I'm a big fan of being able to take my time. Which I have been doing since the move. Having no day job is kinda nice!
After dragging myself out of the house I had the pleasure of meeting up with my New York/NTI/FullStop friend Lillian who is just starting a cross country trip in a truck for the next year with her boyfriend (Jealous!). She lived here a few years ago and we chatted at length about SF vs. NYC, which is an interesting topic with her because she grew up in Manhattan.
The park is gorgeous and the day was perfect and the views were great. A lovely afternoon.
After that I trekked to an area of the city I have never been to where Dan grew up. It was weird! It looked like a hilly Iowa! the mainstreet could have just been a clean version of Boone. Small town and suburbia within an urban climate....perfect!
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Day 2 - NYC
One. Tired. Puppy.
That was me. So, this was the first night I had had in a week and a half where I was sleeping in a bed by myself. I have been couch hopping for so long, along with working 40 hours a week, seeing streams of friends, moving across the country etc etc etc. What did I do this day? I slept. Then I took four hours to get ready for the day. I left the house at 5pm. My body was so in need of a recoop day.
Things I had today:
- A burrito (left over) for breakfast. Love that!
- The best latte I have ever had
- The most sleep I've had in weeks.
That was me. So, this was the first night I had had in a week and a half where I was sleeping in a bed by myself. I have been couch hopping for so long, along with working 40 hours a week, seeing streams of friends, moving across the country etc etc etc. What did I do this day? I slept. Then I took four hours to get ready for the day. I left the house at 5pm. My body was so in need of a recoop day.
Things I had today:
- A burrito (left over) for breakfast. Love that!
- The best latte I have ever had
- The most sleep I've had in weeks.
Day 1 - SF
Sorry, I'm gonna backtrack. I've been so displaced since I've been here that I haven't really wrapped my mind around writing too much. Let's see...
Sunday, my first full day in the city, was picture perfect gorgeous. I was told October was going to be the nicest month of the year here, and it's not disappointing. Getting an extra month of summer is interesting, especially knowing that heavy snow and frost bite aren't around the corner.
On the docket for Sunday was a full day of Burning Man Decompression. Decompression is an all day event in each large city post Burning Man that allows for one final day before the end of the main Burner season. I went to Burning Man on a whim in 2008 not knowing what I was getting into and it turned out to be one of the best weeks of my life and one of the integral seeds that planted the 'I should move to San Francisco' idea. While I didn't visit San Fran for another year and a half after going, Burning Man was grown out of the San Francisco community. So coming here and spending my first day at an event centered around artistic freedom and boundary erasing really meant a lot to me. It's what I want to continue experiencing in this city, so a great way to start.
A few things I have noticed:
- Dogs here look like dogs. Not like little coiffed puppy children.
- Cars stop and wave you across the street...even if they weren't required to stop.
- No one honks.
- I'm going to have amazing thighs from living at the top of a 3 block hill for the next three months. Cheers to that!
Sunday, my first full day in the city, was picture perfect gorgeous. I was told October was going to be the nicest month of the year here, and it's not disappointing. Getting an extra month of summer is interesting, especially knowing that heavy snow and frost bite aren't around the corner.
On the docket for Sunday was a full day of Burning Man Decompression. Decompression is an all day event in each large city post Burning Man that allows for one final day before the end of the main Burner season. I went to Burning Man on a whim in 2008 not knowing what I was getting into and it turned out to be one of the best weeks of my life and one of the integral seeds that planted the 'I should move to San Francisco' idea. While I didn't visit San Fran for another year and a half after going, Burning Man was grown out of the San Francisco community. So coming here and spending my first day at an event centered around artistic freedom and boundary erasing really meant a lot to me. It's what I want to continue experiencing in this city, so a great way to start.
A few things I have noticed:
- Dogs here look like dogs. Not like little coiffed puppy children.
- Cars stop and wave you across the street...even if they weren't required to stop.
- No one honks.
