I'm in the process of writing my story of when I was living in NYC studying acting. There's a lot to my story and for many years it's been so private and special it was hard to even talk about. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times :) If you're just tuning in, I suggest you start at Part I for it to make sense. All links in order at the bottom of this blog entry. I promise it's a juicy read. These entries often include actual journal entries from that time in my life. I'm so grateful I documented so much! Once I finish here, I hope to expand into a book. I'm posting these frequently but they'll also be interspersed with real time blogs :) Thanks for reading & supporting!
*All names are changed
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Rachel was one of my very best friends from SLC. We met a few years earlier in a class. It was on the first day of school. We saw each other from across the room, we each thought the other was cute and wanted to be friends instantly. We tell people it was love at first sight. In a short time we'd also already been through a lot together including a life changing three weeks in Hawaii. I couldn't wait to have her visiting me in NYC. I couldn't wait to show her the city, my new apartment and have her meet The Guy.
Rachel had a serious boyfriend and had been with him for quite awhile. He had kids from a previous relationship and I remember her buying gifts for them in NYC and calling him to tell him what she'd bought. I remember thinking how adult it seemed and I wondered what that level of closeness with your significant other must be like. How I couldn't imagine that with The Guy and wondered if I'd ever experience that?
I have all sorts of amazing pictures of us at The Donkey Show one night. I'm not sure how it happened but The Guy's younger brother, Sean, ended up there with us. I remember if it was planned, or if he just happened to be going. This was the beginning of what became a very close friendship with Sean over the next year. Sean was so different from The Guy. They were night and day. In personality and appearance. Sean was pretty reserved, a little shy. But so easy to talk to. He reminded me a little of Oscar. That night at The Donkey Show I saw a completely different side of Sean. He was dancing with women, men, having the time of his life! It was amazing!
Then the night came where Rachel would meet The Guy. We had pizza for lunch and I remember she ordered a slice with penne noodles cooked on top. I thought that was a really strange combination. The noodle pizza did not look appealing to me.
We met up with The Guy and his roommate, Ty in Brooklyn at a bar that night. Let me take a minute to tell you how cute Rachel is. So cute. Guys have always loved her. She's blonde and beautiful. Let me also tell you how cute Ty was. So cute. He definitely did alright with the ladies. But Rachel was completely committed to her boyfriend and although Ty was flirting with her, it wasn't going to happen. But it did make things fun.
When we went back to their apartment, Ty was excited to woo Rachel further by bringing out his bong. The Guy and I didn't partake so I remember watching Rachel start to get (just a little) paranoid. Ty opened up a bottle of wine for everyone and kept offering Rachel a glass. The more he offered Rachel this sparkling wine, the more she was convinced he was poisoning her.
Then he told her he made really great scrambled eggs. She then told him to, "get in the kitchen and make me some eggs!" He must have made the whole carton because he came back with the biggest bowl of eggs I've ever seen. And I think he was in an apron?
She had a couple of bites of the eggs and suddenly she was up and in the bathroom. I was having a great time laughing and talking to The Guy and Ty, when The Guy said Rachel had been in there quite some time and maybe I should go check on her.
Uh oh. I went in to find Rachel cleaning up after getting sick. I totally remember seeing some of those penne noodles and saying, "you missed a spot".
She came back out and seemed fine. This was about the time The Guy told me to come to his room...to help him hang a lantern. No, seriously. He'd just bought this light green chinese lantern. He was slowly building his "meditation chamber". I literally thought we'd hang this light and come right back out to Rachel and Ty. She tells me the minute she heard The Guy asking me to help him hang this lantern that she knew I wasn't coming back. Turned out she was right. But we did hang the lantern.
The next day I found out that Ty had tried to kiss her. Not stopped by the fact that she had been sick, turned down his sparkling wine, or wasted his giant bowl of eggs, he did stop when she told him she was taken and it wasn't going to happen.
She said she'd slept on the couch and had woken up in the night to see Ty inches away, staring at her! Then he'd smile and look down, pretending to straighten the magazines on the table. She said this happened more than once!
I felt bad I had abandoned her but once again, I fell victim to the power that was The Guy.
I think we took it pretty easy the next night. She was still a little queasy and before we went to bed that night we happened to catch an episode of Jerry Springer that was all about people who throw up on on each other. What else? Great. I woke up in the night to see Rachel next to me with a towel completely wrapped around her head. What the hell? The next morning I asked her if she was okay and she said she'd been sick again in the night and had brought in the towel just in case. "Too much barf talk makes one feel barfy", said Rachel. That would become a famous line in the history of our friendship. And so did, "looks like noodle pizza!"
We still giggle about the boys, the eggs and the sparkling wine.
We had an amazing time and it really did me good to have her there. It somehow made my new life there feel more real. She'd met The Guy, she'd stayed at my place, she'd seen it all.
I was sad to see her go. I wish she could stay and be a part of this completely different life. There were aspects of what I'd left behind and what I'd found that I longed to mesh to have more balance.
But school was starting very soon and I was ready to get back into the swing of things. I was ready to have a routine, to work hard, to finally get to do school plays. But right before it was time, something happened that none of us ever could have imagined. Something that changed the lives of so many, that changed the city...that changed the world.
September 11, 2001.
Part 1: http://beanerlarue.blogspot.com/2011/06/new-york-state-of-mind.html
Part 2: http://beanerlarue.blogspot.com/2011/06/new-york-state-of-mind-part-ii.html
Part 3: http://beanerlarue.blogspot.com/2011/06/my-new-york-diaries-part-3.html
Part 4: http://beanerlarue.blogspot.com/2011/06/my-new-york-diaries-part-4.html
Part 5: http://beanerlarue.blogspot.com/2011/06/my-new-york-diaries-part-5.html
Part 6: http://beanerlarue.blogspot.com/2011/06/my-new-york-diaries-part-6.html
Part 7: http://beanerlarue.blogspot.com/2011/06/im-in-process-of-writing-my-story-of.html
Part 8: http://beanerlarue.blogspot.com/2011/06/my-new-york-diaries-part-8.html
Time to Press Pause: http://beanerlarue.blogspot.com/2011/06/time-to-press-pause.html
Part 9: http://beanerlarue.blogspot.com/2011/06/my-new-york-diaries-part-9.html
Part 10: http://beanerlarue.blogspot.com/2011/06/my-new-york-diaries-part-10.html
Part 11: http://beanerlarue.blogspot.com/2011/06/my-new-york-diaries-part-11.html
Part 12: http://beanerlarue.blogspot.com/2011/06/my-new-york-diaries-par-12.html
Part 13 (with an extra shot) http://beanerlarue.blogspot.com/2011/07/my-new-york-diaries-part-13-with-extra.html
Part 14: http://beanerlarue.blogspot.com/2011/07/my-new-york-diaries-part-14.html
Part 15: http://beanerlarue.blogspot.com/2011/09/my-new-york-diaries-part-15.html
Part 16: http://beanerlarue.blogspot.com/2011/09/im-in-process-of-writing-my-story-of.html
No comments:
Post a Comment