Ten lessons I’ve learned about NYC OR What I’d tell myself 6 months ago
Whenever I wander aimlessly omw back home from work about 100 billion ideas come to me at once. This blog post was one of them.
- NYC will give you whatever you put into it. It’s a tool to help you develop into your own. If you’re interested in learning obscure science fiction dialects, and have never, ever, met another person with the same interest, there’s probably an entire community for that here. So mostly, succeeding in this city means learning how to be honest with your passions, with your TRUE passions, and living them out loud.
- The Public Library is your friend. Buying books new is the meanest thing you can do to your wallet. At least hit up strand’s or some other used bookstore. Or trade with friends.
- There are bubbles of all shapes and sizes. Do not get caught up in the career bubble. Or the LES party bubble. Or the friends-I-knew-from-college-and-dont-have-much-in-common-with-anymore-but-they-live-here-bubble. There are a billion and ten different scenes to discover and restriction will work against you.
- Steer clear of air conditioners. They leak, it’s gross, learn quick. And bring an umbrella EVERYDAY. There’s a little thing called weather here, a foreign concept to native californians, but one you must learn quick.
- There is such thing as life outside of Manhattan and it’s a shame if you don’t explore it. Flushing has amazing chinese food. BK has some crazy warehouse parties. Astoria a great beer garden. And there’s a helluva lotta culture outside the gentrification that permeates all of Manhattan (Rooting for you Harlem!)
- There is absolutely NOTHING that can’t be solved with a walk around Central Park. Or Tompkins Square Park. Or just loafing on the Union Sqr steps watching chess hustlers cheat out tourists or passionate activists free “speaking” about things they may know nothing about.
- Moving often, like doing laundry, is a necessary evil. Landlords will screw you over. Roommates will turn on their crazy. Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong, in the housing dept.
- Explore. Every. Day. And talk with the small shop owners. They are 99.9% of the time way more interesting than the people you already know. The other day we wandered into this basement where this italian goldsmith was slaving away on the tiniest hand crafted gold accessories. He walked us through his entire process from wax mold to sales. It was awesome!
- Network with everybody. The kid with a backpack and corona at the mixer could be the next Zuckerberg. People are passionate about their work. Get them to talk about that, find a way for your work to mean something to their work, and BAM! Professional friendship fo’ life.
- Sample Sales are the devil. And so are flea markets. And vintage does NOT run cheap in this city. Ultimately, when it comes to money you will be screwed unless you subsist off homemade pasta.
There are so so so many more…
And a corollary:
11. Allow yourself to fall in love with this city. Like every meaningful relationship, sometimes it will hurt, and sometimes it’ll make you want to fly away to some remote island and finish your numbered days in quiet calm. But if you are open to it, it can be your muse and your magic, and it will expose you to the most interesting perspectives you could ever imagine. Mostly, like every relationship, or the good ones at least, it’ll make you actually feel alive. At the end of the day NYC is 18.9M people who are as eager, passionate, ambitious, immature, and searching as you are. That’s why it’s so freaking awesome.
