it rained and the temperature dropped 20 degrees in 20 minutes

I don't have to work until 5pm today which makes me feel like I'm working in the theatre, but... I'm not. Theatre of Accessories. It's a topic we must have missed in Theatre History.

Apparently it's really nice out. I don't know for real because I haven't been outside yet, having only woken up at 12:30pm. I'm kind of busy this week: I have two jobs Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, so I figured I better sleep while I can. Also, I just didn't wake up. I will definitely be happy for the extra 10 hours of pay on my next paycheck. Since there's only limited performances at the concert hall in the summer, I've been down to only 3 jobs and my box office job hours are only 10 a week. It's enough to get by, but not by much. I'd really like a real FULL TIME job and to work Rockababy and Fossil part time. Or something. That'd be great.

This past week I went to the open call auditions for NYMF only because Michael Cassara and the people in his casting office are very, very nice and decided to let non-equity actors have an online sign up for appointments. APPOINTMENTS FOR NON-EQUITY ACTORS. Had they not had the appointments, people would have probably gotten there at 5am and waited all damn day and had the worst audition ever...... this was better. I wouldn't have even been ABLE to go without this appointment because I worked the whole day: 11am-9pm. But, I had an appointment for 10am, sang a Queen song, and got called back for a show that I would really love to be in. IT ALL WORKED OUT! For now. The hard part (and the part I have no control over) is still to come.

Next week I am doing a staged reading of The Water Dream which actually will have some people who've worked on Broadway (including Ann Harada, the original Christmas Eve in Avenue Q) performing in it, too. That's exciting. It's something, you know? I mean, for me. For them, it's a GIGANTIC deal and for me, it's a logical first step. You have to start somewhere in New York and the logical first step isn't Broadway, it's something small, like a staged reading or showcase. You do that for a while and then, maybe, you get an Off-Broadway show. After years of THAT, you move on to the "real deal".... unless you've grown too old for the characters you'll be playing, in which case, you stop acting and start teaching. *I*, on the other hand, can NEVER be too old for the characters I'm meant to play because *I* am meant to play Ouiser in Steel Magnolias.

So, apparently we got the apartment we wanted. I say apparently because we have not signed a lease yet, but the broker told us "rest assured the apartment is for you and Chris." Everyone gives me the same look when I tell them that. Anyway, we haven't heard from him in a week so we wrote him today asking for a few more specifics. He better respond, otherwise Chris is going to go down there and make him respond, in person (for real... but not in a mean way). We've got stuff to do, you know? Let us sign a lease so we KNOW the stuff is worth doing. It's actually going to be really hard to find the time to move. We're probably going to have to do it at night.... which, considering the weather, might not be the worst thing in the world. Plus, THEN we have to get to Ohio to move our real stuff... which will be a 2 day trip only, sadly. And then... THEN.... we can have a normal life. Normal.... for us. We won't have to live in a box, at least.

Oh yeah, so Chris and I had our four year anniversary (of when we started dating) the other day. I actually forgot the day OF (I remembered the day before and the day after). This is now, officially, the longest relationship either one of us has ever had! Hahaha. I guess we knew when we got married that it was a big deal... but now it's OFFICIALLY a big deal. :)

i'm trying to replace coffee with green tea. it hurts my head.

I did buy that groupon. It was awesome. We haven't been out in a WHILE and because of the groupon we got 2 entrees, my iced tea and his PBR in a can and a dessert. A DESSERT! And the food was awesome. It was this sports bar/southernish style restaurant called Duke's, nearish to grand central. I loved it. It reminded me of Ohio. Maybe I just loved the fact that we were able to go out... it was loud in there (we were there during the All-Star Game).... but the food really was good. Good and horrible for you.

Earlier that evening we went to see 2 more apartments. The apartment we put down the deposit for fell through because the landlord wanted people to move in before August 1st. So, we saw 2 more, one being the biggest apartment we've seen yet (in the same building as the last one) and another that was halfway between the Ditmars stop and Astoria Park, which is pretty much exactly where I wanted to live in the first place. It's in a more residential area, in a house rather than building, and although it was the 3rd smallest of the 4 apartments we saw with this guy, it'd still be big enough for US. As long as I can fit a chair in the bedroom, I'll be happy. Plus there was a dining room, which was nice. I haven't seen one of those in a NYC apartment yet. So, we told him we'd like to apply for THAT one. The people are moving out at the end of the month so I suppose as long as that STILL HAPPENS, we should get it. God, I hope so. In the broker world, we have TONS of time left.... but in MY world we're seriously pushing it to the limit with finding a place. I think about it constantly.

