Tuesday:
Work was pretty unremarkable, the same old clippings and pretending to look busy on the computer while desperately hoping someone would give me something to do/take me wherever they are always disappearing to. Tuesday was seminar night and Eric Lochtefeld, the CEO of UofDreams was speaking. I had emailed him to see if we could meet for coffee sometime while he was in town so I could personally thank him and pick his brain a little, but he didn't end up having time to meet with me. I ended up chatting with him for a little while before the seminar started, and he is really an awesome guy. He is the one who signed off on my free housing extension and the one who granted me the scholarship this summer in the first place. His seminar was in a Q & A format, and I came away from the seminar having so much respect for him. He gave up a lucrative career as a corporate sponsorship guy for huge concerts like Warped Tour to pursue his dream of helping college students. He was $200,000 in debt and everyone told him to forget all this craziness, but he knew he had a good idea and it was just a matter of time before it worked out. His words really got to me when he talked about his best friend, his cousin Beth, being murdered but how he knew he had to carry on in her memory. He said that circumstances can't dictate your life- they change your path and challenge you to give up but that is the easy way out. I'm trying not to let my circumstances totally alter everything I wanted to achieve this summer, but it is a lot harder than I thought it would be. Eric talked about how he strives to have the best company culture possible, which includes funding one "dream" for every employee a year, company vacations, college funds for expectant employees and so much more. I admire him a heck of a lot and I hope I end up working for a company as impressive and supportive as his.
Wednesday:
We got off work a tad early and I met Ricki and Kristin for dinner at Co., a trendy Italian place. I am really into olives/olive oil recently (I know, don't judge and no I'm not pregnant) and this place had amazing olives for an appetizer. We all got pricey but delicious individual pizzas and then thought hey, we already are spending too much money for a Thursday night dinner so let's get wine and dessert. One warm chocolate chip walnut cookie and cold glass of milk later, I didn't regret the decision. It was a chill night and I enjoyed just relaxing and having a good meal not on 23rd street. (thanks Ricki for the reminder)
Thursday:
Thursday was the first series of Broadway in Bryant Park, which my office helps put on. Since the shows performing (Promises Promises and In the Heights) weren't my shows, I didn't get to help out but I got to watch. It was cool to see such a huge crowd in Bryant Park, and I'm excited for when my shows perform and I get to go backstage with the talent and all that. After work I attempted the Wicked lotto with Ricki, which was an epic fail yet again, and then headed downtown to meet up with Lisa and Erin for dinner. We went to this adorable tiny restaurant called Po and had an awesome meal. I really think if I lived here I would eat my way through this city. There are so many delicious restaurants and not enough time/cash! After I checked out Erin's apartment (adorable with a HUGE bedroom and endless Ikea influences) and walked around the neighborhood, I decided I am in love with the West Village. It is so quaint and young and hip and celeb studded and artsy and cute. Note to self: make enough money to live in West Village.
Friday:
Friday was THE BEST WORK DAY EVER. At least so far, but it is gonna be tough to top. I got up extra early to meet Leslie and Alyssa in Central Park for a production meeting. American Idiot is going to be performing on Good Morning America next week, 7/16, and I got to go to the huge production meeting for it! I asked to go so persistence and being nosy/listening to phone calls pays off! I met the director, producers, music directors, asst. choreographer, general manager and I don't even know who else for American Idiot along with a big chunk of the production team for GMA. They spent a majority of the meeting talking about the songs they should perform, how much of the cast was needed, logistics for sound and set, the promotions that should be done and all sorts of other details. It was super hot because since there were so many people at the meeting, we had it outside on the "deck" between the green room trailers, but it was awesome just to be around that many influential people. I also saw the top 10 American Idol finalists since they had just finished taping! It is funny to me to see how similar theater people in the working world are to theater kids in high school and college. Chatty, gossipy, over-the-top, big personalities and a whole lot of creativity. This is hilarious and makes it extremely hard to get anyone to agree on anything. The meeting was more preliminary than anything, and I know most of the details are getting ironed out in phone conferences I won't be a part of, but it was still seriously cool. Alyssa, Leslie and I cabbed back to the office where they were on the phone the rest of the morning, aka I helped out the other interns and entertained myself online. Then, around 2 Alyssa asked if I could help her out with an interview with a swing for Rock of Ages. I had to think about it since I was so swamped, but in the end I agreed. We headed to the theater where I met/ chatted with Michael (the swing) about UF and heard a little about his upcoming project called Fat Camp. It is going to be a musical heading to Broadway in hopefully a year, and they just casted the workshop and already have interests from film companies to make a movie version. It sounds pretty exciting. The interview was a random tidbit for NY.com about Rock of Ages and didn't take too long, and then I got to head home at 3 since my office does summer Fridays! I have been feeling a little homesick, nostalgic, what have you this week so I decided last minute to hop a train to Islip to spend the night with my Aunt Janet and Uncle Mark. It was a weird coincidence that my cousin Jacquie was heading to Islip last night too, so we rode out together. It was so nice to go out there and have dinner around the table and chat about Jacquie's wedding plans (she is newly engaged). It made me feel a little better and closer to home.
Saturday:
I took a 1 o clock train back to the city because I had tickets for a Sex and the City Bus Tour of NYC! It was a really fun way to basically get a fashion tour of the city. We drove all over the place and saw clips of the show followed by the actual locations in NYC. Our tour guide was witty and cute, and she ended up being an aspiring actress from Coral Springs. Jewish geography strikes again. We got free cupcakes, saw some cool landmarks and shops I MUST go back to, and overall it was a nice way to spend a cloudy and kinda dreary afternoon. I came back from the tour and went to dinner at the diner around the corner with Ricki, and now I am sitting here blogging. I am honestly still tired from a whirlwind weekend with Josh and the work week, so I am gonna try to turn in early and finally sleep in a little. I get frustrated with myself sometimes that I am not doing and seeing everything I could be, but to be honest I am a little physically and a lot mentally exhausted. I don't regret coming back but it is hard to be so far from my siblings, my dad and Josh when I just want to cry or reminisce. The work week is always easier because I am so busy I barely have time to dwell on things, but this weekend has been hard and I've never really felt so out of control of my emotions. I know it comes with the territory of the last month, but it still is frustrating. NYC is great and I genuinely love this city and want to come back, but when I come back I hope it'll be with more members of my support system and when I am in a different and better place in my life. I just have to push through the next few weeks and then I will be back to the college grind and my comfort zone, which doesn't sound bad at all.
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