2.20.02 – it’s just TWO much fun

i woke up this morning with the overwhelming desire to stay put in buffalo, despite the fact that i’d been looking forward to working in new york all winter. “buffalo is easy,” i thought to myself. “i know where the grocery store is, how to get laundry done, which bars to avoid on thursday nights, how to park downtown without paying, and where to get good french toast at 4 in the morning.” the thought of having to learn all of that in another new town really wasn’t as appealing as staying in bed with zeke was. i don’t know why, but i arrived today feeling thoroughly intimidated by new york. there’s no reason for that, given that i’ve successfully and fearlessly navigated a dozen other large cities, in many of which i didn’t speak the language. but somehow new york intimidated me in a way that [san francisco, los angeles, boston, washington D.C., toronto, amsterdam, vienna, london, paris, rome, berlin, prague, tokyo or seoul] never did. okay, i take that back, i was scared shitless the first time that i went to paris. but i was only seventeen then and it was my first trip abroad. i suppose i just have more preconceptions about new york built up in my head than i did about other cities. all that stuff about how tough a place it is. or maybe there was just too much build up, because i’ve been lucky enough to travel quite a bit, and somehow never landed in new york before now. maybe i was intimadated because this place is the mecca of the american theatre community. at any rate, i was somehow completely paranoid that i would stick out like a sore thumb on the street, and that everthing about me would somehow say “country-bumpkin!!” and then people would want to pick my pockets or just generally make fun of me in a junior-high-school-gym-class sort of way.

we arrived at la guardia this morning, and found the house in queens without incident. the house is lovely and in a fairly quiet neighborhood. although i am sharing the place with my stage manager, i have my own bedroom and bath, complete with a tv and lots of shakespeare videos (we’re subletting an actor’s house) and a smooshy bed to sleep on. N had to go to meet with the show’s producer today, so i accompanied her as far as times square. once i’d successfully explored the subway system and spent a few hours wandering around midtown soaking up the city’s vibe i felt a little less lost. i have no words to accurately describe the blinking-flashing-huge-advertizements-everywhere-you-look sensory overload that is times square. once i got over my initial confusion that times square isn’t actually a square (ie, a city block that doesn’t have any cars or buildings, and maybe has a fountain or statue or something that people congregate around) at all, i was simply overwhelmed by the sheer volume of STUFF going on there. it’s a total sensory overload. it felt like something out of the movie brazil. our rehearsal studio is on 42nd street, one block off broadway, right in the center of everything. back in queens N and i located the essentials: groceries, laundry, japanese, chinese, mexican and indian takeout menus. it took both of our giant brains plus an act of god to figure out how to make the tv-vcr-dvd-stereo system in my bedroom work, but once we did, we ate sushi, drank corona, and watched the powerpuff girls.

now that i’m back in a big city, you can look forward to the return of my Freak of the Week feature. this week’s freak would have to be the naked cowboy. this super-buff guy with a tan and long blond hair was standing in the center of times square, playing his guitar and singing with gusto. he was wearing only cowboy boots, a cowboy hat, and a pair of tightie-whities that said “naked cowboys” on the butt. his boots had TIPS scrawled down each side, and he was inviting passersby to place money inside his boots. it was kind of a cold day to be playing guitar in nothing but your undies. let’s hope he earned enough tips to buy some jeans for tomorrow.