Friday the 13th

They say bad things happen on Friday the 13th...
That's never really been my experience, but sometimes it is fun to blame the blunders of the day on the day itself. I, personally, had a roller coaster of a day, and I thought you might be interested to hear how it all went down. (aka Mom text me and said "that would make a great blog!")

I woke up early on Friday morning to go for a jog before work. (Are you proud of me? I was proud of myself.) I had a nice little 2.6 mile run up and down Riverside Park near my apartment. It was a beautiful morning, not too hot, not too humid. I thought it was a nice way to start the morning. It may become a reoccurring thing... We'll see.

After my run, I went to move my roommate's car.

...PAUSE...

This is going to take some explaining.

The NYC Sanitation Department sweeps the road every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. On Monday and Thursday, they sweep the left side. On Tuesday and Friday they sweep the right. This occurs between 11am-12:30pm each day. A car-owner cannot be parked on the respective sweeping side during those hours on the specified day or the car will get ticketed and towed.

One of my roommates left for Italy on Monday and asked me to move the car back and forth, since I'm the only other one in the apartment with a driver's license. I agreed, and for the first few days it was not a big deal. I just moved the car back and forth along the street. Easy.

...BACK TO FRIDAY THE 13TH...

I finished my run at the car with full intentions to quickly move it and go inside to get ready for work. I timed it PERFECTLY! All the timing in the world could not have prepared me for the lack of parking spaces on 138th street that morning. Clarification: there were NONE. I drove the car down 138th, with absolutely no luck finding a place to squeeze the tiny car. I drove the loop back around Broadway and drove down 137th, then Riverside, then 136th, then Broadway, then 139th, and Riverside again, and 134th, and back to Broadway. And I followed this pattern around and around up and down side streets, PRAYING for an open space along the sidewalk. NOTHING. I drove down to 125th to try the bridge. NOTHING. I drove over to Amsterdam to try that area... NOTHING... I drove around for AN HOUR looking for a parking spot on the correct side of the road. I was getting honked at by New Yorkers who did NOT appreciate my cautious driving. I was stressing, I was almost in tears, I was cursing every car that passed me. It was bad.

SIDE NOTE-

It was right about that point that I decided I never want to drive again, ever, and I was reminded that I don't have to. I called my mom in a panic because I was running late and driving around Manhattan and it was all a nightmare, and she said "OK, good. So you're not regretting selling your car today, then?" HA! No! Get rid of it!!!! Ok, so maybe I wasn't that extreme, but it was rather ironic. I loved my little Pontiac Vibe. It was a good car. I sold it to friends of the family before I left, and my parents met with them yesterday to make the trade. Having this experience made me glad to be rid of it. So Jamison, enjoy that car, and be thankful you don't have to drive it around New York.

AND WE'RE BACK -

FINALLY, I found a shining spot on Riverside and 142nd. That was the most difficult parallel parking I've ever had to do. There are maybe 3 inches between the front of this car and the bumper of the one in front of it... BUT it's parked.

I ran inside and hurried to get ready for work.

I was late and a little frazzled at work, but I quickly jumped into finishing the audition schedule for Monday. It was a pretty busy day. At one point, I was going over the reviews and the press photos from the FELA! re-opening (My boss cast the show, so we were invited to the first performance back on Broadway... That story will have to be in another blog), and I saw my face. My jaw dropped and I yelled "JIMMY! WE MADE PLAYBILL.COM!!!" Jimmy is the other office intern. We both had a minor freak-out... Seriously, it's not a big deal, but I was so excited... it's the little things in life... So what if we're in the background... We were there :)

We've been working like maniacs trying to get SUPER FLY on its feet. (More about that later).  I worked diligently for hours trying to get everything finished by 6 so I could leave on time and meet up with friends in Central Park for the New York Philharmonic concert at 8. 6:00 rolled around and we were not finished... 7PM came and went, and my boss still had things for us to do. 8PM came and went, and I started to get a little frustrated. At 8:30, he looked at the clock and said, "Oh, we probably need to head out... Well, That's Showbiz!"

