Friday = Lists

It was a long first week of routines and work and class, but here's to the weekend!

It feels so good to be settling in, but there are some things - good and bad - that I don't know if we'll ever get used to. Enjoy:

1. People asking for food on the Subway, walking up and down the cars with bags for passengers to drop granola bars and snacks into.

2. The profanity (seriously, the f-bomb is used like any other adjective here!).

3. The disgusting hot air that blows out of the subway vents on to the sidewalks. Ughhh

4. The food prices (I'll never understand why a box of cereal costs $7.99. Ever.).

5. The sight of the beautiful Queensboro Bridge that spans just a couple blocks from our place.

6. The lack of eye contact. At first it was refreshing to not have everyone you walk by wanting to have an entire conversation with you, à la Lynchhburg, but right now I miss having people smile back.

7. Living in the canyon of a skyline. You get a little claustrophobic every now and again.

8. Flowers everywhere! Every other street corner has a small grocer with bouquets displayed outside. The lilacs are almost masking the subway stench.

9. Foot callouses, from walking everywhere.

10. Hearing loud banging in the subway stations. It's always drums starting up, but it sounds so strange in most of the stations. I doubt they're well engineered for acoustics, unless it's muffling the screaming trains.

11. The screaming trains.

12. People looking you up and down when you walk by to see what - or who - you're wearing. New Yorkers as a general rule are not as rude as people say, but they are every bit as snobby.

13. The uneven floors. Many of the buildings in Manhattan are so old, and perhaps they settle poorly because it's an island. I really don't know, but some of the floors are just wacky! There's a couple places in ours we can't have furniture because anything will wobble.

14. The cheap booze. Beer and wine are pricier, but anything harder is dirt cheap.

15. Not paying for our heat. Thank you obscure NYC statute that makes landlords pay for it.

16. The crazy water pressure! Our shower could rip your face off!

17. Not driving anywhere, ever.

18. Crazy cab drivers. They will run you over.

19. Tourists.

20. Cheap healthy food. So good!

21. The coffee, it's so rich and strong, just the way I like it! I've never been anywhere before that I could anticipate such perfect espresso-y bliss. I still expect a weak, bitter brew every time I get a cup around here.

22. Being the person tourists ask for directions. It's flattering.

There you have it. The one thing that's going to take longest to get used to is the anonymity. I remember when I was little, my mom would tell me about when she lived in Los Angeles and how you always felt anonymous. It didn't make sense to me then; you're surrounded by people, aren't you? But being alone and being unknown are entirely different.

Today we spent four and a half miserable hours driving to New Jersey to pick up some furniture for our apartment. We were only going about 12 miles. Yeah. Miserable. We tried the back roads, they were just as bad as the interstate. There was a McDonald's when we finally arrived at our destination, and we stopped for a quick bite after those miserable, starving hours. The man ordering next to us was telling them they needed to start serving alcohol so he could get his day started earlier. Good grief. We got our furniture; a shelving unit for the kitchen, rolling kitchen island, and a desk, and then we got the heck out of dodge.

It feels better to come back to Manhattan, every time. It's a sigh of relief. There's a safe feeling once you're back in your neighborhood. They say New Yorkers don't like to leave the 5 block radius around their home and office. It's absolutely true, and I know why. Your tiny apartment isn't big enough to fill all the needs of a home; the pizzeria and the deli and the grocer and the pub all become home too.

We both love it here. Zack, the introvert, has taken to city life more naturally than I. I still miss fresh air and open spaces, my heart is divided. He's wholly embraced every particle of our new locale. It's so exciting to see him completely happy, and I know I'll follow shortly.