Things are happening!

Got a job! Woooohooooo! And right when I was feeling the most down and out. Check out the restaurant's website, and come visit me if you're in the city!

LES HALLES RESTAURANT

I was on gmail chat with my best friend from high school, Amanda, and literally not two minutes after I said, "This is ridiculous. Something's got to give..." did the manager of Les Halles restaurant call me and offer me the serving position that I had interviewed for on Thursday. Everything happens for a reason I've realized, and when it's supposed to happen.  It's a great restaurant--great management, staff and food. I think I'll enjoy working there, at least for now. Excited to get into a routine and do this New York thang once and for all. So, things are looking up, despite the fact that someone stole a $20 bill out of my wallet today. Oh well. C'est la vie. C'est New York I suppose. The minute something good happens to you, you can almost certainly count on someone being an asshole shortly thereafter. And I've already learned that if there is nothing to be done about the situation, or the asshole, it's best to just laugh about it (after bitching for a few minutes first of course) and to feel sorry for that person, and to philosophize about the balance of good and evil in this world. (Yes, this is what I do on the subway. I philosophize with myself...as Ted Theodore Logan might say.) In other words, it's best not to let things get to you in this city or you slowly go insane. 

There are exceptions of course. There are certain occasion when you simply must tell someone to f***k off, like the old Dutch Orthodox Jewish Man (complete with ringlets by the ears and long black robe) who thought that I was a prostitute last night and was trying to get me to....well, you know. Mind you, I was wearing jeans, boots, a scarf and a heavy jacket. Prostitute? Who knows.  My Grandfather once told me when I was twelve that if I tried to become an actress I would inevitably end up becoming a prostitute. "That's what happens to all of them," he said in all seriousness. Is this really how I come off? Apparently....

In non-hooker/crazy people/asshole news I had another great night last night playing my original tunes at Caffe Vivaldi's monday night open mic. I'm finally inspired to really write again after years of being afraid of either success or failure. I'm not really sure which fear is more potent. Regardless, the New York music scene is invigorating and Caffe Vivaldi's quaint, candlelit atmosphere is truly magical. And the grand piano...one of the most beautiful pianos I've ever had the pleasures to play. Most importantly though, I'm being introduced to some astounding, budding singer/songwriters. Some artists to keep an eye out for in the years to come...

Josh Taylor

Pat Hull

Jamie Bendell

Jem Warren

Rachel Epp

Anna Haas (clearly. Haha. My page is still under construction. Better recordings to come! Music video also in the process of being conceptualized by the fabulous director Mr. Jon Tee.)

Looking forward to continuing to rock out Monday nights at Caffe Vivaldi, and then to explore and discover what other music venues I can haunt...

Finding a job in New York City is a bitch beyond bitches...

It has never been hard for me to find a job. Granted, I've gotten fired from many a restaurant job, but it's never actually been hard for me to secure one...until now. This recession, I'm telling you is REAL! Every interview I've gone into for a serving job (and I've gone to many) I've had to brush past an array of bubbly girls with excessive makeup and boys dressed in suits and ties, hair slicked back, drooling like dogs, all just waiting to get that one position that they saw posted on Craigslist. 

I can't count the number of times that a manager has browsed over my resume and said to me "So, you have no New York experience?" At that point, I know I don't have the job. EVERYONE wants someone with at least 2-3 years of New York experience, because apparently you don't know what you're doing unless you've worked in New York. But ah, there rests the great paradox. How do you get New York experience if no one is willing to give you a chance? Like, how do you build credit if no one will give you a credit card? Some restaurants are even so specific as to say "Manhattan experience required," as opposed to Brooklyn or Astoria (where everything is much more chill.) So I'm just hoping that someone will give me a chance, someone other than a restaurant owner named Buster who gave me a free  meal and whiskey, (who am I to turn down a free meal?) only to tell me that he is, in fact, not hiring. (He answered the phone, I finished my duck and ran away.)

So here's to hoping that someone will see something in me, give me a chance and allow me to put some New York experience on my work resume. All I know is that I am that much more motivated now to audition audition audition, to actually find work as an actress and to escape the brutal world of the restaurant industry once and for all.  At least in New York. 

I just started a blog...

Here is the beginning of my blog, my blog about....who knows.  I've been told by multiple people, however, that this would be highly convenient way for me to keep people in my life updated about my experiences, thoughts and observations. And as most people close to me know, I also tend to have an insane amount of questions, ideas and weird philosophical thoughts that I like to pose, because isn't that what keeps the world turning after all... putting ourselves out there, as scary as that can be? I'm not sure at all what this blog is going to be about yet. I'm sure that it will eventually take shape and evolve into whatever it's supposed to be, perhaps it will be about my music, food, dance, shows I see, or crazy people on the subway. But for now it can be about everything, a place for me to share a little bit of the way I see the world. And it's nice to speak when you know that somebody may be listening.

The age we exist in is one of quick and easy communication; myspaces, facebooks, status updates, postings, listserves, chatgroups and webpages. It has never been so easy to reveal so much about yourself. And this age of multimedia communication is revealing much about the human psyche, about people's loneliness and desire to be heard, desire to connect. People have been journaling for centuries, and probably usually with the intention of their writings being found after death, read by someone, or published and read by many. People write to order their thoughts, to save thoughts from obscurity. But, I think that in the process of recording thoughts, or creating art, there is absolutely always the intention of having it be seen eventually. There is always the desire to have others care about your individual perspective of such a chaotic world.  Everyone has something to say, something to share, whether it's written on piles of dusty paper that go unseen in closets for decades, or published immediately on the internet. I don't think that much has changed in the human psyche in terms of the desire to share thoughts and ideas, in the desire to connect. But, I think that this universal itch has become that much more obvious. So, I guess this blog is me scratching that itch, thinking that I have some interesting thoughts and observations, and thinking that perhaps people will have the desire to connect with them. Perhaps it should start as a blog about my arrival in New York City.... because this city is a microcosm of the world, of every type of person, every feeling, every fear; and as of now, it is so very overwhelming.  There is always so much to do, so much to observe, so much to think about, so many people to meet, and that's stressful and beautiful. I can already tell, however, that the struggle is going to be in the attempt to resist becoming jaded, because it seems that here it could be oh so easy.