On the weekends the train service is cut (even less on Sundays, as if people don't ride) and the last couple of weekends it has taken me an hour to get home because of this. This is basically what will happen: the 7 train will arrive no problem and I'll get to queensboro plaza to transfer to an N train. I will wait 20 minutes for an N and then one will show up SO CROWDED that you know the train is going to go express, bypassing my stop, which it does, so I have to wait for the next train. Which, yesterday, took ANOTHER 15 minutes to arrive. On a weekday it takes me about 25 minutes (walking from the station to work included), sometimes if I am very lucky, it takes FIFTEEN MINUTES of train time. I was honestly afraid there was going to be a riot last night. People were so angry that the train went express. I was afraid they were going to push and shove to get the hundreds of people waiting on the platform onto the train when it finally arrived. Luckily that didn't happen. It was still bad, though.

I have surmised that we got enough people signed up for our Rockababy class in the summer for the class to continue, which is a RELIEF! It's always very tense for me at the beginning of a session because NO ONE signs up at first, they're all just drop-ins. We have to be AMAZING the first class to get them to want to sign up. And it's not like it's CHEAP. Well, maybe it is... to people with money.... but you know. *I* couldn't afford it. Anyway, I love doing the classes so much that if we had to stop for a session I would be DEPRESSED. I don't want that.

I had 2 auditions in 2 hours last Wednesday. It was kind of nice. It was hot, though... and the first was in CHINATOWN, which was just... kind of creeeeepy. I'm not a big fan of Chinatown, alone, in a dress, when I don't know where I'm going. I was going to sing "Don't Stop Me Now" by Queen but the pianist wasn't very good, so luckily I had a back up plan. Even though the audition went well, I did not get cast. Story of my life. It was a company, though... and it was a company that was started by GIRLS, so they might have already cast all the female roles. That's what I'll assume, anyway. Plus, girls my height, size and voice type are a dime a dozen. The only thing I have going for me to stand out is that I'm MORE AWESOME, and it's hard to really show that in 1 minute.

We have some really beautiful bags coming to the store for the fall. I literally almost cried when I saw one of them online last night. It was so beautiful. Oh, also, I went to Anthropologie for the first time on Saturday. I spent about an hour there. I, of course, didn't buy anything, but now I don't want to buy anything from anywhere else. I text my friend Mitzy the message, "This is like disney world for MY KIND." You better believe when we have our own apartment, I am going to replace every single doorknob and handle with new ones from anthropologie. There are gonna be birds and butterflies on everything I own.

groupon rules

So, apparently LeBron didn't read my letter. Oh well. My dad said, "He wanted to have a party instead." I think that was the most surprising thing. I didn't think he was that kind of person. The Super Team thing will never work... they NEVER DO... so he really is just going to have a big party. I suppose he's 25, never went to college and has had a lot of responsibility placed on him to be something special, so I assume his desire to have a party is pretty high... I just guess no one expected it to affect his decision.

What I do think is FUNNY, though, is how NYC and Chicago are all acting like THEY are the ones who have been so scorned by LeBron James. My dad also pointed out that they did make sure their teams totally sucked for the last couple of years so that they could afford him, which I didn't know (I knew they sucked but I didn't know they sucked for a REASON), but still. Most people in the world who cared wanted him to stay with Cleveland, even most New Yorkers I talked to. And now NYC, Chicago and Cleveland totally hate him and no one in Miami even cares because they're too busy being high and sitting on the beach. This is like the state champ winning high school football star passing up a full ride scholarship to the great school nearby to pay tons of money to go to the party school on the beach. Actually, it's exactly like that. This IS that. I just hope he doesn't abandon his girlfriend, too.

