I have something to tell you...

I have been holding off on publishing this for many reasons. (And don't get all excited because it is no big "I am getting married, having a baby, becoming a woman" announcement.

I have been going to this church on Sunday mornings. This is my third Sunday doing this.  I have NO idea why I decided to do this.  I was not referred.  I have not been on a mega search to "find God."  I just saw this place one day on Lexington and thought "Pretty, I should go."  Actually the Catholics have almost cornered the market on "pretty" with the gorgeous stained glass and gold gadgets and all, but this one had an inviting courtyard and said it welcomed everyone so I thought "Okay, I will check this out."  

It is the All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church on the Upper East Side.  I take the bus right across the park and I am there.  I sit in the modest pew which seems so Presbyterian to me with no kneelers and simple wood with no carvings.  Being raised Catholic I feel like I am "visiting" and will have go to my own church after or I will have a major venial sin on my soul.  Oh, there I lie, I don't feel that way any more.  I am okay with others who do.

So back to this announcement. All I am announcing is I have been to this church 3 times. That is all. I have no idea if I am joining or going to say hello to anyone  or anything like that. I just like going and hearing the choir and listening to the sermon and knowing that the goal is to welcome and include and accept everyone.  

I get something out of that place.  And maybe I will put something in.  And if you have that experience at wherever you go, I think that is keen. 

The Brooklyn Museum with Eric, Pat, Gilbert and George

Eric is in from LA on an annual theatre jaunt to New York City.  We met this afternoon and took the subway to Brooklyn  - a land far away that neither of us knows anything about.   Eric's idea was to check out the Brooklyn Museum - a landmark I only know from attending a party across the street from it about a year ago.

Two brothers from the days at Fox.  

It was a wonderful field trip. We happened upon the cool "Gilbert & George" exhibit curated by the Tate Modern in London.  Way cool.  Those boys are crazy.  

Afterwards we went down Washington to "Tom's Restaurant" - a Brooklyn staple.  It was all decorated for Christmas and 70 year young Bob was our waiter. He could not have been nicer.  I had chicken soup and a chocolate shake - hey, gum surgery!  Eric had egg salad sandwich and chocolate shake- hey, vacation!  

"The Wrestler"

Imagine this: you have a mouth full of stitches from gum surgery, a still numb jaw and general oral pain and you have to get in front of an audience of 200 and interview a top director, a comeback star, an Oscar winner and a hot screenwriter.   

This was my tonight.  

And I loved it.   

I was nervous at first and in pain at first, but like the grandma who has her grandchild pinned under an auto, you just lift up that car and deal. 

Wow, I just compared my deal with a life/death grandma/grandson scenario. Wrong.  I think that was a little too grand. 

Let me take it back.  It was a lot of pain and I put it aside and did my deal and dealt and it turned out great. 

I was the moderator for the screening of "The Wrestler" tonight and interviewed stars Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei, director Darren Aronofsky and screenwriter Robert Siegel.   It was my first time interviewing more than one person!  Imagine And my first time with a mouth set for mumbling like Mickey did throughout "Diner."   I felt good up there and they were all such great guests.  The idea is to let the star shine and facilitate.  A good moderator keeps the conversation going and doesn't try to stand out.  Thus, I scrapped my speech comparing my bloodied mouth to Mickey's bloodied mouth in the ring.   The whole "I understand what you felt as an actor" etc. all ended on the cutting room floor of my brain.  Thank God. 

I am a professional. 

Actually not. And I never will be if I try that shit.  

But I am a professional out of work person and we need all the accolades and encouragement we can get.  And I left the screening feeling "job well done" as I really do prepare for these things.  I have no idea where this will go, but I so enjoy doing it and am fortunate to be asked. ME interviewing film stars in New York City.  I love this damn town. 

Now to get it to love me. 

I do have to blow my own horn here as this is my blog and this is where I blow it. (That came out wrong...)  The screenwriter came up to me after the screening and said they have done 8 or 9 of these and I did the best interviewer so far.  He said I had a unique style that made everyone feel at ease.  That was so cool of him to bother, I have to say. 

Wow.   That is all I have to say. And gee. And Thanks.  

It was so nice to hear.  

I headed out into the night walking up the wet pavement on Broadway, my back to the camera, my collar turned up ala James Dean and thought "Holy friggin whatever, Batman, THANK YOU!" 

The Boss gave the film this song for FREE because of Mickey. Go see this film. Mickey will get an Oscar nom for certain.

My "Procedure."

Today was the day for my "procedure."  Why do we now say this instead of surgery, doctor appointment, whatever?  "Procedure" sounds so illicit.  Every time people say "procedure" I think either tummy tuck, eye lift, abortion, or syphilis removal.   I just do.   

And I think once you start saying it, it just makes you immediately "of a certain age" and one that you are never coming back from - no matter how many procedures you have. 

