I signed on today feeling quite guilty for not blogging for so long and I realized its been exactly a month. Today is saturday and miraculously I am nowhere near tempted enough to heed the various invitations to come out tonight which is, in and of itself, A phenomenon. I never turn those down, you see I'm a little bit of a social butterfly.
I've been back in NY for over two months and I feel like I never left, I've so quickly gotten back into the daily grind of commuting to work, pushing past ppl (i.e. over-enthusiastic tourists who just seem to think sidewalks are a place to congregate and do things like take pics...grhhh...sorry but we locals hate this practice, buy a postcard pls!) and becoming desensitized to the strange and abnormal occurences that take place in this truly unique city. In the five years I lived in NY I simply took a lot for granted, and moving to DC not only gave me a different perspective but changed my view altogether of this country called America.
In the first two weeks I was back I got called the n word, my offense? Allowing my random glance to last for more than two seconds...really! Anyway to be fair, this was from one of those homeless ppl who line the streets of Manhattan...beautifying the city. I was walking by on 42nd street an avenue away from Times Square (aka no go area, for tourist abound there in plentiful) and like I said happened to let my glance linger on for too long, thus eliciting from her the worst 'dirty look' ever and then the offending word. Holy crap! My first and only reaction was shock, I tried to picture this happening in even the worst neighborhoods in DC...and I just couldn't. Only in New York kids, only in New York (to copy the Page Six writer in the NY Post)
But the truth is that, in a weird and twisted way, it's things like these that make me love the city even more. The randomness, the mix of people (the sane, clearly insane...and a lot of those in the middle), the energy-charged air...I love it! I just love it! I also love going out to the park on my lunch hour to catch Broadway performances and, heading to work extra early on Fridays to see my favorite artists perform at the GMA concert series (Fantasia gave me goosebumbs and John Legend...hmmm John should be another post altogether).
The other day I was at a wine-tasting and had the pleasure of meeting Lola Ogunnaike, a popular entertainment journalist who used to write for Vibe and NY Times and is now on CNN entertainment presenter. I was star-struck to tell you the truth...I remember reading her articles and being proud of a fellow Nigerian. She wants to invite the ladies over for a night of gisting and wine-drinking and I couldn't be more excited. I was at Nuyorican Poets Cafe for the first time for open mic night and one of the performers, Africa Miranda turns out to have competed for the my Grammy moment with JT contest (she is actually very talented so please watch out for that one, she also has Cape Verdean roots so I am claiming her for the continent pls!)
Plain and simple, I just love that the possibilities are endless...
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