The Last 5 Years.

Well, today is a milestone for lil old me. Today, August 24, 2007, marks my 5 year anniversary of living on this little island known as New York City. I know it’s not that long of a time period, but to me, it says something about me and my commitment to this city and being here.

When I was in college , I thought that I wanted to move to Chicago. I thought that NYC was just too much for me, that it was too big and that it was too fast-paced, but that Chicago was a good median. Then, I came here for a Madonna concert when I was a senior (how gay, right?), and immediately I had a newfound love for this city. I knew that this was the place that I was going to move to. This is where my life was going to take me.

I would come up here for a few days at a time, and stayed with Eric & Wendy on their couch in Murray Hill while I was looking for a job. I would be up here for 4 days, home for a week, up here for 3, home for 4, and so on. I moved into Will & Todd's apt on August 24 and started work at the Parker Meridien on the 26th and then started the apartment search. 5 years later, here I am.

It’s be a whirlwind 5 years. I have done so much with my life, met so many incredible people, and I really think that I’ve lived to the fullest, or at least I've strived to do so.

Let’s take a look back, shall we:

Jobs in Chronological Order:
(and I'm sure I'm missing one or two!)
Le Parker Meridien
Soy Luck Club
SparkPlug Communications
Barking Dog
Soho House
(for 2 hours, then I quit!)
Cafeteria
Urban Outings
Onorato/Wixom (OW!)
Junket Productions
Café Mozart
Play Underwear
Creed Fragrances
Strohl & Company
Comix
Shecky's
MKG Productions
JM Visuals
*EDITED FOR CONTENT*

Apartments:
Cornelia Street (Will & Todd’s couch) – 2 weeks
44th and 10th – 2 weeks
63rd between 1st and 2nd – 14 months
36th and 2nd – 1 year
24th and 8th – 2.5 years

Friend’s who have left NYC since I have been here:
Will Acton
Justin Klinger
Chris Saunders
(has ANYONE spoken to him?? Please let me know! Trying to track him down!)
Matt Schaefer
Jenny Slobotkin (neé Sobie)
Tom Suiter

It’s been a crazy ride getting to where I am now. I’m not saying "Yay! I’ve made it!", because I don’t know if that is necessarily the case, but I do feel like I have come far from where I was when I first moved here. I have a more self confidence, more friends, more memories. I have had some really amazing experience and some real hardships. I have grown and I am much more understanding of the person that I have become.

It seems silly to adhere to the old adage that you aren’t a real New Yorker until you’ve lived in the city for 10 years, regardless of where you are originally from, but there are days that I will walk down the streets and people watch and listen to the cacophony of city sounds and I think to myself: this is my home.