I'm sorry for the late post.  My wifi has been iffy so it's been difficult to post and have it actually go through to the point of posting.  Not too much to update.  The past few weeks have been fairly slow actually.  It was a holiday last week, not many people call then obviously and we try not to make correspondents travel.  I did go on a shoot last week about the statue of liberty reopening. We interviewed those creepy little guys dressed up in times square.
    I had the actual 4th off and went to a museum and watched fireworks at a park behind my apartment.   The next day i had VIP tickets to the Good Morning America concert series.  Over the weekend, i really just hung out.  Saw a movie and caught up on sleep. Today, i did some networking and worked an 11 hour shift.  So, i'm tired.  But excited about the next couple weeks ahead.
      My boss promised to get us into GMA soon and let us help out at World News a little more.  Plus, christopher will be in this weekend and my aunt will be in the next!!!

So this didn't post when i thought it did....

    I wrote this on sunday.... I apologize to my multitude of valued readers for not updating for a bit.  It's been a crazy week so if you feel like reading a not so short story... props.  This week, work-wise, was uneventful.  I booked travel for correspondents, wrote for the web, answered phones... got insulted during those phone calls.  Yah know.
    Wednesday, however, i got an interesting call.  I was the only person manning the desk and thus was getting all the calls, weirdos and all.  So when i answered a phone and heard a man say "Well fancy getting you on the first try," i assumed that it was a crazy who had called in earlier and almost hung up until he said, "it's Mike." Immediate excitement.  Mike is my professor from OU who got me this internship.  He's a war correspondent at ABC and most recently did a lot of work covering the Moore tornado. Currently, he's in the midst of coming out with a movie on his time in Afghanistan.  He told me he'd be at ABC soon and not to leave.
     Once he was at ABC he told me that he was having a premiere on the Intrepid and he would love for me to come.  Then he invited me to dinner with him and his son, who also works at ABC now. It was quite the fancy place where i met him and Carlos, but it was really fun to catch up with him and he loved hearing about every second of my internship.  He really is a blessing and it is wonderful to hear a man i look up to so much say, " i just want you to know I love you and i am so proud of you." I don't know how i got so blessed.

The whole next day i was looking forward to this premiere.  I caught a taxi at the end of my shift with some of my bosses on the assignment desk and met Hillary and Amy (two other OU students) in the theater on the ship.  Mike was speaking at the start and gave us a little shout out, saying his students were there.  The theater was filled with some very important people in the news business so that was very cool.  The movie was amazing! I sobbed.  It's a story in honor of those lost in the war as well as a father son journey with Mike and Carlos. There were lots of families of those lost in the infantry Mike covered in the audience, which made  it all the more touching.

     After the movie there was a mixer, where Mike introduced me to some executives at CBS.  I got their cards and they told me they would love to help a student of Mike's especially with the passion i was showing.  Seriously, so cool! That night was amazing, it was on this huge ship with a wonderful view on the deck, i met executives, and i got to watch my favorite professor in an amazing movie!

      I was thinking this would be the last time i saw him before school started but he came and visited me at work the next day after he had lunch with the assignment editor for international news.  He took me around the office and introduced me to a lot of really cool people like the chief investigative producer and the man in charge of all the affiliates.  I also got to sit in a meeting about his movie.  It's a huge deal.  It's already raised a ton of money and is set to release in all theaters in November.  The premiere will be in Dallas after a benefit country concert with stars like Carrie Underwood.  I got to introduce Mike to some of the friends i've made in New York as well.  He made this week very exciting and his confidence in me really means the world.
    Yesterday, i had brunch with the Desk Assistants (DAs) from work.  DAs typically are the interns from the previous summer that have been hired to do what I'm doing in my internship but then work their way up to where they want to be in the company with time.   It was really nice to sit down and just poke fun with each other.  We're all very close in age (21-24) and listening to how each of us got to where we are was awesome! Although, i wouldn't exactly call what we had brunch... more like eating breakfast food at 1pm.  While at brunch i got a text from Christian asking if i could help show his friends around ABC.  So, once i was done with brunch, i headed to ABC and gave a tour.  I ran into Gio Benitez (correspondent) while giving the tour and introduced Christian and his friends to him.  If you want to know the story of how i met Gio ask my Dad ;) haha.
     It was a pretty full day after that.  We wandered Central Park for a bit then headed to Brooklyn to go to some street fairs and grab a slice of pizza.  Favorite thing at the street fairs?? obviously the antique cameras.