When I finally got to Central Park at 9PM, there were droves of people exiting. I thought the concert was over and I wanted to cry. To make matters worse, I started feeling tiny rain drops splash on my arms and hair. I called my friend Katherine to see if I had missed everything, and she calmed my fears and explained they were taking an intermission. WHEW! Things were starting to turn around. I made my way through literally tens of thousands of people trying to find my friends. Katherine finally found me and led me to our picnic spot where wonderful friends from church passed plates and trays of food to me as the concert started again.

It was heavenly. The rain stopped, the crowd got silent, and the music began. We sat on our blankets and listened to Respighi's "Fountains of Rome" and "Pines of Rome." It was like Christmas, Cinderella, Ballerinas, Fairies, Dragons, and Italy all rolled into one. I felt the stress of the day melt away as I sat and enjoyed the music. I was with good friends, enjoying good food, in the most incredible city in the world, and I was thankful. When the concert was over, I started to stand up and re-pack my bag, but the group stopped me and said "Wait! The fireworks!"

THERE WERE FIREWORKS!!!!!!!

And they were huge. Past the Great Lawn, right over the glittering skyline of whatever corner of Manhattan we were facing, there were HUGE, sparkling, exploding fireworks.

The picture seriously doesn't do it justice... This makes it seem so far away, but everything was much closer and bigger and brighter... I thought you needed at least an idea though :)

After the fireworks, we packed up, and Katherine's parents (Who are in town visiting for a little while) took us out for ice cream. I was like a little kid: give me fireworks and ice-cream and I'm happy forever.

So, today, I'm recovering from the extreme highs and lows of yesterday and laughing at myself for getting so worked up.

I would also like to give a very special birthday shout out to my mom, whose birthday was Thursday, and my Nana, whose birthday is today!!! You are both very special to me, and I'm glad your birthday wasn't yesterday... It would have been too much to handle. ;)

Grace be with you,

Lindsey Shea

The REAL Villains of Gotham City

My sincere apologies to those who have been anxiously awaiting my updates (AKA, Mom). I've been busy fighting crime of all shapes and styles...
To celebrate the coming of the new Batman movie (because I see billboards and posters of The Dark Knight Rises EVERYWHERE), I have decided to devote this blog to the REAL Villains of Gotham City... (Because, as you know, I now live in Gotham City!) The following are villains that I have been fighting myself as the non-caped crusader... Some of these may be a stretch, but just go with it, and enjoy. (some of them even have pictures)

CAT WOMAN:

Catwoman was drawn on the wall of our kitchen to keep the mice away... She has proven to be a total failure... That's why she's considered a villain. In fact, she may be attracting the mice. For a while, I thought that one of my roommates was moving around in the kitchen, but when I looked, nobody was there. I was later informed that when the mice jump in and out of the garbage can, they can make a lot of noise... Who knew? I've seen these furry little critters scampering quickly down the hallway or behind the stove a few times when I turn a light on in the evening. It's a little terrifying. Not even gonna lie.

KILLER MOTH:
I didn't actually know Killer Moth was a Gotham City villain... I had to look it up... But he is... and it's fitting. We don't have air conditioning in the apartment, as I may have previously mentioned, so we keep windows open to try to circulate some air in the hot summertime. A few of the screens on the windows have holes or openings, and bugs seem to like this apartment as much as we do... My mosquito net has kept me from swallowing many a winged creature in the dark of the night. Gross, I know, but that's life. ;)

THE ORGANIZED CRIME SYNDICATES:
I think I passed a gang fight on the way home from the grocery store last week. There were about twenty guys on the street corner yelling at each other and pushing back and forth. Caring for my safety, I crossed on the other side of the street, and I quickly passed unnoticed, hurrying home. I was the only one who seemed to want to avoid that situation though. The ENTIRE block was watching. There were curious heads poking out of EVERY SINGLE WINDOW lining the street. I mean 7 story buildings had torsos protruding from each opening, trying to get a better look. It was HYSTERICAL... All to watch a bunch of boys circle each other like the Sharks and the Jets. (West Side Story reference, for you comic book folk who don't appreciate Musical Theatre)

MR FREEZE:

5 People sharing one fridge is difficult. 5 people sharing one fridge that breaks down is worse. 5 people sharing one fridge that breaks down, then works TOO well once it gets fixed is just ridiculous.

