i heart new york

last weekend, in the dog run, warren and i got to talking to an older gentleman who had lived in the east village his whole life. he was complaining about all of the suburban people who had moved into the neighborhood and brought their values with them. we told him how we had actually had to wait in line for our bagels that morning. and they weren't even good bagels! anyway, it's really gross. but we can't leave.

he felt so sorry for us! our living conditions are terrible. and there isn't even really that much art left in the neighborhood anyway. galleries have made way for handbag and doggie boutiques. we could have a huge house if we lived anywhere else. he kept asking, "why don't you leave," which actually kind of hurt my feelings; i wasn't quite sure if he thought we were examples of the "suburban people" he had been complaining about. because we kind of are. except we don't have those values. well, maybe some of them. "you don't have to live like this."

of course, most non-native new yorkers ask themselves why they live in new york probably every day, and i, having lived here for thirteen years, have been wondering the entire time. i don't think i meant to stay when i moved here, precipitously, after a breakup.

the reason we won't leave the east village, for brooklyn, say, is because we like not having to take the subway ever. it is worth it to us to pay a ridiculous premium in rent for very little space for this luxury. we both hate, to a pathological degree, being jostled in a crowd. more than being jostled by each other constantly.

but mostly, even if we didn't find what we moved to new york city for exactly, at least not yet, or maybe we found it, and it promptly disappeared, we have found so many people here who moved here for the same reasons we did. these are people whom we probably wouldn't have met if we and they had stayed wherever we came from. and i like being with them a lot. they are enough of a reason to stay here.