revenge of the december meme
My "weekend" was insane. And also not a weekend. Now that I'm back into the swing of theater again, Saturdays and Sundays are work days for me -- Monday/Tuesday is generally my weekend. So Saturday I had work for several hours longer than planned, then spent the evening frantically writing the final 4000 words or so of my Secret Mutant fic. But I did it! Huzzah! And then yesterday was our first rehearsal, so I was at the theater for about eight hours, followed by jumping in late to a Gay Geeks event only to find myself elected to the GGNY Board. (I mean, it's not like they sprung it on me or anything. I did make the conscious choice to run. It's just that there were a lot more people running than positions available, so the actually being elected part was not a given.) So! Now that's a thing that I'm doing with my free time even more than usual for the next year. I feel so official and stuff.
ANYWAY. I am now of course behind on the December meme, but I shall catch up one day at a time.
via_ostiense asks: favorite things about living in NYC
Well, for starters, it is my hometown. Most of you probably know the feeling. You just know a place really, really well, because it's where you grew up. It just happens that for me, that's NYC.
Okay, favorite things: the SUBWAY, no lie. I've lived in a number of different cities with varying degrees of public transportation, and for all that New Yorkers love to bitch about the MTA, this is still hands down the best public transit system I've yet to encounter. (I'm not saying there aren't better ones out there -- just haven't experienced them for myself yet.) Yes, I know the subway system is confusing for newcomers, but it's always made perfect sense to me, and part of what makes it complicated is that it is QUITE extensive -- you can get almost anywhere in the city on the subway. (Okay, my privilege is showing here -- I do know there are swathes of the outer boroughs that are not so accessible, although the bus system is even more extensive to make up for it.) And it runs 24 hours, 7 days a week. Living in DC frustrated me to no end because the stupid Metro shut down at midnight on weekdays, which, sorry, if you work in theater (or, y'know, the restaurant/bar industry, among others), THAT IS NOT A REASONABLE TIME TO NO LONGER HAVE PUBLIC TRANSIT. And owning a car is freaking expensive.
I also love this city's diversity. Every sort of person imaginable lives here, and more importantly, can form a community here. That's important to the healthy cultural life of a city, I think. I love the neighborhoods, how distinct each can be. I love how pedestrian-friendly most of the city is, that you can walk just about anywhere. I love that this is a city with a history -- as much as anyplace in America is, anyway (Londoners are probably laughing at me right now). I dunno, it's hard for me to just rattle things off, and I'm not saying NYC doesn't have its problems, but although I've lived in a number of other places -- some that I liked quite a lot -- this is the only one that's ever felt like home to me. I don't know if I'll stay here forever -- I always expected I'd eventually settle somewhere else -- but it's been good to be back, and the more I build up a community of my own here, the less likely I'll be willing to leave again.
This entry was originally posted on Dreamwidth. Comment wherever you'd like.
ANYWAY. I am now of course behind on the December meme, but I shall catch up one day at a time.
via_ostiense asks: favorite things about living in NYC
Well, for starters, it is my hometown. Most of you probably know the feeling. You just know a place really, really well, because it's where you grew up. It just happens that for me, that's NYC.
Okay, favorite things: the SUBWAY, no lie. I've lived in a number of different cities with varying degrees of public transportation, and for all that New Yorkers love to bitch about the MTA, this is still hands down the best public transit system I've yet to encounter. (I'm not saying there aren't better ones out there -- just haven't experienced them for myself yet.) Yes, I know the subway system is confusing for newcomers, but it's always made perfect sense to me, and part of what makes it complicated is that it is QUITE extensive -- you can get almost anywhere in the city on the subway. (Okay, my privilege is showing here -- I do know there are swathes of the outer boroughs that are not so accessible, although the bus system is even more extensive to make up for it.) And it runs 24 hours, 7 days a week. Living in DC frustrated me to no end because the stupid Metro shut down at midnight on weekdays, which, sorry, if you work in theater (or, y'know, the restaurant/bar industry, among others), THAT IS NOT A REASONABLE TIME TO NO LONGER HAVE PUBLIC TRANSIT. And owning a car is freaking expensive.
I also love this city's diversity. Every sort of person imaginable lives here, and more importantly, can form a community here. That's important to the healthy cultural life of a city, I think. I love the neighborhoods, how distinct each can be. I love how pedestrian-friendly most of the city is, that you can walk just about anywhere. I love that this is a city with a history -- as much as anyplace in America is, anyway (Londoners are probably laughing at me right now). I dunno, it's hard for me to just rattle things off, and I'm not saying NYC doesn't have its problems, but although I've lived in a number of other places -- some that I liked quite a lot -- this is the only one that's ever felt like home to me. I don't know if I'll stay here forever -- I always expected I'd eventually settle somewhere else -- but it's been good to be back, and the more I build up a community of my own here, the less likely I'll be willing to leave again.
This entry was originally posted on Dreamwidth. Comment wherever you'd like.