So, in other news, we put a deposit down on one of the apartments we saw the other night and we're just waiting to hear from the broker. I think Chris forgot to charge his phone so we might be waiting until much later today when he actually gets a chance to turn it on. I hope we get it. If we don't, I hope we get something even better. Today I thought our apartment was on fire but it was just some guy grilling in the alley between the buildings. I'm 98% sure the smoke detector in this apartment is not working so since I ALSO heard a fire truck at the same time I smelled smoke, I freaked out a little. I'm really glad the building wasn't on fire. Besides the lack of smoke detector, there's also no fire escape!

I babysat Spencer, Megan and Joe's son, the other night. Chris was there too, but since he didn't change his diaper, I don't really consider his contribution part of the babysitting. He was so funny! Spencer is going to be 2 in October. He doesn't have a very big vocabulary but he did manage to communicate with us pretty well. He seemed to understand a lot more than what he could actually say. I was winking at him and he thought it was hilarious and then tried to wink back. This was unsuccessful but awesome. He even pulled his one eyelid down with his finger at one point. He went to sleep REALLY easily; I literally put him in his PJs , put him in the crib and he immediately was sleeping... but then he woke up an hour later, cried for 45 minutes (there was nothing I could do for him, he wanted his parents) and then was too tired to cry anymore, so he fell asleep again. Then we watched LOST until they got back.

I've been very scared because of this article. It's too much for me to handle.

I'm currently trying to decide whether or not to buy a groupon for $20 worth of food for $10. I think, with iced tea at $3 each, we'd still spend about $10 more for drinks and tip which is really just $20 TOTAL, which is not bad anywhere. That's two burritos and 2 drinks from Chipotle. It's probably worth it, right? Plus, we'd get to go somewhere we've never been before and have food that we didn't get from the deli at the grocery store. Live a little. While we still can!!!! Ahhhhhh!!!

I actually can't wait to go to work tonight because we got a bunch of new stuff from the early-fall/late-summer line and I LOVE IT when we get new stuff. I'm always "Ooooooooooh"-ing and "Ahhhhhhh"-ing for like 10 minutes after I walk in the door. It's great. What is also great is my effing self control. I have my $50 that I won to use at the store just sitting in a drawer... waiting for the right bag to come along someday.... the perfect storm.

a letter to LeBron

Hey LeBron,

Thanks for coming here, today. I really appreciate it. Just doing my part, you know. I mean, frankly, I haven't been this anxious about something in a long time.

You and I are not so dissimilar. I'm only a few years older than you and we're both from Akron. I mean, who knows, maybe we passed each other in the mall one day. Or perhaps we were on the same car of the Magnun at Cedar Point. Remember 1997? What a horrible year. I had just become a baseball fan. For some reason the strike prompted me to start liking baseball. I had gone to a few games that year. I've never witnessed an Indians defeat in person... but I sure have over the TV. I don't need to remind you of what happened that year... and even though you grew up liking teams that actually WON, too (like the Yankees), I'm sure you were indescribably disappointed.

Because you're from Ohio. And we don't have much.

And the worst thing is that lately, the only thing we HAVE had is you.

That's a lot to put on one person's shoulders, I know. But look at you! You're the biggest star in the world right now. No one cares about anyone else in basketball besides you. Some might say no one cares about anyone else in sports. And to some, they might not care about anyone else in the entire world. When you think about it that way, being the only thing holding the city of Cleveland together is hardly a hindrance at all.

You've been discouraged the last couple of seasons. I can see that. You tried really hard while the rest of the team apparently forgot how to play basketball. You had all the pieces together and for whatever reason, it just didn't work. Surely a situation like that couldn't happen in Miami. Take a look at the film America's Sweethearts. It was a all-star, totally lovable cast. And it sucked. Sometimes there can be too much of a good thing.

Chicago? Please. No matter what, you'd always be in Michael Jordan's shadow because he has the biggest ego EVER. Even if you won every single game for 5 years, you'd still be compared to him. You don't want comparisons.... you want to be the top.

I can tell you from experience that New York isn't all it's cracked up to be. People smoke pot in the middle of the sidewalk. It's hot as BALLS here (not basketballs). There are so many tourists all over the place. Plus, they're acting as if you don't already have major deals with Nike and any other company in the world that you make millions from. You'd make billions of dollars no matter where you are. You're just that good and just that marketable. But in New York, you're one of MANY "just THAT good" players... whether it be baseball, basketball or football. You'd get lost in the crowd.... literally and figuratively.

