— Woke up to feel a chill breeze blowing through my window onto my face. First time this season. A true harbinger of fall. I just bide time through the summer. I can’t stand the summer. Autumn is my season. That dawn breeze yesterday was the first breath of autumn.
— Did research online for this play I’m working on. It was great. Got a lot done, and made a list of next steps: articles to track down, books to track down … It’s a subject I know nothing about, and also regard with some skepticism – which, of course, I can’t have at all when playing the character. Must believe. It’s a prerequisite. In order to believe, I have to learn more about it. So it’s fun. I love to learn new stuff. It’s one of the best parts about being an actor. Learning how other people live, what their jobs are, how things work in other communities that you never encounter … so fun.
— Traveled into Manhattan. God, it was a gorgeous shining day. The city looked like Oz, across the water.
— Bought these. I’m so excited!! A cute young kid, maybe 18 or 19, helped me. He was wonderful – answered all my questions, and I had about 250 of them. His name was Elvis. Elvis: thank you. The sneakers feel amazing on my feet. So let’s hit the road, Sheil-babe!!
— Went to the Barnes & Noble in Union Square to look for a book that I came upon in my research that morning. It was a madhouse. The New Yorker Festival is going on right now – and they were hosting a Stephen King reading (argh!! The birthday boy!) on the top floor of that particular store. It hadn’t begun yet, but you could feel the anticipation shivering throughout the entire joint. “He” hadn’t shown up yet, but the line on the top floor snaked around through the shelves, people standing there holding piles of his books in their arms, books for him to sign … Just the sight of that gave me a lump in my throat. Especially after writing about him earlier this week. People love him. You could see the excitement and anticipation on their faces. It just GOT to me to see that.
— I had to go to the New Age section to find the book I was looking for. And there it was – 50% off, and only one copy left. Bingo. Mission accomplished.
— Returned to Hoboken, hoping to find a bar that had NESN that wasn’t packed that would be showing the Sox game at 4:30. First bar I tried: No NESN. Second bar I tried: No NESN. I know that Liberty has NESN (that’s where I watched them win the Series – hell, I spent 2 weeks of my damn life there last year and the year before) … but when I arrived it was standing room only. All Red Sox fans – hahaha – awesome – I knew most of them from watching games throughout the years there – but I didn’t want to stand for possibly three hours. I came home and descended into utter geek-land:
— I listened to the game on the radio, while tracking the action pitch by pitch online. Aweeeeeeesome!! I spoke out loud to my computer screen. I cheered on the batters in crucial moments: “Come on, Papi, come on, Papi …” But … I am shouting at my laptop.
— Well, we won. Sheesh. Was a close one.
another game that took several years off my life…
Ah, watching the game online. . .I have done it many times. Love cheering at the laptop! It’s still fun, isn’t it?
No NESN? That’s crazy! I live in ALABAMA for Pete’s sake and I have at least 3 bars within 5 miles of my house that get the Sox games. That’s the only way I can see most of them.
skillzy – I live in the middle of the Evil Empire though. I think they do it just to spite us!!!!
“It’s a subject I know nothing about, and also regard with some skepticism – which, of course, I can’t have at all when playing the character. Must believe.”
I hope the play isn’t about scientology. :-)
No, it’s not Scientology – but if it were?? Even better!
I would have a hard time acting the scientologist without mocking the belief in the process.
So would I. But it’s the actor’s job to not do that.
…which is why I am an engineer! :-)
I really admire your poise. You seem very focused about this play and excited about the challenge. I think you are going to do an awesome job.
As someone who hates summer, do you feel like you’re in one of the most frustrated, maligned, and misunderstood minorities in America? I HATE summer too, and people just do not get that. I’ve found that it actually makes people angry when you aren’t enamored of the heat and the sun and the general oppresiveness of it all. They’re offended. I mean, I only mention it when I’m directly confronted with something like, “Ugh, I can’t believe summer’s almost over!” And I’ve learned from experience to tone my antipathy down to, “Actually, I’m kind of excited … I’m not really a hot weather person” or something like that. But even then, people FREAK OUT, like you just called for an end to Democracy.
In a college magazine writing class, I wrote a piece about my dislike of summer — quite funny and well-written, I thought. My professor gave me some kind of middling B grade. His reason? “People can’t relate to this.” Aaagghhhhhh! TELL me about it, dude!!
Summer haters, unite! (Preferably on a nice crisp evening in late October.)