Last week, my friend Lauren informed me that she was driving home (which happens to be 20 minutes from my “home,” aka where my parents live), and asked if I wanted to go with her so she wasn’t sitting in her car alone for 6 hours. After checking with my mom to make sure my parents were going to be home and not off running some half marathon somewhere, which happens more often than you would think, and learning that  my parents were actually going to visit  my sister in NYC for her birthday, I happily agreed to go.

Friday, we embarked on our journey from Boston to the Philadelphia adjacent area (Note: neither of us live in Pennsylvania. The East Coast is weird.) The ride down was fun and pretty normal, except for us spotting the first of many personalized license plates, which read “STOPAIDS”. (“I think that’s the weirdest way you could choose to show your activism.) We did get stuck on the New Jersey turnpike for over 2 hours, but as far as traffic goes, it was pretty par for the course. 

Saturday, my parents informed me that we were leaving at 7:00 to drive to Newark and take the train into Penn Station. Thus, I hurled myself out of bed at 5:45 (!!!) after not falling asleep until after midnight, since my body clock doesn’t usually allow me to sleep until 1AM, only to learn while I was drying my hair at 6:30 that we probably weren’t leaving until 8. (I learned this from my half asleep mom who stumbled downstairs at 6:30 having just woken up.) Thanks, parents! 

After driving and training into NYC, we ended up on Bleeker Street, where I immediately found a shoe store where numerous salesmen quickly learned how easy it is to sell me things. I ended up  buying some adorable new flats to replace the ones I wear all the time to the point that they have developed some attractive holes in the bottom. Stephanie met us there and bought some boots for herself. (I was very close to buying the last pair in the store, but out of sisterly love, I let her have them as birthday present.) We then got some delicious Indian food for lunch, as Steph was appalled my mom and I had never had Indian food. My mom and I decided that while it was good, all Indian food, from the soup to the curry to the rice pudding we got free for dessert, all kind of looks the same.

We then headed out the main attraction, Alter Boyz! The show is an off-broadway musical about a Christian boy band. It was HILARIOUS. Basically the boys – Matthew, Mark, Luke, Juan, and Abraham (who’s Jewish) are on the last leg of their tour, during which they try to save the souls of everyone in the audience through the power of (amazingly catchy) pop music. I’d heard the music before, but the guys who were in it were all adorable and made it seem like new. They also made it seem like a legitimate boy band concert. (I should know, having been to FAR too many boy band concerts.) My favorite had to be Mark, who sings my favorite song, “Epiphany,” a lovely piece about being a Catholic that is actually about Mark’s poorly hidden homosexuality. Fabulous. Some guy (Neil…some, SYTYCD fans are going to yell at me for not appreciating this…) from “So You Think You Can Dance,” who Stephanie and I speculated may have been the only straight guy in the cast (proven by his shout out to his girlfriend in the Playbill) was Luke. I always love a TV tie-in. Anyway, I’d recommend it to anyone. Even my dad liked it. 

After that, we walked around Central Park and got a bite to eat at a diner until we had to head back. It was a fun little jaunt into the city, but like every time I head into New York, I became more convinced that it’s just a place I like to visit and not somewhere I could actually live. I am, however, looking forward to when I’m going back with my friends to see “Title of Show”‘s closing performance in October! 

This morning, I got up at a more reasonable hour and met Lauren to drive back to Boston. We managed to see many MANY more amazing license plates: BRIZZ, I-80, T COACH, T JAY 1, OMSAI (which we didn’t quite understand) JTDC (which Lauren is convinced stands for “Jesus Tap Dancing Christ”), and our personal favorite, a Massachusetts license plate which proudly proclaimed “FROM NJ,” which we we almost took a picture of in a rest area parking lot, but then people came back to their car, and I didn’t want to look crazy. This, of course, prompted us, not to stop trying to take the photo, but to run back to our car, jump in, and FOLLOW THE PEOPLE ONTO THE HIGHWAY. We are actually insane. I did get a picture though…of all of the plates listed above. I might have looked crazy and stalkerish, but these are going to make an amazing facebook album. 

Now I’m back in my apartment, waiting to watch the next episode of Mad Men and dreading the busy week I have ahead. I am happy, though, that I finally got to take advantage of the fact that my parents now live within driving distance of Boston.