I don't even feel like New Jersey needs to be talked about. You're a man, you can pump your own gas if you want to, right?? Not in New Jersey. They don't give you a CHOICE.

And a choice is exactly what you're making. You can choose to be compared to Jordan or the myriad of great sports players in NYC. You can choose to form a Super Team in Miami where everyone is so high on coke that they can't POSSIBLY succeed. You can choose to destroy your home town. To say to the unemployed fans who have followed you since you were in high school, "thanks, but even though I'd make more money here and bring in about $20 million annually to Cleveland, and if I leave, the massive unemployment will become even worse and you'll literally have no economy left in the state, I'm gonna bounce. (Get it?)"

Here's the thing, LeBron. If you stay in Cleveland, you're a hero. We don't have ANYONE to compare you to. We have literally nothing else going for us except you. You are everything to Cleveland. There is NOWHERE ELSE YOU CAN GO where that is true.

And you're having an hour-long tv special to tell us your news. Don't even try to tell me that you don't want to be the god of sports.

If you want to win, you can win. We've seen it happen. You just have to want it bad enough. Cleveland isn't cursed unless we lose you. No one will ever love you more than Cleveland.

But remember: Hell hath no fury like a Clevelander scorned.

See ya at Swensons,

Alisa

puddle of sweat on the pulaski bridge

Right now it is 101 degrees, feels like 104 (according to weather.com). It is apparently the hottest day in NYC since 2001! Yowza. I'm sitting inside right now, but Chris and I are venturing out to look at an apartment after work which we will arrive at completely sweaty. We will look impressive.

The apartment I saw the other day that was perfect fell through.The day we were going to meet with the broker to give a deposit and fill out the application the landlord contacted her and told her it was off the market. We don't know what happened. The people already living there might have wanted to stay or maybe they had relatives who wanted it.... who knows. We saw an apartment yesterday which would be OKAY.... my biggest problem was that the bedroom would literally only be able to fit a bed. There were several closets, one in the living room that was big enough to fit a dresser, but it seems weird to have your clothes in the living room. Anyway, pending the apartment today, we'll probably apply. It's the same Avenue that we're on now, and about the same distance from the train, just in the opposite direction. The apartment we're looking at today is in.... BROOKLYN. Although barely. In fact, it's so barely in Brooklyn that I would walk across the bridge back into Queens to get on the subway (which is only half a mile). That's actually closer to the subway than the apartment that was perfect. So, we'll see.

I can't believe it's already the 6th of July. We had a pretty great 4th of July. I had to work until 3pm but then we went to KFC (it's a tradition, now) and to the Intrepid to watch the fireworks.

There were probably... god...I dunno... several hundred thousand people on 12th avenue. It was craaaaaazy! Since we were allowed on the ship's property, we didn't have to worry about all the crap until we were trying to get home that night. It took a long time. We walked a mile and a half to the subway station which took forever because we had to wind through so many people. Plus, it was hot. We had to wait in the station for half an hour and then the train was totally packed, even in the last car. But, it was a GREAT show and we had a perfect view and the long walk let us walk off the chicken.

I can't imagine eating anything other than cereal, turkey sandwiches and iced things, now. It's too hot.

I started this post at about 3pm at work and now I'm finishing it at 9:30pm. We went to that apartment. The walk wasn't too bad on the way there but the apartment was a BIG let down. Apparently in Brooklyn "1 bedroom" doesn't actually MEAN 1 bedroom. Perhaps it was the disappointment, but the walk back seemed longer... and WAY HOTTER. When we got back to the train we were literally dripping with sweat. It was ridiculous. However, we took cold showers to cool off and then, after looking online briefly, we went out to 2 more apartments, this time using our HEADS and staying in Astoria. They were both nice and within our price range, plus we liked the broker. One was literally right next to the train.... but we didn't really hear it when it passed. I'm sure that could change... but that's what my constant white noise is for!

I just can't wait until we have our own apartment. It will be so wonderful to have a real life again.