New Yawrk City Part ONE

New York City is like, kinda, big.

I like big cities. Like undersells my feelings towards urban communities. But nothing prepared me for the enormous monster that NYC is. Buildings are huge. I mean every building is huge. The city covers an unbelievable amount of territory. You see in Toronto, you have three options, you can take the subway, a cab or you can walk. In New York, you don't walk. I mean you can walk, but you don't get to a location by walking, you walk once you get there. The number of people in NYC? Everywhere. You can't get away from the people. There were so many people it made me nauseous. Like I said, everything is big. That underlies my first experience with NYC.

To anyone who has been there, it seems redundant to mention this fact. But if you haven't been there, you have no idea. In addition the sensory system is completely overloaded. Lights, sounds, smells are everywhere. Times Square is a particularly good example of this. Mind you this was during the holiday season, but people were cramped from the sidewalk right into every store. There is just no escaping a sensory overload.

I like it this way. But two things I have been DYING to point out. AS CLICHE as they will be, I can't dicuss the city without refering to them.

1) People are particularly aggressive and rude. This doesn't particularly bother me, seeing as I'm naturally inclined to this disposition, but its shocking. Cliche as it may sound, in Canada, you run to polite people. In NY you get out of the way, or risk being verbally assaulted. I picked up on this quite quickly. The first night I was there, a Saturday night, I became some what belligerent. Nothing came of it, but if you've never experienced me belligerent, it would be hard to convey, other than....WHAT!?!?!.....WHAT!?!?

2) The city is particularly dirty. I'm not talking about litter, either, although there probably is some. My hands though always felt dirty when I was out. The subway cars just looked dirty. It adds a certain grimy element that completes the city. I don't think NYC would be NYC without the grime and the graffiti. Some subway stops are well over 50 years old, and they wear the years on their sleeves. Its kinda neat, there is no way to fake the grime of this many people living in a city. Sure, I feel like I just picked up TB, but on the other hand, I know this is NYC. You can't find grime like this just anywhere.




Tomorrow I will get into recounting THE experience. Believe me, I almost didn't make it home.

Al'ight,
Its been awhile. Things are back to normal.

My feelings on Sloan have soften quite a bit. I used to be a hater. Here is something I found on YouTube, featuring David Cross with Sloan backing him up in Brooklyn. Cross is singing "Jesus Christ Superstar"....which is fitting. Quite fitting I'd say.



I know Brooklyn. Well if you consider knowing it riding through its underbelly. Which is kinda like saying "I used to date this girl" when you really mean you said "HI" to her once.

And while I'm at it:

Sloan - Money City Manics



I used to be such a hater, I don't even know if Sloan fans like this song. But I've come around on it.

Sloan - The Other Man

This song drives me crazy. BY FAR THE WORST SONG by Sloan. Honestly I can't think of a song which matches this song's lame factor. Wait! Did I just use the term 'lame factor'??? Oops....I will now proceed to stick the offending fingers which typed that phrase into a meat grinder.

You think, I'm kidding.

I'm not.

The NYC weekend post is still coming, forgive my tardiness, but I am in-training right now so my time has been very limited. I promise there will be more posts once my life returns to normal shortly. Its pretty funny stuff, so keep posted.

Coming Soon.

Yo.

I am going to try and re-capture last weekend this weekend in a post, so keep posted.

There were moments during the weekend that ranged from thrilling to tramatic.

NYC is something else.