morning bike ride

this photo hunt of sorts is especially for my mother.

leaving the apartment at around 9:45am, i set out for Madison Square Park in Mid-Town Manhattan, in the FlatIron District. meeting a friend there, to eat at the Shake Shack [amazing burgers and shakes].

rode my european bicycle from Queens to Manhattan, taking the Queensborough Bridge [59th Street Bridge]. a view from the middle of the bridge. some construction is being done, hence the need for wrapping. i like to pretend it's Christo, or some other artist making a statement.

getting into Manhattan, i rode down Lexington Ave. to get to 25th street. these brave soldiers, having lost the use of their legs in one war or another, were out on their arm-driven bicycles. it makes me happy that they can still experience the amazing power of the wind on their faces from riding a bicycle.

arriving at the park a bit early, i noticed this building on 25th street. lucky guy, gets to look at the park all day.

at the park, i locked up my Puch and felt myself being drawn to the fountain in the center. this park is very small, but attracts a number of people for a number of reasons. it's quaint dog park, where dogs of all sizes can run loose and play, the interesting metal sculptures of trees and rocks [sorry no photo], and of course, the Shake Shack. yum.

the railing surrounding the fountain. the photo at the top shows baskets of flowers on all sides of the fountain.

this has been a very pleasant second summer in the city. so far. perfect weather today. no humidity, sun shining, nice cool breeze.

miles ridden: 10

burgers eaten: 1

alcohol units: 0 [so far]

lyla grace

my family you will always be.
and i will love you forever.

as i love your mother forever.



i love you michelle and tim.
my heart is with you.

sampaguita part II

after the first show back in March, we continued work with Sampaguita.
the goals were to show in a theater near Broadway, with a real set, as a real play, not a workshop [as the first play had been].
i took this project on not really knowing the time i would be putting into it.
but it turned out being a great experience, and i treasure my time spent with the everyone involved.

the 45th Street Theater is the venue.
seriously blocks away from Broadway, right down the street from the theater showing 'Curtains', this was an ideal location for Sampaguita Part II.
you can see the poster, which was designed by a colleague of the director's. phenomenal design. the color scheme of the set was very much based on this.

now you must understand that the set had 2 phases. the beginning of the play, act 1.

with the storyline, we enter into an apartment of a man recently widowed. this is the living room area of a loft apartment in SoHo, in the lower part of Manahattan. on the left you can see part of the kitchen/dining area. behind these areas are three fabric walls, creating a doorway into the bathroom/bedroom areas, which are not meant to be seen by the audience.

the dining/kitchen area.

fabric walls. to the left the bathroom, to the right the bedroom. this also created a changing area/backstage for the actors.

as the play moves on, the apartment gets cleaner and cleaner, as we transition from past to present to past again. the main plot line shows two time periods, moving from a present to a past memory. this was depicted using different lighting. it was quite fascinating to watch.

act two set, with lighting set to flashbacks.

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thus ends one of the busiest weeks i've had since i graduated from college. i don't know if i'll pick up another set design project in the near future. it was very stressful, but to see the end result is so satisfying. a feeling that nothing but a finished project that i'm proud of can bring.