Yesterday Joe.My.God did a post about a recent Village Voice list of "50 Reasons To Be Pretty Damn Euphoric You Live In New York City." Joe listed some of his favorites from the list, and here are mine [with some additional comments from moi]:
40. That horrified look on our parents' friends' faces when we tell them we live in "Hell's Kitchen." [As a former resident of Hell's Kitchen, I totally vouch for this]
38. Drinking is like breathing. Or slightly more acceptable. [Now you know why I moved here]
36. Whatever you need, whenever you need it, there is someone who will bring it to you for a price, which may or may not be negotiable. Or legal. [No comment]
25. Except in select 'hoods like Park Slope and perhaps the Upper West Side, children are viewed as mysterious beings, rarely sighted and only occasionally understood, like pixies or magical small butlers. Until they scream, in which case, they are banished from the palace. [Yeah, this town is for grown-ups]
24. When you fly back into the city after a vacation or business trip, no matter how long you've lived here, you get that butterflies-in-the-stomach feeling. [I still breath a sigh of relief when I see the skyline from my Amtrak train after visiting PA]
22. How easy it is to find doughnuts, pizza, Chinese food, or any other snack your drunken self desires at 4 a.m. Or to continue to drink. [See #38 above]
7. Subway "prewalking," in which you walk to the exact right spot on the platform to board the train car that will save you the most time upon exit, exists and has a name. Gotta respect. [I do this every day - as do other New Yorkers - which results in sharing the subway with the same people during daily commutes]
5. We are, as a group, anti-fanny-pack as much as we are pro-gay-marriage. Hetero marriage, on the other hand, we can pretty much take or leave.
2. There is absolutely no reason to ever drink and drive. Added bonus: Spontaneous, fascinating conversations with cab drivers. [Also - flirting with your driver when he is handsome, and him flirting back in order to get a bigger tip. Which he always does.]
Here's one I'd like to add: You can talk to yourself on the street and no one gives you a second look. When I first moved here (exactly 17 years ago), I kept wondering why all these "normal-looking" people were talking to themselves. I quickly found out that they WERE normal. Unfortunately, I sometimes forget while visiting the family in Central Pennsylvania, and find people staring while I'm verbally reciting my shopping list at the Wal-Mart.
