Back from New York

Big thanks to Jeff Weiss, who filled in for me with a couple great posts while I was gone, walking fast and sometimes bumping into people as I tried to negotiate the NYC sidewalks. (Update your blogrolls, too, because Jeff has a killer new design as passionweiss.com.)

Speaking of blogrolls, my old blogspot address, somuchsilence.blogspot.com, somehow got hijacked and no longer has my content prior to the redesign and move to a fully hosted format. So, please update your blogrolls to somuchsilence.com. Thanks muchly.

What can I say about New York? It’s amazing, like no other place. We skipped most of the touristy destinations (museums, Statue of Liberty, etc.) and instead opted to get on the subways, get out and walk. (We did take in a Yankees game in which Alex Rodriguez hit two homers in one inning. Pretty great.)

Phoenix and New York could not be more different. Everything comes down to a matter of space. In New York, there is no space – not in between buildings, not in between people, not on the subway. In Phoenix – and much of the West – we love our space, our vast parking lots, our own houses, our fences between houses. The contrast is astounding.

I turned 30 on Friday and I wonder if my window of opportunity to do the New York thing has passed. I don’t even know how I’d handle living there – the hustle of it all is both awe-inspiring and anxiety-inducing. I’m pretty sure I’d be in excellent shape, though. Walking everywhere, scaling subway steps. For anyone who lives or grew up in a big city, this will sound ridiculous, but the ability to use public transportation is empowering. In Phoenix, mass transit is a bit of a joke, though the coming light rail could fix that.

Still, as much as I loved New York – and the thrill of being around good friends for a wedding helped – it was a relief to come home. Now I much catch up on sleep. A post with actual music is forthcoming.

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