Would you like caviar with that?

I have almost completed Phase II of my New York move--finding a steady income. I now work for 2 catering companies, Great Performances and Food for Thought NYC. Great Performances is the single largest privately owned catering company in the city and does events for Ellis Island, the Mets, and some other huge venues. I have to actually go buy a tuxedo to work for them. Also, most of the waiters who work for GP are artists of some kind, so it's cool to get a foot in the door with that network. Food for Thought NYC is a little more laid back, but no less popular (and it pays me a little more). They do events in all of the city's boroughs and even some in Jersey. Last week, they did a party with Shaq, and also one with the guitarist guy from Bon Jovi.
What's great about catering is that it is far easier than waiting tables, and it's completely flexible. They actually work around your schedule, and there is no hard feelings if you say no to jobs they offer. Actually, both companies made it very clear that they know no one wants to be a cater waiter as a career and so they know we are all pursuing something else and catering is a way to support ourselves in pursuit of something bigger. So they both said that if we, say, land a tour and have to leave for a year, that's totally fine and we are welcome to jump right back in to the business. They also plan things months in advance, which is nice. I already have a catering job for September, October, and November in just the first day of landing the jobs.

I also have an interview with Alice's Tea Cup on Tuesday, which is the cool little tea shop I wrote about earlier. I figured that since I have to kind of work my way up in the catering companies to get consistent work, I need another, steadier job to supply some more cash flow for the first couple months. So wish me luck, because Alice's is perfect!

I finally went to Times Square last night, and realized that it is my least favorite part of the city. It unlike any other place here, and it's just so crowded and stinky. After walking through a crowd of people selling Obama posters and shouting "Obama for a dolla!", we ate at the Stardust Diner where the waiters sing to you for tips, which was a lot of fun. One of Kara's old college friends works there so we got to hear her sing and she gave us free soda :)

On our walk to the subway yesterday we noticed that the McDonalds on our street was shut down. Why??--the health department. Gross.