#1454, Tuesday, June 23: I "HEART" New York City

Post 1454, Day 174 of 2015
- 1,635 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

I was talking with a friend yesterday, and mentioned I was setting a personal record for absence from New York City. He gave me a typical Upstate NY reply: "Good. You're better off."

I didn't extend the conversation with a reply more than a smile. People have different reactions to New York City, but it will always be home to me, and I always think about it affectionately.

Thanks to my parents, both Brooklyn-born, I was given a culture-lover's view of NYC (which I will be calling 'the City' henceforth). I was introduced to the City's cultural glory as a child: Museums, theater, music. Few of my friends, no matter where they were from, enjoyed as diverse and rich a cultural life as I did.

In fact, among my friends growing up, I spent much more time in clubs, theaters, bars, galleries and museums than almost any of my friends, and became the go-to guy or organizer for a lot of the cultural outings (high- and low-brow) from my mid-teens on.

I was also lucky enough to have a few friends who, while not as eclectic, introduce me to their individual cultural preferences, filling in gaps left by my parents' lack of interest in late-2oth Century popular music: Rock, soul, r&b, folk, blues, modern jazz.

Early on, beginning about age seven, I'd take a bus and subway to Manhattan from Queens and visit the NY Public Library, the Donnell library, the East- and West-side museums, specialty stores (I was into photography, stamps and music), and what events I knew about that had any appeal. It was allowed for kids to do stuff on their own back then.

Of course, I would get lost, but a phone call to my father, who had excellent knowledge of the City's geography and knew the transit system very well, would get me back on track, and roaming all over the City. By the time I was ten years old, I had traveled to all five boroughs on my own.

All these experiences growing up gave me a deep appreciation for the City. Lack of any negative incident (getting lost was the worst of it), and the wonderful feeling of independence my explorations gave me, brought me nothing but real appreciation and, dare I say it, love for the City of New York.

In my late twenties, when I moved out of the City to work for IBM in Duchess County (a decision made in part by its location within sixty miles of Times Square), I came back to the City almost weekly. When I moved six hundred miles away to North Carolina, I came back for visits at least three times a year, and usually more.
I only know a few people who took as much advantage of the City's cultural resources as I did.

Now, when I haven't visited in over seven months - longer than I've ever stayed away before, by months(!) - I miss it. It isn't that I turn a blind eye to the things that can make life there so difficult, I don't. But, as a visitor, non-resident, just the familiar side of tourist, most of those things don't affect me.

I miss New York. I have to come in soon - I'm thinking mid-July, after my regular birthday visit to Joan in a little over a week.

Yeah, that's the ticket.

Food and Diet Section

Today's Weight:                   209.2 lbs

Previous Weight (6/22):           210.2 lbs

Day Net Loss/Gain:                - 1.0 lbs

Diet Comment

We begin the regular post-weekend move to lose the weekend's weight gain.

Food Log

Breakfast
Skipped.

Lunch

Roasted turkey breast chopped salad: shaved Parmesan cheese, baby kale, baby spinach, chard, cole slaw mix and balsamic vinaigrette.

Snack
A Quest bar.

Dinner
Pepperoni and cheese and a Quest bar.

Snack
A Quest bar.

Liquid Intake
   4 Espressos;   Water: 116+ oz.

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