A Fist Full of Firsts

    First and foremost, and I'm finally finished with the freakin "f" alliterations :), I am dead tired. Lethargic is essentially the only way to describe me right now. But it was another schplendid day in the city! I finished getting the credentials I needed for some of the programs at work, so I could start doing things completely on my own. All day I stayed on top of the Casey Anthony trial...AGAIN! Oh my gosh, watching that is hands down better than an any reality tv I've ever seen--except MAAAAYBE Real Housewives of New Jerseys, cuz those ladies from the Dirty Jerz are just pure entertainment. But the trial is just so captivating, mostly, I guess, because it's just such a bizarre story. 

Setting Up for MOSs

    Anywho, today I got to go out with the associate producer to get some MOSs (man on the street). So basically I went out and interviewed people on the street. The coolest part was that the interviews were for a national package that one of the LA based reporters was doing on the USDA's new food pyramid and Michelle Obama's speech today and stuff. The package can be played by any affiliate across the country, so it's pretty dope that I got to do the interviews. And I was super excited, but totally played it cool like it was no big deal. Baaha. But I had a blast with Maria while we were out there trying to get people to talk. We were on the corner of Central Park West and 67th, right across from the park. She said they usually go to the opposite corner of the block, 66th and Columbus, but that's where the subway lets out and most people will not give you the time of day. Well, on our corner, most people still wouldn't give me the time of day. I eventually had to start cutting people off in their walk path so that they had to stop to atleast tell me no, versus just rushing past as if I wasn't there. During one of the interviews I did, and one of the three that was used, this old man came up, and since I was interviewing, he went to talk to Maria by the camera and I guess he wanted to talk to. Granted, this man didn't know what the subject was or anything, but he wanted to talk. Hah, he was quite ancient, and as soon as he started talking, he reeked of alcohol, but it was comic relief. 

New Age Food Pyramid

    Then, on the way home, I decided to get off the A at Port Authority to go lollygag around Times Square. As I was walking down 42nd St, I ran into my friend Calvin from school. Super random. I don't know how he spotted me, but I was glad he had. The part that interests me more though is the fact that if he hadn't seen me, and I certainly hadn't seen him, then we would've rushed right past each other without our paths ever crossing today. Like in the movies when the two protagonists are so close, yet seemingly so far. Hah, I think that stuffs cool. 

Time Square Today

   After a bit, I finally headed home, and it just seemed to take ages. While waiting for one of the trains, I saw my first subway rat. GUUH! But I was so tired and lethargic that I didn't even freak out as I assumed I would've at the first sight of a rat. Granted, this rat wasn't quite the size of a small puppy as I had assumed it would've been. It was more the size of a ferret, or big stuffed animal lol. Vomit! But then I saw a second one, and I just instantly felt so dirty and grimy. 

Walking Back to the Subway

    But on the subway, most of the seats were taken and at the next stop this younger guy got on with his daughter, and she was so cute. And this older man was sitting across from me on a 3-seater, he was on one end, and another lady was on the other end, with the middle empty. The dad and daughter walked on and were just going to stand, and the little girl was holding on to a strap from her dad's bag, so as not to get lost. And the older man stood up to allow both of them to sit down. And it was just so nice because he could have just offered the seat in the middle, but he realized that they were a 2-for-1 deal, so he got up and found another seat. And I could see on the dad's face once he sat down that he really hadn't expected that man, or anyone, to do that, and he was grateful for it. Cheesy, but it was a pleasant reminder that there are good people in the world. 

Sawyer Sighting.

   I had orientation today. I was supposed to have it last Wednesday, but because of my flight fiasco, it was pushed back until today. I was able to meet some of the other interns throughout the company which was pretty cool. There's another girl from Mizzou, but I didn't know who she was before today. We had to go through a bunch of the standard information you get when you start working with a company, but there was like a special presentation for the news department and the importance of what we share on social networking sites and such. As a result, I've beefed up the security on my facebook again, and gone back through some of my old posts and either just deleted some parts, or was more vague :( 

    Once that was over though and I went to work, I was really excited because things were clicking alot better than they had been and I was doing everything. Working with Mallory is a blast because she's like the closest person to my age that I've met besides the sports intern, and she's just funny and super chill. So half of the time we were just dying laughing about random things, but the work was becoming easier and it's always exciting once you realize you're catching on just fine. Then, this afternoon, I had my first Sawyer Sighting.

    I go back and forth between the newsroom on one floor and the encoding room on the floor above. So I had to go downstairs to push and send some video that we'd been working on. As I was walking down the hallway towards the stairs, this woman caught my attention and I think it was only because she seemed to be acting rather awkwardly. After mentally noting that, I looked at the woman walking away further down the hallway and I immediately noticed that she was wearing a pair of Louboutin heels. If you don't know what those are and you're a lady, well, consider yourself a lady no more and google 'em! But yes, I first spotted the red of the Louboutin's and thought, "who's the baller in the office rockin' those bad boys?!" And then as I looked up and assessed more of the woman, I realized that it was The Ms. Diane Sawyer! My heart dropped a little bit once I realized it was her, but we the way it all happened, our paths weren't going to cross. Not this time, but next time for sure!

