The Ravenclaw Common Room

January 19, 2013:

I was pretty sure I'd posted something since New Year's, but clearly I was wrong. Things, unsurprisingly, got busy. Starting New Year's Eve I worked 11 straight days at Potter, then my roommate Anna arrived and there was Ikea shopping to be done and then Ikea furniture to be built and more trips to Kmart and decorating and being excited and still going to work all the time.

Things are really coming along here! Our kitchen is furnished with a nifty expandable table that Anna and I constructed all on our own and real wooden (not plastic) chairs. The living room has become a little separate area with a loveseat we got for free from a friend of Anna's, and a blue and bronze (Ravenclaw) rug, and a coffee table and TV stand. Gifts from my mom arrived, some pots and pans and a toaster, so our kitchen is starting to be functional. Soon after its arrival the couch was draped in Anna's blanket that portray's Sirius's flight on Buckbeak in Prisoner of Azkaban. I found blue curtains to match the rug, so the living room/kitchen is well decked out in blue and bronze, with a Ravenclaw banner between the windows.

My room now has a bed, dresser, and desk, constructed by myself and my friend Joe, whose screwdriver has saved all of our Ikea purchases from being half-finished piles of particleboard and screws. Having furniture is pretty exciting after over 2 weeks of just me and an air mattress. I'm actually pretty impressed with how well we pulled things together in such a short span of time. I will say, we did have the Ravenclaw banner and the Prisoner of Azkaban blanket before we had a kitchen garbage can, so we all know where our priorities lie. Anna and I have never pretended to be anything else though, and that is why we are perfect roommates. Well, that and we're both super neat.

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Well that never got posted either. January was a month full of moving, shopping (for the apartment), furniture building, and work.

February was full of work. And a visit from my mom! In her short time here she got to visit two of my workplaces - the Harry Potter exhibition and Fuerza Bruta, making her the only member of my family so far who has seen the show. We also spent a day doing the Broadway thing, catching performances of The Other Place starring Laurie Metcalf (of Roseanne and Steppenwolf) and The Heiress, with several famous people including David Strathairn, Jessica Chastain, and Dan Stevens, plus my favorite, Judith Ivey. Both productions were really well done and not things I would have sought out on my own, so go Mom. (Admittedly, we did try for rush tickets to Once and took a stab at lotto for Book of Mormon but it's what we actually saw that counts, right?) We also spent a day in New Jersey with family during the "big snowstorm" (read: regular snowstorm) that hit that first weekend in February, but Mom made it home okay after a couple canceled flights the same day. (I went back into the city to work.)

Also in February: the Phelps twins (who play the Weasley twins) came to Discovery. I didn't meet them; I was miserable for four days. The end.

Aside from Potter and Fuerza, I'm still teaching Sunday school, a constant joy, chalenge, and learning experience as I navigate working with a boisterous group of 6-10 kids ages 3 and 4. They are always a surprise, and perhaps sometimes I expect too much of them or am ambitions in our activities, but it's always worth a shot. I think people underestimate how astute and intelligent young kids really are, just because their vocabulary isn't as developed yet.

And, beyond Sunday school, I get to continue with another passion, stage combat. Twice a week I assist with the classes at NYU, where my teacher and fight master is training kids this semester in unarmed combat as well as rapier and dagger. I learn a lot just from watching the students learn, and even more when I get up to help them adjust mistakes. They ask questions that make me think more and watch better, and become more aware of those same things in myself so that I'm getting better all the time, even if I don't so much as throw a punch in class. Soon I'll also get to take a single sword class, testing in my fourth weapon with the Society of American Fight Directors in May. (I might recertify in RnD just to try and recommend, because I'm a stubborn perfectionist and I love RnD.)

Life is pretty good right now. Busy, the way I like it. There is a little bit of a gaping hole looming in late April, after the Potter exhibit closes and my almost-full-time job disappears completely, leaving me with "only" three part-time jobs, but I know something will come up. I'm pursuing some possible lighting gigs at the moment, working on a play (still, God, help me), and maybe, you know, I'll just take a couple weeks to relax a little before finding something for the summer. Who knows. What should be, will be.