- I'm going to have amazing thighs from living at the top of a 3 block hill for the next three months. Cheers to that!
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Day 0 - NYC --> SF
I have a natural disposition when I move. It is loosely called "Laura is independent to a fault and likes to make things as hard as possible on herself." Here's how the day went:
Wake up at Leta's in the East Village after a night of dancing with my lovely friends one last time.
Train to Astoria.
Get a cabbie at the train to drive me to my apartment, pick up my massive amount of luggage and then drive me to La Guardia
Get to La Guardia and get told that if I don't remove 10 pounds from each piece of luggage I would have to pay $180 in overweight fees.
Throw away 20 pounds of my clothing and random accessories.
Lose my boarding pass when I try to go through security.
Finally get through and get on the plane carrying WAY more than is allowed for carryon (roller bag, bursting shoulder bag and purse)
Fly to Atlanta
Try in vain to reorganize my things to make it easier to carry.
Fly to San Francisco
Look out over the amazing Sierra Nevadas and be breathtaken by how much I love the west. Realize just a tiny bit that I have left New York (though this is still not clear to me at all. I'll figure out that I'm not going back to New York someday)
Land in San Francisco
Get my luggage and realize very quickly that I should have asked for help (please see picture for details as to why)
Take 45 minutes to lug my luggage up and down an assload of escalators, almost killing myself in the process, to get to my rental car.
Get my rental car, struggle to get my hated luggage into the car and realize I don't know how to turn the car on (keyless ignition?!). Finally sheepishly ask for help.
Pull out and get my GPS on my phone ready to guide me to my new home!
...phone dies ten minutes into the drive. I have no map and no directions.
Use my intuition to get me to my new apartment. Become highly impressed with myself.
Try to park on a hill. Almost shit my pants in fear. Abandon that attempt.
Park, grab all of my recording equipment, get into my apartment and instantly record a voiceover job.
Talk about a long and involved day. I could have made it so much easier on myself. It's been a few years since I've been in charge of a move so I kind of forgot that I naturally make things exceedingly difficult, but at least I always keep a good attitude about it and just laugh at myself for being unprepared.
Long story short. I somehow made it out of New York City in one piece and got to my new home in San Francisco all by myself without dying. Success! I officially escaped!
Wake up at Leta's in the East Village after a night of dancing with my lovely friends one last time.
Train to Astoria.
Get a cabbie at the train to drive me to my apartment, pick up my massive amount of luggage and then drive me to La Guardia
Get to La Guardia and get told that if I don't remove 10 pounds from each piece of luggage I would have to pay $180 in overweight fees.
Throw away 20 pounds of my clothing and random accessories.
Lose my boarding pass when I try to go through security.
Finally get through and get on the plane carrying WAY more than is allowed for carryon (roller bag, bursting shoulder bag and purse)
Fly to Atlanta
Try in vain to reorganize my things to make it easier to carry.
Fly to San Francisco
Look out over the amazing Sierra Nevadas and be breathtaken by how much I love the west. Realize just a tiny bit that I have left New York (though this is still not clear to me at all. I'll figure out that I'm not going back to New York someday)
Land in San Francisco
Get my luggage and realize very quickly that I should have asked for help (please see picture for details as to why)
Take 45 minutes to lug my luggage up and down an assload of escalators, almost killing myself in the process, to get to my rental car.
Get my rental car, struggle to get my hated luggage into the car and realize I don't know how to turn the car on (keyless ignition?!). Finally sheepishly ask for help.
Pull out and get my GPS on my phone ready to guide me to my new home!
...phone dies ten minutes into the drive. I have no map and no directions.
Use my intuition to get me to my new apartment. Become highly impressed with myself.
Try to park on a hill. Almost shit my pants in fear. Abandon that attempt.
Park, grab all of my recording equipment, get into my apartment and instantly record a voiceover job.
