Le Sigh
Haven't updated in a while... so it's going to be a long one.
So back in the beginning of July I started assistant directing a show called "Mary Christmas" going up in the Fresh Fruit Festival in NYC. The Saturday before tech week I get an email from my favorite Cardasian leader Casey Biggs asking if I'd be interested in joining him in the Berkshires to observe the rehearsal of a show he's in being directed by two time Tony award winner Vivian Matalon. So after much internal mental debate (I hate making long commitments away from home) I decided it would be good for my career to do it. So I book the plane ticket to Richmond so I could drive up. Then he calls me and tells me they screwed up and there's no housing but if I'd like I could come up for a few days. So after I had canceled a lot of work I had committed to, I decided to stick to the plan.
I flew into Richmond on Friday of last week and immediately felt like I wanted to go back to NYC. I've decided returning to Richmond is like hitting a brick wall at 100mph every time. Even when you're doing nothing in NYC you FEEL like you're doing something. So much hustle and bustle. And in Richmond... well everyone seems content to walk around the mall or watch TV and fill a day with nothingness. Needless to say Fear and Loathing doesn't come close to describing the detest I felt for being back. Not sure, always loved it before, but NYC is getting under my skin.
Anyway, in a rush to get out of Richmond I drove down to Raleigh NC to visit Shaun for a couple nights. That was fun. Then I drove back to Richmond and got in at 3:30am Tuesday morning. Tuesday afternoon I got in the car and drove to Jersey City, NJ and hopped the PATH train and subway home to Brooklyn. Surprised the shit out of Julie when I arrived around 10pm. That was fun. The reason I went to NYC was to do a photo shoot today for the Culture Project theatre in Manhattan; my first off-broadway photo gig. But this morning I got an email from them bailing out of the whole thing, claiming I was too expensive... $300 people... come on.
So I stuck around and had dinner with Julie then went back out to NJ to get in the car to come up here (where I am now) in Stockbridge Massachusetts. They provided Casey with a DAMN NICE two bedroom apartment to himself while he's here for the show. It's a thousand times better than any accommodation BVT ever gave anyone. I'll stick around here till Sunday then probably go over to Rochester to visit Peter and the gang for a couple days... then back to Richmond... then Julie (she's flying to Richmond on Saturday) and I are catching a bus back to NYC on Friday morning. Then I'd like to say I get to relax but I REALLY NEED to work on the 3 thesis project proposals for school due on the 11th. Then back to Richmond for our engagement party and my 25th bday. Then back to NYC till Thanksgiving -- and for that I'll have something to give thanks about!
Couple of side notes that I meant to talk about but can't seem fit it in:
1. The minute I got off the PATH train tonight and started walking to my car the shop called me about my bike... it's finally fixed and ready to go. For those of you who don't know, it has been broken since I dropped it on June 19th. Nothing more than the rear brake pedal being bent out of shape... took over a month to get a replacement from Italy. Life has been screwing me out of riding that bike ever since I got it... first with rains... then being broken for over a month. I've only ridden the damn thing 8 miles so far! And now that I'm out of town again, it's fixed.... if they could have only fixed it a day sooner I could have gone for a ride today. Le sigh.
2. Tonight I found the most frightening road situation I've ever been in in a car -- and I've been in some hairy situations before... this takes the cake. I had just gotten off of I-87 in MA and was on MA-22. The GPS told me to take a left onto MA-103. So I get to the intersection, no one is around... there are two red stop lights facing me, and a single flashing red light facing the road I wanted to turn on. After about two minutes of sitting there with no one in sight I was thinking about running it. Then I saw a car come up 103 towards me and make a right. The light still didn't change and I started to wonder if the flashing red on the other side meant it was broken. I inched up a bit further and it finally turned green and I turned.
Imagine my surprise however to find that this was a single lane road. Not a one-way road mind you, but rather a SINGLE LANE. And I had just seen someone come up the opposite direction. And it was long. My first thought was I was going the wrong way on a one way road, but there were multiple signs facing me about corners and speed limits, and they only do that for people who are going the right way. As I rounded a corner on this monstrosity I saw another car coming my way... on the single lane road. WTF? Just before the other car and I would have had a head on collision the road split into two lanes and I was able to take the right lane. I looked back hoping that there would be some kind of signal or something for cars coming the other way to keep them from hitting people like me... but no, no signal. So either there's some magical way MA drivers avoid killing each other or I'm missing something. That was not fun. And I'm really glad I wasn't on the Ducati for that one!