So, I didn’t get the job. My boss kind of non chalantly threw out the fact that they hired someone else while giving me my agenda for the day. I’m not upset about it. I just kind of expected more than, “Oh, did you heard we hired someone else?” I mean, it’s not like I’ve worked there for two years, or anything…oh, wait…

But, as I said, I’m not upset. In fact, today was excellent, as I got invited to have a phone interview for Teach for America! (Quick side note: I decided to apply for the first deadline, instead of the third, as I will now know if I am accepted in November as opposed to March, thus allowing me to bypass those pesky grad school applications if I accept a TFA position. Smart, right?) At this point, I’m feeling like I’d much rather move forward with the TFA thing, rather than working the same job I’ve been working for the past two years, just with slightly more responsibilities. Plus, now, I most likely get to chill in LA for a week when I get back from Australia, because HEY! I’ll have nothing else to do. Hello, future unemployment!

(Cut to January when upon arrival home from said week in LA, I’m crying about unemployment and boredom. I’ll be sure to link back to this post.)

Whatevs. Today, I’m feeling positive. I’m heading home tomorrow with my friend Lauren (ROAD TRIP!) to then head to NYC with my parents on Saturday to visit my sister and celebrate her birthday slash my parents’ anniversary, which just so happen to be one day apart. (Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad slash Happy [early] Birthday, Stephanie!)

Right now, I’m off to enjoy the second half of my wonderful TV night. (Yet another side note: The Office is officially back! That episode was comedic [and a little romantic] gold! Ryan coming back! Kelly fainting!A talking head from within a computer! “I don’t think I ever really processed 9/11.” Phyllis and Dwight! Poor Andy The rotting fruit! JIM AND PAM!!! Ok…I’m breathing again. Sadly, I doubt Grey’s will get me this excited, but you never know…)

My friend Jenn posted this on my facebook wall, and I was simultaneously surprised by how accurately this describes my life and by how I’ve never really addressed my TV addiction here. I guess I’ve been too busy talking about how I no longer want to work in TV, but that has not changed the fact that I watch a lot of TV…A LOT of TV. It’s a hard obsession to explain to people (without them judging you) and few understand.  

If you saw me last night, though, sitting on the edge of my seat, screaming at the TV, constantly texting my sister, and basically getting super angry about awards that have no direct bearing on my life, you might begin to understand my television obsession. (And btdubs, Jean Smart? Jeremy Piven AGAIN!? Cutting Neil Patrick Harris and Kristen Chenowith banter for more Howie Mandel TV time? Not cool Emmy’s. Not cool…..but, I mean, way to go Tina Fey!)

If you saw me, at 3:00AM on Thursday night, crying at the latest episode of Greek, you might understand it a little more.

If you saw the various post-its I have up on my desk, alerting me to the fact that OMG THE OFFICE, HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER, AND GREY’S COME BACK ON THIS WEEK XZMN!*N*(!!!!!! you might almost fully understand my TV obbsession.

If you saw the MOUNTAINS of television DVD’s I have stacked in my living room, got me started talking about who my favorite character actually is on Arrrested Development or about my anger and disappointment with the last season of Gilmore Girls or the fact that Friday Night Lights has never been nominated for an Emmy or why on earth NBC would wait until OCTOBER 30 (!!!!) to premier 30 Rock, you would be annoyed by my TV obsession (quickly). 

If you were one of my friends whom I have single handedly convinced to watch Arrested Development, Gilmore GIrls, 30 Rock, Friday Night Lights, How I Met Your Mother or Mad Men, you would thank my TV obbsession.

And if you were me, you would feel frightened about the lack of time your TV obbsession is going to leave you for the mountains of things that are already taking up your time…but I guess homework can wait when Jim and Pam’s romance is on the line. 

I guess my obsession boils down to this: TV is escapism. It’s entertainment you can share with millions of people. It’s characters you feel like you know and wish you could know. It’s people going through things you’ve been through or will be through, but with better hair and wittier banter. It’s relaxing. It’s stimulating. If it’s good it will make you think and stick with you for years. It’s something two strangers can have in common and talk about for hours. It brings people together.

I feel bad for people who say they don’t have time for television, and I take offense when people say there’s nothing good to watch. If you think that’s so, you aren’t looking hard enough or at all. I think we are living in a new golden age of television. Have shows ever been this gripping? This intense? This intricate and this compelling? This funny and original? If you don’t believe me, watch an episode of Mad Men or Friday Night Lights. If you think comedy is dead, just turn on 30 Rock for five minutes. If you aren’t laughing, you don’t have a soul. 

Maybe this is why I can’t work in TV. I love it too much to see the guy pulling the strings behind the curtain. It would ruin everything.

