concrete jungle where dreams are made…

I like the city, and this is why:

-I feel small here. Small and quiet and neat, even. Like I am not disrupting anything, but quietly minding my own business. Not in the obnoxious way in which that phrase is often and incorrectly used, but in the real sense of it. I am tending to my own tasks. I am not overly worried about anyone else and I have a strong sense of where my job ends: at the ends of my own finite fingertips.

–there is a sense of opportunity and discovery. I guess a lot of people come here because of a dream. That’s great. I came here because a dream ended and I’m starting to slowly cobble together a new one. To be able to dream is a lucky thing. I’m not too busy surviving to dream. Sometimes this is lost on me, but I’m remembering it right now and it’s good.

–people say what they mean here. You are generally not left guessing at what most people are thinking. If they like how you look, they tell you. If you accidentally brushed their leg with yours, they will accuse you of kicking them. It’s a little off-putting sometimes, the forwardness. The other day a guy was on rollerblades, called me ‘Princess’ and then proceeded to roll next to me for a few blocks. He was a slow roller in order to match my non-rolling pace and his hovering-on-wheels was creepy. But actually kind of funny, too. I wasn’t scared cause there were a million witnesses right there. That’s a pretty good deterrent for anything more menacing than slow rolling, I think.

–there is all this music. Yes, there are street performers everywhere–some better than others–but it’s even less organized than that. The city has a rhythm. The subway. The footsteps. The honking. The doors opening and closing. The vendors yelling. It’s a song all day and night long. It’s a far cry from the sounds of the country, the sounds I was raised on, but it’s got its own kind of industrial lure that I find interesting. No wonder so many dancers come here; the city’s score is ubiquitous.

–and a heckuva lot of hipsters. The style here is fabulous and so diverse. I love it. I don’t close my eyes for a second, for fear I will miss something strange and wonderful on display.

–not to mention the thrift stores. Which is just another way of totally mentioning them. Yesterday I purchased a jacket, three dresses, two pairs of pants, and a shirt for about forty dollars. I feel very alive when I am searching for some great piece at some great price. And there’s a lot to be found here.

Yes, this city is a strong and strange thing; I like it.