Superstorm Sandy

View from my window Monday night around 8 p.m. Flag shredded.

Tuesday morning around 10 a.m. "And the flag was still there..." Stars and a couple of stripes remain.

So I experienced my first hurricane. Though, technically it wasn't a hurricane anymore by the time it got to us. Was downgraded to "Post-Tropical Cyclone Sandy." It was kind of strange because the severity of it didn't register to us until after the fact. I think in the days leading up to it, it didn't even seem like it'd be a big deal. "Oh it's just a Category 1" we thought. When they closed down all the subways at 7 p.m. Sunday night, we thought the government was overreacting. Well, turns out that they reacted appropriately.

Well, if I hadn't turned on the TV or had my eyes glued to the Internet and my Twitter feed the past four days, I probably wouldn't have understood the severity of it either. Luckily, my neighborhood was largely unscathed. It was one of those rare times that it was advantageous to live uptown. The rest of the city (not to mention neighboring states) didn't fare so well.

A rough timeline (including personal) of the past few days:

Saturday: The city was crowded with Halloween-party shoppers. Seemed to be little concern about the upcoming storm. There were rumors that the subway might close at 7 p.m. Sunday. I spent a quiet evening at home doing laundry (which turned out to be a fantastic idea). Went to store to pick up some fruit, bread, milk, and eggs (which also turned out to be a fantastic idea).

Sunday: Spent the whole day indoors. It was cloudy. Wind speeds were picking up. Got a message before noon that school would be closed Monday. Public schools would also be closed Monday. Subways closed at 7 p.m. Still a bunch of sitting around and waiting.

Monday: I woke up in the morning expecting it to be pouring rain. It wasn't. Some light rain off and on throughout the day. Winds picked up more and more as night fell. The flag (pictured above) whipped violently back and forth around the flag pole. Gradually I watched it deteriorate, starting with the edges fraying. Meanwhile, the local news made me feel anxious. Seemed like impending disaster was coming. I hard boiled my eggs. Cooked several dishes of food. Looked for my candles and got my flashlights ready. Filled up pots and pans with water. Made ice cubes and ice packs in case I needed to turn my fridge into a makeshift cooler. Sent several friends the number to my land line (yes, I have a land line). Sat and waited, all day. Then, from about 8-10 p.m. was the height of the storm. I kept the TV on and my eyes glued to the Twitter feed. Photos and videos kept popping up of flooding.

Things seemed calm in my 'hood. I don't know what I was expecting to see outside my window, but I didn't see anything. It was windy, but not the heaviest wind I've ever seen before. It was rainy, but not raining particularly heavy at all. I'm on the 15th floor of a narrow 18-story building. My building creaked and swayed along with the wind. Felt like a rolling earthquake. Or like being on a ship. The window rattled a few times and I worried about it smashing. I got a text from a friend who lives in the Village at 8:35 p.m. Power was out. Said he saw a flash of blue light then the power went out. A couple hours later, his water was out. Everything's fine here, I said. Lights flickered a couple times. But that was it. By 11 p.m. the winds seemed to have died down a bit.

Tuesday: No school, no work. Spent probably all day with my eyes glued to the internet. Got nothing productive done. Tiptoed out once to mail my absentee ballot for the presidential election (wanted to make sure it got there on time since there could be mail delays). Still had enough food. Tuesday night my friend wanted to go for a walk around the neighborhood. Aside from some businesses being closed, and a few fallen branches, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. People were out and about, inside restaurants and bars. Very different from the world 80 blocks south and lower.

Wednesday: It was partly cloudy. And the buses were back in service and running for free. Still no school, no work. We thought it'd be a good idea to ride it to at least 59th Street and explore. It was a bad idea. It was a mad house. Every bus that passed was jam packed with people. We were barely able to get on one. By the 60s I was feeling claustrophobic. My friend got a seat and asked me if I could see what the traffic was like. To put it in Angeleno terms, the traffic was like the 405 on a rainy Friday at 5 p.m. Like getting out of the Rose Bowl after a big game. Like getting out of the Greek Theater after a show. Car traffic in Manhattan can be bad, but it is never like the L.A. traffic situations I just described, especially not on the Upper West Side. Yet that was it. Still we persisted and by the time we got below 40th I got a seat too, so we decided to stay on for the "free bus tour." Traffic got a little lighter as the bus pulled into the ghost town that was 34th Street and below, basically, the blackout zone. There were pedestrians on the street, but all the stores were shuttered, including the pharmacies and banks. That was surreal. At the last stop (just at the upper end of the Village) we walked around and saw people pumping water out of basements and parking garages. We walked by the Hudson River but didn't see anything in particular. We got back on the bus which drove past the High Line and Tom Colicchio's restaurant, Colicchio and Sons. A passing thought - even the super ritzy places are shuttered, as much as the mom and pops. And any of them could be forced to close after this.

