city folk through sleepy eyes

It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters in the end.
- Ursula K. LeGuin

Yesterday was a very long, very interesting day, to say the least.

It all began with only 4 measly hours of sleep...

Several weeks ago, I received four tickets for The View and considering that I had requested them eons ago, I had completely forgotten that I was ever going to receive any. The show basically sends you tickets a few weeks in advance of the date that already has been alloted for you, so you don't have a say in picking what day you want to go - you either go or you don't go.

As we got closer to the date, I realized that no one was going to be able to use the tickets except for me, so Tuesday morning, I dragged myself out of bed at 6:30 to get ready and jump on an early train. That's the other catch - even if you have tickets, it doesn't guarantee that you'll make it in, and I wasn't planning on going all the way to the studio, standing on a line for several hours, and not making it to a seat.

Somehow I managed to make it to the train, get into the city, onto the subway, and over to the studio in relatively good time. I was, fortunately, not very far back in the line, and I had the wonderful privilege of hearing people converse all around me - there were too many character traits, plots, and devices that ran through my head to even begin to describe.

To make a long story short, I made it in, sat in a seat, clapped and smiled, laughed and listened to a one-hour live taping of the show. While many people there, especially those out of town, were in awe of the actual workings of television production, I've seen it all too many times, and even been a part of it enough, to have found much of it very interesting.

The one point that did actually catch me by surprise was just how small the set was compared to what you see on television. Now, I know this is often the case, but for some reason, I thought The View was going to be an exception. In actuality, I felt like I was in Whoopi Goldberg's living room, eavesdropping on a brunch party's semi-humorous conversation.

Best part of the show - every member of the audience got a free Breville iKon Espresso Machine, valued at $300. Not bad for an hour's worth of not-work =)

So then it was off to some consultations with acting headshot photographers. After waiting long enough, and with my short haircut nearing perfection, I figure it's now or never to get an awesome headshot. I made several phone calls, one of which resulted in a rather long phone call that could've been five minutes shorter had I been allowed to tell the photographer that her fee was ridiculous.

One photographer, and the only one, who actually answered his phone was Sam Kahn, at SK Headshots. So I made an appointment for later that afternoon to meet with him in his studio.

Then I headed toward The Graduate Center to answer some e-mails from work via the library computers. I also made some stops at the Bursar and Financial Aid offices - perhaps the happiest, most upbeat offices in all the world!!

Okay, so at this point I'm really hungry, on the verge of falling asleep, and in pain from lugging around my expensive leather briefcase, but nonetheless, there is still work left to be done.

So at around 2:20 PM, I make my way over to the SK Headshots studio. To sum up, the consultation went great, and I was very impressed with the photographer's work.

Afterward, walking back toward Penn Station, I really started to feel the effect of so little sleep the night before. I had one more very important stop to make that day, but I was fading fast, and I was starting to tire very rapidly of city folk. So I decided to call it a day, and I made my way toward Penn to get a pizza. While I was there, eating my $3 pizza, I got a call from my sister who was in the Borders next to Penn, so I went over to meet up with her.

While I was there, it dawned on me that if, indeed, I did stay in the city to finish my final assignment of the day, I would have some place to chill for the next two hours before the event. I decided - I would tough it out and catch a later train. My sister took off, and I made my way to the cafe to get a seat.

There were none. So after searching, I ended up in the Foreign Language section, sitting on the carpet, trying to get comfortable.

By 5:15, I was back on the subway, heading downtown to attend an SCBWI meeting. Doors opened at 6:45, and it was going to feature Rachel Griffiths, an editor at Scholastic. So you can see, why, despite my need for sleep, I wanted to attend.

I arrive at the location... at 5:25... leaving me with the dilemma of what to do until then... or rather, how to sneak in some sleep before then. With no familiar Borders in sight, I found myself in the Jensen-Lewis Furniture Store salivating at the sight of beds, couches, and expensively comfy leather armchairs. When I could no longer hold up the I-really-might-want-purchase-this-two-thousand-dollar-ottoman facade, I left, only to find myself at the Westside Supermarket, nodding off at the window-side counter where saner people were eating sample cheeses and their freshly purchased dinner trays.

At 6:20, I dragged myself back to the meeting area, and, of course, there's a line of 20 people already. Fantastic. Not only had I waited for this all day, been the first one to get there more than an hour early, but now I had the pleasure of standing on another line. Well, 20 people turned into more than 80, and at about 7 PM, the doors (or more accurately, the door) opened. It was so crowded that there were those who never even made it in, but I did, and I could not have been more thrilled to have an actual seat - finally!!

The lecture and information given were well worth the long wait, and I was thrilled I went. Some of it I knew already, some of it I could have figured out, and then there was some of it that was just plain new to me.

At about 8:30 PM, I began the journey back to Penn, ended up staring off into space at the Starbucks there, and at 9:42, I was on my way back home.

A long day. An even longer blog.

I know... I'll probably hear about this one =P