A lovely weekend

This weekend has been quite nice overall!

Yesterday was a beautiful day; the sun was shining and the temperatures were perfect for walking around the city. I took my TV to finally get repaired at 7th Avenue and 20th Street and then walked up to the public library at 42nd Street in a failed attempt to acquire a library card.

After that, I walked uptown to Central Park because it was so nice out and took a stroll past the zoo, through The Ramble, and then around the Jackie Kennedy Onassis reservoir. I sat around Bethesda Fountain watching the ducks for quite some time. I never really realized how pretty ducks can be, but they're really colored quite beautifully. It was so pretty in the park, and it was nice to see people out and about. What an absolutely beautiful day it was for January. I ended up going as far uptown as 96th Street and then took the subway back to my area.

Today, I bought a play (A Number by Caryl Churchill) for Eurotics (European Drama) and also the play that Julia Roberts will soon be starring in, Three Days of Rain by Richard Greenberg.

After that, I went to a taping of Naomi's New Morning with Naomi Judd on 106th Street between Park and Lexington. The taping ended up taking 4 hours for a 1-hour program, which was, in my opinion, pretty pathetic. The show is supposed to be Naomi telling about her down home philosophies. Anyway, the guests were Latin singer and two-time Grammy-winner Jon Secada, who was pretty good and very attractive, and Hillary Johnson, an up-and-coming singer-songwriter. Besides for them, the show's topic was "Are we born evil?" Naomi had some professionals, a philosopher, a rabbi, and a pastor, to speak about the implications of evil. She then did an interview with the daughter of a serial killer and with a psychological professional. There were also two short taped segments: one about survivors of the World Trade Center attacks who opened up a restaurant and one about some country star who has a large family.

It's really not a show I would probably watch besides for at a live taping like this. Sure, I love chatty, fabulous women who have their own talk shows, but Naomi just doesn't live up as a personality. She needs to get some slightly more high-profile guests on her show. It was pretty obvious that the show is a pretty small affair. The studio was in a nondescript building, and the audience consisted of only three rows. As soon as someone mentioned that there would be an "organ" in the studio, I got worried that it would be some sort of gospel show, but it definitely wasn't. I was glad to see the representation of the Jewish faith as well and also the consideration of atheists in the segment about good and evil. The set was made to look like a country-style house, and it was pretty nice overall.

Anyway, it was a relatively nice experience. At least now I know not to do it again. Also, there was a woman in the audience, Lanette Ware, who is a soap star on "The Guiding Light" and was in Shaft and Bad Company, who I talked to on the subway after the show. She totally thought I was older than I am, but she was really nice, and we talked about Pennsylvania and a little bit about her acting experiences and the fact that all of America is being so overcommercialized.

Wow! Just as I was writing this, who else would call but Samantha Green, the audience coordinator at Naomi's New Morning, who needs audience members for tomorrow's show from 12-4. And what did I say because I'm a pushover? Yes. She said that there would probably be something in it for me, so I hope I get hooked up. Apparently, tomorrow's topic is money.

Anyway, I'm going to go get some dinner and do the homework I would normally be doing tomorrow so I can relax during the taping and not have to worry about things being due.