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...