New York City

I’m a resident of New York City now- Brooklyn, actually.  Next time you see me, I’ll sound really tough, bench 450 lbs, and be able to tell you all about how the best pizza comes from Brooklyn.

Just Kidding.

New York is interesting, though, and the things I’ve come to enjoy about it have been quite different than the things I expected.

Dealing with people everywhere, all the time, isn’t such a big deal.  It takes a little while, but I got used to it.  The fact that subway platforms can be crowded at 2 AM is really quite comforting.  Outside of my apartment, I’m never alone.  That’s an odd thing.

The subway is a blessing.  Yes, I just said that.  I have a 30-minute commute to my office from my house, and 25 minutes of that is spent in the subway system.  It’s fantastic.  At first, it really wasn’t fantastic, but now it is.  It’s fantastic because I have 2 25-minute chunks of my day where I am forced to stand and wait.  This gives me reading time.  I could easily piss this time away- daydream, listen to music, whatever… but I’ve been able to use this sunk time to reintroduce books into my life.  Every weekday, I read for 50 minutes.  This means that I generally finish a book a week.  I haven’t been at that pace since before high-school.  Seth Godin’s books have been getting my attention most recently, but next up is likely to be Kite Runner.

Theatre, art, and music overflow out onto the streets.  It’s easy to walk by it, to save a dollar (…or 30) and go about my own ways, but it’s so much more interesting to dive into the random-indie-film-festival that we happen to walk by.  For a person desiring adventure, this is a good place to be.