Last night, I vowed never again to wait in line to get into a bar. Now, I’ve never been a fan of bars with lines, as I find them pretentious and over-hyped. I also think there is a special place in hell for bouncers who think that being able to open and close a velvet rope somehow makes them equal to the gods. Last night, however, was the final straw on my ever friends being able to drag me to these bars against my will ever again.

Jillian invited me to go out for her friend’s birthday at Alibi in the Liberty Hotel. She’d heard it was a cool bar, as the hotel used to be a prison and the bar is decorated with prison bars and mug shots and such. I was planning on staying in and doing some homework, since I had to get up kind of early this morning, but Jillian urged me to come out. I’ll never be so maleable again.

 Jillian was a little upset that we didn’t get the call to head out until 10, as she’d figured you needed to get there early to avoid lines. By the time we got out the door, it was 10:30. I didn’t bring a jacket, since I didn’t have one that matched my shirt, idiotically putting fashion before comfort. BAD DECISION. Apparently, in the last two days, winter has come over Boston and it was FREEZING. I then had to wait for the T without a jacket for THIRTY FIVE MINUTES. In that time, a T passed, giving us a momentary glimmer of hope,  but then passed, giving us a giant EFF YOU, because the T rocks like that. /end sarcasm. 

Once we finally got on the T (for our half an hour ride across town. Blerg.), I was so sick of waiting. I needed this bar to be awesome to justify putting on tight pants instead of pajamas. When we got to the bar, we found Jillian’s friend and walked over. There were two lines outside (Not inside like I had been told. Thus, the shivering continued…) and we didn’t know which was for Alibi and which was for the other bar inside, Clink. (Note the period is part of the name of the bar, as in “Clink.” because punctuating the name allows them to charge another three dollars for a vodka tonic.) Anyway, Jillian went and asked which line was which, and one (of about seven) bouncer told us it was the one on the left, and that the wait would be about 25 minutes. Awesome. I figured I could suck it up for twenty-five minutes.

So we waited. And waited. The line moved every half hour until we were only one person from the front of the line. Success! I then looked over to another sad, cold bar hopper talking to a bouncer whow was informed that the line of the RIGHT was for Alibi. Uh oh. I realized we’d been waiting in the WRONG LINE for over thirty minutes. Of course, at this moment, bouncer came over and proceeded to let everyone in the Alibi line into the bar! (Even people who got there well after us.) I asked him if that was, in fact, the Alibi line, and he said yes, so we hoped over into that line (and became the only ones in the line) and HE CLOSED THE ROPE ON US! After he saw that we’d been in the wrong line (at the FRONT of the wrong line, obviously having been there for a while.) We seethed, but figured we couldn’t wait that much longer at the front of this new line. We were wrong. We waited another 25 minutes, before getting so angry we called the original (lying) bouncer over to us to explain the situation. He was unsympathetic, doubting he even told us the wrong line in the first place. Douche. 

This whole time, HUNDREDS of people were pouring out of the bar, and creepy slutty street walkers flirted with the bouncers and walked right in. Adding to the fun, while Jillian scolded the bouncer, the girls behind us clearly had our backs, muttering “Great, now we aren’t going to get in, becuase he hates them!”

Cut to 20 mintues later when said girl reached our level of frustration and left the line to go yell at the boucers about how she’d never been treated so poorly. (“I’ve been waiting here behind three people for an HOUR while hundreds of people have come out! I’ve never seen such TERRIBLE customer service in my life!” Clearly, all she needed was 20 more minutes in the cold to feel our pain.) 

Finally, at 10 til 1AM (we got there at 11:30 and the bar closes at 2), Jillian’s friend calmly approached the bouncer who’d closed the rope on us to calmly and kindly explain that she’d spent that last hour and a half of her birthday in the line, shivering, after being given faulty information by one of their bouncers. Couldn’t he just let us into the hotel so we could get a drink, not even in Ablibi, just anywhere, rather than standing outside until taking a cab home at 2. He agreed and let us in. 

We walked into and quickly out of Alibi as it was loud, crowded, and none of us wanted to give the bar any money by buying drinks at that point. We ended up wandering around the hotel, (which was SUPER COOL, much to my chagrin) looking for a fancy bathroom, and stealing towels from said bathroom. Clearly, we are classy. And vindictive. We had to restrain Jillian from yelling at the original bouncer on the way out. 

In conclusion, don’t go to exclusive clubs. Or, as we were condescendingly told by the bouncer, get there early. Or just don’t go at all, save ourself some money, buy a giant handle of vodka, plug in your iPod, and have your own awesome dance party. You can put a velvet rope outside your door to feed your need for exclusivity. Plus, you could wear pajamas. Who wouldn’t want to party in pajamas?

