The blog of firsts

Well. Today has been a day. Hahaha a day of firsts. There is no other way I can describe it.

First, the not so exciting stuff...WHO AM I KIDDING??? Everything here is exciting! The Empire State Building is currently lit up like a freaking rainbow for Pride Week! It rained in New York City today! I saw a cockroach today! Wait - what!? Oh yeah, I'll get there.

So yes, I'm here in NYC for one of the biggest civil rights events in our country's history. It's been pretty cool to be in the biggest city in the country while all this has been going on. There are all kinds of people celebrating and all kinds of people...definitely not celebrating (I'm trying very hard to be polite, here) but anyway, the point is, it's crazy to be living in a place like New York at a time of such vast social change. Like I said before, there are rainbows everywhere and it's been pretty moving to see so many happy people everywhere celebrating equality. I have a picture of the Empire State Building all lit up in different colors. Several other landmarks, like the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum, are also sporting brightly colored rainbow lights. We had a pretty cool moment the other night at the show, too. Usually, our pre-show speech is recorded, and we almost never have live addendums (according to my Fault Line co-workers). On Friday, Chopper got to go out in front of the audience to make a special announcement. It went something like this: "Ladies and gentlemen, my name is, blah blah blah....thanks to today's SCOTUS ruling, some of the subject matter of our show is now, thankfully, out of date". It was a pretty big day for America's history and it was a very cool moment to be a part of.

I did not take this it came from the internet, I just thought it'd be cool to show you guys.

In other news...it's been raining in New York for almost three days so I'm going to go a little out of order in an effort to keep with the order set in my introductory paragraph (thank you, Nardin Academy). With a lot of this rain came a pretty standard stretch of lethargy. I am now on Season 5, Episode 5 of How I Met Your Mother. The episode where Robin becomes an American citizen and Lilly, Marshall, and Ted go on a road trip. This show is really just the funniest. It also has so much heart and the Doogie Hauser/Canada/New York jokes crack me up. I'm really loving it so far. Since I know a lot of my teachers will be disappointed in me if I was spending all of my time just watching Netflix from my bed, I feel I should inform you that I have also been reading some! I am currently working my way through Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (it's my first time, so I'm taking my time with it), a new stage management book that I bought at drama bookshop, and when I feel like taking a break from the serious, I've been slowly reading Wicked (the novel). I actually have four other books (at least) that I'd like to get through this summer, so I really have to start moving on that.

I have a few firsts to share with you guys now. The first first (hehehe I enjoyed that) is seemingly pretty silly but I am very excited about it! I am now a brand new Uber user! That's right, lady's and gents: I am probably the last millenial on the planet to get the awesome car service app. And let me tell you just how awesome my first experience was. So after post-show drinks tonight at the Soho Room with a bunch of people, Chopper, Elizabeth, and myself all walked to get some food at a pretty cool place called Wolfnights on the Lower East Side. Chopper and I had a very long discussion about baseball, Elizabeth rolled her eyes at us, I was fed, it was a lovely evening for a walk, yadda yadda yadda. So when it came time to come home I just decided that I was going to get an Uber account! I got 20$ off my first ride, and so I ended up only paying like $8.28 to get back to my apartment on the Upper West Side from the Lower East Side!!! It was awesome! Not to mention, my Uber driver Kutub was the man!!! Not like "Miss Mullins, she's the man" man, like, this guy was so cool. He told me all about his life as an Uber driver and how great of a company it is and about his three kids. He also told me the awesome story of how his family came to America and how he brought his wife over. He was sweet enough to point out a lot of the landmarks and neighborhoods we passed through since I told him I was new in town. On my way out of the car he gave me a good passenger rating and asked me to pray for his kids, as they are still young. It was a really sweet moment and you can bet I will be praying for them tonight. Shameless plug - if you sign up for an Uber account use my promo code - nicoles5352ue - and we will both get free rides up to 20$! Which as I can now say, quite literally goes a long way! ;)

I crack myself up!

My other first was noootttt so pleasant. Today I had my first run-in with a NYC cockroach. Holy Christmas, Batman, that was some scarrryyy/gross stuff. I was not excited for that. So anyway, I got home tonight, really excited about how my evening had gone and thinking about my day off tomorrow (the only reason I am up at 3:34 AM writing this post right now), when I went into the bathroom to wash my hands (because Manhattan germs, gross). I don't know what made me look to the right into my shower, but there it was, A COCKROACH THE SIZE OF MY INDEX FINGER. OH my goodness I am still grossed out just thinking about it!!! YEESH, if there was ever a time for the moneky covering his face emoji, it'd be now! It being 2:30 in the morning, I somehow managed not to scream, repeated "ohmygodohmygodoh.my.GAWD" over and over again under my breath, and grabbed a bowl to put over the stupid thing (disposable bowl of course). I called down to the front desk, and very very quickly and in what I can only assume was in a high-pitched, ridiculous voice, begged the guy to send someone first thing in the morning to come get my little friend out of my bathroom. Of course, being the gentleman Johan (the night doorman) is, he came right up to get it for me, and he only mildly laughed at me!....Okay, he laughed at me a lot, but I would have too so I don't blame him. Once the cockroach, we'll call him Bob, was apprehended and disposed of (Bob was flushed), I practically kissed Johan's feet and gave him a couple Wegman's cookies to take down to the front desk with him. Though he promised it wasn't a big deal, I was certainly grateful...though I still have a bit of the heebeejeebees.

Before I sign off for the night, I want to send a greatttt big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my love, Miss Maya Farhat on her 21st birthday! I'm so proud of you and I'm so lucky to be your friend. Enjoy your day, dear!

I also wanted to share with you something that made me smile. To get to HERE everyday I take the express 2 or 3 train to 14th street and transfer over to the local 1 train to get off at Houston. Sometimes I have a 3-5 minute wait. Well the other day I noticed some funny stickers on the sign of the pillar I usually stand next to while I wait (yeah, yeah I have a favorite pillar, so sue me). I got a little happy when I saw them so I thought I'd include them. It really is the little things. :)

Have a great Monday, everyone. I'll be sleeping! :)