Sometimes you eat the City and sometimes, well, the City eats you

I like to think of August as The Month When Everything Changed. In two consecutive years running, August has marked a substantial shift in my paradigm, and usually for the better.

I'm not unhappy that this August seemed to float by rather smoothly. As well it should. Numerologically speaking, 8-08 should be the most auspicious month in 20 years. 

In August of 2006, I moved to this crazy city. That's known history to all of you, I'm sure. But I can say with absolute certainty that I didn't feel like I understood this place until August 2007. 

"The Moment" came to me in the 5:30 yoga class at OM on 12th street, when I was resting in child's pose after enduring some rather difficult poses for what seemed to be an ungodly length of time. The teacher, Sarah, used the opportunity to speak to us about realizing that, while we may feel tired or sore from the effort, "this too shall pass." Because we all really did need to use that time to recover, Sarah went on to talk at greater length about accepting the moment for what it is, realizing the impermanence of everything. No matter how bad (or good) things are, surely a more pressing feeling will arise from within us and will carry us away toward new thoughts and feelings, all of which are equally valid. 

It was during that moment that I realized that I was carrying some pretty heavy feelings from my very recent past - the subway frustrations, the friendlessness, the empty feeling one gets when they walk through street after street of strangers who do not smile, the feeling that one is entirely expendable - and then, I made my choice. I decided to be happy, no matter what the circumstances, and to be grateful for all of it. Even the terrible parts, like how hot it is on the 7 platform in Grand Central. 

Immediately following all of that, a hiring streak at my job led to meeting two of my very best friends in the city and, well, ever, and so things got much, much better very, very quickly.

While I do privately celebrate that moment in yoga class, I've never publicly expressed that story. It was the moment of tuning in to the City and answering its demands. I mention it because I came across this story in the New York Times, and it seemed so appropriate to write a reaction in this neglected blog.

The City is very much a character in the lives of those who choose to live here. The City can be a complete asshole at times, and very docile and manageable at others. I think the stories of those 20-somethings in the article are very true to the nature of what it really feels like within the first year of living here, and how to some it can seem like an irrational decision to have made. I knew that moving to New York City would be the hardest thing I'd ever decided to do, and I'm happy to report that with great risk comes great reward.

I'd love to hear from those of you who have decided to move here, for fame or for fortune. When was your "moment" and how long did it take you to feel like NYC was your home?

Pop Quiz

What's wrong with this picture?

Hint:  The guy in the picture is Bill Gates.

Levity

My last post is just too depressing to keep at top billing, so consider this a fair way to shake things up a little around here:

For the record, this is the first image returned in a Google Image search for "funny picture."  I guess it lives up to its search criteria.

To Buffalo

My Grandma Anderson passed away yesterday at the age of 84.  It's difficult for me to pinpoint an exact cause of death - no one seems to know, exactly.  I'd like to believe that she died of old age, but part of me knows that she more or less gave up after taking a spill down the stairs in her home last fall.

It is my belief that she simply didn't want to continue trying anymore.  She didn't want to take part in physical therapy, preferring instead to confine herself to a wheel chair.  No matter what reward was set in front of her, she simply sat, and waited.

And so it is with mixed emotions that I will travel to Buffalo today for her services on Monday and Tuesday.  I am sorry that her life was so full of sorrow that she decided to bide her time, passively waiting for death to come.  At the same time, I am glad her life is over, because that is what she wanted most of all.  It's what she's wanted for years.

I'll miss my Grandma.  She was always very kind to me.  She always spoke to me as a human being, and I appreciated that.  I know that children deserve to be addressed honestly and openly; that is something my Grandma taught me.  I hope that, in the end, she was able to find her peace.  She deserved that, in the very least.

Day's Adventure in the Big Apple

Yesterday, I actually had an adventure in NYC.  Given the title of this blog, you would think that I would be participating in a great deal more shenanigans, but my life is actually rather mundane.  In any case, given the rarity of yesterday's fun, I feel that I should blog about it, just to ensure that "Day's Adventures" keeps its quota of 10% adventure, 90% banality.

