Sorry I couldn't finish all my ravings and rantings on life in the big city in one post -
All in all, the city is a horrible place to live, more for couples or couples with kids, than singles. If you're single, it's not as bad since you probably don't have a car, all your friends are in the same area, you don't worry about groceries, errands, etc since you just basically live out of chinese food cartons and never bother with laundry.
If not, then you're in trouble. Don't live in the city. It ain't worth it.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
I love NY!!!!!!??????
You see it on bumper stickers. You see it on t-shirts. You see it on pencils, magnets, mugs, backpacks, stickers, billboards etcetcetcetcetc:
I used to think the same. Then I moved here. Living in NY is truly for the pitiful poor or the rather rich. Otherwise, it's a hellhole that you'll find yourself screaming to escape from.
We live in Queens, NYC. We've been living here for almost a year, and at this point I consider myself fully qualified to dump my bowels on the hellish experience that they call living (if you can call it living) in "the Big Apple".
Why would I hate living in the big city, you'd ask. Such culture, arts, bars, concerts, stuff to do, why WOULDN'T you want to be where it's all at? Ahh where shall I start... let me give you a taste of what daily living is like.
You own a car or two? Yes? GOOD for you! You want to live a normal life, go out every so often, get groceries, run errands? GOOD for you! Guess what? You are a prisoner in your own home in NYC (and you pay 3x normal rent for the privilege) and will curse your errantry EVERY TIME YOU GO OUT! Once you've experienced trying to find a spot to park your car, you will park that car and NEVER take it out until the next alt side day. You can or will seldom go out, if ever, out beyond your own pathetic little dirt strewn noisy 'hood. Sure, you'll take a nice, relaxing stroll through your picturesque neighborhood, listening to the soothing sounds of racing car engines and honking and cursing, and soaking in the atmosphere of litter and smelly exhaust. But you'll never venture beyond. Because you will never take that car out for fear of losing that spot...unless you go on an errand.
Ah, the errand! What is so tame, mundane and routine in the 'burbs turns into a rage inducing, hideous outing in NYC. You need groceries for the fam? What do you 'burb peeps do? You go to Acme. Park the car in the 1,001 car lot. You buy. You roll the shopping cart to your car. You load. You drive to the house, pull in the driveway. You take groceries in house. Done!
Now, for the NYC'er. You get in the car, after walking the 1/2 mile to where you parked it. You get in. You accumulate exactly 34 scratches on your front and rear bumpers while wriggling out of your pathetically tight space. You drive to the store and... drive around the block and... drive around the block, and repeat and repeat and repeat... because there are NO parking spaces to park in because there are NO lots. You park (1/2 mi away). You go into the store and buy (prices inflated 20%!). You are forced to leave your ghetto cart by these bars in front of the store since they obviously don't trust YOU to bring it back. You shlep 55lbs of groceries the 1/2 mile to your car. You return to your place and park 1/2 mi away from your place. You shlep 55lbs of groceries 1/2 mi to your place. You remember you forgot keys. You stop. You scream. You bang your head so many times against wall that you develop amnesia, if not death.
Let's say you need to get from point A to point B all outside of NYC. You get in your car and go. The trip takes 20 minutes. You find yourself on the same journey 2 weeks later; it takes 20 minutes. What do you infer?....... Anyone? Bueller?..... OK, so you infer that it takes, drumroll please, about 20 mins to drive that distance! So next time you need to go that distance, you allow, drumroll please, 20 minutes to get there! And you're usually on time, within reason.
This ain't so in NYC. If your starting point or destination or both is NYC, fuhgeddaboudit. It could take 2 hours to move 5 miles. It could take 20 minutes to move 20 miles. It could take 1.5 hrs to travel 7.25 miles. It could take 6 hours to travel 11 miles. It could take 5 minutes to drive 3 miles. It could take 3.75 hours to drive 10 miles. It could take.. I think you get the picture. You have to deal with this EVERY #$@& time you want to go anywhere in NYC or to NYC or from NYC. You have to build in 2 hours of 'traffic time' because on any given day there could be any amount of construction/accidents/volume just waiting to turn a joyful jaunt into a heart attack inducing traffic jam. Yet another reason to just stay home and do nothing.