We made it back after being out for four and a half hours, most of which was either on the bus or waiting for it, and decided that we were physically exhausted from the journey and called it a night.

Thursday: The sun came out for the first time in a week. But only briefly. It was also back to school/work, though it was relatively uneventful. Subways finally opened with partial service. On the news I saw hundreds of people trying to get on "bus bridges" - free shuttle buses that took people from points in Brooklyn to Manhattan. The bridges were backed up with cars as police tried to enforce a three-person carpooling rule. Gas ran out at gas stations. I was glad I didn't have to be on a bus or a bridge.

...to be continued...

While on the bus ride yesterday, which took an hour and a half when normally it would've taken about half an hour on the Express subway to cover the same distance, I thought about how much this city depends on mass transit. How actually, mass transit has made this city what it is. All these people - we wouldn't be living here, working here, if the mass transit system wasn't what it was. We have built our lives around it. If I had to commute an hour and a half every day on a crowded bus, I'd either quit my job or move closer to my job. There's no way I would do it. If people had to drive across the bridge on a three-person carpool every day, a lot of people wouldn't do it. And this city would not even be a city.

Conversely, how different would L.A. be if there was a good mass transit system in place? Without the stress of driving, people would travel across neighborhoods and blend together more often and on a daily basis. Ethnic enclaves and social divides might change! And L.A. would be a very different city...

Because in NYC, you never know where the day will take you...(thoughts on clothes and shoes)

Well it's officially been over two years now since I moved to NYC. Crazy, as it doesn't seem like that long ago. And when I moved, and realized just how many clothes (I used to have a walk-in closet) and shoes (more than 50 pairs) I had, I swore I wasn't going to buy any more for awhile, except in "dire need." Well guess what, I decided "dire need" happened more frequently than expected. This has mostly come about because....in NYC, you never know where the day will take you.

I can't just throw an extra pair of shoes and a jacket in the backseat of my car and drive off. This is also in part because I live so far uptown that it is really inconvenient and a waste of time to go back home if I've forgotten something. Thus, I need to bring with me anything that I might need for the entire day - or evening, depending on where the day goes. And a means to carry those things, without looking like a bag lady.

Since moving here I've needed to purchase several critical items. Surprisingly, not coats, as I already had a peacoat, two car coats, a couple of trenches, and raincoats (why? I am not sure since I had no use of them in L.A.). Such critical items include:

• Large, stylish handbag - It needs to be large enough to hold all the basics, but also an umbrella, water bottle, an extra sweater, scarf, gloves (depending on time of year), reading material (because there is a lot of waiting around) yet is also stylish (not touristy or grandmotherly).
• Comfortable, versatile shoes - something you can trek all over the city in, yet keeps your feet warm and dry in the winter (like flat, waterproof boots), and cool and dry in the summer (am still searching for these), that is yet again, stylish.
• Puffer coat - OK, actually yes, I did buy a coat. It looks like a sleeping bag with a fuzzy hood. I held out for the first year, but it was such a miserable winter that I went ahead and bought one. Technically I could've survived last winter without one but I had bought it in preparation. It's hard to be stylish in one of these (they are inherently frumpy) but they are so warm! Necessary because putting on lots of layers, as I quickly learned, is a pain in the butt. Turns out that everywhere indoors is overheated, so the minute you step inside, you are sweating and want to remove your five layers. Sweaters are not even practical here. I found the best thing to do is to just wear regular lightweight clothing underneath a giant puffer coat, and just remove that one layer and put on that one layer. Convenient and efficient.
• Rain boots - People wear these for style in L.A., rather than function. Here you need them for both. I never owned rain boots before. But since it rains here every week, there really is a need.

So, then I thought I was all set. I didn't need to purchase any more clothing. And granted, yes, I love shopping (there, I admitted it), I recently identified a large "gap" in my wardrobe. In my previous life (i.e., L.A.) my wardrobe consisted of two extremes - lots of casual clothing like t-shirts and jeans; and lots of work/office-appropriate clothing like business casual blouses, slacks, and skirts. Neither of which serve good daily purpose here in my "new" life in NYC. I still mostly like to wear jeans so...yes I purchased two pairs of new jeans last fall. And this fall - I've been on the hunt for more blouses that are dressy, but not officey, that go for day to night easily (because you never know where the day takes you), that are short-sleeved in case it gets warm, while still easy to layer over in case it gets cold. And there, there was my new excuse to go shopping. Sigh.

