Meeting my tour roommate - 2/29/2008

Happy Leap Day! Did you leap?

Last night I met Jen, my tour roommate, for the first time. Jen and I have been in touch with each other, over theatre-related internet forums, for years, I think since before she moved to NY. Then we were out of touch for a while, until we both started posting on the backstage message boards about these Sound of Music auditions. Now here we are, both going on tour, and meeting for the first time! We also requested that we be roommates on tour.

I know that Jen is close to my height, just an inch taller, in fact. But in my mind, for some reason, I imagined her a taller, average height like most of my friends. Imagine my surprise when I knocked on her apartment door, and standing there is a little short person like me! We saw eye to eye from the start.

We drove to White Plains for a big shopping spree at Walmart (hissssssss). I know, it's Walmart, we shouldn't support it -- but it's what we can afford. We needed to get 8 months' worth of medicines and toiletries and other sundry necessities for this tour. We were told that there's no guarantee that we'd find the same things in Asia.

So there we shopped, for 3 hours! We bought an insane amount of stuff, loaded up her car trunk, then looked for some food. It was already after 8 p.m., and I hadn't had any lunch (long story), and we were both beginning to starve.

It also began to snow.

We drove around trying to find the Outback Steakhouse. Once we found it, parked, and went in, we found out that there was a 35-40 minute wait. We put our names down, but decided to try another place: the Cheesecake Factory!!! We walked there in the snow and put our names down for another 35+ minute wait. Then we ducked into the nearby Whole Foods so Jen could get her fix of fancy trail mix.

We went back to Cheesecake Factory and sat down in the waiting area, looking at menus, and alternately drooling or dozing off. Neither of us had gotten much sleep, the previous night, just coincidentally.

(Some of you may discover, on this tour, than Jen and I are similar in many spooky ways. We are, in fact, doppelgangers.)

Finally we were seated, and I had (half of) the most delicious burger in my life. I was craving a hunk of meat, and salt and grease (french fries). There we sat, happily eating away and watching the snow fall, more and more thickly, out the window.

When we were satiated and content, we declined dessert (shame on us!) and walked back to the car, in even more snow. We drove very, very, very slowly back to Jen's apartment. Then we had a situation: it was snowing. A lot. It was not the most safe driving situation. Jen had been planning to drive me to my apartment in West Harlem, because I had so many shopping bags, but the situation was looking dire for night driving in the city in snow. I told her I would try to take the subway.

I loaded up my arms with bags, heavy heavy bags, and walked to the D train. (Fortunately, it's very close to her apartment.) I waited and waited and finally got moving, and got to my stop. Loaded up my bags again, and climbed up out of the subway. I really do mean "climbed." I think it was 6 or 8 or possibly 1363 flights of stairs to get out of there! This is not the subway I usually take.

Then I faced an approximately 12-block walk to my apartment. I thought I might take a gypsy cab, because it was wet and slushy and rain-snowing and might actually be worth the money. In the daytime, gypsy cabs follow me around my neighborhood honking, because they think I don't belong there. It's bad to stereotype! At 11:45 p.m. in the snowy rain, gypsy cabs just don't see me -- and I didn't have a free arm to wave one down. So I walked home, moaning and groaning to myself.

When I finally got to my apartment, my shoes and feet were so wet that I felt like I was walking on soaked sponges. My jeans were soaked up to the knee! I dropped my bags on my floor, shoved the perishables into the fridge, climbed into bed, and passed out. It was 1 a.m.

And that, my friends, is the story of meeting Jen. It was great fun! We want to get together with more NY-area cast members before we leave for China.