is no longer at the mercy of the cutthroat housing market.

Best birthday present ever!!! An apartment! I got the call yesterday that we were accepted for our apartment in Jackson Heights, Queens! I'm not sure when exactly we will be moving in, but it will be soon. We are meeting with the realtor this afternoon to pay him big bucks.

We went down to the Village last night after work and got some awesome pizza at this famous place called Two Boots. Then, we went to the world-famous cupcake shop called Magnolia Bakery and I had the best cupcake of my life.

I will write more soon, but I'm at work right now. It has been absolutely insane this week. Sorry I haven't written in awhile.

Thanks to you all for the birthday wishes and fun stuff!

I am filled with rage at the moment. So, I didn't want to blog about finding our apartment until I knew 100% that we'd be living there, and now I'm glad I didn't. Long story short: Alex and I found a great apartment this weekend in Jackson Heights that was big and in a good area. It was through a real estate agency in Queens (NY is probably the only city in the US where you have to use a realtor to find an apartment), and we decided to take it because we are both SICK of looking. We went back to the agency, filled out tons of forms, got about 100 forms for Alex's parents (our co-signers) to fill out, and we put down a deposit of $800. They told us it would take a couple days for everything to go through.

The agent called me today and told me that we didn't get the apartment. Apparently, we were approved and our paperwork was great, but another agent at this same agency had shown the apartment to someone else who had gotten their application in before ours. So, the apartment board approved theirs instead.

They have another similar apartment that is a little closer to the city and a little bigger for $100 more a month that is opening up on October 22nd, and apparently we can "be at the top of the list" for that. I hear it is in a similar building. After talking to Alex (he helped calm me down), we decided we are going to look at it on Friday. We just don't want to deal with any more paperwork. It'd be nice, though unlikely, if they could give us some kind of a discount (maybe a little off the top of their finder's fee?) for putting us through this trouble.

New York City is pushing my mental buttons while making me jump through hoops. This is one of the ultimate tests to becoming a New Yorker, I swear. After starting the hunt for places to live in mid-July, I'm just ready to settle down on a sofa with some nice cable television. My roommates at my current apartment (mice and cockroaches) don't help the situation, either. OK, I'm going to stop complaining about it now and be happy.

Tomorrow night is Opening Night for Mauritius! I will be working in the Patron's Lounge with Jen and then working a little bit at the party which will take place at Bryant Park Grill. There, I will be acting as a table guard (telling important people they can't switch the name settings to sit by famous people and vice versa) and a door monitor (think bouncer)...haha. There is going to be an after-after party for MTC staff after we are all done working, so that should be good! We all still have to be to work on-time Friday, however.

With Opening Night here, things are crazy at the office. There is so much politics involved when it comes to seating at the performance and reception. With so many important and famous people in one room at one time, there has to be a lot of meticulous planning on our end. It's also even crazier because two of the people I work under (Antonello and Sage) are on a cruise this week, so there's a lot more work.

I served Ethan Hawke the other night in the P.Lo. He came in and looked really out-of-place among all the well-dressed patrons. He was scruffy and was wearing a cap and an old hoodie. I almost asked to see his patron card (which we are supposed to do if we don't recognize someone as a patron) but then realization set in when we made eye contact and he started talking to me. He was really friendly and he even tipped me!

Also, Matthew Broderick was in the office the other day. They are busy casting the other roles for his play with us in the spring, The Starry Messenger. I heard he was coming in, and I didn't even recognize him the first time I saw him. I had to go back and look a second time (very nonchalantly, of course). I just finished reading the script for this, and it's very good. I guess that it's also going to be made into a movie in the near future starring him as well.

I met with Leslie Giammanco Thursday, a close friend of my old voice teacher Lauri at Mac www.lesliegiammanco.com . She actually lives near me, so I went over to her apartment. Although it's only about 7 blocks away, it's an entirely different neighborhood with beautiful luxury apartments. She is a prominent voice teacher who is opening her own business called Divagrams, where she lines up well-known performers to do singing telegrams. She was actually in the original Broadway touring cast of Phantom of the Opera. Before, we had emailed about me possibly working for her in trade for voice lessons, but she doesn't need the help right now. She's very nice, however, and treated me as a good friend from the beginning of our chat, giving me wonderful advice. She really does know many industry people, so she's a good contact to have. And Lauri's coming to visit in a couple weeks, so we are all going to get together then.

Yesterday some friends and I went to a seminar that is specifically for people doing theatre internships in New York, and the speakers for the evening were agents. After hearing all about what they do, I've found that it's a new area of interest for me. I never before really considered becoming an agent, but I think that it's something I might be good at and enjoy. I'll have to look into it a little...