A Week of (Forced) New York City Love

New York City is the greatest city in the world. Let’s just get that out of the way from the start.

But it was October and I noticed a serious side-effect of the changing weather. The paradoxical problem with my favorite season is that the shortening of the days and the changing position of the sun in the sky means that you stop getting sunlight. Just straight up, altogether. And working in midtown, where the skyscrapers effectively fence out the sun, I have to make time to go outside for a walk during lunch, when it’s bright (but still not sunny).

This kind of thing can get a girl down.

Overall, I’ve started to feel burnt out on city living. New York is a city of shining lights it’s true, but after living here for a while the glare starts to get to you. It’s hard not to start daydreaming of sunny Athenian afternoons spent meandering through markets and sipping cheap cappuccinos when you’re twenty people deep into a subway car and you can’t get a sip of your life-sustaining Starbucks because your arms are pinned at surprising angles. Living in New York means having a delicate relationship with the insanity and joy of this city, and like any relationship sometimes it needs a little work. I had a long list of events and activities that I was always ‘too tired’ for. I decided to spend five days revisiting places I love and exploring new aspects of the city, even if it was just something as simple as trying a new restaurant. Armed with only my iPhone, I was going to force a week of New York City loving, hoping to remind myself why I put up with subway delays and overpriced sandwiches when I could be sunning myself on a Thai Island.

Monday

I am exhausted, per usual, but I have made a commitment (to no one) and by golly I am going to stick to it. I keep it light though – I head to Chelsea Market, one of my favorite places in New York, intent on picking up some loose leaf tea from Spices & Tease. I’ve been meaning to start a tea collection and with the approaching cold weather this seems like a good time to start.

I do love Chelsea Market, but let’s be honest – it’s a place for rich people to enjoy. After an hour of wandering up and down the market, I end up sitting on a ledge, gnawing on a $9 dry caprese sandwich, agonizing over whether to drop $7 on a tiny tin of tea when I don’t even have a tea infuser yet. In the end I buy a ginger peach black tea, because I know I am going to be upset if I all I get out of Day 1 is an overpriced sandwich. I then go up to the High Line, a park made from an old elevated subway track, hoping for some great night views, but abandon my plan after ten minutes. I hadn’t considered my professional black pumps and my feet are killing me.

It is still early, and I am feeling the sting of being poor in New York City. There is a free nonfiction reading going on in Alphabet City and though I am undecided, they advertised included birthday cake. I have good subway karma so I hurry to the bar, walk into the crowded cozy back room and immediately realize this isn’t for me tonight. Another time, sure. But I feel like I should be drinking and I am not about to spend any more money. I try to make a graceful exit, after having wedged myself in the back of the room behind several chairs.

In the end I don’t even get a cup of my new tea and all I can think is that at least I got some exercise.

Tuesday

Nothing says the best of both worlds like wine and classic NES video games. Every Tuesday at the Gowanus Whole Foods rooftop bar they set up a projector and settle in for a little old school schooling. Boyfriend and I have a lot of fun being terrible at Mario World 3. I think our host is a bit embarrassed for us but it is a rosé colored blast from the past. Never did save the princess.

Wednesday

I’m really tired. Not in a feel good way and not enough to really dodge out of fun activities, but I haven’t got much enthusiasm. Take it easy tonight, maybe. I’m on my own so I’m happy to keep it low key.

I manage to make it to nearby Brooklyn Brewery, where Edible Brooklyn is hosting their Holiday Hodgepodge foodie demo. Fleisher’s makes a compelling case for chopped liver but I just can’t bring myself to go for a sample (I mean, I just downed a Chipotle burrito. On my own). The Gefilteria demo on sauerkraut from has me wondering if I would dare make my own, but of course it is the cocktail samples that gets everyone riled up. Dutch’s butterscotch Crescent Moon cocktail pairs so wonderfully with The Baking Bean‘s apple pear pop-tarts that I go for seconds.

“I have moonshiners in my family too,” I say, by way of not looking like a booze beggar.

“Oh cool. Want to try a shot?”

Of moonshine? Why not? Turns out it goes down pretty smooth.

Thursday

Tonight it was supposed to be the Festival of Lights but it’s been raining all day. Though there’s a break in the weather now, it’s threatening to start up again later. I’m trying to coordinate dinner with Boyfriend and a friend’s band’s show and rain plans when I decide–

I’m done.

You know what sounds fun to me? Less stress about having fun. Going out to dinner and then maybe the show or a drink or whatever we feel like. Not having a checklist. I’m burnt out on this week of New York City love. it’s actually making me frustrated with people and they’re the whole reason I’m still here in the first place.

So Boyfriend and I meet up with his parents on the Upper West Side at a charming Mexican restaurant. And even though we have to wait thirty minutes crushed at the bar by the waiter’s station and my heel breaks and I accidentally embarrass Boyfriend in front of his parents (again), we have a marvelous time. We have margaritas and guacamole and good conversation.

Boyfriend and I go see a show in an loft space in Brooklyn. The door to the venue is unmarked and the band plays under twinkle lights. I’m now old enough to remark on the real estate value of this place. I’m too old to be out this late on a Thursday.

Friday

I spend time with the people I love. It’s normal and remarkable.

It’s hard in New York City, sometimes. It’s hard when you have itchy feet and are dying for the next adventure, when work is slow and draining and uninspiring, when the weather is like a gray hole of polar vortex suck. And you can’t force yourself to love something but you can remind yourself why you do. Sometimes it’s donut hikes or guacamole (or something else food-related) or snuggling into a Walking Dead binge-session. Sometimes it’s realizing that we all have bad weeks and that’s ok. We’re going to be just fine.

And in the meantime, there’s always some cheesy dive bar bathroom graffiti to cheer you up.

Have you ever been burnt out on your “normal” life? What do you do to jumpstart your enthusiasm?