It's another of those cases where it's been so long between updates that I'm having trouble figuring out where to begin. Per usual, I suppose I'll go with a combination method of topically and chronologically. This entry has a possibility of being quite massive no matter the method. It's currently 2:42am. Let's see if I can finish before sunrise.

Continuing the Thread
I guess I could begin with a few quick follow-ups to the last entry. The Braves have opened an even larger lead in the NL East. I finished Random Signals & Systems with an A. I had my first nightmare in a month last night...my car was stolen; it shook me enough that I woke up and looked outside to make sure it was still there. My sleeping schedule is once again whacked. I'm still happy despite feeling a bit disconnected from some people. And, in perhaps a big piece of news, I moved up to server at work.

I trained for two weeknights this past week and found the job to be less strenuous than bussing. The pay was better to boot. After working a few tables by myself each night, I felt like I was getting the hang of it. Then, Friday night, I worked as a server assistant. Basically, I helped the other servers through bringing out meals or preparing various items. That went really well. A couple of people commented that I was the best server assistant ever, so that made me feel good. Anyway, Saturday night, I really began serving for the first time. We were pretty busy most of the night, and I usually had three to four tables at a time. There were a few rather stressful moments when I had demanding customers and wished we'd had a server assistant that night. Also, I felt quite bad when some food took a while to come out and then I found out that I'd messed up one of the orders. I felt really awful about that, but most people were pretty patient with me when I told them it was my first night. Oh, one bit that went particularly well...on the few occasions when I ventured to flip the cornbread from the skillet and catch it again, I caught it every time. Perhaps my practice earlier in the week paid off. I'm hoping that by the end of this next week, I'll have it down.

Now that we're done with follow-ups, I'll jump back to just after the last entry left off.

Interstitial
After school wrapped up, I went home for a lazy week. I felt a bit bad for not being more social with some of my Chattanooga friends, but a lot of them were elsewhere anyway. During that time, the most physical thing that I accomplished was helping my brother move his DDR machine (from StarrGate) up to our house. It's pretty cool that it's sitting right outside of my room at home, though I haven't had occasion to play it yet. With luck, he'll be able to convince Auburn's arcade to install it there.

At the end of my lazy week, I headed to Savannah with my mom and Jonathan to pick up my sister from art camp. I'd never been to Savannah, but I have to say that after spending only a few hours there, it ranks up there among beautiful cities. It blends suburban and urban in an almost European manner. The avenues (with large trees carrying Spanish moss in the middle) are perfect for strolling. The scale isn't overwhelming, so it's convenient to walk almost everywhere. And, there are parks almost every other block. I'd really like to spend more time there in the future. After dinner, I decided that I needed to drive back to Auburn - as I had to work the next day and prefer driving long distances at night. There's not a very direct route between Savannah and Auburn, so I decided to take a long stretch of back roads. Surprisingly, I had cell phone reception the whole way and never really got turned around or anything, so the trip went without event. From Auburn, I headed to Atlanta to catch a plane.

Marchant Takes Manhattan
A number of months ago, I discovered that "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" was having auditions. Seeing as I'd always wanted to try out for it, I figured that I'd check it out. The try-outs were in NYC. I'd always wanted to visit the city. I've been all over the world, but I'd never really been to NYC. Coincidentally, Jason was going to be at an acting camp there this summer and had a place for me to stay. Thus, I set out to visit for a few days.

Jason and the City that Never Sleeps

I left from Atlanta on a Monday morning and arrived early that afternoon. The plane ride was decent aside from a bumpy landing and lack of window seat. During most of it, I read the pocket encyclopedia that I'd brought. Unfortunately, there's not a very good way to study for trivia, but I figured I'd try to learn a few new things anyway. Yes, I'm a big nerd like that. After exiting the plane, I realized that I'd forgotten my ticket in the seat pocket. A moment of worry later, I was able to inform someone and get it retrieved. From there, I left the terminal and sought a taxi. I'd always felt like a cab ride was essential to the NYC experience. Unfortunately, the cabbie wasn't particularly talkative and the ride into the city actually made me quite ill. I'm not quite sure what my problem is, but I'm not fond of having it. When I was young, I don't recall getting motion sick aside from when I read in a car. However, in the past few years, I've been getting motion sick more often. In fact, rollercoasters and motion simulators have started to get to me...though that doesn't stop me from riding them. That said, I don't get sick when I'm driving or when I'm in the passenger seat or when I'm on a boat or plane. However, I'm quite apt to feel ill when riding in the back seat. Yeah, so to sum up, it's fortunate that I didn't puke in the cab.

I arrived at the hotel where Jason was staying to find that it had an elegant lobby. Basically, think of a fancy hotel from the 1920's and you'll probably be able to picture it. While I waited on him to get back from class, I went down a couple of blocks and bought a couple of large pieces of pizza for $1 each...which reminds me that in NYC there seems to be a convenient tendency to include tax in listed prices (which are nicely rounded). Once Jason arrived, I met a few of his friends. Then, Jason, his British girlfriend Sarah, and I headed to Ellis Island. While talking with Sarah, I mentioned my proclivity for slipping into accents when talking to certain people. If I'm around enough country accents, I'll start slipping into my drawl. If I'm around Scottish accents, I'll start adding a lilt. It just kind of happens. So, I warned her about that and assured her that if I did it, it wasn't because I was making fun of her.

Lady Liberty, Jason, and Sarah

We could've gone to the Statue of Liberty, but visitors are unable to go up inside of it since 9/11. I think that for the ridiculous +$10 that they charge, they could afford personal security guards for each visitor, but what do I know? Anyway, we bought a ferry ticket, went through security screening, and then boarded the ferry for Ellis Island. I don't have any special attachment to the place - as far I know, my ancestors have been in America since the 1600's - but I appreciated the architecture and the memorial. I'm beginning to think that this sounds overly cynical, so just rest assured that I had a good time.

A cool looking courtyard on Ellis

An attempt to recapture photographic gold

After returning to Manhattan Island, we walked over to the WTC site. Despite all the news, I'd never gotten a very good feel for how the place looked. At the moment, it's pretty much just a large concrete hole in the ground. When you look at the building around it and imagine how much taller the towers were, it's a bit sobering. Afterwards, we returned to the hotel for a while before eating at a diner downstairs. From there, I tried to convince Jason and some other people to go to see a show at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, but seeing as they were in finals week, I didn't have much luck. Thus, I set off by myself.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect from the place. I'd seen "Upright Citizens Brigade" on television and figured it be large theatre with the cast. However, I discovered a very small, undergound black-box theatre with unknown improvers. I think the place sat around 100 people at most...and the seats surrounded the stage on three sides. The first show was actually a somewhat scripted show by a guy named Dr. Doug, a "licensed lifologist". It was a pretty funny informercial spoof. In my two nights in NYC, I caught five shows at the UCB theatre, and 4/5 were ROTFLOL-funny. Just wish I'd had some people to enjoy it with. Oh, and I also bought a book on improv and the "UCB" Season One DVD.

My Final Answer
The next day, Jason and the others were pretty busy with classes and scenes, so I pretty much roamed by myself. I started by walking through Times Square on my way to Central Park. Once I found the park, I headed for that fountain that I've seen in a number of movies. It's pretty amazing how large the place is. I spent an hour or so there and only covered a small portion. Oh, and I got to see my first NYC crazy person - he was talking loudly to a bench. That reminds me..."The Fisher King" is an excellent movie. Then again, I'm someone that thinks that Robin Williams is almost always entertaining.

A gnarly looking tree in Central Park

The famous fountain