My schedule today: 

9:30 to 10:30 – Sit in Starbucks “observing” people (mildly awkwardly) for Acting class

10:30 – 10:45 – Run to Union to set up Link table to advertise for Bay State auditions. (There is a row of tables at the entrance to our student union that student groups rent out to promote their goings on. We’ve had one for the past three days.)

10:45 – 11:00 – Realize reservations office hasn’t given us the table I requested. Run to the basement computers to double check my email confirmation. Realize I am right, and they are wrong. Go upstairs to tell them such only to be told I can just take any empty table. Awesome. 

11:00 – 1:30 – Man said table, stopping only to eat a delicious, delicious salad with poppyseed dressing. Mmmm

2:00 – 5:00 – Attend acting class, where I kick ass at improv and begin building my character for our exercise in which we have to create a character out of picture our teacher found in National Geographic. Mine is a 19 year old North Carolinian named Tiff whose mom has died leaving her to deal with her 16 year old twin brother and sister. She’s badass. 

5:00 – 9:00 – Watch 75 people audition for Bay State, with the same four scenes! (I may or may not have memorized them all. Despite having blurred vision by the end, it was an amazing accomplishment for us to get this many people auditioning for seven roles. Last year we only had about 30 people. So go team! Horay for having casting options.)

9:00 – 10:30 – Eat ridiculously late dinner of Pad Thai (again, I say, Mmmmmm) while discussing said casting options.  Decide to call 20 people back tomorrow. Eeek!

10:30 to now – Come home. Read blogs. Watch Greek. Try to relax…

Aaaannnddd…I’m dead. And getting mildly nervous about my playwriting assignment for Thursday which includes having ideas for two plays and a full scene for one, as I do not have ANY of these things yet and tomorrow is looking about the same as today did (Meeting with Josh at 10, Tap Class at 11, Shower and run to Work from 2 until BUTV General Interest Meeting at 6, Bay State Callbacks from 7 to 9, Discussion of Callbacks until ???) I’m hoping for a slow work day, which means lot of homework time. If not, tomorrow’s going to be a long night. I guess I’ll have to continue to neglect the blogging world. *Tear*

In my ongoing quest to take on every possible application process and look into every possible career choice for my future (that starts ever so soon), I’ve started looking into applying to Teach for America. If you don’t know, TFA is a non-profit organization that recruits and trains recent college grads to commit to teaching for two years in urban and rural schools in low socio-economic areas in an attempt to close the achievement gap in America. I’ve heard about it a lot, obivously as I took Politics of Education this summer, and it’s always sounded intriguing, but it’s been sounding even more intriguing after my (disenchanting) stint in the LA entertainment biz. 

My other plans also include applying to grad school for theater education, so this would obviously be an interesting step in the right direction. I mean, how hard could getting high schoolers to love drama be after teaching inner city kids to love 9th grade English? That’s what I thought.

The upsides of doing this include having a guaranteed, decently paying job for two years. I would have an instant network of friends and collegues wherever they sent me. I’d have an amazing, life-changing experience (if everything touted on the TFA website and in the informational meeting I just attended is true), and would gain valuble experience that would be more than a little useful to WHATEVER I choose to do afterwards. They have an amazing alumni network and various partnerships with businesses and grad schools to take advantage of, as well. 

The various downsides include, IT’S SO HARD (this sounds stupid, but really…it’s a freakin’ hard job.) I can only imagine how draining and difficult this job can be. I mean, I got stressed teaching drama at camp to middle-class Jewish kids. This would be a thousand times harder. Plus, there is the whole moving wherever they tell you to move thing (although, they tell you before you have to make a decision AND you get to rank where you’d want to be placed and they have a 98% rate of sending people to an area they requested.) I know I would be a good teacher under normal teacher circumstances, but I honestly fear I would buckle under this stress. I mean, this semester already gave me a cold. But I know, I KNOW, that at the end of this experience, I would feel amazing. I truly want a job where I am doing something and accomplishing something (see my rant about why I disliked one of my internships in LA). To be able to make even the tiniest impact on these kids lives would be unbelievably fulfilling. 

Lastly, isn’t this the time to do something big? Something crazy? Something you can’t do during any other time in your life? As much as I want to go to grad school for Theater Ed, I don’t know if I can jump right back into school, and there is no job that seems appealing to me right now. I’ve looked. I can’t stick myself in an office again, I just can’t. This would be an amazing experience. A hard experience, but an experience none the less. 

My basic plan for all of these things is to apply for many things and see what sticks. TFA has a deadline in January, which is also when the deadlines for grad school are, so January will be the “I’m unemplyed and applying to EVERYTHING” month. Fun times are clearly in my future. 

