Tuesday, February 12, 2013

NYC followed by *dun dun daaahhhh!!* SNOWPOCALYPSE 2013

(This is a long one, but I'm including pictures!)

Last week I went to New York City with my roommate/very close friend.  She had a grad school interview and asked me to tag along for the week.  Since I haven't been working very much lately and I've been in somewhat of a slump with a nannying job dwindling its hours before my eyes, splitting Beantown was an extremely appealing option (as opposed to crying in front of the tv for another week about my nonproductive life.)

While in the city, it was FREEZING but we made the most of it.  The Metropolitan ended up being a beautiful option for my friend to take some new headshots of me (funded most graciously by my dad -- happy birthday to me, eh?).  They turned out beautifully, an example below and some more of the shots can be seen on my actor page www.facebook.com/indiapearl



We had a very "New York" sorta evening, where I met some of her oldest and dearest friends at a bar uptown.  Then some of us ended up at a late night diner eating things that were bad for us and having life discussions.  Of course we all had to tell my friend how amazing she was going to be at her grad school interview the next day, because of course she most certainly did.  It's funny how many times you can be told something by a bajillion people, but in the end you still have to go through with it before you believe any of them to be right.

After my scholarly friend had to shoot back to Boston, I stayed an extra day on my own.  I did all the cute things I used to do when I lived there:  Chinatown shopping for cheap jewelry, Little Italy for yummy pasta,

Union Square for the farmer's market... what? yuck!

I even managed to squeeze in a 5 minute set at the Broadway Comedy Club.  I hope to go back to some more comedy clubs the next time I'm in town.  In my wild and crazy dreams some casting director will actually like one of my crazy stories about creepy guys at the gym and ask me to audition for a pilot... yes I realize how wild and crazy that idea is, but it happens.

To wrap everything up for the day, I googled "discount Mary Poppins tickets, Broadway" and instantly found a coupon.  Instead of $140+ tickets, I paid $83.00 including the fee to sit FRONT ROW!!  I laughed, I cried, and then at the end I was clapping, laughing, and crying simultaneously.  I cannot begin to explain how much I loved this version of one of my favorite childhood films, especially the little kids who were so amazing that I would believe someone if they told me the kids were actually robots with great vocal trainers.  The costumes, the details, the effects... nothing could have made me happier that I spent that dough on seeing a show a month before it exits the New Amsterdam and makes room for some other new thing.  Memories make it worth every penny.
 
That evening, I had a late dinner with my uncle and his lovely girlfriend and they let me crash on their couch before I had to depart the next morning.  I had already received a very worried phonecall from my grandmother saying,
"India! There's going to be 18 inches of snow! Are you still in New York?! When are you coming back? ... Ok, get home safe. Love you."
Needless to say, I was slightly alarmed that I could conceivably become stuck in New York.  Not that it's a horrible thing to happen, but to be fair I had spent far too much moolah as it was already.

The little Italian greyhounds at my uncle's apartment looked like a baby greyhound mixed with ferret mixed with weasel mixed with hairless cat mixed with effing adorableThat's probably the only good way to describe them outside of these pictures:

I headed back to Boston with an excited feeling in my stomach. I was very exhausted and yet very satisfied and happy with my fulfilling week. My handsome boyfriend had already told me that we would go to a comedy club that evening and then go get snowed in together.  It seemed like a perfect thing to come home to, and I guess I was right since the next three days happened something like this:

Day 1
Friday
We woke up after sleeping in rather late, until about 11 or so.  The snow was falling pretty decent, but not too bad to be unable to leave the house.  My sister had gone to CT to get snowed in with her boyfriend, and my roommate hadn't had a chance to go to the store for supplies before the storm had started.  So naturally, during a snowstorm like the three New Englanders that we are, we went out to the grocery store. I can't tell you how ridiculous the scene was upon entering the parking lot and thereafter.
The lines were so long that they wrapped around the aisles, but luckily for us it didn't take too long.  I took the groceries as my boyfriend took a place in line, and then through some miscommunication about a trip to the liquor store, I had misplaced my friend/roommate.  This shouldn't seem like a hard problem to solve in 2013, right?  No, it could be remedied by a simple phonecall.  However, I had left my cellphone on the charger and then my roommate's phone had died!

