Abra Goes

The Tour de Queens is a 20 mile leisurely ride through Queens on June 8^th. Registration is FREE and it’s organized by Transportation Alternatives.

The ride is limited to 500 cyclists so register now if you want to partake.

I signed up and can’t wait. The hardest part will be staying on the bike and refraining from stopping off at every single food stand. Queens is well endowed with tasty, authentic ethnic food from Indian and Thai to Greek, Italian… Many don’t realize that empanadas are premium cycling fuel.

Think you got what it takes to take a leisurely roll? 20 miles is more than I’ve ever gone on a bike, and at just 6.2 miles short of marathon distance, I’m curious to see how it feels. Let me know if you plan to ride.

I haven’t posted because a plague is upon me. It’s called ‘I am a very bad person’ plague, and it haunts you if you commit to seeing a show and don’t.

After all my jabber (see post below), I didn’t make a show on Friday. I stared at Cai Guo-Qiang’s gunpowder paintings (are they considered paintings?) and sculptures too long. We didn’t leave the Guggenheim until near closing Friday.

I’m going to go see When is a Clock this week. Not because playwright Matthew Freeman posted a comment on my blog – though for that he is awesome. I am going to see the show because after reading about the production and story a few weeks ago, I haven’t forgotten. I’m intrigued and the possibility of seeing a good show, when I haven’t seen one in so long, is irresistible.

Why do we choose the shows we do? It’s easier to pin point the negative. Deal breakers – reasons why I will not go to a show – include:

• Gimmicks – After I was kidnapped and forced to watch Heddatron at HERE, I will never be suckered into a theatre gimmick again, no matter how many robots are rolling across the stage. Can you tell I’m still bitter about the time wasted that fateful evening?
• Personal Connotations – a graduate of Tisch Dramatic writing and part of the NYC theatre community since 99, I pre-judge quite a bit based on who’s involved (but don’t we all regardless of industry?) But this is just as often the only reason I go to shows so that can’t be a negative.

So what makes a show irresistible? What would make you leave an exhibit early or even better – buy tickets in advance? Do good reviews seal the deal for you?

What if you had a show in two hours and your potential audience is uptown blankly staring a big paintings and suspended cars?

After catching Cai Guo-Qiang’s ‘I Want to Believe’ exhibit at the Guggenheim tonight, I am finally going to satisfy my itch to see a show- which I haven’t done in a very long time.

The three shows I am interested in seeing are $15-$18. And I’m taking a friend so that’s $30-36 just for the tickets. Were we to grab dinner and get a drink or two, as we often do, the total cost would likely be the same.

The cost of theatre is a problem deserving of its own post.

Here’s what I’m choosing between:

Wanderlust – a one man show at the Barrow Theatre. Great reviews, but one-person shows rarely hold my attention

When is a Clock – at the Access Theare. The last show I saw there was awful, but I’ve heard good things about this one and the story is interesting. But $18 is a lot for those oh-so-uncomfortable seats…then again playwright Matthew Freeman keeps an excellent blog on theatre and politics

Babylon, Babylon – at the Brick in Williamsburg (BK). I have a soft spot for ambitious shows, and with a cast of 30 I am tempted. This space, however excellent, is quite small for a full out production. Though I love catching shows in Brooklyn, I’ll probably pass on this one.

I have to stop before I talk myself out of seeing anything. I hate to admit it, but sometimes I choose shows based on the theatre’s proximity to good cheap food. So if whatever show I see is no good, at least I’ll have a tasty tip to share.

The elephant-headed diety, Ganesh, is the Hindu god of success.

The white elephant symbolizes patience and wisdom in Buddhism.

To many Chinese, the elephant embodies energy, strength and power.

And for dramatists, the elephant in the room can be a device for comedy or tension: Auto-subtext, the thing on everyone’s mind, but nobody’s lips. It works on stage because we learn as much from what characters don’t say as from what they do, often more.

Comedy lessons often situate a small class in a circle – each student in character with a given relationship to another character. Instructed to improvise dialogue, students go right into easy banter, mostly absurd. But put an elephant in the room and a narrative emerges.

It’s taken me too long to realize that when querying magazines it does not behoove me to be subtle. To have sub-text. My new routine involves clearing the elephants out of the room.

Switching gears from playwrighting to nonfiction on a daily basis is more than switching hats, it’s turning them inside out – removing the seams and helicopter twirls- and reconstructing the material into something more respectable. Like a kerchief?

But with both non-fiction and playwrighting, the revision process is the same (at least for me). Cutting through and eliminating every word that is not necessary. Asking:

- What am I (or the character) saying? Not saying?

- What is this about? Or Why is important now?

- Is it about the same thing at the beginning as it is at the end or I am writing off of a cliff?

