Travelin'

I love to travel, because it creates so many opportunities for scenes in my many different book ideas...

For example, this past week I returned from visiting a friend in NYC. It was wonderful to go back and see things that I had not yet seen and experienced New York in a different light...less like a tourist. This trip was also not without its drama. Due to different personalities and stamina...my friend and I were really pushing the annoyance of having to stop every time our other two friends couldn't keep up. It's New York, people! It's fast-paced and we all have cell phones. If you get lost, just turn around and go back the way you came or wander and figure out where you would like to go. The drama didn't last for too long, which was good or I would have come back to a bad situation. Being that I can't handle confrontation too well, moving out would have been my only course of action (in my head). And then that would lead to me finding new friends, which wouldn't work... because some of them I hang out with at different times and then all together...that would be incredibly awkward and a little pathetic.

I have found that I love New York so much this time around (number 3 visit). I guess because I didn't feel as much a tourist as I have the past two times. I basically just wandered around the city with my friend and if we saw someplace we wanted to stop, we stopped. If not, we just kept walking and took in the whole city (at least of Manhattan). I listened to some Kings of Leon, my first day on my own when my friend had to work. Walking around Manhattan with my own personal soundtrack should be the only way New York should be seen. If I had enough time on my hands, I would develop a soundtrack that tourists could use to walk around the boroughs and have them timed out to wherever the person is walking. I would of course use the cliched songs that are known about New York... but also use some great indie bands that are from NYC to add the influence of the city on the local music scene... what am I talking about?

Another good thing about doing non-tourist things, like going to movies, introduces you to the quirks of the locals. Like rudeness. Being from the South, we consider ourselves very well mannered. We say words like "please" and "thank you" and "could you or would you" instead of "Move over!" Example: My two friends and I went to go see Australia at the theatre on 42nd and sat on a row with 6 seats. I left a seat beside me open and my other friend left about 2 open. 3 people came into the theatre which still had plenty of seats to choose from and did not ask but demanded that we move down so that they could sit on the same row. WHAT?!? Did not say please... did not say thank you... and when the movie started...they did not shut (and please excuse my language) the hell up. What is with New Yorkers and talking during movies? Can't you do that for free? I am sure you didn't just pay $12.50 to talk to you friends in a dark room. Do you not have an apartment to go to and do that crap? Also, what's with the feet on the back of the seats? Now granted I put my feet on theatre seats as well, but NOT when someone is sitting in the seat. That's just plain rude and uncomfortable, especially when the person occupying the seat wants to move and feels like they are disturbing Mr. Rudefeet by moving the seat. Argh!
Last gripe, I think. In the South, we also have this thing where we say "Sir" and "Ma'am". These are signs of respect for the person that you are referring to, not jabs at their age as many Northerners seem to think otherwise. One of the ladies at the key desk of the dorm where we stayed for our duration was very offended when I called her "Ma'am". I asked for my key and then said something that ended with "Ma'am" and she went to the back grabbed my key and when I went to reach for it she grabbed my hands and told me that she wasn't a "Ma'am" yet, not for a long time. What? Does she even know what she is talking about? Frankly, judging by her age she could totally pass for a "Ma'am". I mean seriously I am not yet 25 and I am called "Ma'am" all of the time by students that are only 2-3 years younger and sometimes my age. Not a huge deal.

Even though some New Yorkers have no sense of manners whatsoever, I would still love to live in Greenwich Village and go to Magnolia Bakery and Biography Books every week... and work at a literary agency and read books all day. What a life.