Weekends come to an end...

It has been a very busy week for me, and unfortunately, the weekend has gone by faster that I hoped it would. The craziness started on Wednesday, actually, because I started a new babysitting job that (while it is only three hours) seemes to consume my afternoon. I have to pick two little girls up at school, get them a snack, take them to the library for homework, and then get on the subway to take them to gymnastics, sit there during their gymnastics, and then walk them home. This absolutely exhausts me, although it really shouldn't, but the timing can be difficult to manage and it can be hard to shuffle two little girls from place to place on time. It's good, though, I enjoy the extra cash, and I figure I'm building a good reputation in case I want to nanny later on. Also, my Friday morning job has gotten a bit longer and more extensive because now in addition to walking the one girl to school, I'm also going to go to these girls' apartment and get them ready for school. All three girls get along and are friends, so that's good, and I just have to get up a half hour earlier. Again...more cash. It's helpful.

Since SNL was not a live episode this weekend, I was very excited to have a normal night on the town on Friday, like any other NYC college student. Right now, many fancy restaurants are participating in Restaurant Week, where they create a 3-course menu at a cheaper price. So, a few NYU people I know decided to check out one of the restaurants...there was some time issue or something, and basically it didn't work out. We ended up eating in Rockefeller Center, because it was cheap, warm and close. So, depsite my goal to avoid 30 Rock. for the weekend, I apparently couldn't. We had then planned to do rush tickets for a Wicked, which means you show up during a specific half hour and put your name in a lottery to win front row tickets for $25. Despite the horrendous cold, there were 200 people waiting for Wicked tickets...needless to say, we did not get them. So...my fancy (but discounted) night on the town failed, and where did I wind up? Seeing an improv show at the Upright Citizens Brigade. Tickets were guaranteed, only $8, and I knew the show would be fabulous. No one can say I didn't try to do something different with my weekends, but this just proves once again that I know what makes me happy and I have a good time even if I am always going to the same places. I then found out that one of UCB's house teams was going to be hosting a free midnight improv jam where people from the audience would get to come onstage to improvise. I obvioulsy got really excited and loitered around until that show started. Everyone who wanted to participate got to put their names in a bucket and they would draw 8 names out at a time to do basically a montage onstage with 2 members of the house team. I got called up for the first set, which made me a little bit nervous, but I was very excited and initiated the first scene. I ended up being in like 2 scenes during the 10 minute set, which was pretty good, and I definitely had a lot of fun. However, a lot of the time I was just thinking about how excited I was to be on that stage...it was so much fun, and I guess they're going to do it every month now, so I'll definitely be going back to that. I was proud of myself for a few reasons: 1. I was definitely the youngest person there. 2. I hadn't had anything to drink, unlike most of the people there. 3. I went by myself and therefore didn't really have anyone in the audience cheering for me. 4. Pretty much everyone who particpated were improvisers, and some I had seen perform there before. So...yay! I've performed at the Upright Citizens Brigade! :)

Saturday was a fun day as well. Natalie and I met at a movie theater on the Upper East Side and I paid $11 (AHH!! SO EXPENSIVE!) to see The Queen. I really enjoyed the movie, and I think I'm going to use it to write a paper for my Social Foundations class, comparing the queen to Machiavelli's Prince. Real life + education! Application! Woo hoo! After, we went back to Natalie's to cook a yummy pasta dinner for Heather, Dominique and Chelsea. We had a great time catching up with the big group of us and hysterically laughing (as usual). Then, it was Upright Citizens Brigade time (again)! We took the train down to the theater to see the last show of Let's Have A Ball, a show that has been going on every Saturday in January. I love this cast because of Kay Cannon, Brian Stack (Miriam's husband, Conan writer) and Scott Adsit (30 Rock). It was a hilarious show, I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and I talked to Kay after! She came up and gave me a hug and we briefly talked about the show and how fortunate it was that I didn't sleep on the street the previous night. I was very happy.

So what am I doing tonight? Going back to the Upright Citizens Brigade again, of course, for some quality Asssscat. I'm very excited, my weekend went by quickly but it was filled with good times. I just have to finish up a bit of King Lear action before I can enjoy myself...oh well, it's what I'm here for.

Mondays... :(

Well, another fabulous and fun-filled weekend has come to a close. Back to work. Back to actually having to sleep. Back to cups of coffee permanently attached to my hand. It's fine, I'll have next weekend to look forward to, and weekdays aren't as bad as people make them out to be anyway.

