This is Moynihan Train Hall, newly opened. It’s the Amtrak hub of Penn Station and it’s really gorgeous and efficient. There’s a nice waiting room with furniture designed in what is clearly an homage to old train stations. There will be a food hall, but nothing has opened yet, except for a Starbucks and a Magnolia Bakery, and since I’m off sugar, that ain’t happening.
I’ve spent a fair amount of time here this past week and as much as I like it, I’m glad it’s over.
Sunday afternoon, just about an hour before we were to leave for the train station, I got an email from the stage manager, asking if I’d told the Covid Safety guy that I was going to be at rehearsal Monday. Ummm…no. Since the company contracted me for Monday and since all those in charge knew I was coming, why would I tell him? He would know, right? I assumed that since he hadn’t contacted me, I didn’t need another test. The next hour or so – even after I’d left the house – was a back and forth with him about whether I needed a test. The Amtrak train ran late, so there was no way I was going to be able to get one on Sunday. Long story short, I had to get one on Monday morning, which – again – I had to pay for. He admitted it was his fault and that he had dropped the ball – I could have had one done here for free on Friday had I known.
I got one. It was negative. But I let him know I was angry that I’d had to pay nearly $400 for Covid tests and that, in the future, this company – in situations where they require a quick turnaround PCR test – needs to make the appointment for the employee/contractor and pay upfront. Between cabs, ubers, and covid tests, I’m out more than $600. I’ll be reimbursed, but in the meantime, we have bills to pay. To assume that anyone coming in for a rehearsal, especially young actors, and this cast is full of them, has money on hand to pay for these tests is wrong.
I swear, the logistics of these three days in NYC were the hardest. Rehearsals were good, they were productive and satisfying. But getting into the city, trying to find a cab to take me to Queens (finding a cab in Queens is even harder,) grabbing another cab to go back into Manhattan for the test, trying to find food to eat in the Queens neighborhood I was in, trying to grab an Uber that would get me to Penn Station in the rush hour pouring rain…I’m exhausted. I have a love/hate relationship with the city. We live in the country and the contrast couldn’t be more stark. It’s so crowded. Traffic jams everywhere. Horns honking repeatedly. Exciting if you’re a first-time visitor, not at all exciting when you’ve spent a lot of time there.
Today, I’m back to working with Ben on the newly revised script. And I’m panicked because in 20 days or so I’m off to Brooklyn/NYC for 6 weeks.
Let’s have some Sophie fun. I posted this on Sunday, right before I left, based on a suggestion from Don.
Sophie is having none of Big Boy’s flirting. None of it.
I will quote Don: “How can she resist him? Seriously, how can she resist him???”
Stay safe.
Happy Tuesday.
Just opened my computer and your’s was the first I have read. Loved, loved, loved the Sophie/Big Boy. Nothing but a big smile first thing in the morning! Also I have been recording some episodes of “Elementary”. Saw a handsome Don in one of them. Another nice smile point in my day. Thanks! And…I don’t blame you about being out that money! To get reimbursed is great, but the bills, the bills! They are sitting on the kitchen table and need to be paid! Hang in there. This will be settled soon I hope.
Yes, Don did an episode of that show.
Thanks so much, Tana.
Just submitted all my bills and invoice for coaching.
Stay safe.
It is difficult to get back into the swing of things after our Covid exiles! We got so used to a quiet, peaceful life and now you are back into the middle of it again! I am sure with each time you go in, you will remember your old tricks for surviving and thriving in the city. Renew while you are home and you will be ready to face the frenzy again! Good luck!
Thanks so much, Ellen.
Stay safe.
Oh my! I thought it was a little odd that you hadn’t been instructed to get another covid test. They certainly need to organize things better, and pay for it themselves. Which makes me wonder how they can charge for covid testing at all. Shouldn’t they be able to bill your insurance? I suppose you are paying for the quick processing but it seems a bit shady to me.
I hope Sophie’s new friends arrive soon.
Big Boy is clearly annoying her.
Rest up now. I think your film adventure will be more fun.
Stay safe
Of course it’s shady. And if you pick ‘bill to my insurance’ your results take several days to come through. Everyone is profiting off this, sad to say.
Stay safe, Marilyn.
He’s a little creepy, Don! Lol! Anyway. I used to hate the reimbursement idea! We had that a lot when I worked as a teacher in a Title 1 program. We would pay for the Parent event out of pocket and then be reimbursed, but it would take months for that reimbursement to come in and teacher pay here in NC is horrible!
I expect this one to get here within a week. I’ve already been in contact with them and they’re about to write the check.
Stay safe, Jane!
That is a beautiful station. I can only imagine how it is in the city. I’ve been home so much that when I go out and there is a lot of traffic it bothers me. I know I’m getting old but also I’m so use to a simpler life now. Sophie is wise to watch out for Big Boy! Hugs!
I used to laugh at my parents for hating traffic after they’d moved up to northern Michigan, but now I get it!
