Things I learned about New York

My time in Manhattan is over, but the memories I made will last me quite a while. During my stay I encountered many things that I'd classify as being truly New York. That is, they were things I've never run into on a daily basis in either of the two areas in which I've lived for extended periods of time- Dallas and Chicago. Here are my findings, in list form:


1. There are lots of delis. LOTS.

2. When you go into the delis and buy a simple can or bottle of soda, they always give you a straw. Straws are too fancy for my blood. They also give me gas.

3. Standing in a queue: the way we say it elsewhere is, I'm in line for this movie. In New York they say, I'm on line for this movie. It's bananas!

4. I noticed many people wearing jewelry with their names on it. More like, in it. After I saw about the 5th girl with a necklace like this, I assumed it was just the gals, until I saw a fella wearing a pinky ring with his moniker. That's the kind of thing they told us not to do when we were kids, unless we wanted some stranger to come up to us pretending to know our names, then diddling us.

5. People will walk in front of moving cars, in Times Square especially. I guess they figure if anything goes wrong, there will be tons of witnesses.

6. Celebrity sightings are abundant, except for me. One of my coworkers has seen Anderson Cooper THREE TIMES. The best I ever passed by was Mark of Mark and Ryan, hosts of Nickelodeon's Slime Across America. Yeah, I've never heard of him either.


Though it seemed like a foreign country at times (like the time I was in the MoMA and heard Russian, French, and Spanish being whispered all around me), I can honestly say I love New York.

And apparently if you display that sentiment in T-shirt form, you're lame.