I was hunting for summer jobs in New York, ran over a few blogs that touched on the subject of the city a bit, then decided to re-read some material from blogs I'm familiar with about it. There seems to be a general consensus between older bloggers that too many people, especially younger people, hold the city up on a pedestal and that there really isn't much need to clamor over its grandeur. I can understand that viewpoint well enough; after all, what is there in New York that isn't anywhere else? With the amazing pervasiveness of the Internet, there is a diminishing need to be physically close to where the action is and the cost of living there is so damn high, it pretty much offsets a ton of the advantages, right? So what's so great about this place?
Maybe it really is just my age, but two summers working in Manhattan has yet to disillusion me from its magnificence. The aesthetic appeal never seems to diminish. I love the 50-story buildings and the sea of taxis streaming down Fifth Avenue. I love the rush hour foot traffic swarming 7th Avenue towards the transit lines. Even when it's raining cats and dogs and there are a dozen peddlers trying to sell you umbrellas for five bucks (and they will probably break by the third or fourth use). I love the ignorant tourists and the fact that most people are perfectly happy to disregard traffic laws. I love the incredible diversity. Every little thing is just so incredibly artistic and I find that feeling hard to escape. Just being there in the city always seems to inspire me somehow. I want to write; I want to draw; I want to work. I want to live.
And that's all just the feeling I get from standing there. Job hunting reveals the amazing proximity of everything. It's one of those facts that you sort of know, but don't really realize until you really look into it. I had worked in the second and third floors of an office building on Broadway and 35th. Five blocks away is an animation studio I was looking at. Five blocks in the other direction is a small gallery also offering internships. Viacom is five blocks away. The Times building is five blocks away. National Geographic is closer. This is amazing to me, that such a motley crew should be stationed so close to one another. But as illustration can be applied to many a different fields and companies, it's amazingly convenient that I could take the same commute into the city for a hundred different jobs.
Obviously, the offset of all of this is the cost. I don't delude myself into thinking that I could afford a Manhattan flat on an intern's salary (if it's even a paid internship). For now, I'm lucky enough to have an uncle who lives in Jersey and also commutes into the city, but I would still love to live in the city itself some day. Would it be worth it to scrape by just to live there though? I don't know. Probably not in the long term, but even the other boroughs offer a proximity that I would love and with any luck, I'd be able to round up some awesome roommates to share space with. That would be worth it to me - good friends, good city, good inspiration. Hopefully good job? Haha.
It's almost like the urban fairytale land. It's where so many great things have started and ended. Wouldn't you love to be a part of it? Even for a little while? Many people seem to grow out of it and years later, after they've moved away, they reflect on it in a more cynical light. I'm a cynic too. But also sometimes a romantic. It's a weird combination, I suppose, but the city definitely brings out the hopeless romantic in me. I love New York and don't really see myself outgrowing that. Maybe I'll have to eat those words in a few years, but.
Maybe not.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Friday, February 15, 2008
shut up and love
This has become my place to rant about all of the opinions I usually don't share with people because someone's going to get offended. Go me for not bothering to advertise this blog much.
Anyway, I'm really tired of people ragging on Valentine's Day. Much like Black Friday, I find it pretty ridiculous that people should rail on it because it's a highly commercialized holiday. Realize that it's only so highly commercialized because people buy into. Obviously, if no one wanted to buy things, no one would bother decking out the pink, red, and white decorations and going crazy. If you hate it so much, don't buy things. It isn't that hard, is it? And maybe the people complaining about it really don't buy into it (although I severely doubt that they'd turn away chocolate hearts on principle alone if they were offered some) and are just using it as another excuse to go on a tirade about how humanity is deteriorating and how people care about the most trivial of things.
