Pith Helmet

Last Saturday, the last day of shooting, the walkie PA and some of the other nice set PAs invited me out for a post-wrap beverage at The Frying Pan. The Frying Pan happens to be my favorite summer spot in New York, so I was hard pressed to say no, but I did. I'd been left in charge of the production office all day - The President and her VP were out because they had prior Saturday engagements - and had a bunch of things to wrap up, and I hadn't made any plans because I was still hoping to hear from the Cheshire Cat.

When I finally got out of the office at 10 pm I was exhausted physically and mentally from the craziness of running the office, still hadn't heard from Chesh, and I just wanted social time. I texted The walkie PA and arranged to meet the group at the gangplank.

This guy is a nice fella of sorts, if a little strange. We got along smashingly right from the beginning. He wore a pith helmet to work that day, he says it's because it was raining and he wanted a good rain hat, but I really think he just wanted to wear a pith helmet. He also said it helped him keep people from walking into the shot, which I can totally understand. I'd be much more inclined to stop in my tracks if the guy who asked me to stop was wearing a pith helmet. He will thusly heretofore be referred to as "Livingstone."

The people we were with were content with milling around by the bar, and Livingstone had never seen the actual Frying Pan before, so he and I separated ourselves from the group and took off on an exploratory mission. We crawled and climbed through every inch of the boat when suddenly we came upon a turn we hadn't seen before and wound up at the helm. Livingstone stuck his head out of one of the portholes and began engaging a group of barflies below in conversation. I think they were rather enchanted that a gentleman with a pith helmet would suddenly stick his head out of a boat and start talking to them. Meanwhile I was bored, so I decided to climb to the topmost part of the ship, which turned out to be directly over Livingstone's head. I reached down and snatched the pith helmet from him and told him to join me up top. Clapping the helmet onto my head and standing tall I felt a mighty tug from the wind. As Livingstone climbed up next to me and I returned his hat I mentioned that he should hang on tightly so that it wouldn't blow off.

After a while I ran to the bar to grab us some drinks, and on my way back I saw something fly off the top of the boat and hit the dock with a loud thunk. I knew it could only be one thing. I heard Livingstone call my name from the top, and I yelled back, "I saw it fall!" "I'll be right there!" he replied. I fought my way through the crowds to the edge of the dock, and just as I reached the edge Livingstone was there at my side. We simultaneously laughed and groaned. The pith helmet was in the Hudson River, stuck in a triangle between the Frying Pan, the pier, and a floating bar umbrella. I handed Livingstone a glass of whiskey.

He drank it, but insisted that all was not lost. He ran onto the boat, returning with a length of rope and a beer bucket. He tried unsuccessfully to scoop up the helmet a few times, but it was too big for the bucket and the ancient twine snapped in two, letting the bucket sink to the brackish deep. Then one of the bar backs came to our aid and fashioned a grappling hook out of the twine and a beer bottle, trying to grab the umbrella and scoop the hat up with it. To no avail. Finally someone came by with a long metal pole, but a pole isn't a very effective scooping tool. Then it dawned on me - the chairs!

We tied two lengths of twine onto the arms of a plastic deck chair and lowered it into the water, then the bar back used the pole to catch the hat and float it into the chair. After a couple of tries we finally managed to scoop up the pith helmet and retrieve it successfully!

By this time a large crowd had amassed, and people were applauding left and right as Livingstone raised the hat to the stars with a cry of victory. The bar back more than earned the cost of the hat in tips. We all signed the interior of the pith helmet (because among PAs there is always a towel and a sharpie) and clapped each other on the shoulders for being a part of this great adventure.

These are the stories that make this life good.

I want to go to Tree. From the window it looks lovely.

My manicure brings all the boys to the yard.

It's been less than a week and my nail polish is already chipped all over the place. I'm irritated because I have a date. Normally I wouldn't necessarily care if my nail polish is chipped for a date (because chipped nail polish is kind of how I roll and I personally think my cavalier attitude is endearing), but this date is special. Not because of the person taking me on the date (although that person is just lovely), no no. It's because of where I'm going on the date.

Where, you might ask, is such a special place that I give a rats ass how my nail polish looks?

The place makes me giddy when I think about it, because it's the one place that I've always wanted desperately to be taken. I couldn't afford the place even if I was working. The history of the place is something I've known for a long time, inspired by old movies and my Midwestern adolescent dreams of living in fantastic New York City. I didn't even have to ask for the place, it was just suggested in a sort of offhand manor by someone who's trying to impress me.