Stay safe, Linda.
Claudia — glad you are home –safe!! here in Ky we know times for ‘rush hour’ HaHa and plan our times out on errands very carefully.can’t fathom how awful NYC must be all the time!! enjoy some down time. stay safe, healthy
It can be exciting and it can be awful!
Stay safe, Linda.
Moynihan Hall is beautiful
Gosh, the look on Sophie’s face is eerily human. . . those eyes! Glad you are having so much fun with her ;-).
I know. Blythe dolls are known for that, especially now when the quality of the eye chips is so much better than it used to be.
Thanks, Janice!
Stay safe.
Dealing with city busy-ness has to be especially challenging after hunkering down for the past year and a half. You survived though!
I had wondered if you needed to be tested for covid weekly. It is still new territory and so it is easy to see how misunderstandings and miscommunications occur. At least your check will be arriving soon and maybe the company learned something in the process. One can hope!
Big Boy and I have a memorably unpleasant history. Tell Sophie she’s smart to steer clear. He can’t cook anything I would ever eat! Just sayin’.
Don has three of them because a Big Boy restaurant was part of a very important event in his life. A life changing event.
When I ate meat decades ago, I loved nothing more than one of their double deckers!
Stay safe, Roxie.
Oh, Claudia. What a mess. I hope the film company is better organized. All those non-equity gypsies of a youthful age sure don’t have that kind of money hanging about for the testing. I’m glad you were upfront with him — something needs to change on that score. Well, at least you got to see that gorgeous station — maybe more than you wished, but it is a stunner.
LOVING Sophie’s expressions! Don’t mes with that girl!
I saw the station last week, too, but I didn’t take a picture. It’s really lovely.
Stay safe, Jeanie.
That’s a staggering amount of expense! You had every right to give that guy a piece of your mind; yes, it makes sense that for a young, working, ‘starving’ actor, they wouldn’t likely have that kind of ready cash. Good grief, I had no idea a test was $400; my husband didn’t pay anything for his drive-thru one in the store parking lot (result in three days; yours was obviously one with a higher price for quick turnaround?). Gee whiz; I’m so glad this is over for you for now.
I’m just wondering, isn’t Brooklyn probably a nicer place than Queens? Park Slope being especially nice? Maybe it’ll feel much more welcoming and even less harried, with better places to eat, etc.? A lot of celebs live in Park Slope. And isn’t Brooklyn in general sort of gentrified and family-friendly? Remember, I’m in SoCalif and I’m knowing nothing about NY/Manhattan or the boroughs.
Speaking of SoCalif: WE GOT RAIN LAST NIGHT. Big, fairly long-lasting amount of impressive lightning (thunder more subdued although it rattled the windows once; didn’t somehow bother my elderly dog who can’t tolerate fireworks). Couldn’t believe the rain didn’t bypass us as usual but, after fits & starts, here it came; pouring for a blissful little while. We opened all the windows. (Meteorologist on TV said it’s the best air quality in the burbs all around L.A. and L.A. itself in MONTHS; the rain cleaned the air of smoke and dirt and dust!
[I felt like the weather guy was so happy he was about to do a happy dance.]) The power blew out for an hour but, OMG, to HEAR and SMELL rain, see a little bit of wet earth remaining this morning, a lot of stuff washed off of dust and ash; GLORIOUS. IT HAS BEEN SO LONG FOR US. We got a quarter inch and we will take it!
I was in Malibu this morning earlier and the skyscape with the seascape (still feeling overall as a bit of stormy environment) was just sort of ‘epic’ and I can’t remember when I’ve seen the Pacific look so Mediterranean-like, with the sea green, the teals, the aquas and then the midnight blue. Awesome. I’ve had so much anxiety for too long now and I felt like a new woman after the drive and the destination. The salty air and sea-spray at high tide was a tonic. What can I say; my dear husband knew what I needed, and I haven’t been to Malibu since pre-pandemic. There were zero crowds, hardly any tourists anywhere, wide-sweeping vistas of just coastline with no cars or trailers or motorhomes. Every kind of shore bird from gulls to sandpipers; huddled further up on shore where the sand is dry, away from the water line and clustered together, hunkered down against the brisk wind (but always eyes on the waves breaking [you never know what might wash up to eat {we watched a film shoot for awhile; I think they were gonna have to give it up, sand blowing on cameras, their tent canopies looking like they could collapse; thermos after thermos trying to hold down paper goods on the caterer’s/food-service tables }]).
Ugly container ships ‘way out there, on their way somewhere and away from the stack-up in L.A. harbor/Long Beach. But at least this far north, no oil slick. This offshore oil spill (maybe you’ve seen the news headlines) is absolutely awful; it’s all over our SoCalif news stations. I saw a guy interviewed in Huntington Beach (these names would sound familiar to you, Claudia, from when you lived further south in San Diego), said he lived there all his life, couldn’t believe the dead fish, the struggling birds, seals trying to crowd on a buoy to get out of the oil; the guy choked up, he could barely speak, it’s just so upsetting. He said he was heartbroken, that he’d never seen something so bad for the ocean and its wonderful sea life.