 

      The guys had a plan to go to the number one rooftop bar that night but it was fancy so we had to go home and shower and change quickly to get there before it got too crowded.  Let's be real: it really was just a photo op more than a desire to "party" or whatever so we had no interest in being there when lots of people were around.  So i hopped on my train after getting some help finding which one to get on.  There was a young hispanic girl who wanted to share her life story  with me on the subway for an hour soooo that made the trip not so enjoyable. Plus it was really crowded.
      I got home and got speed ready.  Threw on a dress, brushed my hair and brought makeup with me to put on in the cab and headed to meet the guys at the NYU dorms.  The bar/hotel is over by the intrepid ship so we took the subway over there and got there by 8:30ish.  The view was incredible!

Seriously, i can see why its ranked the number one rooftop bar in the city.  You can see the whole thing lit up! We spent an hour or two there then wandered the city for a bit then i went home. 

It was a pretty good week overall.  

    Where do i begin with this weekend!? Seriously, what a blast.  My grandmother and mom got in Thursday afternoon and met me at ABC so i could show them around.  Not too much to see but i introduced them to my coworkers and showed them the different levels including the studio.  It was a fairly short day, comparatively speaking.

 We went to dinner after the short tour and once mimi went to bed, mom and i explored the park behind my house.  It is beautiful!! I've lived here for a month and never knew how pretty it was!

      Friday we rose early to go to Fox and Friends.  Mimi loves that show and was very excited to see how the Friday free breakfast and concert went.  Turns out the concert was Kip Moore who sings "Something Bout a Truck".

It was especially fun because there weren't an outstanding amount of people there so it seemed like we were very close to the singer and the Fox talent that was circulating throughout the event.  Also, Mimi made her Fox debut on national television so that's very exciting!

     After the concert, we grabbed a coffee and headed the the American Museum of Natural History which i (and 5 friends) get into free with my ABC ID.  Obviously, that place is crazy large, so we only visited the exhibits that seemed intriguing!

     Spent about an hour and a half there and then decided to grab lunch at Gray's Papaya.  The hot dogs there are incredible! No place to sit though... which is a problem not only for Mimi but all of us after an already long day of walking and standing.

 We then decided to head to the Central Park Zoo.  We'd heard good things about the Polar Bear there but boy, were we in for a disappointment.  Out of the 8 angles of the bear exhibit... no polar bear.  But we did see some cute seals and some oh so rare central park ducks and turtles!! Those are worth a see... right?

    Still having almost a half of the day left, we decided to try out a NY bus tour.  We were pretty excited to figure out how to purchase the passes because we'd been thinking about it for a bit.  So we excitedly got on the bus and plugged our headphones and then after 2 stops... the woman told us we had to get off.  ummm??? so that was no bueno but we walked to find the next bus stop and that one was not air-conditioned.  So our first impression of this Gray Line Bus Tour was what a jip... but we got to use it for 48 hours and its far cheaper than fetching a taxi everywhere.   We toughed it out though and made it all the way to the stop by my apartment and their hotel. That was exhausting so we decided to take a quick nap!
     By then it was dinner time, so i taught mom and mimi how to use the subway.  We went towards Greenwich village because we heard the best pizza joint was there: John's Pizza.  It was so good.  In true new york style, it was a very cramped restaurant but very quick in getting your food ready! That pizza was so great!!
    That was a long day to say the least.  We dropped Mimi at the hotel and mom and I watched Dateline in my room.  Oh, and dealt with the Diet Dr. Pepper I exploded all over my bed.  Good times, eh, mom?

     On to Saturday Morning.  We decided to go to the Met.  Again, I get free passes with my ID.  We also, only visited a few exhibits because of the sheer size of that place.

We spent around an hour there and decided to catch our bus tour bus to Times Square because we had tickets for Lion King at 2.

We picked up our tickets and settled down at a diner until it was a good time to get lined up to go into the show.  That was the highlight of my weekend, i think.  Lion King is amazing.  To all you theatre snobs who think shows need to be in depth to be amazing, you are so wrong.  The staging is awe-inspiring.

     After Lion King, we headed back to our neck of the woods and ate dinner at a little diner on Broadway.  Mimi then went to bed and Mom and I met a friend of mine for the night bus tour on the Gray Line that we'd been using.  That was another highlight.  It seemed like it was going to be lame but then we crossed the bridge as the sun was setting.

So beautiful! We got to see all sides of the city and do the tourist thing for a bit.  We then caught the Times Square subway back home and got some very well deserved rest.

     We slept in this morning and met for a late... very late.... breakfast at Good Enough to Eat on Columbus.  Once breakfast was over, we chatted in the lobby of my hotel until they had to catch a cab to La Guardia.
     It was such a blessing to have them this weekend.  Seriously, not that i would ever forget this summer anyway, but i never forget a trip with my grandmother and mother.

