Farewell, New York

So, the last day of acting class was just as wonderful and sad as I thought it would be. There were only a couple scenes that Suzanne still felt needed that last little bit of work, so those scene partners performed one more time. Then, we simply spent the rest of the class in discussion. After it was over, cameras emerged from purses and backpacks, and everyone scrambled to take photos of each other as a remembrance. Above, is a photo of me with Aiman...my first acting partner. Below, is a photo of Jackson, my second and final acting partner for the summer.



Jeremy had been in the city since this past Thursday, so we had an enjoyable weekend hanging out in the city. We went to the little Cuban restaurant across the street from my cousin's apartment. They have live music there every night, and it was quite lively and fun...so we went there a couple times over the weekend. We saw part of a Johnny Cash tribute concert that was awful, not because of the musicians, but because of the terrible acoustics of the venue. We saw George Wendt from Cheers fame in Hairspray. (Norm!) We walked the Brooklyn Bridge, ate at a yummy Bosnian restaurant near the Esper Studio, had a fancy steakhouse dinner. It was wonderful to reconnect.

On Monday, we went to a storytelling slam with my cousin. One of my Cleveland friends had emailed me about this organization called The Moth. Twice a month, they have what is called the Moth StorySLAM. People gather at a bar, and you can either sign up to tell a story or sign up to be a judge. They choose judges names from out of a hat, and then they choose ten people to tell their stories from out of a hat. All the stories have to fit the evening's theme. (On Monday, it was "Triangles.") Each story can be no longer than 5 minutes. It has to be true, and the storyteller cannot use any notes. After each contestant tells their story, the judges give the story a score. There is a winner at the end of the night, and evidently there is some sort of a GrandSLAM final event each year. It was quite an experience! We had a blast. Incidentally, neither me, Jeremy or my cousin told a story or served as a judge. I did not have any good stories that fit the "triangle" theme, otherwise, I would have totally thrown my name in the hat!

After the slam, Jeremy and I went to the Top of the Rock observation deck at Rockefeller Center for our last night in the city. I had done the Empire State building before, but I think the views were better from Top of the Rock. For one thing, you actually get to see the Empire State Building as part of the skyline!

On Tuesday morning, we packed up my stuff, loaded up the car and drove home to Cleveland. It was a lot easier getting out of the city by car than I thought it would be. More on being home and away from the city later...

For now, enjoy the photo from Top of the Rock and me trying to be a model (HA!) in this weird Target-sponsored, brightly lit breezeway just off the observation deck.