EPTStill in Manhattan, still enjoying the life...
On being lucky
For me, New York has redefined the word “lucky”. What lucky means now is that you step down into the subway station and catch the train that you want to catch just in time. If I somehow manage to do that in the morning, I would usually proceed to believe that today would be an awesome day, a “lucky” day. Lucky also means that you don’t get asked for money after a long day of work. I still feel bad for not giving those beggars money, but honestly, if I gave everyone a dollar, I would be broke, and they’d be more rich than I am.
On corruption
Way back in Grade 10, as I recall, we read The Catcher in the Rye. Well, it’s about a boy in his late teens (or early 20s, I really don’t remember) trying to escape from corruption and perversion of society. I read the book, I analyzed the book, I wrote essays about the book; I thought I understood what the author was trying to convey, I thought I understood what corruption and perversion were, but little did I know, I had no idea. I can’t talk much about perversion, but corruption is literally everywhere in NY. I always thought myself as someone with extremely high moral standards, but once you start living in a city as populated as NYC, you simply just stop caring. You begin to see too many people doing stupid things too often, and eventually, you just stop caring. You come to this grim realization of what you contribute, whether towards good or bad, will not affect a city this size, which in a way, is true. Sometimes, I feel that very moment I spend here, a little more corruption seeps into me, turning me into a worse person; and yet, it does not stop me from loving this city. Perhaps, just perhaps, I’m not as good of a person as I thought myself to be, or perhaps, I’m inherently “evil” but just have not been introduced to enough corruption.
On money
The old saying goes, “money is the root of all evil”, it’s impossible to talk about corruption without talking about money. The simplest thing to say would be that I have never ever valued money as much as I do right now. When you are living in a city that requires 500G a year to be “lower upper class”, you immediately begin to appreciate money. Money makes everything possible in the city, money makes this city magical. Those who say “money cannot buy you happiness” have not been to NYC. I have always said that China (when I say China, I really mean the few big cities) is a place where you can spend as much money and as little money as possible, well, I have never been to a place that makes it so convenient for you to spend money should you want to before New York. Since landing in New York, I have been eating out at fancy restaurants quite frequently, and have spent up to $100 on a single meal (hopefully, I don’t break that), but I have never done this when I was in Waterloo, or in Toronto. There are fancy restaurants in those places, there are restaurants that can cost you up to $200 a meal easy, but the thought of being pretentious and dining there would just never occur to me. I do it in NY for two reasons: a) many other people do it, b) they are everywhere, they are easily accessible. You want to make enough money so that you can eat out at these restaurants whenever you want to, without blinking an eye. You want to buy all the LV bags that you like, and you want to dress in designer clothing and look sharp in the subway. Why? Because everyone else does it, and you can too if you have money. It’s not because you are vain, or want to be vain, it’s really because of your surrounding, because of the city. Your environment changes your behaviour.
On food
Now onto food. I had such amazing food last weekend, I feel compelled to share. It began on Friday, when my co-worker friend as me to go to The Bronx with him. I was intrigued at the idea of going to The Bronx on a Friday afternoon, but I agreed after he told me about this cheesecake place. This cheesecake factory is called S&S, and it is rated the best cheesecake in the world. They have been making cheesecakes for tens of years, and they only make one flavour: plain. That just shows how good their cheesecakes are, and they know it. After taking the train for an hour, and walking left and right trying to find the place in the rain, we finally found the cheesecake we were looking for. It wasn’t expensive – 20$ for a 5-pound cheesecake, but it was delicious. It literally melts in your mouth, and the aroma bursts out as the cheese melts away. I recommend those of you who live around the region to try it, if you haven’t done so already.
Saturday lunch, I went to this deli called Katz, and had the best pastrami sandwich in my life. The sandwich is simple, pastrami on rye with mustard, but the pastrami was so nicely cooked, and the meat worked in perfect harmony with the mustard and the rye bread, it was just out of this world. I think I might have to go back this weekend. Saturday dinner was another good meal – pizza from Lombardi’s. We ordered a regular and a white pizza (white means no sauce, so just toppings on dough), the white one was not as great as they made it sound to be, but the regular was outstanding. I especially love their meatballs.