I Spread Love, It's The Brooklyn Way

    Today was a fabulous day, and for absolutely no reason at all. When I left the apartment this morning, I was smiling, and as I walked to the Subway, I continued to find reasons to smile. One thing actually that made me chuckle this morning was that I saw this short hispanic looking woman and she looked familiar to me, so of course I'm thinkin to myself like, "janai, why on earth do you think you recognize this woman and where would you know her from?" Then I realized she resembled the women that Arnold Schwarzenegger had his illegitimate child with. Baahah, familiar none the less though. 

   Another reason to smile was having gained a slightly better grasp on how to straighten my hair so that it doesn't frizz up shortly after walking out into the heat. And I couldn't have chosen a more perfect morning to figure that out, because today I took the picture for and got my security ID card. I had quite a good time downstairs in the security office racking the man's brains for information. 

Encodist  Room

     Then all day at work, I was with Mallory in the encodist area. The picture I attached is from that room, it had more tv screens than Best Buy! Things were beginning to make more sense and come together better, so I was able to be more proactive and actually do some things today. But ohmigosh, so I learned something pretty cool today. 

    Second, while watching more live feed from the Casey Anthony trial--mind you, for the record, that woman is bat-shit crazy, and I am still hoping for some crazy outbreak when someone takes the stand, but I guess in high-profile cases like that, it's common for the family to get a copyright on the deceased's name. So like, Casey Anthony's family has a copyright on Caylee Elizabeth (i think?!) Anthony, like to prevent anyone from making a movie, or basically making money off of her name or the story. Crazy, huh?

     So, all-in-all, it was just a really good day. On my way home, it took a little longer and the trains were a little more crowded because it was like evening rush, but I still got home in just about an hour. And when I got off the subway, I was still smiling! On the subway, on the way to work, I fell in love with some beautiful light-skinned stranger that I'm praying I see again. And on the subway on the way home, I was jammin to my music, but this dad was sitting with his little asian daughter doing some really big math problems. lol this like 3 year girl had noooo busy adding and subtracting the big numbers that she was! And then this precious little long-eyelashed, curly haired little boy and his mom sat next to me. He was so presh! I think I'm realllly starting to fall in love with this place.

Holiday in the City

      So, i've had a nice long weekend to relax and finish unpacking and getting settled into my room. Tanya left this morning, so I was able to move all of my things from the guest room/office into her room. A good majority of the weekend was spent either on the couch, or in bed. I slept and ate alot. I think I've been exhausted, so I'm finally fairly refreshed and all caught up on my sleep debt. 

The Ladder to the Roof

     Last night ended up being pretty fun, and we didn't even leave the apartment. At first it just Tanya, Sencia and I out on the balcony drinking and stuff. Then Sencia's friend and an old roommate Dimitria came. [Fun fact: Dimitria is from Naperville, IL, like 25 minutes from DeKalb, AND her sister was Shar on a past season of Bad Girls Club.] And a little later Eileen came home and joined us. So it was little party on the balcony. They're all really cool. Eileen is generally rather shy, but she was pretty tipsy last night, so she was more talkative than I've seen. And Sencia is just a riot. Her Jamaican accent still gets me everytime she opens her mouth. 

View from Rooftop

      I've realized, fairly quickly, that being 22 in New York City is like being a fetus! On a college campus, or atleast in a college down, once you turn 22, you're over the hill. But I am a baby around here. Not only in the apartment, as Eileen and Sencia are both 30, but everywhere I go, I've been the youngest person there--and by quite a bit. It's an interesting dynamic to get used to, but I'd much rather be the youngest around than the oldest. 

Rooftop Again

      Today for Memorial Day, Dimitria and Sencia invited me to go with them to the a barbecue and of course I was down for whatever. We took the G to Smith, which I guess is just a little further south and west in Brooklyn. From there, we walked a few blocks to a friends' house of Sencia. The food was delicious, and there was some guacamole there that was TO. DIE. FOR! I met some interesting characters there too, but the best part was this little rooftop area that people were hanging out on. We had to climb this sketchy little fort-like latter to get to it. I really felt like I was like 7 years old and climbing to like a fort on top of a bunkbed or something. But in the shade it was beautiful up there! We'd catch an amazing breeze every few minutes, and we could see parts of the skyline off in the distance. It was perfect. As more people started to come and it was beginning to get more crowded, I started to feel like I was in a budlight commercial or something. 
   Oh yeah, I'll add more/better pictures eventually. I realized yesterday that I left my camera in BSMO at Megan's House. #wahhh