There's a lot more. To be continued.
I used to think the same. Then I moved here. Living in NY is truly for the pitiful poor or the rather rich. Otherwise, it's a hellhole that you'll find yourself screaming to escape from.
We live in Queens, NYC. We've been living here for almost a year, and at this point I consider myself fully qualified to dump my bowels on the hellish experience that they call living (if you can call it living) in "the Big Apple".
Why would I hate living in the big city, you'd ask. Such culture, arts, bars, concerts, stuff to do, why WOULDN'T you want to be where it's all at? Ahh where shall I start... let me give you a taste of what daily living is like.
You own a car or two? Yes? GOOD for you! You want to live a normal life, go out every so often, get groceries, run errands? GOOD for you! Guess what? You are a prisoner in your own home in NYC (and you pay 3x normal rent for the privilege) and will curse your errantry EVERY TIME YOU GO OUT! Once you've experienced trying to find a spot to park your car, you will park that car and NEVER take it out until the next alt side day. You can or will seldom go out, if ever, out beyond your own pathetic little dirt strewn noisy 'hood. Sure, you'll take a nice, relaxing stroll through your picturesque neighborhood, listening to the soothing sounds of racing car engines and honking and cursing, and soaking in the atmosphere of litter and smelly exhaust. But you'll never venture beyond. Because you will never take that car out for fear of losing that spot...unless you go on an errand.
Ah, the errand! What is so tame, mundane and routine in the 'burbs turns into a rage inducing, hideous outing in NYC. You need groceries for the fam? What do you 'burb peeps do? You go to Acme. Park the car in the 1,001 car lot. You buy. You roll the shopping cart to your car. You load. You drive to the house, pull in the driveway. You take groceries in house. Done!
Now, for the NYC'er. You get in the car, after walking the 1/2 mile to where you parked it. You get in. You accumulate exactly 34 scratches on your front and rear bumpers while wriggling out of your pathetically tight space. You drive to the store and... drive around the block and... drive around the block, and repeat and repeat and repeat... because there are NO parking spaces to park in because there are NO lots. You park (1/2 mi away). You go into the store and buy (prices inflated 20%!). You are forced to leave your ghetto cart by these bars in front of the store since they obviously don't trust YOU to bring it back. You shlep 55lbs of groceries the 1/2 mile to your car. You return to your place and park 1/2 mi away from your place. You shlep 55lbs of groceries 1/2 mi to your place. You remember you forgot keys. You stop. You scream. You bang your head so many times against wall that you develop amnesia, if not death.
Let's say you need to get from point A to point B all outside of NYC. You get in your car and go. The trip takes 20 minutes. You find yourself on the same journey 2 weeks later; it takes 20 minutes. What do you infer?....... Anyone? Bueller?..... OK, so you infer that it takes, drumroll please, about 20 mins to drive that distance! So next time you need to go that distance, you allow, drumroll please, 20 minutes to get there! And you're usually on time, within reason.
This ain't so in NYC. If your starting point or destination or both is NYC, fuhgeddaboudit. It could take 2 hours to move 5 miles. It could take 20 minutes to move 20 miles. It could take 1.5 hrs to travel 7.25 miles. It could take 6 hours to travel 11 miles. It could take 5 minutes to drive 3 miles. It could take 3.75 hours to drive 10 miles. It could take.. I think you get the picture. You have to deal with this EVERY #$@& time you want to go anywhere in NYC or to NYC or from NYC. You have to build in 2 hours of 'traffic time' because on any given day there could be any amount of construction/accidents/volume just waiting to turn a joyful jaunt into a heart attack inducing traffic jam. Yet another reason to just stay home and do nothing.
There's a lot more. To be continued.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Degeneration
Here's a good post to watch from YWN. What began as an innocuous, fairly tame post seems to be going down the slippery slope here.
It's so funny to me how predictable the direction of these posts can be, this one at least so far. Act I - innocent question. Act II - seemingly innocent question about tznius. Act III - clarification that seemingly innocent question about tznius is really a thinly veiled impetus for tznius flame war. Act IV - tznius flame war degenerating to immature, idiotic personal insults.
How Shakespearean. Let's see how this plays out.
