Confessions of a Korean-American Man in New York City

I was looking out the window today on this very dreary day in NYC and I had a flashback of when I was a Senior in high school in the Philly burbs. Konman and I raised hell back then where we would play dumb juvenile practical jokes but we also had fun running up and down to NYC. If you recall from an earlier entry, Konman is my bud from HS and he was a promising young actor who had some early success with bit roles in Clockers, Girl 6 (Spike called him personally for that role), Rocky V and of course commercials. Along the way Konman took me along for the journey where we would either drive up after school (2 hrs) or hop on the Amtrak. We would sneak out of school early to allow us time to make the 4-5pm auditions.

So here were were, 2 high schoolers trying to find these random addresses and buildings where auditions would take place. We would go up and down Manhattan going from one audition to another, but maxing out at 3. Sometimes a callback was mixed in with a dressing. Most of the time, I would just chill in the waiting room with a bunch of young faces that looked like Konman because they were looking for a redhead, between the ages of 12-16. I obviously did not fit that profile but when there was an open audition, I would submit my name, take the obligatory polaroid shot and wait to be called in. What I quickly realized and so did the casting director was that I couldn't act. That always ended the call early but I had fun laughing about it with Konman afterwards. When I did sit in the waiting room, everyone was always checking each other out and the inevitable conversation would begin, "so what calls have you been on" or "have you done anything lately?" My response was a made up one but fun because I would say that I always get cast as an extra in Vietnam War movies and my claim to fame was getting shot in Platoon. This was a complete lie that Konman and I thought up while in the car one day heading to NYC and what was crazy is that these kids would say, "oh yeah, I think I remember." The problem is I had not seen Platoon and I wasn't even sure if a scene like that ever existed, but it made sense to these kids so it was the running joke Konman and I had when we would parade through these auditions. Sometimes Konman would tell the story and the other times I would.

Some nights when the auditions were done early, we would trek through the city and maybe get a quick bite at Sbarros. I have to admit that as a young high schooler, I was in awe of NYC and the hecticness of it all. There seemed to be so much energy and at the same time it was scary for me so I was always touching my back pocket to make sure I didn't get picked. The city to me was so big and intimidating. When it was time to go we would return home after 9pm. One time we had no money to get back to Amtrak because we were so far south on 6th Ave, so as the subway was stopped, we ran and hopped the turnstile and sneaked into the subway car. Doesn't sound like the worst criminal act, but as two teenagers in NYC, our hearts were pounding as if we had held up the local bodega. High School was fun and so simple. Life in the 30s is so complex. Ahh, flashbacks are nice.