My "procedure" was to have the receding gums in my lower front covered with a graft taken from the roof of my mouth. 

Since the appointment was made right away and I was told it would only take an hour and I could pay for it on my credit card, I thought 'Drive Through" as in this is nothing.   I was going to meet a friend for lunch and then go to the gym after and then run some errands. 

What part of they are going to shoot you with a million needles all over the place and CUT a whole piece of the roof of your mouth off and SEW it to the front of your lower gums did I not really hear?

This was involved.  I was spitting up blood and numb and slurping/drooling. The pain started almost immediately after I left the office.   They gave me a prescription for vicodin.   

There was no lunch. There was no gym. There were no errands.  

I was home and in pain trying to check out by watching a movie. I then finally got up and and went and allowed myself to get COLD soft serve ice cream from Zabars counter.  Weight Watchers be damned.   Forget vicodin addiction. But I could get addicted to this amazing custard ice cream soft serve. Doctors orders! It was lovely and cold going down. 

I napped finally. 

I had a screening to go to tonight with my friend Aris. It was "Doubt" and Meryl and Amy and Phillip Seymour and John Patrick and Viola were all there for the Q & A.  And my mouth was throbbing. I was in so much pain on the train tonight.  I think Meryl could have acted my pain. She is that good. 

I finally had to take a vicodin which I was avoiding.  Hopefully I will sleep like a hopped up, disfigured, butterfat baby tonight. 

The Plays Just Part of the Thing

Saw the play turned movie "Frost/Nixon" tonight with my friend Greg.  We met in Ohio working for Obama and it turned out we had mutual friends in California. Small world as is the usual. I never cease to love that.  It was good to hang tonight. 

It was a good film and I really enjoyed how it built for me plus the two leads were great. I wish I had seen it on stage.  (Inside voice: "Can't you just be happy you saw it all? What, are you going to wish you saw it at the Donmar Warehouse in London before it came to New York you ungrateful sod!"  Well, yes, I do since we're going there. 

But the best part of the evening was when we went to the Flame Diner (yes, its real name) on 57th and 9th, I believe, and ate and talked.  It was bloody freezing getting there and so warm inside as diners tend to be this time of year. 

And we talked about writing which I loved.  Greg is a playwright and I want to be one. Greg is in his very early thirties and I want to be that too.  He is really a lovely charming guy and, well, ditto that as well.  He's Frost. I'm Nixon. 

The evening went something like this:

Act 1

(Cinema. Upper West Side. New York City. Night. Winter.)

No dialogue. Actors sit and watch film. 

Act 2

(Flame Diner. 57th and 9th. New York City. Night. Cold outside. Salmon and Turquoise inside.)

Stavros

 (A jolly yet world weary middle-aged Greek diner owner who has lived in the States since he was 14 but went back to Thessaloniki summers. He has an eye patch covering the non-wandering eye)

Boys sit where you like.  We make you feel right at home. That is if you live in a diner. 

(Greg and Pat laugh heartily even though they both know without ever having discussed it that he has said this line a 100 times.  They sit in a booth next to Siamese twins who argue over the staining potential of red sauce, a serious argument since they share they same angora sweater.)

Pat

So what kinds of things do you write about?  What do you like?

Greg

Patty melts. They have patty melts!

Pat

I like domestic dramas where the mom kills the dad with knitting needles and tries to pretend she slipped on a trout that dropped out of the grocery bag.

Greg

It can be so derivative don't you find?

Pat

 I think I will have Matzo Ball soup.

The rest of the evening went on and on like that, the young man so on his game and able to wolf down mega calories and the older guy wondering how many Weight Watchers points are in each ball. 

Greg so kindly picks up the tab and they walk out into the cold night and head for the subway - the young artist heading back to the historic and inspiring East Village and the other guy heading to the UWS -land of baby clothing stores and Duane Reades.  All the inspiring places went when the leases went up.

Pat

Damn it is cold out here. But I love it.  Don't I?  I mean that is what I tell everyone.  At least it is not raining. Where is your shower in your apartment anyway?

Greg

It's in the middle of our kitchen. But we are getting rid of it.  It is an old claw foot tub surrounded by a curtain that stands smack dab in the middle of our kitchen.  Soon we will shower in the bathroom like all you upper west side sell outs. I feel it may numb my creativity.

Pat

I see.  You mean you and your roommates shower RIGHT AFTER breakfast? I mean, RIGHT after? 

Greg

Yep. Sometimes during.

Pat

Cool.

They arrive at the subway station.

Greg goes down, Pat goes up. 

Fin.

Had a GREAT meeting at a new on-line television company called Joost. If I get a job there you are all signing up so check it out now. I think I am a PERFECT fit for that company as it is programming, social content, blogging and global. Everything that I love and feel I have talent for.  

