Monday, July 24, 2006

I never really thought about NYC as a rough, tough city that kicks your ass to the curb. I grew up in NYC on the weekends so I never was afraid of the big, bad city until now.

NYC is kicking my butt! I lost my apartment and job and have not found replacements. Finding an apartment is crazy hard.

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Baby, it's boiling outside

Yes I know that I haven't posted in ages and don't know if anyone still reads this but here goes.

There is a heat wave in effect right now and it is really hot. I mean the temperature is in the high nineties but it feels like 104. In many other parts of the country, there are ways to avoid being outside for long periods of time. There are air conditioners in cars and buildings and on buses. But the one thing that New York has that not all other cities have is most of the population walking to get to their destinations or worse, taking the subway.

For the past two days, I have tried to avoid the heat by either staying indoors at all times with the a/c blasting, or trying to get to where I needed to go using the buses. The buses are almost always air conditioned and unless it is an obscure hour a bus will be at the stop in less than 10 minutes.

This morning I had to take the subway all the way downtown. To get to the subway, I had to walk three avenues and four blocks. At 9:30 am the sun was already blasting through the building and cooking my poor skin. I descended into the subway and started to wait. It was really hot below ground but I was lucky the subway came and even luckier that the air conditioning was working. There was just an article in the AMNY about the percentages of trains that actually have working air conditioners. This was a small number and I really felt lucky. After my half hour ride, I came up to the ground level of the city and began to sweat. Walking around for more than 5 minutes has reduced most NYers to puddles of sweat.

Right now I am sitting in a nice office with the a/c on and I am actually quite chilly. Too bad in 10 minutes when I leave I will be super hot all over again. Yuck!

My advice: Wear a skirt and tank top, gulp down some water and sit in front of your a/c all day!