I almost didn't write this, because I get really defensive when Californians tell me how awful New Yorkers are. It bugs me, especially when they've only been here for a few days at a time, and especially when they are busy acting like lost tourists during their entire stays here- it seems perfectly understandable to me that the people who are trying to get stuff done would get annoyed at all those OTHER people fumbling around in their way.
So, so far, almost everyone I've hung out with in NYC has been a transplant; in fact, most of my friends that I've spent time with here are Californians. Even the new friends. So I've had the best of both worlds: the city of New York, and the people from California.
I think the biggest difference between NY and CA is that Californians have a generally gracious attitude about things and people, and we go out of our way to act polite and friendly, especially with strangers. We smile a lot and talk a lot and put a positive spin on every story so that we can remain grateful for all the good there is around us. It's a lot of work to be so cheerful, I'll admit, and one of my favorite things about wandering these streets of NYC alone is that I can actually experience my emotions and not spend all that time smiling over them every time I encounter a new person. (Even still, I end up smiling way more than most of the people here. But that's just me.)
Tonight, my only real New York friend (raised in the Bronx, no less) completely went bi-polar on me. We were at a networking event/48-hour film fest. screening; i could tell he didn't really like it, but it was his idea to go and we were kind of stuck there. Anyway, the point was to meet people, so after the screening I walked over to one of the guys who worked really hard to put the event together, thinking that would be a good place to start. My friend joined us. I went out of my way to introduce the two of them and say nice things about him, and then he basically said to the guy, "I can't get over what crap this whole thing is."
Whoa. Nobody really knew what to say. I mean the guy wasn't outwardly offended, but he did defend the program by explaining that the point was to collaborate and have fun, and that the filmmakers only had 48 hours, which is no time at all really. My friend responds by saying "I keep hearing these excuses from everybody! There's no excuse for making bad movies!"
Awkward. At this point I was really embarrassed, since I was the one who introduced them. I turned to him and said with a forced smile,"But they were doing it to have fun and get to know each other and work together!"
That pissed him off. He literally stormed out of the room and out of the building. I've never seen anything like it. I didn't follow him out, but I did leave a message just to make sure he was ok. I'm sure that only pissed him off more, but whatever.
Anyway, I was starving so I went to the Halal stand on 6th Ave. and 53rd Street, which has the LONGEST "street-meat" line in town, and has had this crazy line every time I've come to New York.
http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/xEnNFXtMLDF5kZDxfaCJgA?select=ySvn34Z-w85FCDUixMt9Lw
Stood in the line FOREVER, then went to reach for cash and remembered I took it out of my bag before going to the film thing. Ugh. Went home. On the wrong train. Went to Queens (briefly)! Then went home.
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