Suddenly, I found myself wandering around the store and yelling her name.  This was something I hadn't done since I was lost in a grocery mart at age 12, maybe younger.  I was frantically thinking about where else she could possibly have gone, and how it was ever even possible for people to locate each other when there was no such thing as a cordless phone, let alone one you could take in your pocket.  Of course my boyfriend thought of the only simple solution I could not have thought of but should've remembered from childhood:   Go wait at the car, it's the only constant in the scenario.

Eventually, she did make it back to the car, although she was very cold and tired because we somehow walked right past her waiting for us at the entrance.  I was just glad we found each other and didn't lose a member in the storm since we had a lot of wine that required drinking and cookies that required baking.  It was finally time to hunker down back at the apartment.

Friday night
Even though we were tired and a little cabin fevered, I tried to get us all to muster up the energy for getting off the couch and stepping in front of a camera.  Recording a Youtube video is a great way to forget that you can't go anywhere.  Ethyl and Evelyn, for those of you that are consistent viewers of my channel, had a Valentine's Day adventure fighting over the one man that responded to their invitation to the house.  I haven't laughed so much during a shoot in a very long time. (I will edit this to include a link to the video once I get it on youtube!)



 Day 2
Saturday
I honestly could not tell you what I would do without my boyfriend.  We got up, made pancakes and coffee, and then proceeded to take the shovels and start on the driveway that looked a little something LIKE THIS:

My roommate has fibromyalgia so we didn't want her shoveling, so she (as frustrated as she was about having to do so) stayed in the house all day.  Although she did end up cleaning the whole apartment, bless her for being so determined.  Anyway, there was at least TWO FEET OF SNOW in the driveway, in the street, and on the front and back porches that we were responsible for shoveling.  We probably shoveled for about 5-6 hours total including a few very short breaks for coffee and switching gloves out.  The street outside of the driveway that we needed to be plowed to be able to leave the house, was not plowed all day. When I was shoveling the front walkway, there was a man that had gotten his car stuck in the middle of the street.

For about 20 minutes or so, the neighbors were digging him out, pushing him forward, then backward, forward, then backward.  , and IT BROKE DOWN!  It would appear we were totally stuck and we weren't leaving anytime soon. All I could think was, "Thank God we went to the grocery store and we have plenty of booze."

If I had to imagine what this storm would have been like without a man in the house to help us shovel, it would include myself (the weakling) and my roommate (the essentially arthritic) shoveling for about two hours before I called my dad crying not having a clue what we were to do.  Needless to say, it was one of those days when I was unbelievably grateful to have the love of my life also be a wonderful human being.

Never fear, dinner was ready by the time we came back upstairs for the last time.  Two cars dug out, cleared porches, but nowhere to go beyond the end of those perfectly dug out areas.  I actually had a lot of fun digging in the snow and getting out in the fresh air all day.  I felt very accomplished and optimistic.  The snow was trapping us, but we still had plenty of warm food to eat and movies to watch.
Of course we had to watch Finding Nemo during Storm Nemo.  I'm fairly certain we weren't the only ones who had thought of it.
When we went to bed after 1am, the roads were still not plowed.  I was a little nervous, but I was still snuggling with my lover for the third night in a row and the cold could do nothing to make that anything less than wonderful. 

Day 3
Sunday
I couldn't move.  I woke up, and I could barely move a muscle.
Of course, I thought. You fucked up your back, your hands, your hips, your neck, your shoulders, your arms, and even your ribs hurt when you laugh.
I hadn't ached like this since I checked out of band camp at UMass because I played cymbals and marched in the 95 degree heat all week to the point where I was bleeding, sun poisoned, and swollen pretty much everywhere.  This post-shoveling for 5 or 6 hours body was certainly a close second on the pain scale.  Especially my back.

What did we learn? I should always stretch rigorously before ever picking up a shovel again.

About 10:30 am the plow finally came and dug us out of Medford Manor.  As happy as I was to get out of the house, it was a bit of a nice stay-cation with a close friend to laugh with and my boyfriend to snuggle with.  As he put it, "We just passed another test in our relationship this weekend."  He was certainly right.

So there you have it, we got through it but I'm still in a fuck-ton of pain.  Wish me luck as I down this advil and keep on more bedrest.  I hope you fine readers are fairing well and you've regained electricity and are able to leave your homes. Stay safe, stay warm, and enjoy the snow while it lasts because it's going to rain tomorrow.

Like they say.
If you don't like the weather in New England, just wait a minute.


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