So Long NYC

because ny state was threatening to cut my benefits, i had to run up to the city for a second and handle some business. i was there all of a day and a half, and yet could not WAIT to leave again. i don't think i've ever been colder in my life. of course i'm being dramatic, but it surely was not happy with the conditions i was in. i've waited for the bus on 23rd and FDR for 11 months straight, but on friday, i thought i was going to lose my mind. the bus was a whole 3 minutes late! now if you are a new yorker, you KNOW that it unacceptable when it is 20 degrees outside. every single second that you stand there in a whirwind of whipping and screaming cold air feels like an hour. so in essence, i was being assaulted by the vicious wind for 3 hours. i thought i was going to cry.

but what was interesting about my shot into town was a conversation i had with the breakfast cart man on the corner in front of the ny state building. i figured that the meeting would take a while and breakfast was necessary before i withstood the torture of government processes. while waiting for my bacon, egg and cheese on a roll, i somehow got into a discussion with my street corner chef about ex boyfriends, marriage and sex. he asked me if i had sex with my ex-fiance, why it didn't work out, when i lost my virginity, what race are all of my exes and why am i not dating. because i'll never see this man again (which is a great thing about the city), i answered all of them honestly. what tripped me out though was how the convo ended. right before my eggs and bacon were done, he asked to see my left hand. i asked him why, mainly because it was cold outside and my hands were rammed comfortably and warmly in my coat pockets. he asked to see my hand again in his thick accent, and i begrudgingly brough my left hand up to the cart's window and opened my palm face up. "ooooohhhh!" he said. i thought he was going to check for a ring to see if my story checked out, but when i realized he just wanted to read my palm, i rolled my eyes. but to appease him i laughed, looked up at him and said, "what does that mean?", while i slipped my hand back into my left pocket. he told me that not only am i going to be happy in love in the very near future, but i'm not going to marry a black man. a black man is not in the works for me. he said that he sees me with someone italian maybe. definitely not completely white though. he's going to be somewhat rugged and dark. i couldn't help but to think to myself 'how did he know i would open my eyes to a rugged, italian-like, dark-featured white man, if i ever went white?' lol. he also told me that i was going to have 4 children. a big family. but since i'm only 26, i should enjoy life and keep my legs closed. he said men are idiots and don't deserve someone as nice as i am. he then wrapped up my breakfast sandwich. i thanked him for the food and the compliments and told him to enjoy the rest of his day. i exited left into the ny state department of labor building.

ny has it's ups, like random conversations with complete strangers. (i never wrote about that time when an old white man serenaded me and called me an african queen while waiting outside of the Olive Garden in times square. i was so uncomfortable, and yet so amused!) there's never a dull moment in the day when you are in nyc, but the elements and the dark, concrete jungle-ness of it all are enough to keep me away. so long nyc!

(Now I think I just may grab my stuff and bounce. Not sure I can stick around like I intended.)