Reasons to love New York: 2008, Continued

Okay, so I've thought of a few things that can kick off my "Reasons to Love New York 2008" list:

Community
Public Spaces
Prospect Park
Outdoor Seating
$5 Pashminas
Live Music
New Music
Reinvention
New Media
Delivery
Bikes
Sample Sales
Neighborhoods
Dancing in the streets (Obama, Superbowl)
Awareness
Bridges
Activism
Brunch
BYO
Boats
Trains
NYTimes
NYMAG
Local Artists
Street Fairs
Summer Fridays
Madison Square Park


Just to name a few....

Yours,
EL

Reasons to love New York: 2007, 2008

Disclaimer: Big-time cheesy post, but dammit, it's the holidays -- it's allowed.

Last year, on the evening before I returned to New York from Thanksgiving in North Carolina, I chatted with another displaced North Carolinian about our return to the big, bad, (cold) city that we had just begun to call home. She was having a difficult time stomaching leaving the comfort of home, family and friends to return to the place that is at times -- let's be honest -- not altogether welcoming. In response, I decided to write a list of reasons why I love New York, and I sent my list to the twenty-or-so people on the NC-in-NY listserv that we had circulating*.

After reading New York magazine's lovely "Reasons to Love New York, 2008" article this week, I thought I'd dig up my 2007 list as an inspiration to make my own 2008 updates.

Anyway, so here's last year's list, dated November 27, 2007:

Things I love about NYC (in no particular order):
1. living with Lauren and Margaret
2. flying over Manhattan and seeing the light catching the tops of the buildings
3. happy hour
4. taxis
5. one particular bench in Central Park (by the softball fields)
6. free fridays at the moma
7. trains
8. the west side highway
9. the village
10. window shopping (and real shopping)
11. high heels
12. the couple that does my laundry
13. my restaurant on the corner of bank and west 4th
14. being independent from my parents
15. changing seasons
16. dive bars
17. famous bars
18. eating out
19. meeting new people and learning from them
20. opportunities
21. never feeling bored
22. learning the subways (finally)
23. being surrounded by people who don't all look the same
24. people watching
25. celebrity spotting
26. walking everywhere
27. fashion, art, music
28. The New York Times
29. the awkward, red-headed guy that works at the Starbucks on the way to work and knows my order
30. feeling like i'm almost a grown-up

Honestly, I still love these things, and although I'm one year older and wiser and more used to perks such as "being surrounded by people who don't all look the same" and "being independent from my parents," they're no less valuable this year than last...and I imagine that won't change much in the future.

My 2008 list is in the works, so stay tuned. And send me suggestions!

Yours,
EL

*I'm pretty sure most of the guy recipients thought I was pretty lame, but partly I wrote the list as an exercise for myself. I just happened to think it was worth sharing. (By the way, having a blog = no longer spamming my friends' inboxes on a daily basis.)

Dating 2.0, Communication 2.0, Friendships 2.0

A friend just sent me this link about the role of texting and mobile phones in relationships, dating and love. And while I agree with most of the facts presented (i.e. "24% said the biggest turnoff when texting with a date or a spouse is a slow responder."), I still can't believe that this is the norm these days. At the risk of sounding like an old person (gasp!), what is the world coming to?

The article naturally led me to a second thought: Lately, because of blogging, Twitter, Blackberry, Facebook, etc. etc. ad infinitum, the need to meet a friend for coffee to "catch up" is becoming increasingly redundant. As it is, I can't tell a story or recount recent events to a friend without an "I know -- I saw it on Facebook," or "I read that already -- I think on your blog." And while I recognize that the very act of writing about this concern on a blog is hypocrisy in itself, I have to wonder: If we can maintain a relationship with someone without having to communicate with them directly, what is the future of friendship, (let alone romantic relationships)?

The NYTimes recently published an article about Twitter, in which Twitter co-founder and CEO Evan Williams mused that the microblog will complement, rather than replace, old forms of news gathering and reporting: "Twitter will complement other forms of media, he said, the way that blogs and newspapers co-exist. "New media never kill old media," he said. "It's all part of an ecosystem."
Similarly, I think (I hope?), texting and 2.0 technology will complement, rather than replace, interpersonal communication. A "I had a great time -- Can't wait to hang out again" text at the end of a date certainly is welcome, but so are phone calls (or -- dare I say it? -- flowers). And while my friends can read about my life (or the portions I choose to make public) on the Internet, I still want to get together with them to do actual, in-person activities -- to create shared experiences.

So what is the future of relationships? Who knows -- I'm obviously no expert. But as long as I'm texting, tweeting, LinkingIn, BBM'ing, blogging and Facebooking -- I'm going to make a concerted effort to strike some kind of balance. My first step? Brunch tomorrow with friends from high school. I'll even turn off my Blackberry...or maybe I'll just put it on standby.

Yours,
EL

Sitting at the kitchen table

How cool is this table? This is where I sat the other night at Park Avenue Winter. You can't really tell from this picture, but this sound-proof room sits in the middle of the restaurant's kitchen. As a Top Chef fan, I was loving life being able to watch the goings-on in an upscale kitchen. (Needless to say, it was a far cry from the kitchen at the restaurant where I worked in college....)

Other fun facts about this restaurant?
1. Each season, the entire restaurant is reinvented -- the decor, the menu, etc. all match the time of year. Right now, the specials menu has a "winter white" theme -- all food and drinks on it are white. Clever.
2. You can mix your own drinks at the bar. Fun.

Yours,
EL

Funk
-noun
2. A dejected mood.

Every year, when the temperature first spends consecutive days below freezing and my skin is so pale that I'm basically see-through, I enter my winter funk. That said, I haven't had the energy or motivation lately to be quite snarky enough for good entries. Instead, I figured I'd list the things I've been up to lately, with a promise that I'll update further soon:

Home for Thanksgiving for 8 days
Read Confessions of a Shopaholic (don't judge) (it was fun)
Got a Blackberry (finally) (love it)
Saw Milk with SP (finally) (loved it)
Walked around in the cold to look at Xmas lights in midtown
Went to my gym's Xmas party at Le Royale
Hung out with HP
Made NYE reservations at Freeman's (excited)
Finished my Digital Ad class at NYU
Wrote Hanukkah list
Heard Annie Leibovitz speak about her new book, At Work
Dad and his wife were in town
Dined at 5 Ninth (delicious) (cozy)
Went to Teach For America Xmas party with LK
Dined at Park Avenue Winter (maybe one of my new favorites)
Got a cold
Entered funk
Organized room to try to get out of it (helped mildly)

More soon.

Yours,
EL

In the meantime

"It's as though we're watching a Coen brothers movie!" -Mom

I'd argue that in this case, life is so much funnier than art ever could be:
Sarah Palin and turkey murder

Yours,
EL

p.s. I pulled this up at the table on Thanksgiving. Picture EL and extended family huddled around Blackberry, watching this. Note: I am thankful for technology as a method to bridge the tension at my family events.

p.p.s. This one really had my grandmother in hysterics: McCain/Palin Interview

Tryptophanatic

Thanksgiving at mom's house = no posts for a week!

Updates to come....

Yours,
EL