Woke up at eight a.m. today, right before Kyle's alarm went off. I thought I'd want to stay in bed but my body had other plans. I've been having this problem for awhile now, waking up super early and not knowing what to do. A productive person would bounce out of bed and be productive. An unproductive person stays in bed and whips through their iPhone apps. As Kyle's alarm kept snoozing, I thought about how hard it is to crawl out of bed and shut an alarm off knowing there's eight hours of work on the other side. Not a struggle I've had to deal with for the last few years, thankfully. I turned the volume up on my podcast to ward off the insistent buzzing instead of snoozing the alarm since I didn't want to interrupt Kyle's Monday morning schedule.
I'm learning to walk again. Tonight after dinner we went from 50th Street to 30th, even though the weather was chilly. We passed through Times Square, stopping atop the giant red staircase over the TKTS booth for a moblog moment. The staircase is new to me and it's where part of the video for Empire State of Mind was shot. I was told that the entire project cost over thirteen million dollars. For a bright red staircase.
The area around the TKTS island has been blocked off on one side too, with picnic table seating available for people to lounge around in and less cars streaming by. Yasmine's out here for work and her hotel room had quite a view of the Empire State Building, which was lit up tonight in whites, greens, and reds in an apparent homage to the Italian flag? Through her windows you can look down and get a vertigo inducing view of the street. I counted the number of cabs to regular cars that shuttled by. Cabs: 20+, Regular Cars: 3. Hailing a cab here isn't an annoyance like it is in SF, another reason to prefer New York.
Regarding Empire State of Mind: It's impossible to not hum that track while walking around the city. It's sick but true. Bill Simmons says part of Jay-Z's business genius is coming up with a new New York anthem that is going to be pumping in royalties for the next ten years -- at least. Jessica sent me this LCD Soundsystem song before I left and I've listened to it at least once a day since. I think I'll incorporate it into my morning mix as it's got the right mix of slow melancholy and soft optimism.
As I'm learning to walk again, my internal "how far is it" meter is being re-adjusted. Anything located within a five block radius is extremely close. One neighborhood over is usually walkeable, even in extreme temperatures. Two is pushing it. Three is a subway ride and anything beyond that normally requires a bit more planning. I've had to resist hopping into a cab a few times already, since that's my usual mode of transportation in New York. But this time I'm a committed public transportation person, and the monthly Metro Card set me back $90 already. The one thing I've already noticed about walking around NY versus SF is how my eyes are focused on the things around me, or upwards toward the buildings, versus downward and scanning the sidewalk for dog poop and possible pee puddles.
I should stop comparing things.
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