Because it is finally getting warmer, a couple of friends and I decided to meet in Central Park yesterday.  We began in the Southeast corner of the park and headed upwards, into the center of the park.  There we scrambled on a few rock faces and generally lounged in a hidden spot, where we could spy on passers-by below.  

Afterward, we wandered around until we saw a temporary roller skating arena.  It was amazing!  There was an extraordinarily gifted skater there who could balance a water bottle on his head while skating at any speed in any direction.  It was a sight to behold - and I cannot bear to tarnish the memory by poorly describing it further.  I wish I had a picture to share, but I was far too dumbfounded to think about pulling the camera out of my bag at the time.

Afterward we strolled the mall.  The trees were just budding, which gave the walkway an impressionistic feel, as though the trees were surrounded by vague images of leaves.  Pointillism.  

We then came across a truly grassy knoll, with actual grass.  I'm disgustingly excited to see real, actual grass anymore, now that I exclusively pound the pavement.  Actually walking upon dirt and grass and nature and stuff just feels so good, just like in my memories of a time when I used to take grass for granted.  

After sitting on the wonderfully green and healthy sod for a good long time, watching a small dog play with a pink bouncy ball, the next mission became clear: find a bathroom.  Luckily we were near 72nd Street so it was relatively easy to walk to the Barnes and Noble near Lincoln Center.  Those are my favorite public restrooms, since I believe that many people don't think to remember that they're available - you know, in there with the books and all.  There is a Starbucks just a block down, and Starbucks in NYC have become synonymous with public restrooms, which further adds to the vacancy of the B & N restrooms.

In any case, darkness had fallen by then, and so we decided to eat burritos and drink beer.  Luckily Harry's Burritos was nearby - although we had just missed happy hour by 5 minutes.  A few beers after an afternoon adventure was just the ticket.  Surely the best possible ending to a rather enjoyable afternoon

The Fame Whore World

The Real World is back on air, in its much anticipated 20th season.  This time they're taking on Hollywood and have recruited cast members who have hopes of succeeding in the entertainment business.  Which means that, for the first time in a long while, these roommates might actually exhibit some ambition.

I watched the inaugural episode of this season.  To be honest, I was really struck by how awful some of these latest cast members seem to be - one guy flirted up a storm with a female roommate, until he found out that she happens to be a stripper.  Then he "confessed" that it is impossible to have any real relationship with strippers in general, and so immediately began giving her the cold shoulder.  

Two of the other male roommates got into it after one of them called another a "weirdo" for wearing a t-shirt in the jacuzzi, after which everyone got all riled up into a tizzy.  Seems the name-calling roommate has worked everyone's nerves in just the 48 hours covered in this episode.  The troubling part was that the offending roommate disparagingly called the weirdo roommate a "female" for overreacting at the name-calling incident.

Misogyny abounds.  

This shall certainly be a season of hook-ups and general sluttiness (when's the last time this show wasn't about sex and alcohol?), featuring seven total strangers and complete fame whores.  I guess the interesting part of this will be observing which of the cast members will actually work on their "art" in order to break into Hollywood, and which believe that they deserve to be famous, because EVERYONE is famous these days.  

They can't be far off from the truth, thanks to these terrible unscripted (reality) televisions shows.  They're ruining society, I tell ya.

La Awesome

Today was a relatively rough day at work.  It's bound to happen when you work in one place for years and years that you get a little bit sick of things ever now and again.  At least, that's what I've discovered since working in a full time position at a company I respect about 15 months ago.  Probably that's a lesson that was obvious to everyone else!

Anyway, I decided to go out to dinner to de-stress.  We are fortunate to live about 9 blocks away from one of the best restaurants in Queens, called La Flor.  There are several positive reviews floating around in the archives, and it also gets mentioned in Time Out New York, if that even matters.  

I ordered the vegetable tacos, which sounds like a completely average item on any random menu, but they're not: grilled seasonal vegetables on homemade tortillas topped with freshly made avocado.  Served with a salad and homemade red and green hot sauce on the side.

It was pure deliciousness, and has almost cured the pain.  

Only one more day till the weekend...