I think people's perception of the holiday (yeah, so some people refuse to even call it a holiday; power to you, guys, but I'm rolling my eyes) change in stages based on age. In elementary school, V-Day was cool because you got nifty cards and candy. In middle school, it was exciting because lots of people were experimenting with and just starting out with relationships. In high school, if you were in a relationship, it was great fun, but if you were single, you were probably anti-the-holiday. And beyond that, I think most people either came to embrace it as a celebration of love or continued to scorn it as another commercialized holiday. Or there are a few people who genuinely don't care, though a I find that a lot of people that claim this will still talk/complain/act bitter about it.
I think the whole Single's Awareness Day thing is kind of hilarious too. I guess a majority of our society likes to label it a day for romantic love, but come on, I'm sure the number of platonic love relationships in the world far outnumber the former. When you were a kid, you gave those Valentine's Day cards to everyone in your class and couldn't leave anyone out. If you don't have a significant others but still want to celebrate, go hang out with your other single friends. Now was that so hard? Stop being so damn bitter about it. Or you know, how about use it as an excuse to finally ask the guy or girl out? It's an excuse. May as well use it.
People say that we don't need a holiday to express love, that we should every day and appreciate it every day. And sure, that's true, but is it really so bad to have a day dedicated to it? It's like Mother's Day and Father's Day. I sure hope you appreciate your parents for more days than that, but isn't it nice to have a special day set aside for them? I see Valentine's Day the same way. It's an excuse to sit back and think about and appreciate all the awesome people in your life, whether or not you're romantically involved. Why is this bad? And if you just happen to be buying lots of flowers and candy and glittery, heart-shaped balloons for the day, so what? Our economy's in a slump and needs the help anyway.
And that's my tirade. Shut up, stop whining, and go tell someone they're awesome.
Anyway, I'm really tired of people ragging on Valentine's Day. Much like Black Friday, I find it pretty ridiculous that people should rail on it because it's a highly commercialized holiday. Realize that it's only so highly commercialized because people buy into. Obviously, if no one wanted to buy things, no one would bother decking out the pink, red, and white decorations and going crazy. If you hate it so much, don't buy things. It isn't that hard, is it? And maybe the people complaining about it really don't buy into it (although I severely doubt that they'd turn away chocolate hearts on principle alone if they were offered some) and are just using it as another excuse to go on a tirade about how humanity is deteriorating and how people care about the most trivial of things.
I think people's perception of the holiday (yeah, so some people refuse to even call it a holiday; power to you, guys, but I'm rolling my eyes) change in stages based on age. In elementary school, V-Day was cool because you got nifty cards and candy. In middle school, it was exciting because lots of people were experimenting with and just starting out with relationships. In high school, if you were in a relationship, it was great fun, but if you were single, you were probably anti-the-holiday. And beyond that, I think most people either came to embrace it as a celebration of love or continued to scorn it as another commercialized holiday. Or there are a few people who genuinely don't care, though a I find that a lot of people that claim this will still talk/complain/act bitter about it.
I think the whole Single's Awareness Day thing is kind of hilarious too. I guess a majority of our society likes to label it a day for romantic love, but come on, I'm sure the number of platonic love relationships in the world far outnumber the former. When you were a kid, you gave those Valentine's Day cards to everyone in your class and couldn't leave anyone out. If you don't have a significant others but still want to celebrate, go hang out with your other single friends. Now was that so hard? Stop being so damn bitter about it. Or you know, how about use it as an excuse to finally ask the guy or girl out? It's an excuse. May as well use it.
People say that we don't need a holiday to express love, that we should every day and appreciate it every day. And sure, that's true, but is it really so bad to have a day dedicated to it? It's like Mother's Day and Father's Day. I sure hope you appreciate your parents for more days than that, but isn't it nice to have a special day set aside for them? I see Valentine's Day the same way. It's an excuse to sit back and think about and appreciate all the awesome people in your life, whether or not you're romantically involved. Why is this bad? And if you just happen to be buying lots of flowers and candy and glittery, heart-shaped balloons for the day, so what? Our economy's in a slump and needs the help anyway.
And that's my tirade. Shut up, stop whining, and go tell someone they're awesome.
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