Two's Company, Two Thousand's a REAL Crowd

SEPTEMBER 1st, 2008 - Gould Plaza sneaks up on you as you cross 3rd St. and work your way past Washington Square Park.  It's building, building, building, then an airy, open plaza, with buildings extending like hugging arms around it.

I was performing as part of NYU's Inter-Residence Council Hall (IRHC) Welcome Week at Gould Plaza and, as my time to go on approached, I watch a two-block long line filter into the Plaza.  The most people I had performed before was about 800 people at Harvard's Sanders Theater; even still, I could feel the adrenaline inject itself as the entire plaza became a sea of bodies and faces.

However, due to a series of mishaps involving Clearasil, which dried out my face, and an allergy to certain kinds of pollen, my eyes started becoming puffy and swollen right before going on stage.  In front of 2,000 people.

As you can tell in from the picture, though, I had sunglasses in my messenger bag, so thankfully only I (and now you!) know my little secret!

Just goes to show: in show business, always be prepared for the unexpected!