Good Morning America, and Goodbye All You Can Jet

In the proverbial words of Diane Sawyer on her final day at GMA (which naturally made me cry):

“For the last time, Good Morning America.”

I am sitting in JFK for one last cocktail and blog update before I head home to San Francisco. When I get home, it will be 30 days to the hour that I left on my trip.  I will have taken 16 flights (counting all the connections and layovers) and been home for a grand total of 60 hours.  More statistics, photos, and feelings to follow in the next few days.

I got into JFK on Monday morning around 10:00, and didn’t get in to Rosie and Zoe’s apartment until noon.  Despite my ability to get around and navigate new cities for the last 4 weeks, the Subway platforms at Penn Station had me all kinds of confused on Monday morning (see “3 hours of sleep” for an excuse). I literally carried my suitcase up and down the same flight of stairs 3 times because I wasn’t sure I was on the right platform.  I should have channeled the judges’ advice on Top Chef to “trust [my] instincts,” but instead (and as per usual) I second-guessed myself until I reached my What’s the Worst That Can Happen mode and hopped on the next subway that arrived.  Thankfully, it went in the right direction, and I made it to the apartment. But I didn’t have a key card pass to the building.  Rosie and I had set up a hiding place for the key ahead of time, so I wasn’t worried about getting into the apartment once I breached security got inside.  I figured I’d just follow someone in or wait for someone to come out and sneak in. It was raining that day, and I was exhausted, so I was anxious to get in and nap (a pattern in my life if there ever was one).  I saw an older lady heading towards the building from about a half block away, so I picked up my pace and tried following her in.  She was either:

a)    in a hurry

b)   terrified of the ominous squeaking from my suitcase wheels

c)    not as old as I thought she was

and got inside and made sure the door was shut behind her before I was even close. Now what was I supposed to do?  Instead of trying to be proactive, I decided to set a timer and see how long I would have to stand in the rain before I got inside.  I didn’t want to get caught by security for loitering or looking like a terrorist (every city has a See Something. Say Something. policy now…) so I put my $160k education in Theatre Arts to use and played it cool for 3 minutes until I saw someone leaving the lobby and raced inside pretended like I just got there.

I woke up in time for dinner and went to meet Wildcats Steve, AnnaRose, and surprise guest Molly at Paris Commune.  We all got the steak frites special, split a couple bottles of wine, and made fun of caught up on people we went to high school with.  Everyone is doing so well in New York.  Good work, guys.  We went to a bar afterwards to continue our reunion, and then parted ways.

I slept in a bit the next morning, aka through everyone in the apartment getting ready for work, caught up on ye olde DVR, and then went into Times Square for the afternoon.  I walked up to Central Park and checked out the fanciness up that way.  I went into FAO Schwarz and saw their Build A Muppet Station which is essentially a Build a Bear—but with customizable MUPPETS.  I couldn’t justify the $99 cost, or more importantly, figure out how I would get it home, so I passed and went to look at the $1000 stuffed animals and Big Piano instead.  Then I walked over to the Plaza Hotel to pretend like I was in Home Alone 2: Lost In New York, but there were no crazy pigeon ladies, and I left my TalkBoy at home so I didn’t have my recording of Uncle Frank singing “the Cougar” in the shower to scare away Tim Curry. Bummer.  I did, however, change my internal soundtrack to the Home Alone theme, which also plays in my head every time I walk through an airport terminal.

In the grand tradition of riding on my successful siblings coattails, I met up with Jeff’s former boss Reprise-r Danny, who just started as Managing Director at a not for profit theatre in NY.  They have a lot of exciting stuff in the works so it was cool to hear about all of that.  Danny had some good advice on theatre jobs in NY—which I’m kinda sorta considering—and opinions on some of the places that I’ve been looking at.  He also shared his feelings on shirtless Facebook pictures: don’t. We had a quick drink, and then I headed off for the theatuh.

One of the reasons I decided to end my trip in NY was to see a preview performance of the new musical Women on the Verge of A Nervous Breakdown, which may or may not be based on my family.  I’m kidding. It’s based on the Spanish film and has a lot of Broadway stars and is directed by SI’s Tony Award winning alum, Bart Sher. I ordered tickets for October 5^th the day they went on sale. Well, last week they announced that they had to push the previews back until the 8^th, which left me SOL and with a night free in NY.  I decided to go see Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson because everyone I know loved it when it was Off-Broadway over the summer.  If I was a critic, the title of my review would be Duddy Duddy Andrew Jackson.  Maybe it just wasn’t my kind of music (rock), or content (history) or humor (stupid) but I didn’t enjoy it.  Of the 9 shows I saw in the last 30 days, this was my least favorite (and the only one for which I bought a full price ticket).  But as they said at the end of every Reading Rainbow segment, “don’t take my word for it!” Check it out at your local library.  I met up with Wildcat Erin and some of her friends for a drink after and had a great time.

I saw Zoe for the first time last night around 12:30, chatted for a bit, but had to cut it short because I had an exciting morning ahead of me.  Regina’s cousin, Wildcat Gianna, got me into see Good Morning America this morning—which broadcasts live from 7:00-9:00.  We are a GMA family through and through.  I remember watching it with Joan Lunden and Charlie Gibson, then that new couple, and then when they brought Charlie back with Diane… and then Diane and Robin… and now Robin and George Stephanopolous. I got to the studio at 6:45, saw all the poor suckers in line, and walked right through the stage door and met Gianna’s coworker who showed me to the green room, offered me a cup of coffee, and then set me loose in the studio to watch the show.  The newsy portions are done on the second floor, and the segments with all those people who hold signs are done on the first.  I was up on the second floor—the only person who didn’t work there—and I got to see the whole thing!  Robin is tall and beautiful, and George is short and thirsty. He left early to go to Florida, but I saw him interview some guy and interact with Robin and Sam and Ju Ju. It’s really amazing how the whole thing comes together.

Rita took me downstairs to see the Alton Brown cooking segment, and then got in the receiving line for Robin and Ju Ju. They took pictures with everyone.  Honestly, my favorite news show.  So cool- and worth the 5:40 wakeup.  There are obviously more details but I’m too drunk  excited to write them all out! And with that, there is nothing left on my bucket list—or at least nothing of any importance.  

I tried to find a decent video of the Ann Curry “good morning good morning… Gi Gi. Ju Ju.” Clip from The Soup but didn’t have any luck… can anyone help?

I walked around Times Square, bought my final few pieces of crap, and walked back to the apartment where I packed up and shipped out back to JFK.

I have had a blast. 

Thanks for reading,

G