I can’t remember this kind of disaster in a long time. Experts are saying it could wind up being the worst spill in California history. All because some container ship, unfamiliar in these waters, dragged anchor and hit the underground pipeline, or so seems to be the story, not entirely substantiated yet. I’m waiting to hear how this could have been avoided, knowing ships are out there; like why wasn’t the pipeline under the water more protected. Maybe when they put it in, there was no such thing as these gigantic-boxy-hulking-heavy-container ships. To me, they’re as much of an eyesore for the ocean view/horizon as the offshore oil platforms. (Sorry, but I think they’re menacing and I hate them!) I know there’s a whole argument about the value of the oil, but tell that to the oil-clogged dying birds. I know there’s a whole ‘thing’ about the container ships because Americans want their delayed goods. And I’m an American consumer, too.
But I had to turn off the TV last night; I couldn’t watch them wash down another bird (they use Dawn dish detergent you know; everybody wants to help and volunteer but you have to be trained as these are wild creatures never touched by human hands [yet I saw a veterinarian open wide a pelican’s huge ‘beak’, I think to see if his ‘throat’ had to be cleaned out and the bird seemed so tame but I imagine it was in a state of shock; here it is in a building and confined, whereas it usually flies free]; they’re needing stuff like even portable cardboard pet carriers, syringes for various ‘cc’ measurements [I don’t quite know why; probably to administer some kind of antibiotic or sedative?]; a whole list of needs to help our seagoing friends).
All my life, we have tar on certain beaches but nothing like these sometimes pizza-sized and obscene gobs of hardened oil.
Okay, gotta leave that and get back to the beautiful blue water that was NOT abused by the oil slick. And our rainwashed landscape AFTER the dirty Santa Anas (wind); perfect timing for the cleansing/cleaning rain. What a blessing! Anywhere I went today where there were people, all anybody could talk about was RAIN. But my husband and I drove over one of the largest river beds in the area and there still wasn’t even a rivulet of water in that large river bottom. Usually you’ll see what looks like a snaking ‘ditch’ of water in severe drought; but, nothing. Not even the rain could put water in the river yet. Fingers crossed there’ll be more rain to come, though; always hope!
Another interesting thing about row crops today (lots of agriculture in the coastal plain in these parts, going right out to the shoreline): Artichokes, cilantro and table grapes. Usually I see so much of the cruciferous veggies of cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage. So, wow, a big change, at least to me, to see all these grapes on trellis after trellis (stakes in the ground); I guess they COULD be wine grapes; certain vintages prefer the cool ocean air. Pinot maybe? (So very ‘Sideways’, ala the road trip film; Paul Giamatti, Virginia Madsen, Thomas Haden Church, Sandra Oh.) Anyway, acres and acres of nothing else but those three crops. I’ve never seen so many grapes except in indeed ‘Sideways country’ of the Santa Ynez Valley in SoCalif, or maybe Napa (for wine grapes); this must be the new thing. (I associate table grapes with Calif’s Central Valley [middle of the state, like John Steinbeck country; William Saroyan] but never on the coast so much further south; it was interesting to see. [You can tell I don’t get out much. I’m just all-a-dither of seeing something besides the four walls! I never get a real vacation, not much in over 30 years, but I love being a tourist in my own state; we get some good staycations around here, not so far from home and very do-able and helpful in a pandemic!])
Love your photo of the train station. It’s hard for me to tell: is the magenta/hot-pink (Barbie pink) a lot of neon? (Nah, it’s paint, right? [Poor Amtrak; getting a lot of negative press from the Montana derailment and now that shooting on the train in Arizona.]) Thanks for sharing the photo; the station sure looks spacious.
It’s neon. xo
Or maybe not. Pink lighting?
It breaks my heart. And all because of our dependence on oil, which is the source of nothing but potential trouble. Sounds like the oil spill off the coast of New Orleans. I can’t even think about all the birds, and fish and sea life. I can’t go there.
Glad you got rain1
Clarifying for you: My first test via the pharmacy was free. But I was told it looked like the results wouldn’t be back in time for me to start work the next day.
But if you have to have a fast PCR test turnaround, aka results in less than an hour, you have to pay. You can go through your insurance but then you don’t have the fast turnaround. In this case, the test was $195. I had to get two of them, so the cost for both was $390.
Stay safe, Vicki!
Thanks for the photos. Very interesting commentary on your travels. It is so wonderful that you are working again.
We are traveling in North Carolina. So many restaurants are closed. Things are still off.
They will be for a long while, I fear.
Stay safe on your journey, Kay.
Please tell me if your sister is ok………I must have missed her comment ….I sometimes don’t get to read every day…but I have been checking the last 10 days…..I hope she and her family are well…..Harvey
I’m not sure what you’re talking about…Do you mean my great-niece?