Friday night, I had an improv show with Dangerbox that went very well. We had a fairly large and very receptive audience, and the structures we finally decided on doing really worked. After the show, I hopped in a cab and headed up to the SNL line. It was so cold, and this was the second time doing standby that I actually felt like a crazy person (the first time was when Dad and I spent the whole night in pouring rain). I thought I would get a bad number because I had to show up later than usual, but since it was so freaking cold, I ended up getting number 4 for live! Natalie and I slept in between the collapsed tent, which was really weird but warm. I slept for a total of 6 hours, but I DID wake up with a lovely blanket of SNOW covering me...SO not okay. I decided that the only reason I slept for so long was because I slipped into a momentary hypothermic coma. Whatever, sleep is sleep.

Natalie and I met Dominique at our little Chinese restaurant, the Chelsea Cottage, on Saturday night and then went the Upright Citizens Brigade for the "Let's Have A Ball" show. Despite the fact that Kay was not there, it was a hilarious show (Brian Stack from Conan was there, and he is so intellectual and random, it's great). Natalie and I continued our night of comedy by taking the subway up to 30 Rock for SNL. I thought that since the host and musical guest weren't extremely well-known (Jeremy Piven/AFI), a lot of people would get into the show. Well, 55 got into to dress...but only SIX got into the live show!!! I'm so glad I got in, I would have been seriously angry if I had gotten snowed on for nothing. I also had the best seat I think I will ever have at SNL...dead center, second row of the balcony. It was a decent show...I got to talk to Kay and Jason and Lutz after the show, and Fred gave me a hug...it was a fun night.

Of course, Sunday....Asssscat. Hilarious show, it was even longer than usual, too. I took the subway home at 12:30 a very happy girl. And then, 9:30am class this morning...oh well, I was prepared, we discussed (to death) the first act of King Lear. I have my first Creative Writing class in a half hour, so I better get ready for that. I have to completely bundle myself up to endure the windy walk to the Silver building.

I'll update more. I've been very busy....but I'll update more.

Minnesota? What?

Yeah...I've re-adjusted. I knew it wouldn't take long. I still think fondly of Minnesota and it will always be nice to go home...but I'm back in New York and legitimately loving it. The t-shirts don't lie, folks, I do heart NY. A lot.
So after doing laundry and unpacking, I made it to the SNL standby line at like 2:30 or so...way earlier than I wanted. But since people had been in line for so long already, I sort of just needed to bite the bullet and spend the 14.5 hours there. Luckily, Heather got there shortly after me, so she was right behind me in line. Not long after I set up my little area, I noticed everyone was taking pictures of someone. It was Cheryl Hines, from Curb Your Enthusiasm! I'm actually a really big fan of that show and I think she is hilarious, and I managed to get a picture with her. She was incredibly friendly...she sort of felt bad for all of us, I guess, so she went to this sort of fancy chocolate store and bought chocolate for the line! I got to talk to the guys she was with for awhile...I don't know, we talked a little bit about improv, it was weird. So that was the big celebrity moment...Natalie didn't get to the line until like 7, and by that time, the line was super long. She hung out with Heather and me, though, for the whole night, and we set up what sort of resembled a bed for the three of us...actually pretty comfortable. We're just chilling out and laughing and catching up, when all of a sudden I look up behind the barricade, and there's Jason Sudeikis' wife, Kay. She was saying how she wanted to come over and say hi, and she introduced me to a couple of writers from 30 Rock. She is so adorable and way nice to me. We told her we were going to her improv show at the Upright Citizens Brigade before SNL, and she was excited that people actually were coming. Haha. It was definitely the highlight of the night...plus hearing Natalie's stories from her New Year's in Vegas. I got to sleep around 12:45 and I was actually really warm...I woke up at 5:30 to stinging rain on my exposed face...not pleased with that. It drizzled until 7am when the tickets were handed out...I got number 6 for the live show. Not too bad.
Saturday night I met up with Heather and Natalie and Dominique (our Asssscat friend) at this pretty cheap and fast Chinese restaurant near UCB. Yummy chicken fried rice...we assumed the line for the improv show Kay was in (Let's Have a Ball) wouldn't be too long, but when we got there, it was already super long. We were really surprised, and upset because we wanted front row seats. Still, though, the show was very good, I love that I finally got to see Kay improvise, plus there were a few other familiar faces on the stage. After the show, I got a chance to talk to Kay for a few seconds...she's so cute, she's like "I'll see you in a few hours at SNL!!!" :)
I feel SO lucky that I got into the show...because not that many people did. Heather and I got in, and were split up into some random seats...I was right in front of the music stage, which is actually a pretty good seat. Unfortunately, Natalie, who was number 14, did not get in...it was really depressing and definitely put a damper on the evening. Plus, Kay had told me she was going to wave at me from the floor and that I better see her, and I didn't. It was a funny show, though, and The Shins are a really sweet and sort of charming band.
I stood outside in the rain for a bit, just to see who all was coming out. It was really crowded and gross, though. I did get to wave at Kay as she was leaving...she yelled that once again she had waved but I didn't see her...I think she's lying. Haha.
Well, that was sort of a boring and not creatively written post, so I apologize for that. I guess that's a sign that I need to go to bed. Night!

