.wednesday.thursday.

.wednesday.

On Tuesday, as Louis passed my desk, he asked me if I had any editing experience. At first I was going to tell him that I didn't have any experience at all with the editing software they use (AVID), but just in case he was planning on giving me a job that would let me use AVID (which I really wanted to do), I just told him, "Yes, I have editing experience." Sure enough, it paid off, because I got a new job on Wednesday... working with AVID!

On Wednesday morning, Louis sat me down at CNAM's editing station, which includes a double-monitor computer, a large television, a sound board, and a bunch of cords and other important-looking electronic boxes. He opened AVID, told me what he wanted me to do, and then left me sitting there feeling rather helpless.

AVID is the film industry's leading movie editing program, so I was so excited to be able to learn it. And since it is pretty similar functionally to Final Cut (of which I have the student version), I was able to figure out what does what after a few minutes of "Where do I find..." and "What does this button do?" 

And by a few minutes, I mean at least half an hour. AVID is more complex and (in my personal opinion) not as straightforward and user-friendly as Final Cut. So it took me a bit of getting used to. 

I also took part of the day off from work to try to get tickets to see the Broadway musical Wicked. The guys at CNAM were so nice and had absolutely no problem with me taking off most of the day, so I left work at noon to go over to the theater to put my name in the lottery.

Because Wicked is so popular, they are always sold out months in advance. But for the lucky few who win the ticket lottery the day of the show, they pay only $26 for a front-row seat. Granted, front row seats does mean you don't have a great view because you are looking at the actors' shoes for a lot of the show. But considering that the next cheapest ticket available to purchase is $60+, its a great deal. The only problem is that there are only 26 lottery tickets available for each show, and at least 100+ people want them every night. 

Well, I went to the theater at 12:30 pm (two and a half hours before the 3 pm matinee) to try to get tickets. But sadly, when I arrived, the man told me that I had missed the lottery completely because the show started at 2pm, not 3 pm like I had thought. 

Dejected, I sulked back to Centro Maria, made myself a sandwich for lunch, and then headed back to work. I guess they wouldn't have minded if I had taken the whole day off (even if I wasn't going to the show), but I couldn't think of anything else I wanted to do with my day. If I couldn't see Wicked, I wanted to be back at CNAM, learning how to use AVID.

After I got off work, I decided to try one more time to get tickets for Wicked. So I walked to the theater, got in line, put my name in the "hat," and waited with high hopes. 

But my name didn't get drawn.

I guess I have given up on seeing Wicked this time around. Someday, when I have oodles of money, I will come back to New York City and buy tickets to Broadway shows at their regular $180-$200 price and not rely on possibly getting my name drawn.  

However, the evening was not completely lost, because I got to talk on the phone to an old friend for a long time while sitting outside in Centro Maria's little patio. 

.thursday.

I got to work all day again with AVID, which was so fun. The project they put me on was putting together a demo DVD of their history video game (which I am assuming will be shown to potential financial contributors, etc). They gave me a bunch of clips that had been captured from the game, and I was to put them together into a little story. 

The way the game works is, as the character Anna, you walk through an early-1900s mill town and talk to the towns people about the current political news, etc. Throughout each conversation, you get to choose Anna's reaction and response to certain questions, so you can guide the direction of each conversation. For example, the little newspaper boy asks Anna if she wants to hear a joke. You choose yes or no, and then if you pick yes, you can choose if you want Anna to think the joke was funny or lame. 

Because the game has so many choices for conversation, the other intern had to video-capture the game with all the scenarios. So when I was looking through all the clips to put them together to make a story, I got to choose which story I wanted to make. It was very fun. 

I made Anna talk to the guy who sells groceries, the newspaper boy, the policeman, the mill gatekeeper, and the mill owner. She also gets information about different buildings, reads in the newspaper about socialism and unfair worker conditions, and buys vegetables for supper. 

After putting the story together, I then had to go through and insert various audio tracks of dialogue. For some reason, the other intern was unable to capture the sounds of the characters talking along with the footage. He had to capture the sound separate, so I had to go through later and "reunite" the captured sound with the captured footage. 

It was so much fun. I loved getting to work with AVID, figuring out how things are done in the program and things like that. It was confusing and rather frustrating at first though, because I couldn't figure out how to do the things I wanted to do, which made me think that AVID was not as versatile as Final Cut. But the more I messed around, the more I discovered where different features were. I even found a few that Final Cut doesn't have. So while I still like Final Cut better (probably because of familiarity), I am so glad I am getting the opportunity to learn how to use a program that is dominant in my future industry (although that could change soon). 

After work on Thursday, I took the subway up to the Upper East side because I had dinner plans with my boyfriend's aunt and uncle who live in Manhattan. When I got off the subway, I was a bit disoriented and walked up the wrong street before figuring out where I was. After quite a bit of wandering in circles and walking six blocks farther north than necessary, I finally found their apartment. 

Sue Sue, Bryce's aunt, was there with her baby girl Caroline, and after giving me a hug hello, she gave me a quick tour around the (very nice) apartment. They have a really nice view out their window of the surrounding (very nice) neighborhood. Their neighbors have a lot of gardens on their roofs and decks, which makes the picture beautifully speckled with green, and they can see a slight sliver of the river from their window if you crane your neck up against the glass. 

After the tour, we put Caroline in a stroller and walked a few blocks up to a nice sushi restaurant where T.K., Bryce's uncle, was waiting for us. Because the weather was so beautiful, we sat outside on the patio and took our time ordering our food, enjoying the nice weather and each others company. Unfortunately, Caroline had her own ideas about dinner. She didn't want to sit still or eat, and kept wiggling out of her stroller onto the ground. And at one and a half, she is a pretty fast runner. So Sue Sue had to be on her toes for whenever Caroline made a dash for the street. Finally, after trying everything to make the little girl less fussy, we decided to get our food to-go and eat it at home where Caroline could run around safely. 

Once we got back to the apartment and had settled Caroline down for bed, the three of us sat around the table eating delicious sushi and chatting about everything. I had such a great time at dinner, talking about all kinds of stuff. We talked about me because they wanted to get to know me (boring), we talked about where I should go while I am still here in New York City (informational), and we talked about what it was like for the two of them on September 11th (fascinating). It was incredible to listen to stories from someone who had watched the towers crumble with their own eyes. 

They were both living only three or four blocks away from the World Trade Center, and they both worked in that area, so they were right there when it all happened. Whenever my friends and I talk about where we were when we heard the news, the stories are always along the lines of "I was in school... we watched the news on TV all day," etc. Never before had I talked to someone who could describe the panic and pain the city experienced during that day and the following weeks. 

Also during dinner, they persuaded me to take a bike ride around the city before I leave, because it is a really good way to get a good sense of what each different neighborhood is like. And then they offered to let me borrow one of their bikes. So on Sunday I am going to take myself on a little biking tour of NYC. I am really excited.

Finally, after an evening of delicious sushi, yummy ice cream (Tasty Delight soft-serve vanilla bean), and wonderful conversation with fascinating people, it was time to go home. I was actually quite sorry to leave (even though I was exhausted). I have found another reason I wish I lived here in NYC-- I could visit them as often as I wanted. 

To cap off the perfect evening, T.K. insisted on giving me money to take a taxi so I wouldn't have to go home on the subway after dark. So I got to experience my first NYC taxi ride so far this trip. It was nice to see a part of the city I hadn't seen before, and to know that I wouldn't have to do any walking and was getting dropped off right at my front door. After walking everywhere for a whole month, I am beginning to have a new-found appreciation for the convenience and speed of cars.