Where was I?  Oh yes, the job.

My internship at HBO/Cinemax was pretty bad, so I won’t go into detail about it, except to say that I sure hope the internship program is more organized now – I think it should be, 18 years later, but you never know.  The main things I remember about that job is that I didn’t learn anything, I never hung out in the same office twice (whoever was out sick that day, that was the office I would make my own for the day), I watched a lot of old movies on beta, and whenever I could, I would leave that job to go over to OLTL.  The only good thing about it was that they sent me a $500 stipend after the semester was over, which I wasn’t expecting and was very happy to get.

OLTL was my dream job.  As an intern, my responsibilities included making copies of scripts (tons of copies every day), counting fan mail, answering phones and running errands.  I know, that sounds boring, but dude, I was working on a SOAP OPERA!  My dream job.  I couldn’t believe my luck.  I worked in the production office two days a week, with three other women.  I couldn’t tell you what their jobs were, but they basically controlled the day-t0-day operations of the place.  The building is three floors – the 2nd floor is the one where you entered the building and that was where the studios were – one long studio with different sets.  The sets could be anything from the Lord Mansion, a hospital, a car crash site, you name it, they probably had a set for it at some point.   The basement consisted of the actor’s dressing rooms, wardrobe, hair and makeup and a rehearsal room, and I didn’t venture down there very often, as I was intimidated by most of the actors – plus, the security guard down there smelled bad.   The top floor, where I worked, housed the writers, producers and music (and probably some others I don’t recall).  The best thing about the top floor was that every day, there was catered breakfast.  Ah, in the land before cutbacks, we gorged on bagels, fresh fruit and pastries.  I so loved working in the production office that, halfway through my internship, I finally realized that I should actually be getting more out of my time there and needed to observe other departments than my own, and finally began to ask to shadow other areas.  I did some time in music, I observed music editing, I did a little time in the control room, but really, I spent most of my time in the office.  Looking back, I wish I had spent time in editing, casting, sets, props and with the director, but I was just so enamored of the office that I didn’t ever want to leave.

That winter was very harsh – we had 17 big snowstorms, and there were many days when I was sent home early for fear that I wouldn’t make it back out to Long Island before the trains shut down.  You would think that a major Metropolis like Manhattan would know how to deal with extreme weather by now.  You would be wrong – it’s like panic central when it snows, or even rains really hard.  I remember once, when I lived there in 1998, the weather report said that a bad rainstorm was coming, and we actually got to leave work early, in case the subways flooded and we couldn’t make it out to Queens.  My boss and I took the same subway line, and we were surrounded by what felt like all of New York, each person clamoring to get on the train.  We were packed like sardines on that subway, all because of a bit of rain.  I remember I got home at like 2pm and went to the movies.  Yes, it rained, but it wasn’t a monsoon, for the love of Mike!  Again, I digress.  I really hated that winter, not because of the weather, but because I kept getting sent home early from my dream job.  If I had known anyone in the city, I would have crashed at their place, just to stay at work a bit longer.

One time, I got to work in the middle of a snowstorm, and immediately got sent out on an errand for an actress.  She had a cold and needed cold medicine.  They gave me her credit card (can you imagine?) and told me to buy her some Nyquil or something equivalent so that she could get through her scenes.   At that point, I was basically going into the city, getting straight onto the subway, getting off the subway at my stop and walking straight to OLTL.  I didn’t know my way around the city at all, and I really didn’t know my way around the five-block radius of OLTL.  Yet out I went into a snowstorm where the snow was coming at you sideways, trying to find a drugstore or pharmacy so I could get this woman some cough syrup.  One of my co-workers had directed me: “I think there’s a drugstore around the corner, somewhere up on Broadway.”  The streets were a blinding white, signs were covered with snow, and I couldn’t see three feet in front of me – but she thought I would be able to find a drugstore, “easily”, she said.  Let me tell you, I don’t know how I found it, but I finally found a place that sold cold medicine.  You know how on sitcoms, someone will open a door and the wind and snow will follow them inside, and then they will close the door with their back, using all their might?  That was me that day.  I got into the store, bought the medicine, and then stood there for a few minutes, not wanting to go back outside.  However, I knew they were waiting for this medicine, so I went back out into the blizzard, waded through the foot-high snow, and got back to OLTL, completely wet and cold.  I gave them the medicine and then went into the bathroom to assess the damage.  I had mascara dripping down my face, my nose was red and frozen, but other than that, I looked ok.  I got back to the intern desk and hadn’t been seated for more than a half-hour before they told me to go home, the weather wasn’t going to get any better.  Are you kidding?  I braved a snowstorm for this?  I didn’t want to leave but did, cursing Mother Nature the whole way home.  That happened too often that semester, and every time I got back on the LIRR, that hourlong commute back to Babylon dragged.  I would listen to my Stone Temple Pilots cassette on my Walkman (completely dating myself) and watch the houses go by, with their above ground pools and snow-covered cars.

