This last week – in all its frenzy and fun – was a welcome reminder of what life’s been like at its busiest for me, a week like I haven’t had since moving to New York, where most of my time has been spent getting up and running at work and finding my way around errands and every day life in new, often overwhelming surroundings.
But then, Halloween and a new film and new and visiting friends converged in the span of seven days and I was so on the go I quite literally ran out of clean underwear, it’d been so long since I’d done laundry. (Too much information? Too bad. My blog.)
It started last week, the weekend before Halloween, when I happily joined coworkers going to a festive party given by an agency the office has worked with over the years. Complete with mini tarot card readings (in length; the cards were normal size) and a wandering magician performing his illusions to anyone who’d watch, the evening ended with late-night (and slightly drunk) karaoke in Koreatown. There are pictures to prove that fun was had, but we won’t be linking to those.
Though Saturday and Sunday were a quiet weekend, I nevertheless put off doing the laundry I knew very well I should’ve been doing (see: running out of clean underwear) in favor of another long bike ride in Central Park, reading the last third of Ender’s Game and other, more enjoyable activities weekends are made for.
Monday started calmly enough, though the preparations for a Polish film star arriving in New York for his film’s opening were in full swing. But I centered myself for the next few days with the third of my five beginner’s yoga classes, a welcome retreat – if only for an hour and a half – from the busy city and increasingly-frantic work days. But it also meant I didn’t get home until nearly 9:30, and that dirty clothes still didn’t get washed.
On Tuesday, work meant juggling daily duties with the last-minute tasks of a film opening – confirming our star would have a room with a decent view, logging the reviews as they started to trickle in – and afterwords I made my way to a conversation at NYPL. Ira Glass (of This American Life fame) spoke with composer Nico Muhry who, at 32, is the youngest artist to ever debut an opera at The Met. So, you know, I left feeling super accomplished in my own life. Following the conversation (which really was quite enjoyable), I had the chance to meet a filmmaker friend in town while the show she works on took a hiatus. Over a beer and the random stylings of the dive bar’s jukebox (from heavy metal to Dean Martin in the span of a few songs), we caught up on each other’s projects and proved a bit of an inspiration to the other, both actually doing what it is we say we want to do (the only way to be a filmmaker is to, you know, make films). I left on a high note, but I still didn’t get my laundry done.
The big premiere came on Wednesday, which turned into a busy day of tracking the opening-day reviews, confirming our star had landed safely in New York, and enjoying a dinner with my boss, the theater’s programmer and the star at a lovely little Italian spot in the Village while the film ran and before we headed over for a Q&A following the credits. And because no respectable film opens without a premiere party, I was out until midnight mingling with coworkers, the audience and friends of friends, celebrating the new film. No laundry on Wednesday night, but not a bad day to be me either.
By Thursday – aka Halloween – I started to feel the wear and tear of several long days in a row, but the week wasn’t through with me just yet. I put my day-to-day work aside to escort our foreign guest through a mini-press day of interviews and autographs. With only a few hiccups (including one missed interview due to some unfortunate miscommunications), it was overall a welcome change of pace, a nice reminder that these films I talk about day in and day out are getting some attention after all. I had every intention of keeping up the break-neck pace of the previous few days by heading to check out the Halloween Parade in the West Village in all its glory. But by 6 o’clock and the end of the workday, I knew how I’d be spending my night: doing laundry. Finally.
Friday night, I headed out to moderate one more Q&A with our film’s star before he flew back to Warsaw on Saturday, a rush that had me channeling my best film festival mindset, especially when stalling for time with the audience, the actor running late to the theater. But he finally arrived, was incredibly apologetic and participated in an extended Q&A in the theater lobby to make up for his tardiness. He and his Polish-speaking friends were headed out for drinks, but as I realized I wouldn’t understand a word they were saying, I gladly made it an “early” evening, back home by 10:30 or so.
And finally, the week wound down yesterday with a generally quiet day – another long bide ride in Central Park sandwiched between confirming one final interview for our guest film star and his safe transport back to JFK, followed by drinks with a film guy I’ve known via festivals and social media for a bit now, who also just this year found his way to NYC and the distribution side of the industry. I even had time at home to post a bit here and catch up on a film I needed to see for work.
So the laundry finally got done, the film opened successfully and I was pleasantly reminded of the clip at which life can zip by when you’re doing all the things you enjoy most.
