gritty
it is a terrible thing to be inured to the sense of possible impossibilities. sooner or later this city will take everything from you, and at a whim, give them back one at a time or in a flood, only to spin you around and leave you naked again. and you may tell yourself, "i'm never doing this again. i can leave and never look back." but you won't mean it. it won't last. that's when you know it has a power over you. that it has got you enthralled. the glamor that is the grime is simply in the nature of the beast. that is when New York slightly dulls that sheen of wonder and becomes a certainty. you'll accept it, because you love this place in a way you cannot explain for all the words in the world. you've been had.
