October 16 – Day 40: Blogs Begin at Forty

And, just like that, I have three weeks left here.

I knew the time would fly—and it has—but, damn, it sure has. I need to take advantage of the time I’ve got left.

I was up late again (and, once again, slept terribly), so I hadn’t really gotten up when Pidge left for her re-scheduled lunch date. I farted around on my phone and watched some television, and was finally just having breakfast when she came back.

We talked some, debriefed last night’s discussion a little, I blogged a little, then it was time for me to leave for the show. Since it was such a nice day—and it was; a perfect fall day—I wanted to walk, but didn’t want to take my usual route—up to 14^th and Union Square, then up Park to 59^th—so I looked at Google Maps and saw that I could walk up Avenue C to the East River, walk along that to 35^th, then head east until (in my case) I hit 3^rd Avenue, which I hadn’t walked up yet. (Everything considered, I hadn’t missed much.)

 The view on my walk. (The United Nations 

is the white tower on the left.)

As I say, it was a really nice day, and while it may have been a little breezy by the water (and noisy, thanks to the traffic on the FDR Drive and the heliport on the river), it was just a great time of day to walk. As I walked, I got a call from a recruiter who wanted to put me up for not just one, but two, jobs in Silicon Valley, so hopefully something may come from at least one of them. While I’d actually like to do something more artistic, I wouldn’t mind making some tech money so as to afford to be able to do more acting and directing (and producing?) work. To be honest, I’m not really expecting those offers to go anywhere, but it’s a start (and if nothing comes of them, I still have a teaching gig in the spring).

I arrived at the theatre to see some surprising changes. The first was, on the monitor in the lobby of the theatre, they now feature pull quote from the New Yorker and another good review. The second was backstage. Since at least last year (and who knows how long before), there were a couple of noise-dampening pieces of carpet in the hall running from our spiral staircase to the door backstage. The carpet itself was filthy and disgusting and, while it kept things quiet, who knows what was in there? The staircase’s steps were covered either in other filthy carpet (which Trish said was a nightmare to walk on, either in bare feet or in heels; there are holes in the pattern of the metal of the stairs) or nothing at all. We had complained about it and, on Sunday, the bare steps had been covered in Mylar or some kind of plastic. Better, but not great.

Tonight, the filthy carpet was gone altogether and the steps were covered in a new, heavy duty industrial fabric. It was like moving into a new apartment. The one puzzling thing was that one of the pieces of carpet at the top of the stairs was replaced by a sheet of Masonite, which does nothing but make a loud tap-dancing noise when someone walks on it.

After that surprise, I thought I was the first one at the theatre, but Trish was lying beneath her dressing table, eyes covered, earbuds in, listening to white noise and napping. I stayed quiet and, once she finally regained consciousness, we talked (the usual dressing room chatter), and as people filed in, the talk became a little more varied.

While we were all grateful for the day off, everyone seemed a little scattered, and that carried over into the performance. It wasn’t bad by any means, but it was just a little odd here and there. I wasn’t crazy about what I was doing—I felt a little superficial and like I was watching my own performance—but it seemed to work. The audience was responsive, which was a nice change, and a friend of Matt’s actually gave us a standing ovation at the end. I couldn’t tell if it was sincere, but I usually take a standing O by only a few people as more genuine than that by everyone standing, so I’ll take it.

I hurried back to the Village, because Pidge had said that she wanted to get a slice, so I suggested we go to Sauce after my show. I found it interesting that it actually took me less time to make it there from 59^th that it took her from 7^th (though she said there was a huge group of cigar-smoking bros blocking the sidewalk in front of the sushi restaurant next door, and that helped slow her down, as did her already walking a lot earlier in the day). 

 <Larry David voice>Pretty, pretty good.</Larry David voice>

There was no one else in the place when we were there, but the pizza was still really good (she liked it a lot). We hoped to have soft-serve afterward, but they had just cleaned out the machine, so it was a no-go. (I heard the pizza chef tell the cashier they were getting ready to close, and as we were asking about the soft-serve, they were cleaning out the ovens, so there wasn’t much time left.) Since she had her taste buds set on soft-serve, we stopped at Ray’s Candy Store (which long-time readers will remember as the place where they’ll deep-fry anything) and got a cone. We shared it, and she gave it another thumbs-up.

From the time I left the theatre until about 45 minutes ago (currently 3:22 Wednesday morning), I was following or watching the Dodgers/Brewers playoff game, which went five hours and 13 innings before the Dodgers finally won it. Pidge lasted as long as she could, but fell asleep long before it was over and is currently snoozing to my right. I’m currently watching Lin-Manuel Miranda on my DVRed episode of Stephen Colbert and expect to go to sleep fairly soon as we’re both doing matinees in the afternoon; she to The Ferryman and I to The Waverly Gallery.