From 90024 to 10027

I don't think about it as much anymore but it still occasionally creeps into my mind, especially during quiet moments when I'm sitting alone in my room.

I sleep until about 9:30 a.m. every weekday, and even later on weekends. My window faces southwest, and by about 10 a.m. the sun is shining directly into my eye through my transparent window shades as I lie in bed. It continues shining brightly at my oversized double-paned glass window, making my room deceptively warm even on cold days when the weather outside is below 40. As I write the temperature on my digital clock reads 78.4 and I am sitting here in a T-shirt and capri workout pants (quickly becoming my loungewear of choice). If I sit at the window and look to the right I catch a small glimmer of the Hudson River. And if I look all the way to the left I can see the tips of the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge - I think of it as the bridge to home, simply because it was the bridge I took to get here after landing at LaGuardia Airport. I peer at it wistfully.

We had a 5-day Thanksgiving Weekend, and it was pretty action-packed. (More photos to follow later).

In the last 7 days I've been to Central Park twice, ate at Shake Shack twice, went to the American Museum of Natural History, ate pizza twice, saw Harry Potter, walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, walked up 5th Avenue, walked down the grand staircase at the Apple Store, and watched people play on the Big Piano at FAO Schwarz.

It was especially cold yesterday, the coldest yet so far. With wind chill it felt about 30. I had almost all my layers and the only more I can do is wear one more layer, and switch up my accessories to thicker wool or cashmere versions. (After that I won't be able to go outside at all!)

So on the last day of the long weekend I attempt to read in my executive chair near the window, grab an orange highlighter, and I am thus reminded of how I forgot to pack favorite pens and highlighters, which inevitably, always leads to thinking back on those late days in August during my "mad rush" to pack. I like being prepared, and feeling prepared. I'm the type of person who packs for vacation a week before the vacation. I make lists. In the end, I felt wholly unprepared. Maybe it was not such a good idea to leave so much to do in five days: clear out work space I had had for 3.5 years (at a job I had for 8.5 years), clear out an apartment I had lived at for 9 years, pack and organize things for shipping here, for storage at my parents' house, and for bringing here in suitcases. I think the end result was feeling mentally, physically, and emotionally drained. And ultimately feeling disoriented and disjointed. Even though I definitely feel a lot more settled in than say, 88 days ago, a part of me still feels like my "old life" is continuing on a parallel universe somewhere. It is still summer there. And my apartment, and my office are all still intact. As if I had just gotten up for a moment.

But I didn't. And they are gone.

Day 88

Day 88 in NYC. If I left now I can always look back and say I lived in NYC for 3 months. But I'm gonna make it a year. No, five years.

The weather now is in the 50s and already colder than it ever gets in L.A. To me, this is winter!

I can honestly say that I feel a lot more settled in now. I have my daily routines. For the most part, I've got the eating situation squared away. I think in the beginning I was trying too hard to quickly establish an eating routine and it wasn't working out. First off, it is a pain in the butt to cook in the community kitchen. I have to bring my pots, oil, utensils, and all the ingredients to the kitchen and back and it's a lot of work! Take a simple thing like spaghetti. You need two pots! One to boil the pasta, one to cook the sauce. I use the random pots lying around in the kitchen (some of which may not belong to anyone, but some do). This means after I cook, I wash them immediately while the pots are still hot. Then I have to carry everything back to my room (that means my piping hot food) because there's no kitchen table to eat at. Also, while you are cooking, sometimes you realize you forgot a simple thing, such as salt. If you had your own kitchen, you'd simply open the cupboard and grab the salt. Here I have to go through two heavy doors (and back) to get salt!

Point is, I've resorted to take out, frozen foods, and the school cafeteria. It's just easier. I use the kitchen to toast my bread and maybe fry an egg on weekends. That's about it. I boil water in my room with my Aroma water kettle that I got on Amazon (love it!). I use my microwave, a lot more than I'd like to (I used to be anti-microwave). I buy frozen rice (actually I did that in L.A. too - hey, as a single person, it makes sense). I would buy frozen cooked pasta too except my freezer is too small.