I've been thinking a lot lately about the phenomenon/machine/enterprise/commercial entity/community/business thing that is Harry Potter a lot since I've been working at the exhibit, and I have tons of thoughts about it all now that I'm involved from this new perspective, but that is a post for another day. Perhaps Friday, when I actually have a day off, before I head to free nights at MoMa (which I haven't visited in nearly 3 years) and then Fuerza. (So when I say a day off, I mean the day time. Not, like, the whole day.)

Nox.

It's the Final Countdown

Tonight is my first New Year's Eve in New York. My first without my family, my first alone. It's funny how being an adult never turns out how you think it will. Tonight certainly isn't how I always pictured NYE in NYC. I always figured I'd be out at a bar or at least a friend's apartment, not home in a new empty one alone.

I have work in the morning and no plans for tonight, which means I'll probably sleep through the countdown for the first time since I was little. I'll probably miss a call from my friend Michael at 11:56 asking me how long to next year, to which I would normally respond 3 1/2 minutes.

I didn't know it would be this apartment, but I've been decorating it in my head for years. Someday hopefully it will be the duplex I've always imagined, but for now I'm happy in this six story prewar building. I don't have so much as a chair to sit on, a pot to heat soup in, but the heat is on and I have more keys than I know what to do with. And thanks to my new iPhone, I have a connection to the outside world even though I haven't set up Internet here yet.

The year draws to a close - one in which I lived in five different places in five different zip codes in two different states, in which I graduated college, traveled to Europe, got a new job, survived a hurricane, signed a lease, made friends, misses friends, left home, came home, made mistakes, made myself proud, and always, every day, learned something and loved something.

People always get sentimental at this time of year and see the start of a new calendar as a chance to start over and suddenly be something else. But just the way I feel the same on my birthday as I do the day before it, I know I'll wake up tomorrow feeling the way I do today. I survived Y2K, I survived judgement day, I survived the apocalypse, and tomorrows have to remember to date things with a new year, but that's all that will be different.

Moving is a new start. A new job is a new start. Weird things make me feel like a real person in the real world, like having enough money to splurge on two-ply toilet paper, or being able to buy a friend a drink, or spending a night going ice skating because I have time for that now. I never expected those things. And that's life.

And, as always, Harry Potter forever. All was well.

First Night!

I'm in the apartment! Well, I'm sleeping on the floor, but I'm here! Until the last minute it looked like I'd have to wait until Saturday, so I bought nothing for living in an unfurnished apartment, but I'm here now. With work in the AM, so goodnight for now, from my new iPhone, Hedwig.

Rock You Like A Hurricane

Oh hi!


I don't know why that picture is so big.

Last we met, I was just telling you I was still alive after the hurricane. The hurricane was nothing to me, what followed in the next six weeks was the whirlwind of my life and why I've been so absent on the blog front. Let's see how succinctly I can do this.

October 29: Hurricane. MTA shut down.
October 30: MTA still shut down.
October 31: Halloween? Busses running, tried to take the bus to work, ended up walking because NYC cannot function without the subway. Worked all day. Took a cab home.

Began working 24/7 at Harry Potter, since Fuerza Bruta (at 15th street) didn't have power. As a result of working 24/7 at Harry Potter, I became the inventory/product manager. Welcome to a full time job.

So picture November: 40+ hours a week at Harry Potter, 10+ hours a week at Fuerza Bruta, 15+ hours a week stage managing a show at NYU, church (Sunday school) on Sundays, and stage combat (assisting with unarmed and learning broadsword) on Thursdays.

Still I will say this, now that it is mid-December and the show I stage managed is over and as of today stage combat is finished for the semester: real life still isn't as taxing as theatre school was.

Life is awesome. I have jobs I (mostly) love, the show went really well, the cast gave me roses. I passed my skills proficiency test in broadsword so that I'm certified in three weapons making me an actor-combatant. I going on dates! Now that less than 100% of my friends are theatre people, I'm meeting non-gay men, it's crazy. I went ice skating yesterday. :) And the biggest best news of all: ANNA AND I GOT AN APARTMENT! AND IT'S SO PRETTY, LOOK!

