The Isle

This may just be a new kid thing, but I feel guilty when I don't do anything with my free time since I've moved here. I'm the kind of girl who enjoys pastimes such as watching seasons of TV on my laptop (preferably nerdy Joss Whedon shows), blasting music in my apartment and dancing around in my underoos, or reading entire novels in a day on the couch. All these pastimes consume precious non-work time which I could be spending instead doing exciting neighborhood explores, discovering trendy cafes or gazing at worldly works of art. Every time someone I talk to here says, "Wait, you haven't been to John's Pizzeria? How is that possible?" or someone at home says, "What do you MEAN you have no idea where the Empire State building is? You live in New York!" I feel like I should be spending my free time a little more strategically. (I do go out and explore and drink and whatever. Just not every hour over my weekends. Plus, everyone knows that Thursdays are NYC's Fridays.) This may be the city that never sleeps, but I love my beauty rest on the weekend.

That's why, even though I am new here, I already have found that running away to Long Island can be a nice getaway from the city. Whereas I might feel a little guilty potatoing on my own couch all weekend, I have absolutely no guilt about watching DVRed movies all day at my friend's house in Bellmore. It's a totally out-of-city experience to stay somewhere with yards and neighbors in separate buildings and store parking lots, and the familiarity of suburbia is reassuring sometimes to a North Canton, Ohio girl. (Although, millennia ago, my grandpa apparently decided NOT to move to Levittown in Long Island because "all the houses looked the same." No joke. Explains where I get my decision-making processes from. Ironically, my parents ended up moving to white Ohio suburbia to raise us. But unlike the parts of Long Island I've seen, our version of white suburbia has almost no Jews (except for us), no jet skis, and significantly less bagel shops.) Now that I live in a city with what can feel like too many things to do, going someplace where there's nothing much exciting going on can be a welcome relief.

Of course, on my way back to my apartment tonight, my bus stop corner was closed off because an  SUV cab had completely destroyed the side of a four-door sedan. I mean, obliterated. Even some of my neighbors were stopping to stare, transfixed, at the wreckage. Harlem, at least you are never, ever boring.