I grew up in a family of 4. We kept enough food in the refrigerator to feed the four of us over and over again. It doesn't seem like adding one more person to the mix should matter so much. BUT IT DOES... especially when you don't share food like a family does. We each are responsible for providing our own food, which is fair, but then you get a refrigerator packed with 5 versions of the SAME THING! For example, please note the three egg cartons stacked together in the upper left corner on the top shelf. It's a little crazy. When our refrigerator stopped working and things started to go bad, everyone freaked out trying to figure out what was mine and yours and hers, then what was GROSS, what was not exactly fresh but still usable, and what was fine to keep for a while longer. It was insane. Then the repair man came, and the refrigerator was cool... too cool. It froze everything... including the milk... I haven't had icy milk since elementary school, and I DON'T miss it. BUT we defeated that villain, and all is well.

THE PENGUIN

EVERYONE is a villain when it starts to rain... It's can get tricky trying to navigate through millions of people walking up and down narrow streets, but with a little practice, it becomes second nature... That is, until you add umbrellas. I now understand why The Penguin used an umbrella as weapon of choice. It's lethal. Adding the extra four feet of space an umbrella requires to a crowd of people each holding their own expands the traffic immensely. Getting poked in the eye is inevitable, and the chances of getting wet from someone's umbrella run-off are higher than getting dripped on by the actual clouds.

SEWER KING

5 people sharing a fridge is bad. 5 people sharing a bathroom is even worse... Again, Sewer King is a villain I didn't know existed, but it works... Most of the time, our bathroom schedules work out fine because everyone has to go in to work at different times, but on those mornings when we all have to be at the office at 10, it gets pretty vicious. ALSO, because this city sits on an island, and because there are like a bazillion people crammed on to such a tiny land mass, occasionally it can smell like sewage... especially near the river... it's pretty gnarly, but no worse than New Orleans...

Also, a few weeks ago, a pipe exploded in the apartment 2 floors above us and all of their dirty pipe water flooded down through the walls into our apartment. When we heard the sound of rain coming from the front hallway, one of my roommates and I started running around grabbing pots, pans, and tupperware, trying to catch the water before it ruined anything. To fix it, the super had to shut our water off for two days. It warped some of the door frames, so it's still difficult to close the bathroom door... but at least it closes. At first, I had to bring a shoe with me to the shower to wedge under the door to keep it from creaking open. That was an interesting experience, to say the least.

POISON IVY

So this one is a bit of a stretch, but my Poison Ivy here is mold. It's a really old building, and it's just a little moldy, and there's not much we can do about it... Tutwiler was moldy, too...

THE RIDDLER

Riddle Me This - how do you get across a street that has been shut down by a parade? Ok so maybe it's not a riddle, but it's a question I ask myself almost every Sunday on the way to church. Summer is the time for parades. Parades are the way New Yorkers show their pride. New Yorkers take pride in just about everything: nationality, sexuality, personality, YOU NAME IT! If there's a common interest uniting a large enough group of people, there's a parade for it. Don't get me wrong, I love parades, but man are they hard to get around...

I hope this doesn't seem whiney or complaining. This is not me crying over the hardships I've encountered, but celebrating the villains I've defeated (with help of course) to make my own little chunk of Gotham City a safer, happier place. So, that being said, tune in next time. 

Same Bat Time... Same Bat Channel...

Grace be with you,

Lindsey Shea