Movin' On Up, to the East Side

Tuesday night I went to the screening of The Wackness. Although I can say nothing for the morality of the film, Olivia Thirlby is a very talented actress, and she even signed Seventeen's Body Peace Treaty. (BTW- You'd better sign this, too! We're trying to get 1,000,000 signatures!)



The discouraging part about Thursday was an interview I had to do at noon. 12 p.m. That was exactly the time slot occupied by the highlight of my week, the thing getting me through the past three days of friend withdrawls. The band, The Afters, was coming in for a meet-and-greet and performing two songs. I did not want to miss that music, but since meet-and-greets are optional while interviews are not, I knew I had to make a silent sacrifice.

So when 11:30 rolled around, I was out in the 212 percent humidity, walking toward Park Avenue. My yellow umbrella kept hitting into store windows as I dodged pedestrians, and I could feel shin splints creeping up on me as I practically sprinted the 10 blocks to the hotel. "Not happy; missing The Afters; going to be late," were the extremely positive thoughts going through my head as I tried to avoid the pooling sludge at the crosswalks. The lining of the vintage Anna Sui dress I purchased in Brooklyn last weekend was coming too close for comfort between my sweating thighs. "This had better be one good interview," I grumbled inaudibly, and thankfully it was!

The best part was that as I scanned back into Hearst's seventeenth floor, The Afters were just emerging from the conference room. I set my stuff at my cubicle and stole a peek in the band's direction. The musicians began to file out on the other side of the filing cabinet from my desk, and maybe they saw me looking bereft, but whatever the case, one of them stopped and asked, "What's your name?" "Meredith," I said thankfully while shaking his hand. "I hate that I wasn't here," I added. "I had to be somewhere... else. I love you guys!" (Once again, ever the reserved. Hah.) "Oh! We saw the Matt Wertz poster on your desk," he said as another Matt, the band's guitarist, introduced himself to me - apparently Matt Wertz is a common bond. "Here, since you love us, take this!" And with that, I think it was Marc, the drummer, handed me a copy of their CD! Yay! So maybe being completely obsessed with Matt Wertz DID pay off after all!