As The Globe Turns

Before I set off for the NYC I had a daydream. I imagined myself arriving, having just stepped out of the taxi. Surrounded by my luggage on the street, cigarette in hand, looking wonderingly up at the high rises all around me. And I don’t care how cheesy it sounds (and any self-respecting New Yorker would mug me for saying so), but I imagined the Sex And The City theme song trumpeting in my head as well. I thought: will strangers really pop into my apartment via the fire escape like they do in Breakfast At Tiffany’s or Across the Universe or Rent? Will I feel part of some great musical where people bang on trash can lids and dance freely on the tops of cabs?

I realize now that my life in California was like a sandglobe. All the glittering sand settled within a picture-perfect palm tree scene looking serenely inviting. But noooo that wasn't enough for me. I had to up and shake that globe so furiously that the sand has turned to snow and all I see is a blinding blizzard before me. Ah, the side effects of a relentlessly curious heart.

So now I find myself chanting a chorus of street names and subway stops in my head. Yet still I turn around at least 39 times a day, having realized I've just walked in the wrong direction for three blocks already. And I mean, where do people buy toilet paper for god's sake? I keep looking for Target, but it's eluded me thus far.

People hand out advice like it's candy here. Everyone has their own do's, don't's and even a few never's. Not that I don't appreciate it, mind you. But it can be a little dizzying. Like spinning round and round blindfolded and once the blindfold is crudely ripped off, you're left swinging madly in every direction - apparently nowhere near the damn piñata.

But one friend did give me an especially awakening bit of wisdom. He'd asked me how I was doing and I was rattling on about having lots to adjust to. And he stopped me right there and said, "Adjust? You just got here! Have fun and then adjust." And shortly after that I had a little epiphany. I was at brunch with some friends (one old and one new) and they were talking about all the places they've lived and I was saying how worldly they sounded. And then I realized I've lived in Georgia, Los Angeles, and now New York! It was the first time I considered myself a New Yorker without thinking about it.

So here I am, on my way to becoming a city boy. But you know what? I ain't never gonna forget how to be a country boy or a beach boy either. And while the scene may change within my little globe of a world, I find peace in the knowledge that at least I'm the one shakin' it. And, baby, we're gonna shake the hell outta that thing!