Things have to change - by things I mean habits and routines. I think I used to shop for groceries like I was preparing for a war. I'd stock up, buy in bulk, etc. When I moved out in August I gave my parents a huge box filled with canned foods and dry goods (was amazed how much stuff I had stockpiled!). Now I can't really do that, because of space issues. It forces me to buy only what I will immediately consume, and I manage to clear out the fridge and freezer pretty frequently. It makes me feel slightly nervous and uncomfortable, but I shouldn't feel that way. There's a 24-hour market just down the street. There's no war. There are no earthquakes.

Change is good.

I'm also feeling less sad than I did a month ago, which is good. I remember the reasons why I wanted to move, which I lost sight of when I was feeling homesick. I'm also starting to like NYC a bit more. It helps to hold your breath when you walk and look up at the cool tall buildings rather than down at the dirty gum-ridden sidewalks. (haha). But no seriously, in all sincerity, once in awhile I'll be walking around somewhere and I'll think, "hey, this part looks cool" and then I feel glad I'm here.

I may have mentioned this before, but shopping, buying stuff, and daily life in general, is just different here. I learned the first couple weeks, when it was sweltering hot, that it was a lot of work to buy stuff, especially since I had to buy a lot of basics. I grew up in the suburbs in the 80s, where before Costco we had Fedco and Gemco. I'm used to big box stores and discount prices. I struggle to bring myself to spend $5 on a pack of toilet paper (of 4 rolls!). Yet I complain about how long it takes to get to Target and back.

Thursday night I went to Duane Reade, and gasp, I bought a bottle of Lubriderm lotion and a bottle of Oil of Olay night cream, knowing full well that I spent several dollars more than I would have had at Target. I had to bite the bullet and do it. Because you know what? I needed them. And I didn't have two hours to spend trekking to Target. I spent money, but I saved time. And in general, I probably am saving more money overall, since I'm only buying things I really need, and have the space for. When I go to the grocery stores, I only buy as many things as I can carry with my two hands.

Now that I am feeling more settled in, I am finding that I have a lot of extra time on my hands. I have time to sit around and think quietly. It's mostly because I don't have a roommate (when I used to in L.A.), and I don't have a lot of friends who want to hang out all the time, and I don't visit my parents (which I did so pretty frequently), AND I don't work or have class at all on Fridays, which means every week is a three-day weekend. (Oh how can I ever possibly miss my old life!). My daily grind in L.A. was not a 9-5 but a 7:30 to 5:30 if you're talking door to door. Here my days are mostly 10-5, with one day a 10-7. Four days a week. That's nothing! Not that I'm asking for more work. Just making a point why I'm online on a Saturday night in NYC...

Why Manhattan is like Disneyland

• everywhere you go, there are a ton of people around
• everywhere you go, there are a lot of tourists
• people go there because they are looking for a happy time
• the price of admission is very high (and keeps going up every year!)
  
• every corner you turn, someone is selling food or beverages
• there are a lot of long lines
• there are parades
• you can find souvenirs very easily
• there are a lot of rides (well, in Manhattan, there are subways...case in point, the platform at 96th St looks like a dirtier version of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, complete with "Danger High Voltage" signs...and the underground construction with bright lights looks even more so)
  

• there are a lot of "Kodak Spots" (everywhere you go, someone is taking a picture)
  
• it's a giant playground
• there's something for everyone
• there's always something new to see, or something you've never noticed before
• people often want to visit briefly, and not stay for an extended period of time
  
• there are a lot of artificial looking things, designed to be "fun" (case in point, Central Park can be Tom Sawyer Island:)
  

• it is very tiring...but you never tire of it...

(Now, if only Manhattan were cleaner, safer, and had more friendly cartoon characters...and if only Disneyland served alcohol...)

And suddenly...it got cold.

Laugh all you want, but it is already too cold for this native SoCal girl. It's a strange concept (for me) for the weather to drop 40 degrees in two months (it takes 5 months in L.A., if even that, maybe just a 30 degree drop before it picks right back up again!).

On the plus side, now I finally know what autumn means! Pretty soon, I presume, I will know what four seasons means.

Photos from a stroll through Central Park this past Friday. I was really amazed at the colors of the leaves.