It's so funny to me how predictable the direction of these posts can be, this one at least so far. Act I - innocent question. Act II - seemingly innocent question about tznius. Act III - clarification that seemingly innocent question about tznius is really a thinly veiled impetus for tznius flame war. Act IV - tznius flame war degenerating to immature, idiotic personal insults.
How Shakespearean. Let's see how this plays out.
Shabbos
Just wanted to let the world know that I am so looking forward to two meals of good food on Friday night that I'm running 15 miles a day instead of 4.
Just kidding. But I'm still salivating.
Also, looking forward to seeing a long lost friend - let's hear it for V-I-C!!
Just kidding. But I'm still salivating.
Also, looking forward to seeing a long lost friend - let's hear it for V-I-C!!
Monday, June 15, 2009
Judging a book by its cover - and a whole side rant
I came across this article on a nice, juicy Jewish news web site. Read the article title, look at the comments, then actually read the article.
I love the the way sites like this portray the 'news' with attention-grabbing headlines that have little to do with the actual article. VIN news knows exactly how people react once they throw the word "gossip" into the equation. It's really just a way to stir up idiotic discussion in the comments section - barely anyone, except for one lone comment, noticed that the study's definition of "gossip" as an activity with health benefit is not quite synonymous with what we would call lashon hara. Take a look at comment #4 for a nice, hearty laugh, if you need a pick-me-up today, BTW.
I'm surprised tznius wasn't dragged in to the discussions here, given the propensity of these sites' commentators to link the most obscure news story with that topic. Which brings a slowly spreading evil smile to my face that my wife knows all too well as a thought flashes across my mind - look at some of the posts that elicit tznius discussions on that other font of journalistic wisdom, YWN. Seriously, if innocent stories or posts about bubby's beano cholent recipe (OK, I'm exaggerating, but not much) elicit virulent posts on the decadent degradation of tznius amongst our holy bnos yisroel, there's something screwy in YOUR brain, my friend. If you're thinking about tznius that much, get professional help. My guess is that something other than normal bodily functions are going on in your bathroom, and you just gotta be defensive. I apologize for the, um, inappropriateness of that remark, but probably true to some extent.
Which brings me by way of natural segway to another pet peeve. Can't we let or leave discussions or lamentations on or of tznius issues or problems to women??? Or include them in the klal's discussion (besides the usual classroom lectures on inches, hemlines, and bodily areas)??? We read about kol koreh after asifa after speech after proclamation after blah blah blah on or about this issue, largely uttered by men to men instructing men on how to be manly about 'bettering' our wives. I'm not ch"v saying that achieving the highest levels of tznius in dress is not desirable. Nor am I denigrating those who make the decision to approach the issue this way. I just think it don't WORK. Does anyone really think most women want to be dictated to? Does anyone really see that constant harping on just one corner of the concept of 'hatzneia leches' can distort the chinuch we should giving our kids on what it really means?
Please comment - will this approach likely and generally turn our women onto or off of at least to attempt achieving a higher level of tznius than they already may observe? Does the incessant drumbeat of the "tznius = long sleeves and skirts" credo REALLY educate our children on what tznius means, in totality? I'm curious.
And I have absolutely no idea why this even crossed my mind at 3:00 PM EST.
I love the the way sites like this portray the 'news' with attention-grabbing headlines that have little to do with the actual article. VIN news knows exactly how people react once they throw the word "gossip" into the equation. It's really just a way to stir up idiotic discussion in the comments section - barely anyone, except for one lone comment, noticed that the study's definition of "gossip" as an activity with health benefit is not quite synonymous with what we would call lashon hara. Take a look at comment #4 for a nice, hearty laugh, if you need a pick-me-up today, BTW.
I'm surprised tznius wasn't dragged in to the discussions here, given the propensity of these sites' commentators to link the most obscure news story with that topic. Which brings a slowly spreading evil smile to my face that my wife knows all too well as a thought flashes across my mind - look at some of the posts that elicit tznius discussions on that other font of journalistic wisdom, YWN. Seriously, if innocent stories or posts about bubby's beano cholent recipe (OK, I'm exaggerating, but not much) elicit virulent posts on the decadent degradation of tznius amongst our holy bnos yisroel, there's something screwy in YOUR brain, my friend. If you're thinking about tznius that much, get professional help. My guess is that something other than normal bodily functions are going on in your bathroom, and you just gotta be defensive. I apologize for the, um, inappropriateness of that remark, but probably true to some extent.