Exposed brick, pretty kitchen, an ELEVATOR!

Guys, Harry Potter paradise is about to be a reality. Get ready.

Tuesday I go to Florida, for a vacation, where I won't have to do homework, like a real vacation! I get to see my parents and my brother and my grandma and be in the sun and warm weather. Yay! And then I'll be in NYC for NYE for the first time ever, and sometime between Christmas and New Years, I'll move into the beautiful apartment!

I'm so happy. :) Hope you all have a lovely holiday season.

Gypsyhood

Here's the facts. Since I moved into my first dorm on Third Avenue in late August of 2008, I've moved a total of twelve times. Twelve times in four years. Five of those times were in the last year, thanks to that time when I moved to Spain for a bit.

Post-grad as I've mentioned, I've become a bit of - okay quite - a gypsy. I haven't lived in the same place for more than four months since late mid-2011. After four months in Madrid, I was home for a month, then in an NYU dorm for four months, then in Europe for two weeks, then in New Jersey for a week, then in a sublet on Roosevelt Island for six weeks, then home for six weeks, then couch surfing in Brooklyn for two weeks, and now I'm living in Harlem for three months.

WHY?

It's a valid question. I've had older friends tell me that everyone goes through a kind of gypsy period after graduation. I responded to one friend, yeah but I'm doing it more than everybody else. But I tend to think I do most things I do with a more-ness compared to most people. In any case, the people I know that have moved frequently after graduation still aren't moving this often. Theirs is more a case of, "Brooklyn is too far, I want to move back to Manhattan," or "Manhattan is too expensive, screw this I'm moving to Brooklyn." My year of living out of suitcases has not been that. Actually I've found it kind of interesting to live in different parts of the city, particularly Roosevelt Island since I know a total of three people who've lived there (and I've now lived with two of them).

I didn't lease an apartment after graduation because in February of this year I went to visit my cosmic twin (really, we're the same person) in Philadelphia where he now lives with his boyfriend. I found out while I was there that they were planning to move to NYC and was offered the other bedroom in this hypothetical apartment. I'd always hoped my friend would move back to the city and we'd live together, so I was thrilled. As the spring wore on, the hypothetical moving date kept floating further away. So over the summer, I subletted and then spent some time at home, hoping the boys would figure things out. In the meantime I ended up subletting this place in Harlem where I am now. I just didn't want to buy furniture and sign a lease just to have to ultimately move that furniture and either find a subletter myself of have to wait to move into the apartment with my friends.

So I took on a gypsy life, drifting from neighborhood to neighborhood, sublet to sublet, suitcases in hand on trains and busses all over the city. As I well-documented, I spent my time at home ruthlessly getting rid of anything I could to make ultimately hauling my possessions across country easier. I don't know what size my future apartment will be, but my stuff ought to fit. I believe it would fit into this bedroom I'm in now, and it's not that big.

All this is to say I had an impromptu lunch with my friend today who happened to be in the city for an audition, and he told me he's going to be performing a cruise for essentially the next year. What that means for me, as I was already coming to discern, is that I'm not going to be living with him anytime in the near future. The new roommate search is on.

My first thought was my friend Anna who is currently studying abroad in Madrid just as I did last year. Frequently when kids come back from abroad studies they move into apartments instead of back into NYU housing. (This is much cheaper for essentially anyone who isn't me, who had her housing paid for by a scholarship.) As it turns out, Anna is in the market for a roommate herself as her housing plans seem to have fallen through too, so it looks like I've already hopefully solved half the battle. Anna is quite possibly the only person I've ever met who I would dare to say is as big of a Harry Potter fan as I am. She's two years younger than me and a Playwrights student, and we started talking on facebook the summer before she came to NYU because we both had Potter pictures in honor of the coming film (Half-Blood Prince at the time). I remember in one of our first conversations we analysed the latest production stills that had just been released in the nerdiest possible detail. I know I have friends that would have done that with me when we were twelve, but I don't know about at age twenty.

This is far in the future, as we won't live together until January, and we just started talking about this within the last 24 hours, but I'm excited. It's going to be the best. Have no delusions about what you will walk into if you visit our apartment. Let me give you only this picture: In our "about me" sections on facebook (or "acerca de mí" because our facebooks are in Spanish), I have "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." Anna has "Nitwit. Blubber. Oddment. Tweak."