Talk about a long and involved day. I could have made it so much easier on myself. It's been a few years since I've been in charge of a move so I kind of forgot that I naturally make things exceedingly difficult, but at least I always keep a good attitude about it and just laugh at myself for being unprepared.
Long story short. I somehow made it out of New York City in one piece and got to my new home in San Francisco all by myself without dying. Success! I officially escaped!
Day 1 - NYC
I was walking through the streets of Midtown Manhattan, walking out of work to the train for the last time, drinking them in one last time, the people, the smells, the traffic. This area of the city had been the breeding ground of all of my aversion to New York. I always connected midtown with the more painful and depressing times I had in New York, which was the majority of the time I was here so going through those streets has always made me anxious and down. I avoid it at all costs usually, but I always end up working in that stupid neighborhood.
Looking one last time, knowing that I would never again walk through these streets on a daily basis, I suddenly felt my heart bursting with love, adoration and inspiration. I kind of feel like I found myself in these streets. And now that I was no longer a part of the matrix of the city I was able to step back and for the first time appreciate the completely unique and frenetic never ending heartbeat of the city. Cars, people, horns, yells, bikes, food and trash swirling around without ever stopping. This is what makes New York so one of a kind, it truly never sleeps. The movement is a constant overwhelming pulse and you can either choose to be a part of it or get forced into the groove against your will.
I kind of felt like a ghost standing in the center of Herald Square at that moment, flanked by the Empire State, Times Square and Flatiron all visible in my radius. I feel like I had already left but my eyes has stayed to finally sit back and watch all of the millions of moving gears that made the city tick. It wasn't overwhelming anymore because I wasn't a part of it. I was a spectator. And while I can't say I will ever miss Midtown I can say that I finally appreciate its one of a kind never ending series of moments. Those streets have seen more than any other place on earth.
There was no better way to say goodbye.
Friday, October 8, 2010
Day 2 - NYC
It has not dawned on me that I'm leaving. Not one bit. This city is like that. Everything moves so quickly and with so much variance that you can never really see the present clearly. The buzz of the city is so fast that it blurs reality. Hence, I don't think I will notice I'm moving until I have already moved.
I'm not usually a massive social butterfly. I go out a couple of nights a week usually. This week however has been social social social! Lunch with my friend Adriana who couldn't go to my party last night and then dinner with my friend Matt so that I could nosh on some Rizzo's pizza (best pizza in NYC in my opinion) one last time. Tomorrow holds a possible Shake Shack lunch date and then my LAST NIGHT IN TOWN(!!!) eating Latin tapas with a few friends possibly followed by Karaoke. Then somehow I'm on a plane and just continue my weekend uninterrupted on the other side of the country. It's going to be Halloween by the time I've had enough moments to breathe to realized I moved. These things sneak up on you!!
I feel like my posts haven't been too insightful in the last week. I guess you can say I'm in an 'action' week, not a 'reflective' week.
I'm not usually a massive social butterfly. I go out a couple of nights a week usually. This week however has been social social social! Lunch with my friend Adriana who couldn't go to my party last night and then dinner with my friend Matt so that I could nosh on some Rizzo's pizza (best pizza in NYC in my opinion) one last time. Tomorrow holds a possible Shake Shack lunch date and then my LAST NIGHT IN TOWN(!!!) eating Latin tapas with a few friends possibly followed by Karaoke. Then somehow I'm on a plane and just continue my weekend uninterrupted on the other side of the country. It's going to be Halloween by the time I've had enough moments to breathe to realized I moved. These things sneak up on you!!
I feel like my posts haven't been too insightful in the last week. I guess you can say I'm in an 'action' week, not a 'reflective' week.
Day 3 - NYC
The one thing I will miss is my friends, I am truly blessed to have such an amazing community here. If I could take them with me that would be ideal...though I can imagine that many of them will slowly migrate to the Bay Area over time. We will see :)
Beautiful people who came to say goodbye and have a final drink with me:
Beautiful people who came to say goodbye and have a final drink with me:
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