The First 30

It's been 30 days since we moved to New York and this is what I have learned:

1. My feet hurt at the end of every day.
2. If you get onto a packed subway and you spot two open seats when several people are standing, you did not totally score. There is a reason why no one is sitting in them. And that reason is the man surrounded by 3,000 plastic grocery bags filled with who knows what. If the scene I am describing were in a comic strip, the man and his bags would have squiggly lines emanating from them.
3. I love impromptu subway performances in the form of drum circles or cello solos. But not the ones that involve a man clipping his nails for 15 minutes. I am not joking, he clicked away at them for 15 minutes. How do you even have nails left to clip after that duration? Gross.
4. I need to buy small bottles of hand sanitizer in large quantities because I use it compulsively when I have no choice but to touch something on the subway and I am burning through the stuff.
5. Despite the subway tales above, I love not having a car.
6. Having a finite amount of space forces you to simplify your life and pare down to the necessities. Whether it's what you can carry home from the store or what you can fit into a 400 square foot apartment, you have to decide what is most important to you.
7. It turns out that what is important to me is shoes, wine, and cheese, in no particular order.
8. There really are rats the size of house cats.
9. For the price of a beer at the SoHo Grand you can do any of the following (all of which are better ways to spend your money): eat about 30 dumplings in Chinatown, take a cab home to Brooklyn, or buy 6 Gray's Papaya hot dogs. The only downside is that none of them come with the entertainment value of watching all the cool kids and scenesters squeal when the cat sized rat ran through the VIP area.
10. For an insanely expensive city there are endless really cool, free and cheap things to do.
11. I had no idea how much the art and culture would move and inspire me. It's tough not to be awed by the creativity, diversity, and originality that abounds here.
12. Talking about how much you pay in rent is not declasse.
13. It rains every other day.
14. I didn't know I was moving to Seattle.
15. I could eat a bagel every single day.
16. The effects of walking several miles a day are countered by a daily bagel.
17. The sheer volume of men in skinny jeans has caused Mike to run out of ways to make fun of men wearing skinny jeans.
18. I am willing to push people out of the way to get a seat on the subway as long as they are able bodied and over age 10. Watch your back 5th graders, you are fair game.
19. The Upper East Side portrayed on Gossip Girl exists. Except in real life it is disturbing. But the clothes are just as good. Example: While walking down Lexington, I got cut off by an 8 year old boy who was wearing a prep school blazer, carrying a Starbucks, and was simultaneously talking on his cell phone and whining to his Dominican nanny.
20. I still hate the Yankees.
21. I'm not sold on knish. It's mashed potatoes in a pastry crust, so what's not to love? But my reaction was "Hmmm....meh."
22. I am totally sold on 4 dumplings for $1 in Chinatown.
23. There are more delicious cheese shops than my fromage loving mouth knows what to do with. Oh wait, I know exactly what to do with it.
24. I delight in other people's indignities. Well not categorically. But there was this obnoxious gaggle of wannabe socialites in front of me in line at a shoe store the other day discussing what hot spot they were headed to later. The conversation went something like this: Blond #1 - "Ewww...no way am I going there. You know Katie Wyatt will be there and she so wants to be me." (All her minions voice their agreement that said place is lame and Katie Wyatt is a stalker.) When Blond #1 went to pay, her credit card was declined. This filled me with an inordinate amount of glee and led me to speculate that Katie Wyatt's card wouldn't have been declined.
25. Walking through Times Square makes me want to indiscriminately trip people.
26. Walking around the Village makes me feel like I am exactly where I am supposed to be.
27. I love the Sweet & Salty Brownies from Baked, Liquid Gold from Captain Lawrence Brewing Co., and the wine deals at Red, White & Bubbly.
28. I don't really like cats. (I know this doesn't have much to do with New York, but we are cat sitting at our sublet and I'm over it. I'm over the hair, the litter box, and the irritating meow from Camille when she is hungry, wants to be pet, wants to sit on my lap or laptop. I don't like being yelled at by a cat. Reeeeehhh. Reeeeeehhh. REEEEEEHHHHHH! You know what, scratch that, I don't mind cats, I just don't like Camille.)
29. I am going to have to live without a dishwasher and laundry. Again. And I swore I never would.
30. This city wouldn't be half as much fun if I didn't have Mike to share, experience and explore it with.