Friendships have been built on far less.

As Anna and I were talking, I said "I guess I've been a gypsy for no reason," but then amended it to add "Or at least not the reason I thought," which is really the truth. I can see now, on what is probably (hopefully?) the tail-end of my gypsydom (I'm not sure there's a noun for it) that even though I thought I was wandering New York for the sake of my friends, I have of course been wandering New York (and the world, really) for the sake of myself. This blog started because I went to Madrid, and I went to Madrid because I was determined to broaden my experience of the world and gain greater perspective about humanity. That happened. But it continued when I came back to New York and kept living out of suitcases for another year. As I've said before, I've learned a lot about who I am, what I need and don't need, what I value, what I can let go of, who cares about me, what matters. Who are you without all your stuff? You're still you. You really are. I really am.

So, you know, it seemed crazy, it still kind of seems crazy, that I've had no real permanent address for ages, that I've had to have mail sent to Illinois constantly even though I've spent cumulatively about a year there in the last three, but it's okay. I don't think I would trade it to have had an apartment back in May. Yes, I am absolutely excited to buy a bed and have a room I get to decorate myself (which will still include Harry Potter posters, of course) and having keys I get to keep and being able to give people an address that I'm going to still be at in more than three months time. One day, I will actually change my residency to New York, but apparently that will only be after I've already lived there for five years.

All I'm really saying is I still believe everything happens for a reason, even if it isn't always the reason we expect. That's life.

Mi Casa Es Su Casa

Here's where I'm living, and you're welcome to come visit!

I'm incredibly lucky to be living in a barrio called Huertas, which is located about ten minutes (walking distance) from Puerta del Sol, which is the center of the city. I'm also only about ten minutes away from the Museo del Prado, the major art museum of Madrid, and fifteen minutes from both Parque del Retiro (Madrid's Central Park) and the Reina Sofia, the museum of contemporary art which I visited in my first week here.

My street is full of little bars, restaurants, clubs, and a few stores. There's the pastelería I mentioned across the street, and an ice cream place I really like just up a few blocks. Since Spaniards stay out so late, my street is alive far into the night and the early hours of the morning. There's always music playing outside my window in the evening, which I love.

So. Now for the tour!

Aquí está my bedroom. The walls are really yellow. The bed's actually pretty comfortable and takes up most of the room. Just to the left of this picture is my closet, which has almost nothing in it because I brought very little with me. I literally have six things on hangars. Haha.

This is el baño. We have a little window! Not much else to say.

This is the view of the kitchen from the front door. On the left is the table and three chairs, behind it is where we keep our dry goods (mostly pasta and a big jar of peanut butter that my roommate brought from America). The door next to it leads to our living room. To the right is the poster of NYC we found in the apartment, and then the microwave, oven/stove, cabinets, etc.

The rest of the kitchen. Sink, big window (where we can sometimes see our neighbor across the air shaft who is a middle-aged fat man who often doesn't wear a shirt), washing machine, and refrigerator/freezer. The open door is my roommate's room, the closed one is our front door. Many locks.

View of the living room from the door - a table with two chairs, a wall of windows, stylish lamps, a three-piece sectional sofa with two more pieces as individual chairs, and a square coffee table.

The living room from the other end - more yellow walls, a mirror, a sideboard on which we put candles, a wall with several shelves including some books former tenants have left here.

So that's about it for now. I'm currently in my comfy bed in my yellow room, and I think I'm going to take a nap before going out for sangria later and doing some homework. Tired due to a trip to El Rastro today, which is the big flea market they have every Sunday in La Latina. I got a new purse and a cute dress, all for a total of 20 euros! (See Mom, I spent some money.) Before I leave Spain I will definitely have bought a leather jacket. Saw one today for 30 euros, but I'm going to wait for now since our weather has been in the 90s every day and shows no signs of cooling off any time soon. ¡Hasta luego! 

(I've also gotten really good at typing in Spanish - note my inverted exclamation point. I can do inverted question marks, accents, and tildes too!)