These questions, asked relentlessly, make writing better. Numerous books on writing suggest there may possibly be another question or two that writers can ask themselves when revising.

Care to share yours?

Just a note to wish congratulations: Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson married earlier this month.

Both Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson are heroes of mine. Artists of all mediums: musicians, multi-media creators & producers, writers…Laurie received the first fellowship from NASA. She builds her own violins.

If I could squish any two people in the world together and BE them, it would be Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson. I would also settle for a long conversation. I have settled, however, for a friendly encounter a few years ago:

Any theatre person in NYC will tell you that just because your pockets are empty doesn’t mean you can’t see good theatre. One way to do so is by volunteer ushering. You show up an hour early, take people’s tickets and get to see the show for free. You usually meet like minded people and have an interesting time because everyone talks to ushers. They’re approachable.

So there I am at St. Anne’s Warehouse on a Sunday afternoon taking tickets for Cynthia Hopkin’s new show Accidental Nostalgia. Smiling, taking tickets, pointing to seats. Turn around and Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson are standing there, both in sweatshirts holding a diet coke and rice wrapped in seaweed, hair ruffled.

I had to sit in front of them during the show so I wouldn’t stare at their hair the whole time, styled in what hipsters refer to as ‘pieces’. I didn’t subject them to my gushing. I didn’t even tell them where their seats were. I guess I froze, but I prefer to think I respected their, uh, privacy.

A few months later, I found their contact info in a rolodex that wasn’t mine, & sent them both a letter offering them parts in a show- still waiting for that reply. Or maybe my letter was lost in the mail?

Anyway, I wish them the best.

The bank is trying to tell me my younger sister does not exist. For the third day in a row I stood in line and waited with all of her private information in hand. I got the same teller all three times – a very nice young woman who smiles, hits buttons, and then looks me in the eye and says: she doesn’t exist.

I knock on wood. She does exist.

If only this teller could finish her sentence …in our records OR …in our system. But no, she is content to tell me my younger sister does not exist (period).

The situation is not dire- I’m simply trying to help a poor grad student home from Australia. I’ll get the money to her eventually.

But in the mean time… today I learned the teller’s name. I wrote it down. Tomorrow I will look her in the eye, and after she tells me my sister does not exist, I will take a que from Daniel Quinn and reply,

‘You are not Goliath’ (or whatever her name may be).

It’s a beautiful day. Warm, bright, and 9-10 weeks from launching Mission Freelance.

In honor of Earth Day and my Grandma’s birthday, my goal today was to not use plastic. Not once.

Let’s see the many ways I’ve failed to save the planet today:

-plastic lid on my coffee to-go cup

*could have brought my own travel mug (though the lid and lining are plastic, they’re not immediately thrown away)

-plastic bags our lunch was delivered in

*could have picked up my own lunch and put it in a reusable bag or even better – brought my own lunch

-magazine purchased not printed on recycled paper

*could have not purchased the mag. could have read some content online..I’m trying to figure out if pubs printed on special tree farmed paper really are more green because they use less energy than recycling.

That’s it. What did I do that was positive? I carried my library books instead of taking a plastic bag…happy birthday, Grandma.

Best of luck to runners in Boston undertaking the Big-B marathon right now, as I type. May there be many cool breezes. May ‘Hell Hill’ have mercy. May the crowd cheer your names. May the finish line greet you.

To those who have already finished: wow

To those still going: wow

25,000 runners lined up at the starting line this morning.

Robert Cheruiyot won his third consecutive Boston Marathon, becoming the first four-time winner since Bill Rodgers. His time just 33 seconds short of the record he set two years ago- 2:7:46

Dire Tune won on the women’s side, not a bad debut. Unofficial time 2:25:25

Ernst Van Dyk won in the men’s wheelchair race with a time of 1:26:49

You can see the energy in the picture the Boston Globe used of runners stretching pre-race.

UPDATE: It looks like Dire Tune’s unofficial winning time in the Boston Marathon today of 2:25:25 beat out Deena Kastor’s winning time of 2:29:35 at the Olympic trails on Sunday.

Saturday morning called for another city run; this one we planned. RC registered for his first 5k, which is May 3rd so that leaves 2 weeks to train. (I am considering running this, too. I haven’t registered yet because this would be my first 5k, and for me this is super intimidating, and I can’t tell yet if that excites me or fills me with paralyzing anxiety.) 

-This tempting 5k is organized by Asha: a non-profit to provide basic education for impoverished children in India. The Asha 5k begins on 83rd in Riverside park and goes North to 112th Street and back – the entire course is through a park along the Hudson river complete with rolling green hills. We didn’t run this course on Saturday, and I realize I need to do some serious uphill training before attempting to do so!

