To ponder my despondency...

October 19th to November 2nd
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Last I posted I was on an airplane flying from NYC to LA. BUT. For blogging purposes, there was a gap in my life story that needs to be filled. The following is the filler...of said gap.

Graphical representation of gap:
------------------------------------
Japan................<---old post
Japan to Reno..<---old post
Week in Reno...<---partially posted
Reno to LA.......<---story will be told in future post
Week in LA......<---story will be told in future post
LA to NYC.......<---this post
Month in NYC.<---this post
NYC to LA.......<---story will be told in future post
LA.....................<---story will be told in future post

After I had left Reno (where snowmen were built, and Chesters were played with) to go back to LA, I spent a week catching up with some "old" friends. That week in particular is kind of a blur, but it did involve playing Bioshock with Don and Halo 3 with Steve. And of course everyone I had been keeping in touch with while I was in Japan suddenly disappeared once I was back home...gotta love the LA flakes.


So I spent a little less than a week in LA (as previously established) and then departed to NYC to work on another show with the infamous Zak, and stay with the infamous Emerik.
It would be a time to live in...infamy?


My direct flight to NYC was an almost empty plane, VERY strange for a direct flight across the country.


So I kicked back and enjoyed a whole row to myself, reflecting on previous travels and life experiences.


Because, once again, I was on a plane. Going somewhere.


With a new mohawk under my hat, and a beard on my face.


8 hour later I was back in a very familiar place. Emily & Erik's couch.


It's like time never even passed since the last visit...


But Erik was still overcome with emotions. Very...violent...emotions.


Yup. That's the new doo (that I've had for over a month at the time I'm typing this...)


That's gonna be one ugly kid.


It's like my hair is spiky again...but only in the middle :)


Zak's first reaction said it best, "You look like a default skater from Tony Hawk Pro Skater."


Yeah. Except with some Trucker Jacket flair! Bitches.


Again, I can't go into much detail on the show I was working on- but this is the main control center we had set up for video village.


It was pretty...elaborate.


Derek on a NYC subway.


This was a couple nights into the trip, but Ron and I went out to some bars- this one in particular had $2 beers. The selection was "dark beer" or "light beer." I wish all of life's decisions were that easy.
And full of alcohol.


I might as well mention it now, but I went out almost EVERY single night AND, never slept more than 3 hours a night (except for one) the whole trip I was there.
I'm still not sure how exactly my body was able to handle that...
It was great to see Ron again, I wish he'd move to LA so we could have adventures.


Jenny L.
Ron brought her over one night when we were having a little shin dig. Never met the girl in my life- but anyone with 15 lbs. of dreads for hair and an interest in playing drinking Jenga is a friend in my book.
In the end it turned out that I hung out with her a couple more times, even had a chance to meet her boyfriend (Who lives in Buffalo. You idiot! Get to NYC and be with your awesome girl!). I definitely look forward to hanging out again some day...


Oh man. What a motley crew.
Especially Kristen, the sexiest secretary intern on the interweb ;)


Drinking Jenga. Do I really need to say any more?


Haha, and Jenny....still standing in the corner.


This guy.
I love this guy.


Something metal was going on. I'm not sure what.


Oh. That's what!


Guitar Hero and a toppled Jenga tower, and to think when I was in high school I was afraid of growing up...


This is the part of Manhattan I was working in.


Rumor has it that that building is kind of a big deal.


I think this night we went out to Barcade. A bar...that's full of classic arcade machines. I love that place.
The new face next to mine is Emily's sister. If she didn't have a boyfriend I could totally try and be Emily's bro-in-law. That'd be totally sweet.
Even sweeter- I'd be Erik's bro-in-law-in-law. That's pretty bro-core.


Strike that. THIS is bro-core.


Um...the family genes are...a little...not right.


That's my man. Rock those ladies Erik.


And steal that ho's last name!


Oh no he di--nt!


Yeah. Turned out there was a zombie on the subway. Everyone was pretty calm about it...except Ron. Ron was NOT calm about it. Ron was the OPPOSITE of calm.


Ultimately leading to his death. It's a shame the black guy always has to die first...


Erik shows extreme concern for the garbage train. Stupid waiting. Why can't WE ride the garbage train.


The first other person I've met in my life (since Tristan) that can make an ostrich with their hands. God...Erik/Emily's wedding is going to be sooooo messed up!


