the subway

...is an interesting place. mostly i throw on some headphones and zone out. but every now and again you see something worth.. sneakily photographing.

this post is dedicated to all the lovely subway creatures.

gotta love 'em. hey, it's public transportation. we're all on the same train. literally.

Club Free time

Club Free Time is a handy little site that lists free events going on in NYC. It's free to view the listings, but you have to be a paying member to view the locations of the events.

If you like random little adventures, join. I joinged in March (just $7 for 3 months), and so far I've seen a dozen or so off broadway plays and movie screenings including...... 666, where i was pulled onstage.. so fun. mark twain's last stand, psycho beach party, 39 Hands.

hmm..also, in case you're wondering..here's a sideways tour of our rooms at UP.

What's a Tree?

I eventually ended up with a small soft spot for NYC but I hated the place for the first three months I was there. I’m not kidding, I literally hated it. I found something wrong in everything that made New York, New York! Then the snow melted, and New Yorkers came out of their hiding places and filled the streets. People were (for the most part) smiling on the streets instead of scowling. I finally opened my eyes to the melting pot of people riding the subway and saw it as miraculous instead of crowded. I tried as hard as I could to resist my growing passion for NYC but in the end I couldn’t fight it any longer. NYC holds a piece (a small piece) of my heart.

I’ve lived in Nashville, LA, and London and loved all of them. So it seemed only natural to me that I would like NYC. But when I arrived to me NYC was simply unnatural. It literally is a concrete jungle. If not for central park I would assume that people walk around asking themselves “what is a tree?”

I looked back through the time I spent in each city and asked myself if there was a common denominator to connect my love for them. What I discovered was surprising-the parks (Centennial, Griffith, Hyde, Central). I’m from the suburbs of Cleveland Ohio. I’m not a huge fan of the outdoors. So why do I love parks so much? Why was I so in love with Central Park?

Central Park was the one place I could go to in the city and feel like I’d left NYC. Once I was far enough inside where I could no longer see the skyscrapers, but instead saw baseball games, wild life (aka squirrels and ducks), a zoo, beautiful gardens, horse trails, biking trails, massive ponds and people. I finally saw families acting like families, instead of smashing their strollers onto a subway and yelling at their other children not to poke the homeless. Central Park felt like the most natural place I could find in a city of crazies and concrete. Central Park made me fall in love with the city.

Leftfield Pictures-My New York Home

Some of you may have seen the lovable yet oh so intimidating men in this picture before. They are the Reality TV Celebrities of History Channel’s “Pawn Star$.” I spent the semester familiarizing myself with Rick, Corey, Chum Lee, and Old Man via transcribing at my internship with Leftfield Pictures.


Leftfield Pictures is the creative genius and Production Company behind this cable reality TV show hit. They are also in the process of producing and developing projects for A&E, Animal Planet, History Channel, Versus, MTV, and many others. It’s located in tourist central-right down the street from Madison Square Garden and only a few blocks from Times Square.


Once upon a time I swore I would never work in Reality TV. What I didn’t know at the time was how much fun it is to create Reality TV. I didn’t realize how amazing the people were who worked in this field. With Reality TV Production you can watch the entire process of a show life unfold before your eyes and know that you had a hand in making it.


I was fortunate enough to stumble upon Leftfield Pictures at the end of January. They welcomed me into their closely knit family with open arms. I could not have asked for a better internship this semester. Having already completed my degree in the fall (but being unwilling to graduate early) I was able to dedicate myself to this Production Company full time and then some.


My first day of work was during the worst snow storm NYC and seen in quite a few years. There were about 18 inches of snow on the ground. None of my previous three internships required me to work as a part time messenger/courier service, so I was slightly shocked when I was sent out into the snow for three runs on my first day. I hadn’t dressed properly. I was wearing black pants and black cotton boots. I looked very “corporate.” I’m sure my supervisor thought I’d been abducted when it took me almost an hour to find the post office that was no more than 4 blocks away. I spent the day soaking wet up to my thighs. I called my parents on the way home and told them that I was pretty sure I’d just been hazed by an entire TV Production Company.


Leftfield is a company that is not afraid to take risks on their interns. During the course of nearly four months with them I was given the chance to work in every branch of the company. I did everything from casting “little people” to decorating an entire floor, transcribing for countless shows (and for countless hours) to going on an overnight shoot as a PA and everything in between. It was painful to say goodbye to the friends and family that I made there. I’m truly blessed and so thankful for the opportunities and people that I met there.

CHARLIE KAUFMAN

Charlie Kaufman and physicist Brian Greene were at the Rubin Museum of Art on Saturday, March 6th; and I got to see them. They spoke about time travel, black holes, free will, etc. To be honest, I was surprised that I could keep up. I guess understanding conversations about the philosophy of physics is just one perk of dating nerds exclusively.
Afterward, a woman I know from my internship introduced me to Charlie! He was very nice and pointed out that he and I were wearing similar shoes.

These pictures were not taken by me, because...

That's totally me sitting super close.

SEIZE THE MUSTARD

The Colbert Report writers do improv at UCB every other Thursday. Their show is called Seize the Mustard. On April 22nd, I went with a few other interns and it was amazing. My only exposure to improv before was theater class in middle and high school; where only a handful of the weirdest kids (this means me) in each class would run from their desk to interject usually what amounted to a sloppy pun. In Seize the Mustard however, they began with a story and built characters on the fly that were better than most in today's written comedies. One member at a time walked to center stage and told an anecdote, which would set off another to begin a new scene. The entire evening was much like a usual day at my internship -- most of what I remember is clouded by laughter and the best part was getting to talk to the writers once they finished.


The Funniest, Smartest People on the Planet

BONUS: Great Interview

Birthday Dinz, NYC

The past few months have been crazy. Ive been trying to pick out some of my best moments here in New York and after narrowing it down, one of my best memories in would definitely have to be my 23^rd birthday. All the roommates, some UP friends and some friends of Josh’s were in town and we all went to dinner in Little Italy. It is one of my most favorite parts of the city. Just one small street filled with so many Italian things and if you know me, you know I love Italian anything. Seriously. Geek status. It was so amazing to spend my night with all of these people in such an amazing city, in my favorite part of town.

We ended up at De Generro. The food was beyond great. The atmosphere was fantastic. And it definitely didn’t hurt that all of the waiters were prettttttty attractive. It definitely tops the list of most favorite restaurants. The most memorable/embarrassing moment was when the entire restaurant surprised me and erupted into “Happy Birthday.” Large scale. Strangers sang. It was pretty epic. And we got a cake out of it!

After dinner, we ended up at the Belmont for a while and then broke off into groups. I spent the rest of my night roaming the streets of New York and loving my life.

I am so blessed to have had these experiences and to be surrounded by the people here. Thanks for the rad night, guys.