October 3 – Day 27: Speak Up! I Can't Quite Hear You!

A little after 2:00 (that’s a.m.), I noticed a fire engine heading west on 7^th. I didn’t think anything of it, given the staggering number of ambulances and other emergency vehicles that cross my path every day here. A little while later, there was something else, but it sped by before I could get a good look at it.

A few minutes after that, a helicopter (I assumed it was the NYPD) started circling and circling and circling the area. I didn’t make the association and put the two together, but I probably should have. The noise didn’t keep me up, but it didn’t exactly let me sleep, either. I finally drifted off about 2:30, but (as usual) had weird dreams. I can’t remember any of them, but for the last few weeks, it seems like I’ve had odd dreams every night. (Maybe I should blame the ghost that closed the door here a couple of weeks ago …)

I got up just after 9:00, feeling anything but refreshed, and could still hear the helicopter. When I finally left, a little after 10:00, I was walking down 7^th and saw that, in addition to the construction that’s suddenly taken over the southeast corner of Thompkins Square Park, there was some kind of police activity at 7^th and A. As I got closer, I saw 7^th seemed to be closed altogether, so I walked up to 8^th and saw the same thing. It was the same thing at 9^th, 10^th, and 11^th. While the others looked like they were closed, they were apparently letting pedestrians through, just not cars.

When I got to 1^st Avenue, the whole thing was closed down to cars and pedestrians, and I saw a hook and ladder up in the air near one of the buildings on the east side of the street, so I kind of knew what was happening. Why everything was closed so extensively, though, I didn’t know until I got to the theatre and was able to search on what was happening (my coverage in the subway is useless): what ultimately turned into a six-alarm fire that injured 14 firefighters and three civilians started in the kitchen of a Japanese restaurant and spread a bit. The biggest problem (from one report) was that the part of the building it had started in was really old and built with such big, heavy timbers that the firefighters couldn’t break through and put it out, so the firefighters had to stay and monitor it to make sure it didn’t spread. The street closures, evacuations, and school closures were strictly precautionary. While, fortunately, no one was killed, when I walked home Wednesday night, there were trucks still there on active duty, and even on Thursday night, there was still a smell of burned wood.

 These guys are the best.

That excitement over, I stopped at the comic store on my way to the subway. (There were only two books I wanted, and since both are on my subscription list at home, I passed.) From there, it was up to the theatre, where the front doors were locked (and where I missed the big sign that said “If you need to come in before noon, push this button”).

We were all called at 11:00, but there was a fight rehearsal that lasted until 12:30 that didn’t involve most of us, so I spent most of that time checking my email or dozing (I spent a lot of time Wednesday dozing). We took a break, and afterward, picked up where we’d left off, slowly making our way through the play. I think. The original plan seemed to be to finish tech by 11:00 that night, then do two run-throughs on Thursday. Unfortunately, things went so slowly that we made it through only Act I.

We took our dinner break at 7:00, and I was kind of stumped as to what to have. I decided I wanted another burger, and the closest good place nearby, Flip, was actually in the lower level of Bloomingdales, only a couple of blocks away. It was actually a pretty good burger—especially for a department store dinner; brisket, nicely-cooked, and reminding me of a Shake Shack burger—and I ate it in the dressing room before we resumed with tech.

 

 

Not mine, but close enough ...

I spent most of the evening yawning, dozing, or sitting around on stage, so it wasn’t too strenuous, but while it was frustrating to not have any place I could just stretch out and nap, it’s probably just as well I couldn’t. Some time during the morning, I noticed that my ears were plugged up with pressure from the inside. Combine this with tinnitus, some sensitivity to certain noise frequencies and the yawning, and I suspected my old friend Meniere’s Disease was back.

Meniere’s is one of those incurable diseases that, in a best-case scenario is annoying, and in a worst-case one, leads to vertigo. I’ve had it for a few years, and it hits me maybe a couple of times a year. The last time was around last Thanksgiving. I mentioned it to a friend of my sister’s, who suggested I try her acupuncturist. While I normally pooh-pooh that kind of thing, I was desperate enough to give it a try, and damned if it didn’t work. (I now go to the acupuncturist once a month and she’s been able to relieve all kinds of symptoms in me, from Meniere’s to a stiff back.)

Seeing as how my meclizine (which I take for motion sickness) didn’t seem to be helping a lot (it helped some), I decided to make an acupuncture appointment here. I checked Yelp, found a place close to the theatre, and made an appointment for Thursday’s two-hour dinner break.

As before, we broke at 11:00 (Wednesday and Thursday were our “10-out-of-12” days, which means the union allows the producer to work us ten hours in a twelve-hour stretch, provided we get the proper breaks), and I came home. Fortunately, the 6 was hitting all the stops, so I was able to get off at 8^th Street the first time, getting home at a reasonable hour, and to sleep before 2:00.