HA, HA!!!!

You thought I disappeared, didn't you? DIDN'T YOU? I did not. I just had a setback with being able to blog. Not a lack of creative thinking...a lack of access to the great and sacred site known as Blogger.com. Good news for you: I creatively meandered my way to a computer that is on friendly, share-a-beer terms with Blogger.com.

So, where should I start?

I think I'll do multiple posts. It's much more organized that way. This particular post, today, will be about New York City. (Said in much the same way as the lonely cowpokes say it in the "El Paso" commercials.) Scott and I went to New York City for his friend's wedding at the very end of July. His friend, Annie, and her new husband, Wilbur, are fabulous, even though I think I talked to them for about 6 minutes altogether. They were the highlight of the trip, and I look forward to seeing them again soon and actually having a real-live conversation with them.

Here was my first, fresh-off-the-plane reaction to NYC: These people are so rude! Because they were. VERY, VERY RUDE. The women were obsessed with giving me dirty looks for what I was wearing (or presumably, not wearing...designer clothes). The men bumped into me on the sidewalk and just kept walking. And not one person smiled back when I smiled at them on the sidewalk. I have never felt like such a hick in my life as I did there...and only because I was NICE! Ridiculous. It's no wonder international tourists think we all have our panties in a bunch. Apparently, there is a lack of properly fitting underwear all over New York. Anyway, the rude people, lack of available public time pieces (would it KILL anyone to put a clock on a building? A bank? A coffee shop? Anything?), and the multitude of trash piled up on very fancy sidewalks and stinking up the place all combined to make me feel very uncomfortable in the city. It got better the longer we were there (and we got stuck there an extra day when our flight home was cancelled), but still, I have never been happier to see the friendly, smiling faces of my fellow Chicagoans. Scott is shocked by the fact that I smile at people all the time, and even MORE shocked that people here in Chicago often smile back. He said that his East Coast upbringing has contributed to his behavior of never looking people in the eye, so he had no idea that people were even being rude in NY. Because HE was being rude!! My friend Theresa said that she loves to go to NYC, because she gets to be rude and stand-offish, where in Chicago she's friendly. I understand having a non-social side (yes, even I have one!), but it is ridiculous that there is a city where a main attraction is a negative attitude. SHEESH!

Anyway, other than those little things, I loved New York. I found it busy, interesting, attractive, and beautiful in a "don't touch me" sort of way. It was like meeting a celebrity, I think. It was a fun experience, but you have the nagging feeling that spending everyday with them would be enough to disillusion you about their charms. I will certainly visit again, and love my time there (and the subway system...for shame, Illinois, put some of our tax money into our public transit system would ya?), but there is a part of me that will always know that I don't belong there, that I am a friendly Midwesterner at heart. And I'm sure New York City would agree, and gladly ship me back to the cornfield-laden shores of Lake Michigan. A kiss on each cheek for you, New York. Formal affection beats no affection at all.

(oh, and if you go, go to Nobu and stay away from Serendipity 3!)