Two: Frequent Snowpocalypse(s)

The weather outside is genuinely frightful. When it snows, it piles high and dirty slush coats the sidewalks.

As long as you've got a pair of rain boots to keep you dry, that's not the worst.

No, said worst is reserved for when the temperature drops below thirty, and the wind harasses you, especially hard at every intersection.

This is today, when it was "warm" because it was above freezing.

One: Produce Blues

The produce here is shittier and yet more expensive than most places in the country.

How is that okay? Yes, Manhattan is a fucking island and the climate in the Northeast is not conducive to the best of growing conditions.

But there's no way a person should feel lucky to be able to spend $8 for a little carton of sourish raspberries at Whole Foods.

Fresh fruit and veg are miraculous things not found on this island.


(Photo courtesy of berkeleybowl.com)

When I Decided to leave New York

I don't fancy myself unique. I'm betting plenty of residents of the five boroughs find themselves dreaming of life in the outside world.

I've spent a bit less than two years in New York. A summer during High School and the year and a half I've been in school here, so I'm not claiming to be any kind of a world-weary veteran of this godforsaken town. However, that does not make me immune to the feeling of overload. 

When I left for school (and I don't for one second regret moving here), I had it in my mind, as I'm sure many do, that my stay in New York City would be indefinite, involving at most, some fluctuation between Manhattan and Brooklyn. However, every time I return home, I'm awash with how lucky I was to grow up in as beautiful a city as Seattle, a place I'm finally realizing I can truly call home. 

That is why, this winter break, nothing made me happier than when it occurred to me that moving home is not necessarily failure, but could actually be something I want out of life. 

To keep myself relatively sane for the next two and a half years, I will keep myself in check by remembering, it is possible to get the hell out of dodge as soon as I graduate. And it certainly doesn't hurt to do a little bitching while I'm at it.