Another time, I was sent out to the other building (across the street from us was the main ABC building, where they had the employee cafeteria, as well as the local news and Live with Regis and Kathie Lee (Kelly Ripa was still on AMC at that point) to get lollipops for everyone in the control room.  Such silly errands, but I loved doing it.  Occasionally, the copier would break down (what am I saying, occasionally?  It broke down all the time.  You try making 50 copies of full scripts twice a day and see how the copier handles it) and we would have to go across the street and find a copier to commandeer so we could make our copies.  We went through tons of revisions every day and had to give all the actors new copies so they could memorize their lines.  I still have copies of some of the old scripts.  Certain color scripts meant certain things – there were yellow, green and pink, if I recall correctly.  We would make the copies and then put them in the actor’s mailboxes, along with their fan mail.  Making copies was a huge part of our day.

Sometimes, we had fun tasks like getting the actors to sign scripts for charity.  Except it wasn’t fun, because as I said I was shy and intimidated by the actors, so having to go up to them, having to SPEAK to them directly, was nervewracking.  They were all extremely nice, but back then I was starstruck (not anymore, Mary J. Blige, BRING IT) and tongue-tied and it was torturous to have to ask them to sign a script, even if it was for a good cause.  But inside?  I was in heaven.

I know the thing you are most curious about is the actors, right?  Yeah, I would be, too.  They were all really nice, like I said, but some were friendlier than others.  The actors didn’t come upstairs to our area that often (certain ones never made it upstairs), but every once in awhile you would see them.  If you went down to their dressing room area, you would bump into them more often, so I liked to take my time delivering the fan mail.  Many of the actors who are still on the show were on when I was there – I can’t name the actors, but characters like Nora and Bo, Viki, the old Clint, Asa, Dorian – basically the anchor characters.  Then there were the younger actors who were just biding their time, hoping for a better gig.  If you watch OLTL, it was just around the time when the original Todd was there, as well as Marty and other characters like Rebecca, Powell, Max, Luna, and the original Jessica, Erin Torpey, who was probably in her freshman or sophomore year of high school.  I remember talking to her and she asked where I went to school, and she was so impressed about me being in college.  I was friendly with only one actor, the guy who played Powell.  He was the first actor I ever met who seemed like a regular guy.  He was very down-to-earth and nice to everyone, and you could tell he felt extremely lucky to have a job.  After meeting him, I don’t think I was ever impressed by an actor again, because I realized that what they did, at the core, was work a job just like you and me.  It just happens that their job is on tv or in film.  But they are real people, people who have dogs and kids and mortgages and have to take out the garbage and make dinner and do all the same things you and I do … except if they’re lucky (and talented, but sometimes lucky is the key factor) they make more money than you and I.

When the semester was drawing to a close, I had to make a decision – stay in NY or go home to Florida.  My family wanted me to come home – they wanted to see me graduate from college.  I thought, “If I go home now, I’ll never come back.”  Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I had stayed there.  OLTL wasn’t hiring, but I probably would have found another job.  But I went home like a good daughter and my family got to watch me graduate from FSU.  I went back to my summer job as a cashier at Albertson’s, and in September of 1994 I started working at HSN.  I moved back to NY in 1997  and stayed there for a year and a half, then moved back home and went back to HSN.  12 years later, I’m still at HSN.  But without this place, I would never have met my husband and never had my kids, so I can’t say it was a bad decision to leave NY.  But I loved my experience at OLTL and I loved living in New York, and I wouldn’t trade that for anything.   There are certain things in life that change you, that help shape you as a person, and my life in New York City certainly did that.  I came back from both of my NY stints knowing (and I know this sounds corny, but what the hell) “if I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere.”

So goodbye All My Children and One Life to Live.  Thanks for everything.  And yes, I’m still waiting for you to apologize for killing Dixie.  Any day now …

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