Thursday, May 22, 2008

musings over new york city life

I've started to do research a book I'm planning to write. Not a very committed statement, but true. And through my interviews, which are about new yorkers, I realize more and more that I don't want to leave Manhattan. In particular I don't want to leave the East Village. I have known this to be true for, well, since I moved in. In comparison I got a pretty good deal on my studio, which both my husband and I now live in. It's not great, but it's good. The only major complaint is when the plumbing in the building has some problem, which is every few months. None of it stops the world, so we get on.

I have, what I think is, a usual relationship with the city. I love it. Like it was a person you're dating or some such. Something to be proud of and desire. So I get a little indignant and a lot frustrated when I realize, not that far in the future, I'm going to have to leave the city and go to somewhere else. If we're going to have a kid, and likely we will within the year, we need more space. Well, we don't NEED more space but that would be nice. Half our stuff is in storage, even though every Spring and Fall (when we actually get those seasons for more than a few days anymore), we do a purge of our stuff.

We're both a little bit pack-rat like and so stuff accumulates. Even though we love a homey yet minimal design style, we have piles of stuff in places.

Anyway, we like some of our stuff so we keep it. But we can't afford the city, and the extra Manhattan city tax every year is just the punch in the stomach that makes me wish I was in Queens or Brooklyn. Most of our friends are still in Manhattan, or at least that's where we all hang out. So until they all leave, which few are starting to, we'll be resistant to move. Me in particular.

I keep asking myself, who are these people that can afford the rent in my neighborhood for 2 bedrooms, or any of those apartments that are more than $3k/month? Forget the multimillion dollar pads that I can't even imagine visiting let alone renting or owning. In my neighborhood, even when a 2bdrm exists, it's crazy expensive. To myself I ask them, what do you do? How much do you get paid? (And should I be doing that instead?)

I can only think that they make a considerable amount more than we do or are more comfortable living with debt than we are.

Either way, I feel shafted. I feel like my love and dedication to the city should reward me in some way. It's totally irrational, but in my weakest moments that's what I think. And then I suppose when the real, immediate need for a 2 bedroom is in my face, my priorities will change and I'll be more receptive to making concessions on location.

But for right now, I like that I'm here. Minca is across the street and I can't find a better noodle place in the city so far -- at least for me. Trust me, I've tried a LOT of noodles.

So here's to living well and environmentally-friendly my favorite neighborhood for as long as I can!

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