So back in the beginning of July I started assistant directing a show called "Mary Christmas" going up in the Fresh Fruit Festival in NYC. The Saturday before tech week I get an email from my favorite Cardasian leader Casey Biggs asking if I'd be interested in joining him in the Berkshires to observe the rehearsal of a show he's in being directed by two time Tony award winner Vivian Matalon. So after much internal mental debate (I hate making long commitments away from home) I decided it would be good for my career to do it. So I book the plane ticket to Richmond so I could drive up. Then he calls me and tells me they screwed up and there's no housing but if I'd like I could come up for a few days. So after I had canceled a lot of work I had committed to, I decided to stick to the plan.
I flew into Richmond on Friday of last week and immediately felt like I wanted to go back to NYC. I've decided returning to Richmond is like hitting a brick wall at 100mph every time. Even when you're doing nothing in NYC you FEEL like you're doing something. So much hustle and bustle. And in Richmond... well everyone seems content to walk around the mall or watch TV and fill a day with nothingness. Needless to say Fear and Loathing doesn't come close to describing the detest I felt for being back. Not sure, always loved it before, but NYC is getting under my skin.
Anyway, in a rush to get out of Richmond I drove down to Raleigh NC to visit Shaun for a couple nights. That was fun. Then I drove back to Richmond and got in at 3:30am Tuesday morning. Tuesday afternoon I got in the car and drove to Jersey City, NJ and hopped the PATH train and subway home to Brooklyn. Surprised the shit out of Julie when I arrived around 10pm. That was fun. The reason I went to NYC was to do a photo shoot today for the Culture Project theatre in Manhattan; my first off-broadway photo gig. But this morning I got an email from them bailing out of the whole thing, claiming I was too expensive... $300 people... come on.
So I stuck around and had dinner with Julie then went back out to NJ to get in the car to come up here (where I am now) in Stockbridge Massachusetts. They provided Casey with a DAMN NICE two bedroom apartment to himself while he's here for the show. It's a thousand times better than any accommodation BVT ever gave anyone. I'll stick around here till Sunday then probably go over to Rochester to visit Peter and the gang for a couple days... then back to Richmond... then Julie (she's flying to Richmond on Saturday) and I are catching a bus back to NYC on Friday morning. Then I'd like to say I get to relax but I REALLY NEED to work on the 3 thesis project proposals for school due on the 11th. Then back to Richmond for our engagement party and my 25th bday. Then back to NYC till Thanksgiving -- and for that I'll have something to give thanks about!
Couple of side notes that I meant to talk about but can't seem fit it in:
1. The minute I got off the PATH train tonight and started walking to my car the shop called me about my bike... it's finally fixed and ready to go. For those of you who don't know, it has been broken since I dropped it on June 19th. Nothing more than the rear brake pedal being bent out of shape... took over a month to get a replacement from Italy. Life has been screwing me out of riding that bike ever since I got it... first with rains... then being broken for over a month. I've only ridden the damn thing 8 miles so far! And now that I'm out of town again, it's fixed.... if they could have only fixed it a day sooner I could have gone for a ride today. Le sigh.
2. Tonight I found the most frightening road situation I've ever been in in a car -- and I've been in some hairy situations before... this takes the cake. I had just gotten off of I-87 in MA and was on MA-22. The GPS told me to take a left onto MA-103. So I get to the intersection, no one is around... there are two red stop lights facing me, and a single flashing red light facing the road I wanted to turn on. After about two minutes of sitting there with no one in sight I was thinking about running it. Then I saw a car come up 103 towards me and make a right. The light still didn't change and I started to wonder if the flashing red on the other side meant it was broken. I inched up a bit further and it finally turned green and I turned.
Imagine my surprise however to find that this was a single lane road. Not a one-way road mind you, but rather a SINGLE LANE. And I had just seen someone come up the opposite direction. And it was long. My first thought was I was going the wrong way on a one way road, but there were multiple signs facing me about corners and speed limits, and they only do that for people who are going the right way. As I rounded a corner on this monstrosity I saw another car coming my way... on the single lane road. WTF? Just before the other car and I would have had a head on collision the road split into two lanes and I was able to take the right lane. I looked back hoping that there would be some kind of signal or something for cars coming the other way to keep them from hitting people like me... but no, no signal. So either there's some magical way MA drivers avoid killing each other or I'm missing something. That was not fun. And I'm really glad I wasn't on the Ducati for that one!