    Sorry for the belated post.  I've been coming home exhausted.  In a good way, though.  I've made great friends here and they keep me pretty busy! This past weekend, i went to the MoMA (modern museum of art).  It was... interesting.  I went with my friend Christian and i think we both only liked a few sections.  It's just a little much for me.  The art doesn't make sense.  Projectors of strange diseases, food made out of bean bags, things made to look like guns that aren't... its just weird!!! But we enjoyed making fun of the art together so that was good.

     Yesterday i went to a concert in Central Park in the pouring rain.  It almost made the whole experience cooler though.  We danced to a band i had never heard of that is now my favorite.  Airborne Toxic Event... check em out!

      The other intern joined me at the desk today and she is awesome.  It was nice to share the spot as the low man on the totum pole with someone.  She's funny and really looking to make friends and i really appreciated having her there!  Tonight, I'm meeting up with the Nightline interns and Christian for dinner.  I would have gone straight from work but i got off early!

    Yesterday, I went to Newtown.  It was very eerie being there.  Such a poor little community that will never be the same because of the actions of one.  It was the 6 month anniversary of the shootings at Sandy Hook and it was very emotional.  Many families and friends gathered outside the town hall and of course lots of media (including Josh, David and myself).  I was actually included in the list of journalists covering this event in the ABC email coverage list. 

We arrived later than most and weren’t able to plug our audio into the usual place.  We had to MacGyver our wireless mic onto the stand that the people would be speaking at.

     A moment of silence was held for 26 seconds at the start of the ceremony to honor the 26 lives lost.  The first speakers that asked for this moment of silence were two girls who lost their first grader sister at Sandy Hook.  They did fairly well remaining composed until they left the podium.  Then they were escorted into the town hall.  The next speakers were advocates for a group against gun violence.  The ceremony was to last 12 hours because they were reading off the 6,000+ people who have been killed by gun violence in the 6 months since Newtown.   We listened for a bit then interviewed a few families of victims.  Then we were done and started to make the hour and a half trek back to the station. 

      We drove around Newtown for a bit.  Both David and Josh had covered Newtown when it happened and had vivid memories of it.  They showed me where angels were placed to commemorate the children, the volunteer fire station where some children ran, the little diner where they edited everything for the shows.   They are leveling the school so we couldn't drive there but we could see the road that led to it.  

     Once back, we imported the footage and I went back to the desk for a few hours.  Not too shabby.

      I have nothing planned this weekend really.  I may meet up with a few friends but I’m not at all opposed to having the weekend to myself.  It’s been a non stop time for the past couple of weeks and It may be nice to veg out for a weekend.  My mom and mimi are coming next weekend and that should be fun filled and busy weekend so I’m not killing myself to make plans this weekend really.  

      PS i got a new room today in my extended stay... not a bad view. 

     This morning i was rushed.  I'm always early (as i've stated before) so this morning i thought ' i can leave my apartment at 8:45 and get there by nine'.  Turns out it works... i got there at 9 on the dot but me in my 'must be on time' mindset was freaking out the whole time.  Probably won't try that again.  I arrived at work a little flustered.   Almost immediately Greg (if you don't remember that's the guy that hired me and who i consider to be my boss... i have a lot of bosses) asked if i wanted to go on a shoot.  Uhhh of course.  So i ran downstairs to meet Josh Haskell in the field producer's office.    
      We were covering a city council meeting at city hall about a bill a council woman is trying to pass concerning counterfeit bags.  We grabbed a taxi and headed there.  It took about thirty minutes and we were there.  We showed our credentials  at the front and headed up to the room where the meeting was being held.  It was tiny and we were the only TV press there.  This was especially odd because we were late... some local affiliate showed up later and what appeared to be Asian American broadcast students but that was it.

      The bill she was trying to pass wants to penalize not only the vendors of counterfeit goods in New York but the buyers as well.  Penalties could be as severe as one year in prison.  We shot a mass majority of the seemingly never ending meeting.  Josh had to leave because they decided to make it a package and he had to take calls from correspondents and the producers for World News.  Since he was gone, i got to run the camera!  It was pretty cool knowing i was shooting something that could air in World News.  Josh really let me have a hand in the whole process.

      We did a few interviews after the meeting and then we headed to China Town to get some b-roll of the vendors.  Our cab driver was quite the character.  I think Josh made him a little mad because he wasn't having the typical taxi driver trick of taking longer routes.  For the rest of the ride, the driver was grilling Josh about NYC facts such as how long is broadway street... why is it called canal street... blah blah blah.  I got one answer right so clearly i'm an expert now haha.
      It was raining today so vendors were scarce in China Town.  Josh asked me to go act like i was shopping in a few stores to see if any of the purses were fake.  Most of the shops were very nervous about it.  If you've ever been in one of those shops, they have very obvious fake handbags.  Things that look like Coach but with G's, Louis Vuitton's with two L's instead of a V, etc.  So they, for the most part, told the truth and said they were not designer.  Except for one.

