Rhapdosy in blue

[gfish]

I have come to the conclusion that visiting NYC is a lot like visiting the land of Fae. It is both entirely mythological in nature and yet simultaneously far more real than anything you've ever experienced before. This is a Platonic City, from which all others are pale imitations. My two years in Vancouver already had me seeing Seattle in a new light, and this isn't going to help with that any.

That said, I really like it here. This is public transit heaven. And while I can see that people are generally a bit more extroverted here than I'm used to, the difference isn't that huge. (The most obvious thing about that: far fewer people listening to ipods on the subway!) And there is just a wonderful lived in feel about everything. Everything has been tested to destruction by millions of people -- if it's still standing, it's pretty damned solid. Despite all the wonderful Victorian and Art Deco details, this place naturally values function over form. It's dense, gritty and I love it. I think I've missed out by never living here. Seems unlikely to happen at this point in my life, but maybe I could make it happen in a decade or two.

I've managed to do just about everything I wanted, including driving out to New Jersey to see the Edison labs. (Thanks, lolmike!) I even got a picture of myself wearing a UN translation earpiece in the General Assembly hall, which is still making me squee. Kind of taking today off, just going to an Ethiopian cooking party with some friends of adularia. Tomorrow is dedicated to museums, exploring as much of Central Park as the weather will allow (-3 right now, blah.), and maybe getting dinner at this insane restaurant I read about years ago.

Comments

[brithistorian.livejournal.com]

Growing up in southern Mississippi (a state that doesn't have even one proper city), I was aware of 2 American cities: Los Angeles and New York. Nothing else was in the same league. And in my mind, New York was where the action was - I was thrilled when I went away to high school and discovered that the library of the university that housed my school subscribed to The Village Voice. Every week, when I was supposed to be doing my homework, I would go to the library (one of 3 allowable locations during homework time) and read the Voice. I've never made it to New York yet (either to visit or to live), but I'd love to someday.

[maellenkleth]

Recommend La Petite Abeille on Hudson Street, and Kavehuz on (I recall?) West 26th. Just sayin'.

[gustavolacerda.livejournal.com]

<< people are generally a bit more extroverted here than I'm used to >>

So more extroverted than Vancouver? I never thought this, but I guess New Yorkers are slightly more likely to talk to you on public transit.

In my experience, Vancouver buses tend to have tons of people listening to headphones, especially towards the back of the bus.

If you feel extroverted, say hello to _wirehead_ for me. She'll probably tell you about nerd events. When I was there, we went to a 2600 meetup and a comic-con (in which Randall Munroe made us personalized xkcd's).

[memegarden.livejournal.com]

I love two different fantasy novels in which New York City is treated as The City in a mythic, Fae-related sort of way: _Little, Big_ by John Crowley and Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin. They have other odd resonances between them as well. You should read both of them.

[ladymondegreen.livejournal.com]

It's nice to see that someone else sees the resonances between these two books. I've been trying to get people to read them in tandem for ages, but it never seems to happen.

I love New York. As a child, I wanted to live here, and I've really never been dissatisfied with living here as an adult.

[ilmarinen.livejournal.com]

Hrm, it didn't impress me as being all that much different in quality than Seattle, just quantity.

Definitely flatter.

-B.

[ilmarinen.livejournal.com]

Well, obviously different, just not in a radical *this is truer* way.