There is also, the obvious reason for diversifying your wardrobe that I don't need to go into detail - there are seasons here. Yes, seasons! (People dress differently - and in different colors! - depending on the season! Shocking for this native Angeleno).

I like this "identifying gaps in my wardrobe" principle, because it prevents me from constantly buying the same thing over and over again. I think I've read in magazines that people have a tendency to buy the same things because they like those things, rather than thinking about what they might need to keep their wardrobe diverse. This has totally been true for me - I have probably about 30 skirts, 30 dresses, 30 pairs of pants, all of which I wear only about 10% of. More than half of which are currently hanging in the closet at my parents' house...in L.A.! This proves to me that I didn't need those clothes at all!

A friend told me right before I moved that I was probably going to buy all new clothes in NYC because there are different needs here, and she was right! I didn't know what those needs were until I got here...

You Know You're a Real New Yorker When...

The Gothamist posted this today, gathering their criteria from that one episode of How I Met Your Mother and from an NY1 commercial, while adding some of their own. I thought I'd put my comments alongside such criteria to determine whether I've become a real New Yorker yet...

• You've seen Woody Allen. [Note: or substitute whatever celebrity you see around your neighborhood.]
• I haven't seen anyone. But this was the case for me in L.A. too. I chalk it up to tunnel vision.
  
• You've stolen a cab from someone who needs it more than you do.
• Why, I never! I'm not aggressive enough to ever do this. Guess I'll never be a real New Yorker. (On a side note, I have rarely witnessed this actually happening)
  
• You've cried on the subway and not given a damn what anyone thinks.
• Guilty. For reasons I won't divulge.
  
• You've killed a cockroach with your bare hands.
• Ew. I'll never do that. Though I have accidentally stepped on a few.
• You don't pronounce Houston Street like the city in Texas.
• They teach you that on the first day!
  
• You don't stare when you spot a celebrity.
• I'm from L.A. Case closed.
  
• You never tell a cab driver where you're going until you're inside the cab.
• This seemed like common sense to me and I've always done that.
• When you've been here at least five years (weeds out the college dilettantes) combined with when you start talking about the thing that used to be on that corner three stores ago.
• Darn, I'm still a college dilettante.
  
• When you stop going out on Friday nights.
• So true.
  
• When you start going out on Monday nights.
• So true!
  
• When you stop giving money to homeless people.
• Never have. (Again, I'm from L.A. 'nuff said.)
  
• When you know better than to enter an empty subway car.
• Oh boy have I learned this one!
• When you know how to walk around tourists.
•  I think my many years walking about a large university campus taught me this.
• You just want SantaCon and the No Pants Ride to end already.
• Whoa, SantaCon?!? I never even heard of that before. Guess I'm not a real New Yorker. And while I've heard of No Pants Ride, I haven't actually been on the subway on No Pants Ride day...
  
• You can nap on the subway and play it cool when a rat scurries across your face.
• I thought this was a bit exaggerated until I clicked on the link and watched that video. *shudder*
  
• You don't even notice the pee smell in the subway system anymore.
• Still notice. Darn, guess I'm not a real New Yorker...

On Promptness

It may be just me, but I feel like New York is less forgiving of tardiness than L.A.

I noticed this during my first trip to NYC (almost two years ago!) when we got yelled at for being 30 minutes late for a dinner reservation. We told them we were going to be late...it was not a fancy restaurant, and it was a weeknight! Of course, in the beginning I had no sense of space or time and I was perpetually 20 minutes late to wherever I went. Later, I was 20 minutes early to everything. It took a few months but I got it down pretty well now. I know I can get to Times Square in just under half an hour on a weekday. I know I can get to Chelsea in 45 minutes on a weeknight. But once in awhile, especially on weekends, when train service is totally unpredictable (even the most recent episode of 30 Rock had Liz Lemon stuck on a train while the announcer said, "The train will now run express for no reason at all!"), it is hard to get the timing right.

I don't get it. Is it just me, or is blaming your tardiness on the train not a valid excuse? And why not?

In L.A. no one is on time. And you always blame traffic. Or lack of parking. And people shrug it off.

I dunno, I mean, I was always relatively prompt even in L.A. I knew how to account for traffic, for the most part. I mean, sure, you don't know on some days whether that trip from Santa Monica to Torrance is going to take you 20 minutes or 70 minutes. You could leave early to account for traffic and/or lack of parking. And even if you didn't, people were OK with it. Maybe it's because you really don't know when it will take 20 versus 70 minutes. Maybe because in NYC, you DO know that the train is going to be running out of whack on weekends, or past midnight. And you're expected to account for it. Or maybe New Yorkers are just more irritable and impatient. I dunno.