new york, new york

So Loopy & I are going to NYC in mid-December, partly for a meeting of the socialist organization to which I belong, but also because—it's New York for chrissakes, do we need a reason?

But now I have one more reason to look forward to it: a special exhibit of Fr@ Ange1ic0* at the Met. He's my Mom's favorite, so I'll pick up some postcards for her, which will make her happy. And he's an interesting guy, poised in between the gothic and renaissance.... The show's review in the Times this morning really whetted my appetite.

Some of you may be envious. Some of you may think I'm nuts. I'm used to that.

I'll always love visiting New York. But would I want to live there again?

Hard to say...

Watching Sex & the City last night made me remember what I love about New York (great food, great places to eat great food, great people-watching, all kinds of interesting things to do anytime of day or night...) and what I hate (shallow self-absorbed people obsessed with fashion and Work).

When I lived there I also became a shallow self-absorbed person obsessed with fashion and work. When I moved to Madison I remember looking at all the lumpy people wearing sneakers and sweatthings, and being utterly horrified at the thought that "no matter what I do, they'll drag me down... within a couple of years, I'll look like that...worst of all, I won't care that I look like that."

I was so right. Hee hee. I should post "before & after" photos.

But now that I'm in the reverse position, I don't want to go back! I don't want to be that awful person again! I feel like I barely escaped without completely losing everything that's important to me. And I mean *everything.*

Loopy says if we lived there again it would be different. We'd know different people, we'd do different things.

I'm sure she's right.

For one thing there's all our socialist friends (whom we only met after moving away!). I'd be teaching, not putting on makeup and a suit and going to work in some corporate hellhole. We'd be involved in activism, union organizing, maybe I'd even find some other activists into meditation. After all, one big reason NYC is so great is that no matter how odd, quirky, or eclectic you are, you'll find people with whom you have something in common.

But the idea of moving back still gives me a sick sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.

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*Why am I suddenly writing like those wacky kids who spend all their time "IMing" and surfing the net via their cell phones? Well, when it comes to being google-able, once bitten twice shy!