It was an extremely busy but very enjoyable weekend. Friday started out as it usually does: with school then out with the teachers to decompress a bit at the traditional watering-hole Nachos Kitchen (formerly Nacho Mamas.) Then downtown to meet up with Chirls, Peter, Dan and others to see the always entertaining and supremely funky, Spank. Left after the first set in order to get home at a reasonable time (yes the A train takes a full hour going local to speed me home,) in order to be somewhat conscious getting up at 7:15 to catch an 8:15 train to Farmingdale, LI. Once at Penn station, I met up with some fellow teachers and we arrived in LI by 9:15 to drive to the small but very busy Fairchild-Republic Airfield. We hopped into our coworkers twin engine, 6 seater Piper and took off for points beyond. I thought at the time that sitting backwards behind the front cockpit seat would pose no problems, but I was unfortunately sadly mistaken. Perhaps I would have been fine had we not flew out over Fire Island and proceeded to do a couple zero-G dives for amusement. It was amusing, for about a minute and a half, at which point, I began to regret the seat facing backwards. Which is unfortunate because the next 30 minutes of the flight were pretty spectacular.
The weather was pristine and the visibility went on for miles. We dropped down to 500 feet and cruised the south shore of LI, past Jones Beach and into Brooklyn. Raised up near JFK and swung around Coney Island. We dropped down to 500 again just south of Lady Liberty and flew parallel to the west side of Manhattan. At 500 ft, we were lower than some of the building and at just over 100 mph we seemed to be crawling past the majestic buildings of downtown, almost close enough to touch.
At this point you may be wondering how we are allowed to fly that low and close to Manhattan and I found myself wondering the same thing. But as it turns out, as long as your in constant contact with the air controllers, and small enough, they don’t consider you a threat. Lucky for us because it was a breathtaking experience, looking over and down at the west side piers and into the heart of Manhattan. Picking out the reservoir in Central Park and the cathedral in Harlem, splitting the G W Bridge uprights and spotting the mini cars zooming along the West Side highway. I would have enjoyed this experience a great deal more if the air at 500 ft wasn’t so damn choppy and I wasn’t still trying to recover from the acrobatics earlier over the ocean. But I was, and while I appreciated the sites, I was also attempting not to lose the Nachos Kitchen fare I had consumed the night before. Luckily we climbed back up to around a mile soon after the Tap pan-Zee and the flight smoothed out, unlike my stomach which seemed more resistant. I spent the next 45 minutes reassuring the pilot that all was well with us in the back (I had the headset and was reporting for all 4 of us tucked behind the two cockpit seats,) even though things were not really all right. Fortunately I have a will of steal, or at least aluminum, and was able to stare out the window and think of things that didn’t make me sick.
The flight itself, after departing the city proper, was very quick (thank God,) and we landed in Ithaca airport just over an hour later; normally a 4 and a half hour drive. This still amazes me. One of the teachers had family in Ithaca and so requested this destination; the pilot conceded stating he didn’t care where we went and just wanted to take the plane out for a spin. We had planned on a quick visit to grab lunch and make contact with her family as I had to be back to work at the Carlyle by 4. This, of course, did not come close to happening. Not by a long shot.
We ended up flying out of Ithaca after a wonderful, if not hasty, visit around 2:20. The weather there was even warmer than NYC which is quite unusual and there were many people milling about The Commons and enjoying the numerous waterfalls and gorges which Ithaca is famous for. Just a perfect day for a plane trip. After arriving back in LI we attempted to catch a train at 4:09 (a full hour after the one I was supposed to have caught) but,of course, there was a fire somewhere on the track and the trains were postponed until further notice. Terrific. I called up my grandfather who happens to live not 5 minutes away from the train and asked him to take me and my colleagues to a more southern line to catch a 4:53 train there which we was happy to do. In the end, I arrived at Penn Station around 6, 2 hours later than I would have liked and made it for the last 40 minutes of my 3 hour shift.
Anyway, that was just about the first half of my weekend. Later that same night after working 40 minutes, I returned home for a quick bite and a change of clothes and proceeded down to West 4th st. where I attended an elegant birthday party for my good friend Julie. Had a blast there and returned home late that night, only to get up again Sunday morning for my 3 hour acting class. Directly after that was finished I had a client at 1:30 over at MPHC and at 2:30 went up to 103 and Central Park West to play some flag football. This was a welcome activity despite my growing exhaustion because we haven’t gathered to play since late Nov. when it became too cold. After 2 and a half hours of intense play I walked down to meet up with a couple of friends to cap off the beautiful day. I returned home around 8:30 and was passed out by 9:30, knowing full well that Monday’s alarm would ring in the predawn glow at 5 am, for the beginning of another work week.
Which is where I find myself now,typing away at an ancient turquoise imac, one of the few left in the computer lab in my school that hasn’t been destroyed in some way (there are around 30 in here.) Training in the evenings most of this week with an audition coming up tomorrow. I am attempting to get my calendar in order for the coming months, checking out wedding dates and, of course, my Houston trip for my sisters graduation.
Time is moving quickly again, or, at least, more quickly than usual. More updates to come, stay tuned…