     I walked into one kind of discouraged and was snapping a picture of some knock-off Louis Vuitton luggage.  You aren't supposed to take pictures so when the shop owner walked up behind me, i hid my phone and picked up the bag nearest me.  It was a fake Coach bag.  She, in her very heavy asian accent, said "you want coach".  I said "Well i've never bought a coach bag outside a department store.. are you sure it's real?" "Yes, Yes. It Coach. You buy?" I was a tad flustered that i actually found a liar so i stupidly said, "Well let me go find my dad and see if he'll buy it for me." On a side note, Josh is maybe 4 years older than me and looks nowhere near old enough to be my dad.  I just didn't expect her to follow me out... which she did.  Josh said we'd think about it and he wanted to buy it for my birthday but we had to meet some friends first.  Then we walked away.
      At this point we were waiting for Lindsay Davis and a WN producer.  Once we found them, we walked back to the shop.  Here's the video of what happened when we walked in:

     So... change of story.  We went in a few more shops but figured we'd have better luck with the typical stands you think of with this sort of thing, rather than the shops we had been exploring.  So we took a cab to SoHo to see if they had any stands.  Nothin.  We ended up walking all the way back to China Town and splitting up.  Lindsay and the producer went to see if they could get a store.  Josh and I got man on the street interviews. 

      Once we had finished, we headed back to log the footage and get it to an editor in time for World News.  Pretty cool to watch something you saw being made on national television.  I would also like to point out that Josh was like the best person to go on a shoot with.   He let me help so much and thanked me for being helpful, which of course made me feel great! I'm going to Newtown for the 6 month anniversary coverage tomorrow with him and the other producer i went on a shoot with earlier this summer.  I'm very excited, though, it's going to be rainy and i don't exactly own a lot of rain gear! Wish me luck!

     What a weekend.  I spent it exploring the city and hanging out with new friends.  On Saturday, I explored SoHo with a college friend named Hillary.  We pretty much figured out how to get there on the subway then got ourselves lost exploring.  Thank God for google maps!!!! We stumbled upon several fun things.  First off, vendors everywhere selling jewelry and hats and treats.  There was an ice cream truck on every corner... or we kept passing the same one (we never did figure that out).  We then stumbled into the Kardashian store DASH.  Security was tight.  Most people there were solely interested in the photo op because the clothing was so expensive.  Saying that, i don't fully understand why security tensed up each time a photo was snapped.  Either way, it was fun!

 And then... it happened Kate Spade NY.  I was like a giddy child.  It is my absolute favorite designer.  When i am rich and famous... which obviously won't take long (kidding...) everything in my home and closet will be Kate Spade.

Hillary's aunt and uncle are from New Jersey and told us about a place called "Big Gay Ice Cream Shop" so obviously we had to go.  We spent a good part of the rest of the day trying to find it, stumbling across the occasional piano, park, or garden.

 And then... it happened... our destination and oh my gosh, i am so glad we went!  Such funny people and the most amazing ice cream i've ever had.  Mine was chocolate ice cream dipped in roasted coconut.  Yum!

     We had plans to meet up with some people that night for dinner and a comedy show, so we headed home after our ice cream to rest our feet and get ready.  We met some other NY interns at an airplane themed place in Chelsea.  It was really fun.  Everyone was really funny and relaxed and we were really excited about the show we were seeing that night.  It was called "grandma's ashes", the actors asked people to anonymously write down their most embarrassing secret.  They then drew these out of the hat and created scenes from the secrets.  The secrets ranged from raunchy to just... weird.  One was "I'm just really excited about the Puerto Rican parade." They then made a scene where a woman faked her husband's death to get out of work so she could go to this parade.  Everyone in the office secretly wanted to go and they all tried to make up lies to get to go.  It was very funny!

After our show we just wandered NY with our group of 6... we made it all the way to Times Square then to NY.   After that we called it a night.
     I met up with Hillary again on Sunday to see The Purge.  She hated it... like a lot.  But i really liked it.  Then again, i'm a nerd for that genre.  We had dinner at this very cheap but good place called The Hummus Place.  We happened to be sitting next to some fellow Texans so we talked to them as we ate.
     The reason i am mainly writing about my weekend is because work today was nothing to write home about (literally).  Unless you are fascinated by New York rain... in which case i could talk for days about it.  Sparks note version: it's awful.