"My plug-in baby"

[nonethefewer]

As it turns out, I actually don't like New York that much.  I tested yesterday to see if I was letting past experiences or expectations get in my way, and nope.  There is constant noise (in the "signal to noise" sense), the flow of people is like trying to swim in a river, and the greenery feels grudging, honestly.  (Depending - I mean, the lilac tree-bush-thing next door feels more like it's going to leap down and consume a passer-by some day, but that's both different and awesome.)  I could barely keep my head together long enough to think.  There was too much, too much, all the time.

(For those keeping track, yesterday I was in upper Manhattan, Chinatown, and Little Italy.  I think.  So you have a frame of reference here.)

I way prefer Portland.  There's greenery everywhere, of both stripes.  (My god people throw out plastic things.  I died.  I am a revenant, posting to LJ.)  There's real air.  You can move quickly, but the vibe I get is more "Question why you'd want to do so" than "Getouttamyway!!".  (Once I walked like I did in Boston, against the light and as fast as possible, due to kitty need.  I felt really out of place doing so.)  There are bicyclists everywhere, that's so fantastic.  And there are actual shops.  Not wall-to-wall storefronts or apartment-fronts.  :(

I may get recommendations to go to this place because there's greenery, or go to that place because there are locally owned shops where they all recycle.  My point is, I even like Portland's downtown area.  I even like the financial district, insofar as there is one.  (It's kind of cute, honestly.)  In NYC, I'd have to go to places to get tastes of what I like.  That would be missing the point.

I am apparently more a suburbanite than an urbanite, as -ites go.  I'm glad New York exists, I guess, because that way people who like it here have a place to be, but I am way pleased there's a Portland I can go to.

Comments

[glib-dichotomy.livejournal.com]

When my youngest sister came to visit me in NYC she had the same reaction to the constant motion and pace. I prefer my relatively tree-lined bits of brooklyn for coming home to, but yes, I like the baseline thrum of activity and aliveness better than suburban Detroit. Melbourne's still my favorite city so far.

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

I like that baseline thrum of activity too. I only get to visit NYC on occasion but when I do, I feel my body shifting into another gear of activity. Just entering the city feels energizing to me. Alas, I don't live there because I think I'd go broke living there.