I rode the subway by myself

It was a month ago, but that doesn't make it's happening any less AWESOME. I know people do this every day. But not me. I'm a born walker. I could walk from here to Albuquerque. San Francisco was the perfect city for me to live. I lived there for 7 years, 6 of which I didn't own a car. I walked everywhere.

No one walks in LA. I mean, maybe a few blocks, but not the way people walk in other cities. Everything is too spread out. The sprawl. I don't think about it now, but I do miss the walking.

So when we were in NY for the NYTVF last month, I decided to meet my friend Paige one morning, at FAO Schwarz before our afternoon meetings. I could walk there from where we were staying, but I'd have to take the subway back to Tribeca. I bought a giant Thomas the Train retractable bridge with a lighthouse, foghorn, boat, and two trains with golden buffers that could be recognized by his new Tidmouth Sheds talking railway dealie he'd gotten from Nana because of the devastation of us leaving. I had the girl unwrap the whole thing and put it in a bag, so I could carry it on the plane. Never mind the risk of the foghorn sounding repeatedly during the screenings. Never mind I spent more at Fao Schwarz than I did on any meal we had in NY all week (sad sad mommy fact).

Paige walked me to the train, and even made sure I went to the right one and didn't end up in Queens. Oh and I think she swiped her metro card for me because I didn't have one, and waiting for me to get one would have made her want to blow her brains out. Also she's really nice. So ok, big deal, I got on the train by myself rode a few stops, got off.

our little team in NY

BUT, the next day I got a call from my agent. I was going to have an audition. The next day. IN NYC. Holy smokes. I was going to have to put on make-up, figure out the right train based on the address I was given. ROCKET SCIENCE!!! I had been listening to a friend complain about the subway, about how it never runs on time. I smugly told him that I had ridden the train all by myself the day before and thought the subway system was a miracle of human engineering.

The next morning, I got up early, got ready for my audition, walked out the door of our friend's apartment, walked two blocks to the train stop only to find it was closed. Well, not closed. You could go into it, and stand there and wait for a train, but no train was going to stop there. There was a sign. NO DOWNTOWN TRAINS AT THIS STOP. Except it wasn't some big official sign. It was hand scribbled on a piece of regular 8x10 paper and taped to the wall, on the way OUT of the station.

Never mind, I am a savvy NYC subway rider, I walked two blocks over and caught another train that I new stopped near my audition. It arrived, I got on, I sat, I got off, I auditioned, I got back on, I had a very nice talk with an old mormon lady from Birch Run Michigan, I got off. As I exited the subway, I had the strong urge to by a tam, so I could throw it in the air. I didn't get the job, but OH, our pilot, Gentrification, won Best Writing, and got some great reviews. Yahooo! You're gonna make it after all...