NYC, bitches!

So here I am, in New York City. I figured the appropriate thing to do would be to start a blog, since there's probably a good chance I'll forget more details of this place than remember. I really don't even know where to begin, so I'm just going to throw out details and thoughts and hope that a narrative will form in the grand scheme.

First thought: why did nobody tell me how much I'd love turnpikes?

Second: Pennsylvania smells like clover and horses, looks like Thomas Kinkade, and sounds like Metric.

The apartment? It's very tiny. Directly across the street - windowside - is the largest Catholic church in Brooklyn, and from where I'm sitting right now, the rose window is in the upper part of my window. There's a bunk bed in the back corner, so I'm converting the lower part to some sort of study. Two big wardrobes, a number of smaller bookshelves, a tiny TV and a mini fridge pretty much makes up my entire apartment - the bathroom is around the inside corner, but it's my personal bathroom. I have a key for it and everything. haha. It seems really safe, which is comforting. My landlord repeatedly told me to lock both the bolt and the knob on the front door, and then my door has two locks as well. I feel okay about that. Still, I've got a knife strapped to my bedpost and some mace hooked on the pocket of my bag. Can't be too careful.

It's funny how some things here look exactly like they look in the movies - all the white wannabe gangstas, the kids on bikes, the brownstones. So far I haven't heard any really distinct Brooklyn accents, but I'm in a distinctly Asian district. It's not just a different city, it's a different world. I knew it going in, and it's totally cliche to say, but I've never once felt dwarfed by Columbia the way just my few blocks of Brooklyn are making me feel completely insignificant.

Playlist for the almost the entire trip: Hell Is Round the Corner, Suffocated Love, You Don't (all Tricky); Satellite Mind, Hardwire, Soft Rock Star, Too Little Too Late (all Metric); Dreamboat 730, Talk to Me (Ringside); Day N Nite, Alive, Hyerrr (Kid Cudi); Crazy Times, Weighed Down (Jars of Clay). Yep, those 14 songs made up most of the 12 hour trip, with only a few brief interludes of a friend's Songs for NYC CDs (thanks for those, they rock).

First day of my Magellan, too. I tried to think of something less stereotypical than the church, but I have some footage of driving across bridges and such. Tomorrow the quest begins for a coffee shop, a few good restaurants, maybe a bar or two. Suggestions?

Anyway. I've got tons more thoughts jumbling around, but I'm going to drink my Orange Crush and eat my deli sandwich in a corner of my apartment and hope that, eventually, the feeling of terror and homesickness will go away. I miss you guys - you know who you are. Pour a little latte out for the homies, people.