Which brings me by way of natural segway to another pet peeve. Can't we let or leave discussions or lamentations on or of tznius issues or problems to women??? Or include them in the klal's discussion (besides the usual classroom lectures on inches, hemlines, and bodily areas)??? We read about kol koreh after asifa after speech after proclamation after blah blah blah on or about this issue, largely uttered by men to men instructing men on how to be manly about 'bettering' our wives. I'm not ch"v saying that achieving the highest levels of tznius in dress is not desirable. Nor am I denigrating those who make the decision to approach the issue this way. I just think it don't WORK. Does anyone really think most women want to be dictated to? Does anyone really see that constant harping on just one corner of the concept of 'hatzneia leches' can distort the chinuch we should giving our kids on what it really means?
Please comment - will this approach likely and generally turn our women onto or off of at least to attempt achieving a higher level of tznius than they already may observe? Does the incessant drumbeat of the "tznius = long sleeves and skirts" credo REALLY educate our children on what tznius means, in totality? I'm curious.
And I have absolutely no idea why this even crossed my mind at 3:00 PM EST.
Who's singin' in the rain?
I think this "post" went out without a post - I hit the enter button after typing in the title (very witty, I must say), thinking it'd get me to the actual post section, when it really just posted the title - and nothing else, I think. If that happened, sorry.
Anyway, with all the glorious, wonderful, life giving rain we've been having, that's been turning NYC into a beautiful babbling brook of brown sludge (oh, how I love NYC! but that's a different post), got me to thinking. Who is financially benefiting from all this rain (even if it's just a few $$$) right now or sometime in the near future? I'll start a short list here; please comment and let me know what you think and add to it! Here it is, no particular order (actually in order of which came to my mind first):
Umbrella sellers - duh
Street sweepers, if they get paid hourly
Vacation package companies (if they're adept enough at marketing to convince ppl to get away from the rain to a lush paradise)
Movie theaters
Movie rental companies
Drug companies who manufacture antidepressants
Indoor paintball
Retailers
Gutter cleaning services
Landscapers (or teenagers roaming the streets with lawnmowers)
Places that sell windshield wipers
Bowling alleys
Please add. Thanks!
Anyway, with all the glorious, wonderful, life giving rain we've been having, that's been turning NYC into a beautiful babbling brook of brown sludge (oh, how I love NYC! but that's a different post), got me to thinking. Who is financially benefiting from all this rain (even if it's just a few $$$) right now or sometime in the near future? I'll start a short list here; please comment and let me know what you think and add to it! Here it is, no particular order (actually in order of which came to my mind first):
Umbrella sellers - duh
Street sweepers, if they get paid hourly
Vacation package companies (if they're adept enough at marketing to convince ppl to get away from the rain to a lush paradise)
Movie theaters
Movie rental companies
Drug companies who manufacture antidepressants
Indoor paintball
Retailers
Gutter cleaning services
Landscapers (or teenagers roaming the streets with lawnmowers)
Places that sell windshield wipers
Bowling alleys
Please add. Thanks!
Thursday, June 11, 2009
First blog post - now I'm cookin'
I've finally fulfilled a lifelong dream of mine - before retirement age, even, wow! - by starting a blog. Actually, I finally started one after months of dithering whether I'm 'blog-worthy', mostly because my good friend started one called Since1978 (I highly recommend everyone check it out) and I was just spurred on to create one. I'm calling it "Musings of a Bald Guy" partly because I'm bald, partly because I muse a lot, and partly because I'm not sure what exactly I'll blog about yet so I can't pick a title any more specific than that.
Prepare yourselves for a mind-bending journey through the musings of... the Bald Guy. It'll be fun, hopefully. Please comment and spread the word around about my blog. Thanks for looking in.
Prepare yourselves for a mind-bending journey through the musings of... the Bald Guy. It'll be fun, hopefully. Please comment and spread the word around about my blog. Thanks for looking in.
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