New York City Impressions

The amount of people still boggles my mind. Every car of every subway has people in it. Almost every seat on the train to and from NJ is full. It's hard to describe to someone who's never been there. It has to be seen to be believed. I think most tourists go straight to Times Square and immediately see this city, which is home to millions of people, all different kinds, as some kind of theme park or artificial attraction. Maybe it is somewhat. But in the few months I've been going there for work, I've become aware of more than just the glitz and glammer, which fades away rather quickly once you get into the heart of the city itself. The thing that really runs this enormous machine is the people.

From snazzy business-people to street vendors to immigrants to homeless to Park Avenue millionaires, their collective breaths make up the constant beat of the city; the inhale and exhale of every street, avenue, and park. Millions are one whole suddenly. It is an anthill instead of a mass of ants; a pointilism painting made of million of person-dots. Walking down the street, you can't possibly look at every face, take in all the endless signs and lights that you pass. No wonder that all these people eventually become robots outwardly, looking straight ahead stopping for nothing but lights and cars (usually). Outwardly they are all the same, and outwardly they are all so different. To think that behind each set of expressionless eyes is a person hiding safely inside their protective cocoon. I'd like to think that at least some of these people would like to show more emotion, personality, and their real selves. But I suppose it's easier to just turn it off when joining the masses in the grids of asphalt and cement.

It seems that most people don't talk to each other, don't make eye contact. Everyone in NY is, for at least one moment in the day, alone in a crowd. The long term effects of millions of people effectively ignoring each other in this way can be horrific to think about. The only one that matters is you, the place is where you're heading to. With that philosophy, of course there's crime. What's a murder when the other people don't matter? Why not steal when others aren't affected? But everyone is connected. everything that happens affects someone in some way. And every second of every day, millions of people are affecting each other without even knowing it, while staying in their private cocoons and thoughts. It makes small town life sound heavenly.

Of course, this is how I see the city. I don't live there, and so don't have a network of friends and neighbors to relate to. To me it is a lonely city, because everyone is always going somewhere else or with someone else, and I have my own places to go to. Maybe living there would change my perspective; of course it would. But I would much rather be among trees and grass and animals in a place where the people all know each other and there's no pressure to keep up with the flow of foot traffic or watch the street lights for the exact second that it's ok to cross the street. The suburbs are a strange mix of the two worlds, where you see some grass and trees, and know some of your neighbors, but still have to drive to the city area to get food, jobs, etc. But such is modern life.

Would I trade modern conveniences for old world community and values? I'm still not sure.

Obligatory Introductions

What better way to introduce myself than to share with you what constitutes a perfect day in my eyes. I happened to have such a day yesterday. For the first time in months, the weather was in the 50's and it was beautiful outside. For someone who constantly struggles with seasonal depression like me, it was as if not only the clouds in the sky had lifted, but the dark aura that is WINTER had been pulled away from my being. My parents would be out until late that night and it would be just me. I couldn't let the day go to waste, and I didn't have anything planned. The perfect setup.

I went to the park and took a few walking trails, and while they were very muddy from all the snow melting in less than a day, it was glorious to be back outside without the coat, hat, scarf, gloves, boots, etc. There was also not a soul around (which made me nervous for a second as I thought how no one would hear me or know where I was if I were to suddenly slip down a muddy mountain to certain doom) so it was just me and my thoughts...and a quick phone call. If you've never gone walking through a serene forest laughing about inside jokes with one of your closest friends, then you haven't lived.

After leaving the woods and cleaning the comical amount of fresh mud off my sneakers in a snow bank, I decided to just drive (with the window open no less! Yay warmness!) and see where I ended up. I ended up at the bookstore. This is what probably made a good day into a great day. I had a gift card (FREE BOOKS!) so I took about an hour browsing this and that, sampling music, people watching, and generally loving the fact that I had nowhere to be and nothing pressing to do for the first time in a while. I got myself two books and a DVD, and headed home.

After eating an early dinner I swiftly passed out while watching a dog agility competition on ESPN 42 or whatever ridiculous number they're on now. The last thing I remember was watching a dog jumping over it's owner's back in time to "Freeze Frame". The phone woke me up an hour later with just enough time to get to work on time. Work was...work. It was stage set night at the Disney Store, which means 6 or 7 people lifting, moving, filling, emptying, organizing, and cleaning up a good portion of the inventory of the store in a matter of hours. The shelves at the store are my worst enemy and never cooperate...never. Everyone else can pull them out with a quick lift up, out and down again, but for me it's up....stuck, jiggle...still stuck, slam....a little less stuck, pound...bloody knuckle, out...stuck in a different, previously unheard of way.... and that's when I call someone over to help me while holding the heavy metal shelf, usually in an uncomfortable or painful position. Needless to say I had an entire wall to rearrange, full of shelves and other movable metal things.

We got out of there at 10:45 PM, and by then the warm day had turned back into the cold hell that is February. I went home just in time to see Robot Chicken (can you say perfect day or what?) and spent a few hours on Facebook.

Sure, I have many examples of what would make up a great day, and this is just one of them. I believe it's a pretty good way to learn about a person, to see what they would choose to spend their free time doing. This blog will mostly be my observations on daily life, the things around me, and the people and places in my life. Hopefully it will be something that both I and anyone who reads can enjoy.

Book I'm currently reading: What Every Body is Saying: An Ex-FBI Agent's Guide to Speed-Reading People

Last Movie or TV Show I watched: Heroes