new york
A while ago I announced that I was going to move to New York, and put up a surprisingly (to me) honest assessment of what that involved, practically and emotionally.
Now that I’ve been here for nearly 9 months, I want to start reflecting on that decision. Needs to be done.
I miss proper Mexican food. I do miss driving, though I moved mostly to get away from my car (which I was convinced I would die in sooner or later). I miss In ‘n’ Out.
I also miss my friends. Not a single one of the people who swore we’d hang out all the time has come through since I’ve been here (which I’m told is pretty normal, nobody wants to hang out with the new guy), and very few of my LA friends have come through with promised visits. I’ve met some cool people since I’ve been here, but making lifelong friendships obviously takes longer than 9 months, so I’m left missing the ones I’d already made.
Most of all, and this is the troubling part, I miss feeling comfortable. New York requires a tremendous amount of effort just to maintain a basic level of happiness. It’s a hard city to live in. It’s also expensive, particularly for a spoiled brat like me. So going out to eat every night and hitting up bars and spending tons of money on booze and snacks just isn’t possible the way it was in LA. So doing all those things and going to all those places that I referenced as reasons to move in the first place, well, they’re suddenly just out of reach because I’m fighting to tread water.
This can all be remedied by making some tough financial decisions. I probably don’t need to live in my fuck off apartment in Tribeca, but coming from a comparable place in Santa Monica, I just wasn’t ready for a $1500 a month hovel, and we didn’t have a lot of time to comparison shop.
At any rate. This is still a work in progress. Anyone thinking of moving here could do worse than read this amazingly prophetic Consumerist post by Ben Popken called “How to Move to New York City Sane and not Broke“. The bit about saving up 5 months rent before finding an apartment literally saved my life. Literally.
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