January 19, 2007 - The Match Game Set - A.K.A. The Subway Train

I had a short day at the office. Carmen had me come in at 9:30. Kate showed me around the writing department, explained what everybody does. The menus were passed around at 11. I decided to try Japanese food and ordered sushi rolls and miso soup. At 11:30, the producers, directors, writers and people from several departments gathered for what is called a concept meeting. Basically, they take a rough (concept) draft from a future episode and discuss the sets and props they need and read the lines aloud to see how they sound. I sat in on that until 1, when I had to get ready for orientation at 30 Rockefeller Center.

My first subway experience was, um…doable, I suppose. Mary Grace and Terence each sent me out with two dollars for the bus and subway rides there and said to get a Metro Card. Everybody gave me different directions to get there, so I was certain I’d never find my way. I took Tsahai and Terence’s suggestions and went on the train with the orange circle (ended-up being the F train, but they couldn’t remember the name). The subway itself was dark and depressing, but not unsafe. The air, surprisingly was well filtered and didn’t smell stale.

I bought a $20 Metro Card and got an extra $4 for free. Each bus/subway ride is $2, so it should last me a little while. They have rotating gates to get in, much like the entrances to theme parks. You swipe your Metro Card and they unlock. It took me a moment to figure out that you swipe the card to the right and use the gate to the left and stood there wondering why the gate wasn’t unlocking. It took a few minutes for the F train to arrive, but it was really quite fast. It rushed in with a huge burst of air. The train itself was 70s retro, complete with Match Game-style orange seats.

I brought my lunch with me, as I didn’t have time to eat it at the office. I managed to eat the miso soup on the bus ride to the subway, but didn’t get around to the sushi. Unfortunately, I didn’t have an opportunity until the end of orientation, which was around 4, and I wasn’t sure if it was safe to eat at that point, as it’d been unrefrigerated for several hours. I decided it was probably better to air on the side of caution and pass on eating it. I’ll try sushi again at some point next week.

After orientation, I stopped by the mall beneath Rockefeller Center. I went there on my last trip to New York and walked around Waldenbooks. I was disappointed to find that store was no longer there. I went to the Game Stop store for a few minutes, then took the subway back to my neighborhood.

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