I am a proud voter. Always have been. I have voted in almost every election I could have, in person or via absentee.
Well, today, I almost didn’t vote. Honestly, I didn’t know there was an election. I live in a smaller town right which lies adjacent to a bigger city (No not as big as NYC). The big city had an election for mayor. My smaller town (which is actually pretty big when all of the students are here) had a few city council seats up for grabs. When I was doing a little googling earlier to find out how I should vote, I kept thinking “Is it worth it?” I was tired after teaching earlier today and couldn’t imagine going out the door again to pull a lever/fill in some bubble/what have you.
But then I remembered how when I was 22, living in Brooklyn, working on my thesis (staying up ALL night), I made it to vote in the February presidential primary. Now, I wasn’t going to vote that day. I had decided against taking the long subway ride into the city to go to my home precinct and vote. It was best I stay in Brooklyn and work.
Of course, I stayed up all night working, and finally at around 7 AM I decided to go to bed. I couldn’t sleep. Suddenly my phone made a noise. It was my friend in Qns (who worked extraordinarily early hours) reminding me to vote. I think I called or texted her back. Anyway, I tried to sleep and COULD NOT! So, I got up, went to my favorite coffee shop and hopped on the train. THat’s when I realized that it was RUSH HOUR! It’s easy to forget about rush hour when you’re a student or work from home. I still forget about it here when I head out the door at 4:30 and am stuck in a mini traffic jam. Yes, I said 4:30. Yes, where do I live!?!?!?
Anyway, the point is I voted then. ON no sleep! I used to sleep every 36 hours then. No wonder, I have issues now. So if I could have voted then. I could walk out the door and vote today.
So I did and I got a sticker. My second. I heart voting!
is NOT happening. Why oh Why!
Well, there are lot of reasons. But one that catches my attention is the fact that I no longer have an hour commute on public transportation. Rarely did I not read something when I was on the subway. So I have lost that time just for myself. I need to create that time now. Hmmm. I didn’t think I’d miss the subway but I may just be missing it!
Another thing I won’t make to in NYC is the NEW IKEA IN BROOKLYN
Well, I know I will be visiting the Ikea in Canton, MI…A LOT. It’s just ironic that the week I am leaving NYC permanently (semi-permanently?) that I’d see two buses headed to the brand new Ikea. If I we’re staying here, I know I would have already been there on a Tuesday afternoon (to avoid the crowds) to buy desperately needed filing cabinets.
Another thought: Never been to Red Hook either. It’s kinda like the Georgetown of DC, trendy neighborhood with a metro/subway line hence me never getting around to ever getting there….OH WELL!
Its 8:45 on a Monday night, I reach over call my local Sushi place, order our favorites, tell them to charge it to the credit card number (which they have on file), they have our address and phone number on file too, and it is here no later than 35 minutes…umm heaven!
Somehow, I don’t think I will be doing that much in my new town.
I will miss the immediacy of NYC: hailing a cab, going to a Chinese, Indian, Thai, British, Italian, bar food, Japanese, Turkish in the matter of minutes, chance encounters on the subway, running into your best friend on the street, having dessert delivered…it’s a great place for instant satisfaction.
But there is a new kind of immediacy I am looking to: jumping into a car and driving to get something. In NYC whenever we go to get boxes at the U-Haul, go to retrieve something largish from one of our offices, we have to either deal with a cab or get a zip car. While I love that these options exist, doing some stuff in NYC takes about ten extra steps compared to other places. There are positives and negatives to living in many places.
Food for thought!
* There will be many posts like this in the next twelve days as I get ready to get out of here.
and it reminded me of how I feel about the City:
“There are roughly three New Yorks. There is, first, the New York of the man or woman who was born there, who takes the city for granted and accepts its size, its turbulence as natural and inevitable. Second, there is the New York of the commuter - the city that is devoured by locusts each day and spat out each night. Third, there is the New York of the person who was born somewhere else and came to New York in search of something . . . Commuters give the city its tidal restlessness, natives give it solidity and continuity, but the settlers give it passion.”
E. B. White (1899-1985) Here is New York
I am definitely a combination of the first and third New York. I wasn’t born here but my parents and I moved here when I was ten. I had lived in San Francisco and Washington DC prior to NYC, so it was easy for me to take the way the city operated for granted. I assumed the loud noise, size, and opportunities you could find here were natural. I did move away a few times to college (only 20 minutes away) then San Francisco. I assumed the second move would be permanent, not in SF per se but a permanent detachment from the city. I was wrong. I came back six months later but came with a quest to find a home for myself and fiance. To live amongst my friends who were on their own quests. The second New York I found was different than my childhood. I suddenly realized how much money you needed to get by and that you had to have desire for something here to make it work. I began to find that I didn’t have the ambition to want to live in NYC but I still loved it.
As I get ready to depart for literally greener pastures, I know I am not leaving permanently. I will reside in another state (my home state) but I will always have a life here. I think there should be a fourth New York, those come here, live her for over fifteen years, and then move away for personal or professional reasons but always hold onto their new yorkerhood. I am ready to move on but I know I will miss it like hell!
So I FINALLY made it to Bay Ridge on Sunday. My number two on “Things to do before I leave NYC List.”
Well, it was everything a girl could hope for, and I must admit I had the song “How Deep is Your Love” playing on repeat in my mind. Ah I love the BeeGee’s!
View after getting off the subway
Now I’ve been to 100th street in Brooklyn and Queens!
There s/he is. (What gender is a bridge?) My mom told me she wanted to drive me there when I was a kid (after I became obsessed with Saturday Night Fever.) Unfortunately, we never got around to it. I told her last night, I finally went and she said “Why?” Guess the dream was more mine than hers! Duh!
It was very interesting to be in Brooklyn and have the closest borough be Staten Island. I think the husband and I sat possibly, maybe where Tony Manero (aka John Travolta) sat with his lady friend in the movie. Or I could be horribly wrong. But visiting this site made me think back on the symbolism behind this bridge in the film. During the film, it is easy to make the assumption that the bridge leads to Manhattan…it does not. For years I thought that this bridge led to Manhattan then I got my hand on a map.
I think ultimately the bridge symbolized Tony’s desire to get out of Bay Ridge but also worked as a tie to his past, family, and tradition. Perhaps, this has been written up before, but I’ve never thought about the film I loved as a 13 year old in my 26 year old eyes. And I am also horribly unnerved by the “was it rape” scene. Ugh. I don’t like how Tony wasn’t punished for that but then I guess it exists to make him more complex. Whatever. That film would have been made much more differently today.
I think my next stop is Wave Hill in the Bronx.