This is the building right across from where our office was stationed at. I liked this building :)


We had a nice cobble stone road too!


This was a day they were shooting the "Sex in the City" movie on our street.


Yup. Definitely in NYC.


If you are ever a little soused and trying to find your way home in NYC, I suggest making a stop at the 34th st. station.


There are infrared beans being shot along the top of the train track, and if you wave your arm, or umbrella, or whatever, through the beams- they each play a musical note or sound effect.
So...I basically just kept running up and down the subway platform like a maniac, annoying all the homeless people trying to sleep, as I tried to compose a masterpiece.
And...I was alone.


Here's a plaque explaining the whole piece.


Emily likes to take pictures of me when I'm not looking.


Haha, the pink camera crew dresses in STYLE.


Petros is the only guy on the pink crew. DUDE, this guy can CUT A RUG. You've never seen a white boy pop-n-lock like this guy, it's outrageous.


On this particular night I went to hang out with Jenny and her boy at a bar that plays Sabres games on their tv's. Emerik crashed the scene.


In style.


AND!!!! This is super exciting for me! Stephanie J. from CAZENOVIA even showed up!!! She was in the grade below me back in my hometown, point guard on my sis' basketball team...it's probably been a solid 7 years since I had seen her :) Very very good to see an old face (which hasn't changed at ALL!).
It turns out she lives right in Astoria, near Erik and Emily. It also turned out that Jenny lives near there too. It also turns out that Lesley (who you don't know yet because I haven't blogged that part of my life yet) was recently on the very street in Astoria that Erik and Emily live on. It also turns out Gogol Bordello started in Astoria.
Astoria, it turns out, is THE shit.


And as if Stephanie showing up wasn't enough, so did the FABULOUS Mr. Kai "Magnus"


Kai's third white arm gives the chicken a big thumbs up.


Stephanie starts to realize what kind of mess she got herself into. Nothing a white Russian can't fix.


Ladies and Gentlemen- Troy D.
(D.P. of this show)


I've worked with Troy on every other show I've done but NEVER has it been this...fly?...I'm grasping for words here.


Never has Saturday Night Fever been so perfectly emulated in hip-hop fashion.


Puzo!


I worked with Puzo when I was living in that casino in Temecula. He uh...wasn't wearing a wig during that show. (Yes, that's just a wig.)


The little lady next to him would be KO (Kristen).


She had one of the best quotes ever one night when we were out drinking. Let me lay out the scene for you: So we're at this really really quiet dim bar, lit by candle light only. The only other people in the bar are a young couple in a booth, dressed up assumable from an earlier event. In rolls our belligerent crowd, totally killing any mood the bar might have had, we look around and it dawns on us this might not be the right bar to stop at. On our way out the door KO yells, "Call me when you get a DJ!"
It was beautiful.


Everyone was a rock star this day. (As Puzo wails on his mic boom...)
Oh. Type "Puzo" into Google if the name doesn't sound familiar. That's Puzo's grandfather. Yeah. Good luck trying to fill those shoes buddy ;)


A trapeze set on top of a rooftop that overlooks Manhattan. And you know who just happens to work here? The drummer for Gogol Bordello.


Yeah, he personally told me after asking where I got my Gogol Bordello hoodie from, and how I heard of them. (Pictured above: me with Gogol Bordello hoodie...and Mohican hair.)


He was excited when I told him that I wore that hoodie to the top of Mt. Fuji :)


Rooftop of a different location.


I dunno...just seemed like an interesting place to take pictures of.


Rats with wings.


That's the only thing keeping gravity from beating the elevator.


It's oldness is was not to reassuring...


Unfortunately these are all the pics I have to show for.

This trip was weird. Despite being incredibly sleep deprived and working early hours...this was the first time I've been to NYC and made so many new friends. Or people like Jeff, Jason and Ted, who I had worked with on Runway, seemed to become even better friends.
Of course I had all my friends from college and high school too, who I wish I could live closer to...it's a shame to live so far from my strongest friends.
At the end of the trip I felt like I was surrounded by some sort of alter-life. A life where I could just up and move to NYC and be just as comfortable as I am in LA. Know just as many familiar faces, but also have just as many new faces to keep life interesting.


Being homeless...it was actually a viable option. I didn't vocalize it to many people, mainly just my parents...but I was an inch away from moving back to the East Coast.

That's when you know you had a good trip.