autumn in new york... why does it feel so inviting?

so i was sitting in a cafe on madison avenue and E78th having a cup of coffee, reading truman capote and scribbling professional goals on a stack of legal pads. minding my own damn business. two little boys pulled up on scooters-- a normal looking kid on a normal, fancy scooter, and the world's tiniest, most adorable jewish boy (complete with round harry potter glasses- does every kid in the city have these?) on a wooden, squeaky taxi scooter. normal kid goes running off, but tiny taxi boy parks his scooter, puts his hands on the glass and starts excitedly giving me the thumbs up before he turns and scampers away.

it's possible that tiny taxi boy was just excited about my choice in reading material, but i think he was my welcome wagon to my hypothetical leap of careers, cities and experiences... and it dawned on me that it wouldn't get much better than spending my days whizzing around on a vintage scooter, skim latte in one hand, handlebars in the other, wind in my hair and a tiny yarmulke cap scooting down madison avenue ahead of me.


jessie is my all-time, most favorite, most tremendous hero. not only did she let me crash with her, her charming bobby and their roommate brian, but they all live above, work at and own the world's sassiest dive bar, rief's tavern. she even let me bartend with her one night... which involved cracking open three bottles of coors light and spending the rest of the night leaning on the bar practicing my new york bartending lines with the regulars ("you wanna start with me?" ... "whadd'ya want? thirteen seconds or i'm cutting you off" ... "don't think i won't throw you out")

to top it all off, jessie has a membership to the met, and let me borrow it. i went six times... starting on my first night in the city, where she piled all of our friends into cabs and took us to the rooftop, where the lights are beautiful and the alligator statue is terrifying.
(i am officially going to get a digital camera. in the meantime, i'm going to exploit my resources and some of New Friend steve weave's photos.)

the met is incredible. the armor room?! are you kidding me?!? best thing ever.

jessie's boyfriend's sister's husband rob, pictured above at said bar, also wins Best Champion Of the World for taking me out with Steve and Tracy on his NYPD buddy's NYPD harbor patrol boat. this was the most exciting, fantastic view of new york i've ever seen... the water was choppy, the boat was small, fast and delightful, and the three police officers on board took us right out to ellis island, the statue of liberty, and all around the harbor.


steve, tracy and rob gave me one of my favorite memories ever... the harbor, the ridiculousness, cab rides arguing about christopher guest movies, and then arriving in the west village for drunkenness and hysterical (disgusting) true-life stories from their past.

i had an interview with the executive producer at discovery kids, which was extremely informative and helpful. i also had an interview with the family entertainment agent from the gotham group in los angeles, and two informational interviews with disney (ny) and nickjr. (ny). my dad's literary agent richard (practically an uncle- i've known him since i was born) took me out for a cup of coffee and picked my brain on a stunningly beautiful tuesday morning. i learned soooo much from all of these people, but i'm feeling almost more overwhelmed with the potential and possibilities that are stretched out in front of me. in one week, i've gone from considering shadowing an executive producer to working on my writing portfolio and trying to write for tv to...well,publishing, comedy writing and on-set producing. i think i'm going to pursue my dreams of trying to get into the sesame workshops or HBO documentaries... but even today, after an hour of interviewing a social worker about foster care, i'm very tempted to volunteer as a youth advocate with local social services and join big sisters as i research my foster care book. i feel bad standing on the diving board above a pool of new job inspirations when my co-workers think i'll be there for another year, but apparently i'm just ready to move on. i think the time is almost right.

wow. a lot has happened in the last two weeks. i've met so many wonderful people... spent time with the friends i've missed so much... finally saw jessie's kickass art gallery... got to reunite with steven larson again... roamed the streets of a great city and finally, *finally* figured out the subway system. jessie and i had front row tickets for "evil dead: the musical", the most intense off-broadway laugh we may ever have. the stage was so close that i literally couldn't cross my legs... the seats were wrapped in plastic, the ushers handed out ponchos for our row before the second act. at the end of the play, we were soaking wet. we had blood in our hair, blood in our ears, blood shooting out of the set at all angles into our face, zombies intentionally splashing us with blood that had gathered on the stage. blood pooled in huge puddles in our ponchos...i looked like i had been shot in the forehead.


october has been a phenomenal chapter in my life... everyone from the bohemian harvard-grad i sat next to on the plane and will meet out at the 'pec when he commutes in next weekend to the social worker i met today downtown boulder has had something really exciting and inspirational to share with me. the month has kind of felt like an odd, lucid dream... especially the day i was 8 blocks away from the plane that the yankees player flew into the apartment building. i'm missing my far-away friends so much, but happy that our lives are still all braided together like this, and completely reveling out of the old and brand new friends i'm so lucky to have here.

side note... i can't be more excited for halloween. tom agreed to dress up with me... i can't give away our costume secret yet, but it's GOOD. my friend pete went out with me on my trek to find good glitter, and he bought the hilarious huge willy wonka glasses for the festivities.

if it would get above 35 degrees in my apartment, i would almost say that things are pretty close to paradise these days. but until then, i will don the fingerless gloves and type things out until the dreams of grandeur are realized.