So have any of you ever thought of applying to TFA? Know anyone who has?

I’ve learned in the past two weeks that I am bad at being busy and blogging. I’ve been so caught up in getting back into the swing of having an actual life in all senses: a social life, a school life, a work life. I can never say no to things, and thus, I have been running around from event to event, meeting to meeting, not stopping to look around enough to have anything to actually write about. 

The things that have been taking up the bulk of my time can be divided into four categories: classes, work, Bay State and friends. Let’s take them one by one, so as not to knock me over with the sheer amount of things I have to split my focus between. 

Classes: Have been good. Really good. I got into an Advanced playwriting class I applied to early in the summer as a back-up to my ever changing schedule. It’s taught by a guy who, among other writerly things, runs an organization to lobby for the arts in Massachusetts, a subject very near and dear to my heart. (In fact, when asked to talk in my acting class for 1 to 3 minutes about a subject I am passionate about, I spoke about the arts in education.) I think it will be nice to go back to a subject that was so important to me in high school. (Background side note: I was in a Performing Arts magnet program my last two years of high school, causing me to take playwriting for two years with my amazingly amazing drama teacher.)

Speaking of high school, I am also returning to an acting class for the first time since senior year in Acting for Writers and Directors. It’s so cool to look at acting from a different viewpoint, while still being the actor yourself in class. I think it’s going to really  help with my playwriting class. 

My last class is photography, which I am BEYOND excited about. (Stupid sidenote: I had to pick up prints today from Ritz Camera for work. While I waited, I, of course, had to ask if I could look at the D90 I knew they had to have just gotten in. I think I impressed the camera sales boys.) We went into the darkroom at the end of class, and I got all tingly. I can’t wait to get started on my first assignment, which is a very good thing during your last semester of college. Most people are just trying to push their ways to the end. 

Next up…WORK: Could be going better. For one thing, after interviewing for the infamous job and being told they wanted to make a quick decision, I have heard absolutely NOTHING. At this point, I’m going on the assumption that I didn’t get it, but is it too much to want to know for sure? I just feel like I need to start gearing myself up for the reality that I have to look for a job in five months and having this possibility of getting out of it hanging over my head is wildly unhelpful. Plus, they seem to want me to act like I have the position (i.e.: working more) without actually hiring me, which is wildly unfair to me. I’m not going to give up my life to work unless I’m being paid salary, thankyouverymuch. 

Which leads me to the reason for not wanting to work more, which is BAY STATE: the campus TV show I am Co-Executive Producing this semester. I’ve worked on the show, which, by the way, is America’s longest running college soap opera, since freshman year, and it has always been my goal to Executive Produce. Actually doing the job is kind of surreal. I’m sharing Executive Producer responsibilities with my friend Josh, who you may remember from my numerous summer outings to his apartment, who is SUPER serious about the show, and thus, likes to have conversations and meetings about it basically every day. This is great for the show and for the quality, which we are always trying to ramp up, but it is a little hard on my sanity when I am dealing with lots of other things. 

And lastly FRIENDS: who I am SO HAPPY to have back in my life after my summer of two friends. I’ve basically been out with people every night, whether singing “Oops I did it Again” with Jillian at Karaoke Tuesdays at our favorite bar (after some drunk hoes sang “See you Again” by our best friend Miley Cyrus  before we got a chance!) or playing Mario Kart (and sucking majorly) with Jenn, Lauren and Alex. It is just nice to have somewhere to go every night and to have people to call when I’m bored. I feel like I need to soak all this up now before I possibly move somewhere with no friends and work so much I never want to leave my apartment. Boo to the future. 

So that is where I’ve been. There are so many stories I wish I could tell in full, like traveling out to Porter Square with Jillian and Alex to visit Megan (one of my two summer friends) and her boyfriend Paul to see their new grown-up apartment and realizing that I could live there after graduation (for SO MUCH CHEAPER than staying around campus) and be pretty happy. Or about my work day from hell, which I only survived with constant texting (including riddles from Alex) and a Quiznos sub. Or about my new wish to live in Europe for a year due to a combination of reading and loving My Life in France by Julia Child (who I now want to be) and seeing and loving Vicky Christina Barcelona (does Woody Allen EVER disappoint?). 

Luckily, every time I write here, I remember why I like writing here. Hopefully, I’ll catch up on the blog world once I’ve caught up on my life a little bit more. I’ve been neglecting commenting, and I don’t like it. So, is anyone else having trouble getting back into the swing of things?