Calm before the storm...

The weather was gorgeous today.  Warm but mostly overcast.  There's something about the light on a day like today that makes the yellowing leaves on some of the trees seem to radiate their own light.  It was a peaceful walk to Prospect Park as such, and hard to believe as early as tomorrow we'll be in the thick of it.  Apparently this crazy hybrid storm is heading right for us and the city is expected to have to shut down mass transit.  So NY1 is preparing by putting us all up in a hotel across the street (either the Maritime or the Dream, don't know which yet) so we can make it to work the next day.  I have to work an overnight shift that night (just my luck that the first one in months lands on the night of the biggest storm we've seen all summer) so my worry is in getting back home after my shift is over at 7am.

It'll be nice to not have to worry about that.  NY1 really does take care of us sometimes.  They also throw one hell of a party.  The station is turning 20 this year and there have been all manner of commemorative activities taking place.  They lit the Empire State Building one night a few weeks back in our colors and had a ceremony in the lobby of the building.   They also got that Cake Boss guy to make us a huge cake for a party at work and the mayor even declared the day of our anniversary, the 11th of October, NY1 Day.

But last night was the huge blowout gala at Gotham Hall that is kind of replacing our Christmas Party.  It was such a blast and everyone turned out dressed to the nines.  I totally rocked the tuxedo even.

I brought Alexa as my date and we arrived right at 7pm as it was starting.  Funny enough, the one other person whom I knew in advance would be wearing a tuxedo (the husband of one our reporters) was walking in right behind us.  Upon entering the hall we were greeted with trays of cocktails and fancy hors d'oeuvres.  The hors d'oeuvres looked amazing but I unfortunately couldn't eat any of them because almost all of them had something bread-like or otherwise wheat containing.  I did get safe food though for the main meal and also drank a lot.  Someone in front of me at the bar ordered a martini and I though, "that actually might be nice," so I fell into a pattern of ordering them all night to the point where people were calling me James Bond.  I don't think James Bond ever break danced though.

After they abruptly cut the music off, I walked Alexa to the train and headed over to the after party at a nearby pub.  Ultimately, I stayed out until 2am and took a cab home, waking up this morning at 9am with a splitting headache and some nice, yet vague memories.  Half the reason I took that walk to Prospect Park is because I wanted to do something physical since I skipped yoga.  But I realized I was moving about 9 times slower than I usually do, probably due to general exhaustion.

Anyway, in preparation for the storm that's coming I actually did buy jugs of water and whatever else we didn't have enough of.  I was pulling a shift at the co-op on Friday afternoon and there seemed to be a general sense of urgency amongst the shoppers crowding the floor and at one point the line wrapped all the way around the store back to the produce section where I was stocking potatoes and listening to the conversations.  Most people were talking about the storm and citing it for the reason for being there.  The co-op is probably more likely to shut down than a regular grocery store because most of the workers are members who would be unable to get to the store in the case of a big storm like this.

So, it's getting a bit exciting.  I just got confirmation that I'll probably have a hotel room for both nights (Sunday and Monday, technically Tuesday morning).  I may have to basically relocate to Manhattan for the next few days so that'll be interesting.  They'll probably feed us dinner too.

On the music and VO front, the news this week is that I've met with lawyers at VLA and decided to sign this contract with the licensing agency after all.  It's all pretty solid when it comes down to it and just for good measure I spoke with them on the phone to clarify a few things.  They explained it all enough to satisfy me so I said I would sign.  At the moment, I don't have any offerings ready for them so it'll be a few weeks to a month before I actually submit the music.

VO is nothing new.  Still trying to get in touch with that agent and looking for others to solicit.  I'm not sure when I'll get a chance to do all that with this storm coming and putting a damper on things for a few days.

For now, I'm at work and watching weather coverage and waiting.  It's funny how I always start to think back on the last 10 years of working in news and dealing with weather coverage from the back end.  All the hurricanes and snowstorms I've been in the studio for start to come back to me and I have to laugh at the way nothing has changed.  The "tap dancing" on air when there's nothing happening or nothing yet to talk about, the egg on their faces when nothing ends up happening, the dire warnings, the obvious suggestions for how to prepare (I just heard some guys say to get batteries because when the power goes out you'll need those flashlights in the dark), and the hilarious you tube gems of reporters getting too close to the storm and getting knocked over by the winds.  It's all entertaining and especially so since I've been behind the scenes all this time and know what goes down.   The next few day should be interesting to say the least.  I'll update more as the storm gets closer.