I am increasingly fascinated by new media and how it is and will change the way we view content and communicate.  I want to be a part of that. 

We are going to keep in touch and hopefully at least some freelance work may open up.

Whenever you (meaning "me") has momentum I wake up and realize other possibilities. I feel on a roll.

I left there and had a quick work out and then went to a screening of "The Wrestler" at the Broadway Screening Room which is in the famous Brill Building on Broadway in Times Square. Please read the Wiki on it as it is amazing.

Here are some of the famous songwriters who worked in that building that I was in tonight: Carol King, Neil Sedaka, Burt Bacharach, Neil Diamond.  And a load of Tin Pan Alley guys.

I went to watch this film as I am interviewing Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei, Darren Aronofsky and Robert Siegel for the BAFTA screening on Friday. This is a Mickey comeback film.  Where was that guy?  Wow. 

Another Ordinary Day

My life in New York. That was initially the theme of this blog. And a theme that makes it hard to distinguish from an on-line diary I might add. I wish could argue this but I cannot.

I guess my certain goals are to keep my friends and family informed on what I am up to, learn blogging techniques, and practice writing every day.

Today was a great day to be alive in Manhattan.

I got up. Or grogged up as I go to bed way too late and never seem to awaken with a spring in my step. This being a good thing as I sleep in a loft and the spring in said step could maim me.

I went to the gym. Life - saver.

I went to the dentist.

Next to the barber I hate going to the dentist. With the barber it is the sitting still. (Notice any oil paintings of me? no. ) and with the dentist is the the flossing shame mixed with the stain shame with both being dwarfed by the receding gums shame. I floss everday and my stain is way down since I quit smoking. But the recession.

We are in one and I am in one of my own.

They keep on at me to get the surgery, but I keep refusing because of the cost. The financial person at my dentist always has a gruff exterior. And I think a pretty gruff interior to match. She is hard to penetrate. Socially. And we have a "same time every six months" relationship where you remember her, but she can't possibly remember you. This morning I asked "Is your son back from Iraq?" THIS made her whole day and she thanked me so profusely (what other word does one use here? I feel we are forced to use that one.) and told me that he was. This indeed was good news and proved once again my theory that people are as nice as you allow them to be. Anyway, later when the dentist said I have to deal with recession stat she knocked the price down even lower for me I feel because of our Iraq/son exchange and I now get to put ONLY $1000 on the credit card this Thursday when I go in to have wall reinforcements built from the roof of my mouth.

Where am I going with all this: I got up, I went to the gym, I went to the dentist... Heck you can and do that in any city. But it is the how and the what and the where that make New York City so FABULOUS. (Damn, the F word. Rarely use it. Less than the C word even.)

Stay with me here and you will see the difference. You can play along at home:

Waking up.

I got up in my 1892 brownstone with terrace overlooking the iconic water towers. I made coffee from Citeralla.

Working out.

I went to the historic Westside Y by Lincoln Center to exercise. The theatre there is in fact where Tennessee Williams premiered one of his plays.

A Dentist appointment.

I walked through Central Park by Columbus Circle to go to my dentist in a highrise on Central Park South.

A meeting.
I strolled from there to midtown to attend a meeting. I passed by the Christmas decor near Rockefeller Center and noticed that Hilary was just offered Secretary of State on a scroll by one of the major media outlets.

I love me Christmas balls.


Lunch.
Later I met my friends Helene and Daniele for lunch at MOMA. We had the corner table overlooking the sculpture garden.

I must do a quick MOMA aside. If your therapist ever says to you, "You need to be more international and anonymous." or "You could use some 1960's cinema verite in your life." Or "You need to not understand what you are looking at but look like you do." Or "You need to walk around and feel beautiful and pout more, but not over life, just pout." If you get any of these just walk around MOMA. You will feel it all and see some amazing art and installations. Am I alone in this?! I think not.


ArtA happening Me in my own art.



Commuting home.
I got out of the subway at Lincoln Center and there was this HUGE street party. I found out it is called Winter's Eve at Lincoln Square.

It was fabu. (nearly that word again.) I heard Cajun music, there were loads of people, Christmas lights and a tree and gangs of food booths from local restaurants serving amazing food for $1 or $2 dollars. I had turkey jambalaya (can you say repurposing?) and hot apple cider. Both were PERFECT for this cold winter night.

That is the thing about New York - festivals happen here seemingly out of nowhere.

My excellent dinner for $3.

(only this woman in foreground is not having a good time. Everyone else is.)

Evening plans.

I went to Chelsea to a screening of Revolutionary Road. There was a Q & A afterwards with Kate Winslet, Leo DiCaprio, Sam Mendes, Kathy Bates and others. It was wonderful. They were wondeful. What must it be like to be them?

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone - moderator, Sam Mendes, David Harbour, Leo, Kate...


So that was all of it -get up, work out, dentist, business, commute, relax - New York style.