think, write, share

Yeah, it’s a dump. But dammit, it’s our dump.

I’ll miss the ‘ol girl. I just wish that we didn’t have to part this way, full of sorrow and sadness. I’ll treasure my memories and get ready to welcome the newcomer with open arms.

It’s been fun. But all good things must come to an end.

As I sit here at SFO watching my departure time tick past two hours, I am struck at the the truthiness of the following excerpts from the issue of EW that I’m reading:

…here were the children, who I once believed to be the future, spending all their time figuring out how to make the background of their MySpace page as ugly as possble! So I got a MySpace page. But I had no idea what I was suposed to do with it, and soon abandoned MySpace for Facebook, where at least I can play Scrabble with my friends.

You know who plays Scrabble? Old People.

—–

So, like-what’s the emoticon for “just shoot me now, because next thing you know I’ll be agreeing with Andy Rooney and eating dinner at 4.30pm?” I’d like to post it as my Facebook status as soon as possible. For reasons I don’t understand, this is how we live now.

God, I’m old.

This post was originally written on my SideKick @ 7.20am EDT (10/20)

I had two hours to kill before meeting a friend for dinner at Cafe Boulud earlier this week so I decided to visit a few places on my NYC hit list which were en route. Walking down 6th Avenue made me realize what it is that I love about NYC: the rushed crowds inside Penn Station, hustling to make their trains after a frantic day at the office; the tourists wandering around with their guides and maps in awe of the tall buildings or carrying armfuls of shopping bags; the runners weaving in and out of traffic avoiding both pedestrians and taxi cabs alike; the diversity of faces all coexisting in the same urban jungle. I could go on and on.

There’s a part of me which lives in NYC and LI. Whether it’s my puppy dog devotion to the Mets or my professed love that is public transit, I truly believe that no amount of living in California could ever compete with my attachment to NY. Does this mean that I will eventually find myself residing in an Upper East Side apartment? Probably not. I’ve put down enough roots in California that I probably will be there for a long time.

During dinner with another friend last night at Union Square Cafe, we talked a little bit about living in NYC. She’s lived in a lot of different places during her life so we talked about how living in the city for the past 4 years has compared with other locales. One thing she mentioned which I never thought about was that NYC was a great walking city. She’s right of course. Knowing that Cafe Boulud was on 76th near Madison told me that it was 42 streets and 3 avenues away from Penn Station and that two hours was plenty of time to not only walk there but to make a stop at an H&M on 42nd and 5th and a tea shop on 51st and Lexington. You just don’t find that perfect grid anywhere else.

Living in NY isn’t for everyone. The pace of life, the sounds, sights and smells of the city are unlike anywhere else. I would love to live in the city for a year just to see what it’s like. What would life be like not having a car? Would I grow fat and flabby in the middle of one of the world’s best restaurant scenes? Would I grow to be constantly angry like my cute flight seat neighbor?

It’s been a nice week. Besides my two excursions into Manhattan I had the chance to meet up with an old college friend who I hadn’t seen in something like 6 or 7 years. I spent some time with my family and it was all good, even those two days spent painting the house. I wish I had more time to visit, but it’s nice to know that no matter how much time I spend here in California, NY will always be there with open arms to welcome home one of its prodigal sons.

what does it mean when the pain and sadness of someone you hardly know becomes your own?

et·i·quette n. rules governing socially acceptable behavior

it seems to me that these days people are ruder than in days past. that in itself isn’t surprising to me; what is surprising is that no one seems to care anymore.

technology is supposed to make our lives easier. and as pieces of technology become more prominant in our daily lives society has adjusted to accomodate it: paved roads replaced rut-filled dirt roads, jeans and flip-flops are now common attire for air travel and email is becoming a preferred means of keeping in touch with friends & family. but the one ubiquitous object which gets my goat (so to speak) are cell phones.

with cell phones, etiquette seems to be the last thing on anyone’s minds. people are constantly yakking away on their phones, with no regards to their surroundings. i hear all kinds of personal conversations while on the subway, standing in line at the supermarket and while trying to have a nice dinner out. what’s so important that you need to be on the phone while operating a 2-ton vehicle at 75 mph?

these things in particular (which have all happened in my presence) piss me off:

• cell phones ringing in church and the movie theaters
• people taking phone calls in church and the movie theaters
• people on their phones at the store who won’t pause their conversation when they’re checking out, completely ignoring the poor cashier
• people playing with their blackberrys while at dinner with other people
• people taking phone calls while at dinner with other people - i’ve been guilty of this
• people making phone calls and then disappearing while with other people leaving them alone or with people they hardly know

now most people know that i’m a pretty mellow guy when it comes to things not relating to my beloved NY Mets. but rude people on cell phones are one of those things that gets me visibly annoyed. while i was talking with two friends of mine Sunday night, the topic of cell phones came up and i described an incident where apparently a phone call was more important than my company; i felt really hurt. and when i explained that it bothered me, all i got in return was excuses, instead of an apology. when did this kind of behavoir become socially acceptable?

people are becoming more and more self-isolated. walk through the streets of any city and you see people talking on the cell phones and listening to their iPods trying to shut the world around them out. we live in a “Me First” kind of society where the prevailing attitude is one of self-centeredness. “how will this affect me,” “what will I get out of this,” “how does this affect me,” are questions that seem to be on the forefront of our thinking.

the worst part is that people don’t even notice that they’re doing it…