Weekend Update 2

Live from New York, it's Saturday Evening!

Alright so maybe it's not quite "night" yet, but I thought I'd shoot off a quick blog before I go out. I've got a short break now (just back from the NBC Studio Tour with a bunch of new intern friends) until I head out to see Red at the Golden Theater with another intern buddy.

Interns, interns, interns -- I'm surrounded by interns. And it's great! Some from publicity departments, some from entertainment companies, some from production houses, and a few from ad agencies. Most of us are pretty new to New York; it's like a colorful cast of quirky characters, and it's never boring.

I met a lot of these people yesterday at McGraw-Hill's volunteer event. We were sent up to Washington Heights to help Bette Midler's parks foundation with some outdoor maintenance work. Seventy or so of us were split off into a bunch of smaller groups and given little tasks to do. My group's mission which we chose to accept (we didn't actually have a choice) was weeding.

I didn't expect a lot of fun to come from a hot day of weed wrangling (if I had wanted that, I would have stayed in Saskatchewan), but it wasn't so bad. In fact, I had a blast.

We were in the shade most of the time, chatting and sharing internship stories while grooming the gardens. A giant mutant butterfly decided to make my hat his new home, and, no matter how much I moved about, he stayed planted on top. It was the first thing everyone noticed when I started talking to them. But I was cool with it -- in fact, it was a great conversation starter.

One girl asked if he had a name. I said it was Jeff.

So Jeff, my new wingman (literally), and I enjoyed the rest of the afternoon chatting up a bunch of volunteers and interns around the park. At 2:00 the crew said we could go home early, so Jeff and I parted ways and I took the subway back down to Midtown.

When we got to Harold Square, I introduced one of my new friends to Iced Cappuccinos from Tim Hortons. An instant hit. Then the two of us split in separate directions for a couple hours until I got a phone call from them saying that they'd rallied their troupes and were off to the Museum of Modern Art.

Twenty minutes later, I found myself at MoMA. After exploring most of the exhibits, we took a bus down 5th to 8th for a bite to eat. Unfortunately, the hot-spot we wanted to go to had an hour and a half wait, so we decided to keep exploring to see if we could find anything else.

Anything else turned out to be Osso Buco, a fancy but fairly-priced restaurant in Greenwich Village. The waiter was awkward, the food was delicious.

After dinner, we had a sudden insatiable urge to see Toy Story 3. We tracked down a theater only to discover that the ticket price was $18... a little too rich for our blood. So, pending an apocalypse, we might try again on cheap Tuesday.

Aahhh! So much to blog, so little time. What else can I cram into this post?

Strolled down the Broadway street market this afternoon. Fell in love with Washington Square Park. Saw a peg-leg pigeon. Had my first New York hot dog. Survived my first New York hot dog. Forgot my keys in my apartment and got locked out, a situation solved by my half-Asian, all-awesome roommate. Finally found out where Hell's Kitchen neighborhood is. Stayed the hell away from Hell's Kitchen.

That's all the time I have for now -- keep checking in! I was going to thank you for being such a great online fan club, but the more I think about it the more you're like my adorable online stalkers.

But that's cool. Please, keep stalking.