The Big Apple

Yep, here I am in NYC. The trip did happen afterall - otherwise I would be writing from Italy, Morocco or India right now, someplace crazy.

It feels strangely nice here, reminds me a lot of life back in Toronto - except in Toronto we pretty much only have uptown Toronto Chinese neighborhood, uptown Toronto non-Chinese neighborhood, cool Yonge & Eglington area which is like East side in NYC, downtown Toronto... and of course our city is more modern without the super quaint and old neighborhoods and architecture I see in NYC which are super cool.

I've already been to tons of places in past 3 days, after plenty of walking. Today we'll be heading to MoMA and Mamma Mia show, then meeting up with Kevin's brother for drink / dinner. Would be awesome if we could also do a picnic in Central Park (sky is clearing up now after a lot of rain last night), but let's see.

I don't miss North America much because it just feels like home, but I do enjoy it when I'm there. When we were walking around charming neighborhoods, I couldn't help but think how lovely it'd be to stay in those old houses, with repainted facades, sweet little balconies. In fact, it wasn't a new idea I had, I had thought of this 10 years ago watching You've Got Mail.

It feels very nostalgic to be back in N America, remembering life back then, and things that have shaped me in the past 8 years or so in Asia. I have also been thinking a lot about Now What? in the past few days. I really have no idea and it has been bothering me. However, I just realized that I've only been stressing myself out because now I have options and it's a matter of not knowing how to choose. When I mentioned that 10 years ago I had wished I could move into a flat like that, I realized that 10 years ago it had been a dream - now it's different because if I want it bad enough I could do it.

In a way it's a relief to know that there's options available for me to decide.

OK, time to get ready for a BIG DAY in BIG APPLE.