Day One

Woke up at 4am to pack. Duke drove me to LGB at 6:30am. Jetblue doesn't have wi-fi.

Redeemer Presbyterian has this awesome acting fellowship through their work&faith program. I had planned to arive at JFK at 4:30pm, go pick up my keys on the upper west side, drop of my (very heavy) luggage in morningside heights, and maneuver the subway system to get myself to the "monologue showcase" at 13th Street Rep. by 7:30pm. Fail. The airport shuttle took two and a half hours.

I got to my apartment at 7:30pm- it is awesome and a GREAT deal. It's two full bedrooms and very cute; but it is located on the outskirts of Harlem, across from Central Park. I'm definitely a minority here for my two block walk to the subway.

Since I had no hope of getting to the theatre in time, I did what any girl who has been living in the OC for too long would do - I put on a sundress, bypassed the local markets, and took a half hour subway ride just to get to Starbucks and Trader Joe's. Checking out at TJs takes over half an hour that late at night, but they stayed open past ten, so that was cool. I made "friends" with a checker named Vincent, he was really nice but I could tell by his interest in conversing that he makes a significant contribution to the line taking so long-- I must have stood there for 15 minutes while he bagged my 20 items and told me all about his own experiences in California (he hates it) and acting (his friends all tell him they wish they could burn their union cards so they can work again- wow, NY and CA ARE THE SAME PLACE!).

Late night subway ride home- sat next to 3 novice actors who were just leaving an acting class. Had to listen to them ramble about how acting is such an abstract artform, blah blah blah, and how no one can really TEACH you to act. And I thought it was really funny that they met in an acting class. I was hoping they'd drop the name of the studio where nobody is teaching them to act so I can avoid it like the plague.

Goals for tomorrow- go to AEA and choose a new stage name; find a piano practice room to laydown rehearsal tracks of my audition songs; get ready for my first(!) broadway audition on Wednesday...eeek!!!!

If there's time, I'm meeting up with the GLEEclub from my school for dinner- they are here on tour.

It's going to rain tomorrow.