Saturday morning we took the 1 train to 125th street. By the time we got to Harlem from Brooklyn, the air was cool, sky blue and I realized I’d worn too many clothes. Note to self: dress to be 20 degrees warmer. Don’t wear two hoodies and a long sleeve tee over your running tank… We both downed a GU-gel, berry flavored, before taking off (more on gels in another post, the immediate energy boost from these is helpful, but the taste and consistency are tough to swallow).

The first mile from 125th, both a cyclist and running path, has a clear and safe separation from the traffic of the west side highway. You’re running on a well cared for, paved path only feet away from the river. Best of all, there is no formal pedestrian divider between island and water. You see the George Washington Bridge fading behind you and NJ framing the horizon, but it doesn’t feel like you’re in NYC. Most places along the water front are developed and planned. This first mile is natural with trees, rocks and grass, AND no marble benches and architectural accents that sometimes compliment and sometimes smother the majority of Manhattan’s waterfront. 125th to around 95th along the Hudson is to date my favorite mile of NYC.

The street numbers become a blur when you’re not actually running from block to block, but around mile 2 Riverside Park bursts with blossoming trees, baseball fields, gardens, rusty remains of piers that have out lived their use, and foot paths that rival Central Park’s. The running path detours through the promenade due to construction, and then returns to the river as a wider passage way lined on one side with benches and the other with fishermen who planted several poles in each, drowsing against the rail fence.

A multitude of Trump buildings along the 70s explain the sculpted parks and many opportunities to stretch on perfect grass or flat sunning stones. Around the 70s, we stopped to congratulate ourselves.  Not knowing the exact distance we’d covered, but we knew we’d done about 50 blocks and felt pretty good. The warm sun combined with the wind from the highway and the breeze from the bridge kept my body temperature down.

Around the 40s, Hells Kitchen, the course is less a continous sight to savor and more a test of both endurance and peripheral vision to spot cyclists, taxis, and limos pulling into the parking lot of the montstrous cruise ship parked on the pier. We were thirsty, but refused to pay the tourist-inflated $3 for a bottle of water. So we kept on, enjoying the view of the empire state building down 34th, and the gust of moist air from the liberty helicopters landing.

We knew water awaited just past fourteenth street at the first playground pier. The final mile was tough; we walk/ran – thirsty, hot and weighed down by layers of clothes. At 12th street we collapsed on a bench, chugged a cold bottle of water each, stretched and I felt a little sunburn on my shoulders. Note to self: wear sunscreen.

Here’s our course. Again, the map doesn’t do it justice, but I haven’t figured out how to run with a camera yet. 6.05 Miles, give or take a step (thanks to US Track and Field site mapper)

I’ll definitely run this course again. Next time, I’ll stretch more early on to keep myself loose. The flatness of this path, not to be confused with the course through Riverside Park, is deceptive. I didn’t feel the impact of the run as much because the scenery is so distracting early on. But because I’m not going for speed now, as soon as the scenery ended I wished I’d stopped, stretched, and taken in more of the view. So be it – I’ll run it again in a few days and probably won’t stop then either.

My decision to register for Asha is to be determined. Right now I’m about 70 / 30 in favor of going for it. If you’ve ever run a 5k, where was your first and what did you learn? Tips would be much appreciated and used.

Miles Update:

April Goal: 30 / 42 miles

2008 Goal: 163 / 500 miles

As one of the lucky Brooklynites living 3 blocks away from Prospect Park, I am obligated to take advantage of the farmer’s market, the quiet paths, soccer fields, and MOST importantly – the 3.35 mile course that loops through the 585 acre park.

Now that the temperature is perfect for evening runs, only a fool would head to the gym. –So I thought. Until my running partner, RC, informed me through teary eyes and sneezes that Spring is derived from the Latin word for allergy (he lied).

Those white and pink flower trees that launch me into ‘I love sprint time’ whistles, bring pain to RC- if not appreciated from a distance. A slight breeze brings horror to RC’s face and a shower of pollen filled buds.

It’d be selfish of me to always push for outdoor runs, if we didn’t Both prefer them. And some of the over counter allergy meds do help. How much? Beats me.

I’ve never had allergies (knock on wood). I don’t know if I’m in the majority or minority here because it seems as though everyone I have ever known has had serious allergies.

And I thought the most challenging part of running was running. I can’t imagine struggling to breathe because my lungs are closing, on top of trying to train to breathe right as a runner.

Hats off to everyone with allergies. Hats and sneaks off to runners with allergies. If there were a 5k to raise money for research towards ending all allergies forever I would be first in line. Until then, dearest running buddies with allergies, let us buy tissues and the next round of nasal spray is on me!