Wrapping Up

Please forgive me for not updating you on the New York trip. As you are about to read, it has been a crazy few days. I guess I will begin with Sunday. Sunday was our last day in New York. We were attending church at the Brooklyn Tabernacle. Our group met in the lobby of the hotel at 7:15 then we made our way to the subway to catch the R Train to the church. We arrived and found a place for us all to sit. The service began at 9:00. This was a service unlike any other I have ever attended. The song service lasted and hour and a half. Don't get me wrong, it was good. I didn't even realize that it had lasted so long. During that time we did get to go up on the stage and sing 3 numbers with the choir. Two of those we had rehearsed, the third song was actually a song we had performed in our own church. It was very cool to actually sing that song with the BTC.

After church we all boarded the subway. We had split into different groups, each with different destinations in Manhattan. One group did go to Hoboken, NJ to see the Cake Boss. Chis and I headed for Rockefeller Center to take of tour of the NBC Studios. This was pretty cool. Our first stop on the tour was the set of the Dr. Oz Show. The guides told us that Dr. Oz actually designed the studio himself. His studio was previously occupied by both Conan O'Brien and David Letterman. They actually pump refrigerated air into the studio because the moisture in a regular air conditioner would actually break the lenses of the cameras. Our next stop on the tour was the set of "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon." This show has become my favorite late night talk show, so it was a lot of fun to get to sit in Jimmy's studio. I was blown away by how small it was. It looks so much bigger on television. The guides said that TV actually does add 10 lbs to you. She said that they stretch your image out to make it fill more of the screen. They also never pan over the audience. The studio only holds 192 audience members. They only show a section of the audience at a time. There are also microphones hanging from the ceiling over the audience. This makes it sound louder than it actually does. The downside to this is if there is no laughter, it too is magnified. They have lots of ways to trick the television audience. We left Fallon's studio and headed to the set of "Saturday Night Live." I still can't believe I saw that. It was the only studio we couldn't go in. The studio was a mess because a show had just wrapped the night before. There are actually two permanent sets. One on the left and one on the right. These are for skits that have and upstairs feature or are more regular skits. The stage were the host enters and does their monologue is dead center and has a tongue stage the pulls out. This is where a lot of the skits are done. I never imagined that they would shoot skits right there. I had always assumed that they shot them to the right or left of the SNL Band. Just to the left of the main stage (left if you are looking at it) is the stage for the musical guest. It is the only stage that never changes. Each musical guest has free will to do with that stage whatever they want. Some things I found interesting about this set was that a stage crew can tear down and set up a scene in 90 seconds. The guides said that audience members to SNL only get to see about 60% of the show because of all the tearing down and setting up. The show is designed for a television audience. They are actually tearing down some sets while another skit is airing. They are that good. By they way, there is no 7 second delay at SNL, so it is genuinely live. Second, skits involving the late Chris Farley were all held on the same side of the studio. This was because no one ever knew what Chris was going to do and/or exactly how big of a mess he was going to make. I thought that was hilarious! The next stop on our tour was to a command center. It was the broadcasting center of NBC. There were four televisions outside of the control room. Each of these televisions represented a time zone. They showed what was airing in each zone. All broadcasts around the country come through this room. It is controlled by generators that will power the center for two weeks. The guides said that when the blackout happened a few years back, the people in the control room never knew it until they heard it reported on the news. Should something happen and power isn't restored within two weeks, they redirect all signals to a studio in California. The next stop was to a video room where they showed us the make-up side of SNL. Every cast member and host has a bust made. If they lose or gain 5 or more pounds they have to have another one made. This is to keep them from having to sit for hours every time they need a mask or special make-up for the skit they are in. The makeup artist is very precise and accurate. He has yet to miss an entrance although they are prepared to ad lib for up to 10 seconds. Last, we got to see an example of a news set and see how the green screen works. Two lucky volunteers got to record a mock news and weather segment. Chris and I didn't volunteer. This tour was very cool. It was neat to see where and how some of these shows are shot.

We left Rockefeller Center to meet up with with the rest of our Fab 5 group. They had just returned from Jersey. We met up with them in the M&M Store. We left there and headed to the New Amsterdam Theatre to meet up with the rest of the choir to go see Mary Poppins. This was a good show. I was dying of thirst so I had to buy a $7 Diet Coke in the theater. Very tough for me to do, but it hit the spot.

When the show was over, the real fun began. The Fab 5, Me, Chris, Mary Helen, Dena, & Debi plus two adopted members, Mark & Gwen, set out for the Empire State Building. Well, in an effort to find the ESPN Zone in Times Square Mark became distracted by the big Ferris Wheel in the Toys R Us store. After he and Dena got to ride, we then boarded the R Train to 34th Street. Our first stop, Macy's. The Thanksgiving Parade comes right through where we were. Mary Helen then took me and Chris up to the street to see Madison Square Garden. Very cool. So much wrestling history there. We then met up with the rest of our little group and started towards the Empire State Building (ESB). Before we were allowed to go up, we had to go through security. Well, I had purchased some giant tennis balls from the NBC Experience Gift Shop earlier in the day. They wouldn't let me take them up with me. I had to check my balls at security then come back, give them my claim ticket and retrieve my balls. After going through security, we went to the elevators to go up to the observation deck on the 86th floor. The elevator was VERY fast it went about 10 floors in 3-4 seconds. The funny thing was, you never felt the elevator moving. The display didn't show each floor. It went 10-20-30-40, etc. all the way to 80. We then got off on 80 and had to get on another elevator to go up to 86. The view was beautiful. I don't like heights, but I did love the view, especially at night. After walking all the way around the observation deck, we headed back down to the ground floor. We had our picture made before going up. We decided to purchase the picture. We split the cost with the plan to make copies for everyone when we got home. When we placed the order, the attendant asked if we wanted multiple copies. Mark replied, "No, we all live together. We are just going to put it up above our fireplace." The lady said OK and we went on our way. I don't know if it was because it was so late or because we were so tired or because it was just that funny, but we laughed so hard about that all the way home. We finally found the right train and headed back to the hotel. Almost halfway back, I realized I never went back to get my balls. I left my balls at the ESB!! When we finally got back to the hotel at 1:15 in the morning, way past our 10:30 curfew (oooops!!), I called and they said I could come and get my balls anytime as long as I had my claim ticket. I gave the ticket to Lisa and asked her if she would get my balls if she were near the ESB. (UPDATE: I just got word this afternoon that my balls have been retrieved and are coming home on Thursday!)

Fortunately I packed the night before, so there wasn't much for me to do before our 6:30 wake up call. It was night-night for Wesley.

Just like I thought, 6:30 came early. I got up, got the rest of my things together and headed to the lobby to meet the rest of our group to head to the airport. The flight home was good. I have never been so glad to see Memphis. We had a great trip and I had a great time. I am thankful for the opportunity God gave me to go and serve Him and get to see some sights too. I got to know some of our other choir members even better. The trip was good for all of us. God was glorified and our souls were refreshed. I don't know if or when I will ever get to go back to the Big Apple, but I will never forget this trip. Thank you Jesus for being so good to me!!