Tomorrow evening, dressed to the nines, heels and all, I will be stepping off an elevator onto the sixty-fifth floor of 30 Rockefeller Plaza. And a few minutes after that I'll be sipping fancy cocktails in the Rainbow Room.

Holy crap I'm going on a date to the Rainbow Room!

I consider myself impressed.

As you may or may not be aware, Central Park is awesome.

I actually haven't been to Central Park much since I moved here but on Veteran's day Roommate #1 and I both had the day off and we decided to take a stroll through the park in search of the Castle, to which neither of us had ever really been. It was so much fun just strolling and chatting and strolling some more. I'm also very happy to report that the carousel is WAY worth it! If only we'd had a better camera... But here are a couple of pics from my iPhone!









PS - Today is my one year anniversary. I made it. I've been here in New York for a whole, real year. I am officially a New Yorker!

I fell in love today and I had polenta for brunch.

Today after Brunch Club Roommate #2 decided to accompany me to Brooklyn Heights for the Cranberry Street Festival, where the Squirrel Girls were performing. We wound up missing their performance but were able to catch up with them to visit at Park Plaza Restaurant. Afterward, Roommate #2 decided to take me on a tour of Brooklyn Heights, since she used to live there and I'd never been.

Once we started walking around I couldn't believe I had not been to this part of Brooklyn before. As we walked up and down the streets I could feel the water in the air. When we approached the Promenade, I immediately realized that I had finally found a neighborhood I liked as much as I liked the Marigny in New Orleans. Now I'm in love! I want Brooklyn Heights to be my home!

This gives me something to work toward. I've been saying for some time now that I'm saving to buy my own place, but I hadn't really felt sure about where I wanted to live. Now I feel pretty sure...and I know it might be a loooong time before I can afford a teeny tiny little place there, but I want very badly to live in Brooklyn Heights. Of course, who knows - I'll probably change my mind a dozen times in the next few years as I save up that down payment!

We also had a New York Moment and ran into Make Me a Supermodel, which was shooting on the Promenade. We took some pictures of our fun time and submitted them to Filming In Brooklyn, which is one of my favorite blogs. Woohoo!

Unemployment adventures continue: I went to Wall Street today!

After a brief meeting with Payroll to develop a script idea I decided I would head to Ikea (yes again) to explore my storage options since I have way more stuff than closets now. I had read about a free water taxi and looked it up with my iPhone for details, since it sounded way cooler than the stupid bus at Borough Hall in Brooklyn. When I realized it left from Pier 11 at Wall Street I was even more interested, thinking maybe I'd see the current economic climate written all over the faces of the bankers and brokers. Woohoo!

I actually did sort of feel tangible stress in the air. Classy restaurants were notably empty at lunchtime. No one was smiling (but maybe that's normal? Finance seems like an awfully boring profession to me). I was impressed by the monolithic feeling of it all, passing Trump and Schwab. Then I noticed somewhere the bull of Merrill Lynch. I remembered that Bank of America ate Merrill on Monday. I thought about Lehman and looked up as the icon of banker suicide flickered through my brain.

The scene was a lot different when I crossed South Street and hit the pier. The retardedly expensive waterfalls cascaded below the Brooklyn Bridge. Flags everywhere whipped around their flagpoles on the blustering wind. I breathed salty air and giggled at a duck wiggling his tail at me. Seagulls roosted or stood serenely atop wooden poles (what are those things called?), belying their pesty, scavenging nature.

And then the taxi came, bouncing side to side in the wavy water. I sat on the top of course, letting the wind bluster my braids around and snapping photos like a cheesy tourist. It was so much fun bobbing around in the New York Harbor while the other passengers got nervous and the guy with the pronouncedly Jewish accent behind me gave a play by play of all the stuff we passed. While the hipster roommates scoffed at those of us taking photos. While the token annoying guy-on-cell-phone shouted in German over the airwaves. While the big, hyper-industrial boat passed us and the condemned Red Hook warehouses loomed abandoned and Governor's Island twinkled in all its pretty uselessness. It was beautiful!

I can't think of a better way to go to the store, and I'm glad I spent my afternoon doing it!

In the basement of The Frying Pan

Me and the Art Shrew in The Frying Pan