I've landed

Who would've thought that three weeks could have passed by so quickly? Although after getting back to Minnesota, I asked myself "did I ever leave?", I now find myself asking the same question, only now it feels like I never went home. My dorm is the same (actually, that's a lie, it's significantly dustier and I think there's something wrong with the heat system). And now I'm sitting at my desk, looking at all my post-it notes from last semester that hang menacingly from the second shelf. "FINALS! STUDY!" ; "Call so-and-so!!!" ; "NYU bill due Jan. 3!". They're all pretty intense. On Tuesday, I start semester two, and I'll have to jump right back into it all. I think I'll be okay. This weekend, though, I get to miss home if I want to. And I do. I decided that I'm not going home for spring break now, just for logistical and economic reasons, mostly; so I won't be back in Minnesota until May. And while I made it from late August to the end of December, it wasn't my favorite thing in the world to be away from home for THAT long. Luckily, I feel like time really passes quickly here because I'm doing so much, so that's good. And...I love New York...so I think I'll re-adjust again in fairly good time.

So, after a ridiculously early flight and an hour of sleep last night (at most), I now find myself packing up my sleeping bag and getting ready to head up to Rockefeller Center for some SNL standby time. Ugh. I'd go later tonight, but I guess a lot of people got in line last night....so to make it worth my while at all, I've got to get there pretty soon. I'm finishing up laundry. Trying to clean up all the lotion that exploded in my suitcase. Dusting, dusting, dusting. And then it's another cab ride to West 49th Street. It's good, though, it will give me something to do instead of think about the fact that I'm not home.

I sound like I'm complaining. I'm not, really. I'm just still in transition mode, and that's a difficult place to be. I'll be happier in a few hours or so. Sorry I didn't wait to post until I cheered up a bit...oh well.

Still here...

Despite all my free time right now in Minnesota, I haven't been writing on this blog because something about it feels wrong...like I'm cheating, like I shouldn't be allowed to write on my NYC blog from MN. But I figured it's about time that I do some updating, because even though I'm not in New York, stuff is still going on.
First of all...Christmas was very fun and relaxing. I think everyone liked the gifts I gave, which always feels really good. Either that, or they're very good at faking it. I'll take it. I got the one gift I asked for, improv classes at the Upright Citizens Brigade theater in NY (http://www.ucbtheatre.com/ny)!!! I'm so incredibly excited for this. It's the main improv company in New York (although there are a few more that are up-and-coming), and it's where I've been going every weekend for Asssscat and other shows. I'm looking forward to these classes for a few reasons:
1. I'll get a chance to do improv outside of NYU, which is just a different perspective and good experience.
2. I'll get a chance to start over at level 1 with improv, which I haven't done in a looong time.
3. I'll get to go into a class knowing NO ONE (yay!! I love this!) and make a bunch of new friends outside of NYU, which I get really excited about.
4. Hopefully, some of the SNL/Asssscat people will take me more seriously once they know I'm taking classes at UCB.
5. I'll get to eventually perform at UCB, gaining more recognition in the improv community.
In general, I'm psyched. Very psyched. Christmas was good for me.
New Year's was also rather eventful, as I was asked by Stevie Ray's (the troupe I was in here in Minneapolis) to perform at their annual New Year's Eve show at the Chanhassen Dinner Theatre. It's a pretty big deal...I got to do improv in front of 700+ people up until midnight, ring in the new year, sing some Auld Lang Syne, and then do improv for another hour or so. I have such a good time just being around those people again, and I had a genuinely good time, even if it wasn't my best show ever (it was decent...Matthew really stole the show, the rest of us were just sort of up there supporting him). The past few weekends I've also gotten a chance to perform at the regular shows at the Sheraton, and this weekend, I'm actually going to dress to perform and be in the whole shows. I miss that. I miss hanging out with the troupe, too.
Heather, my friend from NYC whom I met in the SNL line, has been here since the 27th and is leaving when I leave on the 12th. We've been bumming around Minneapolis, obviously going to a lot of improv and actually we've been baking quite a bit. I don't know what inspired that, but we've made cakes and cookies and bars and I've never felt more domestic in my entire life. It's been very fun, and productive, too, I guess.
And that's really all that's been going on. Not too terribly exciting, but it doesn't need to be. I really did miss this city, and everything that comes along with it. Being home has been fabulous.