ranting/raving

hilary forwarded me this "rant" that she came across on Craigslist.

it's funny and kind of heartbreaking. and makes me happy, once and for all, that i'm moving to new york instead of chicago. enjoy.

"Alas, I languish in Chicago missing what I must say (without a hint a nostalgic amnesia) is the best city on Earth. I know it was hot yesterday, I know it was aggravating. And for all of you who had to walk home to Brooklyn from midtown, I remember 9/11 all too well and I feel for you. But the next time you feel like ranting about how rotten the city is and how it's losing its former glory, think about this:

- I miss being able to drop off my laundry
- I miss buses that come more often than every 35 minutes
- I miss people who put some thought into their personal style (not matter how self-conscious or outrageous) instead of buying whatever's in the window display at GAP
- I miss my corner deli, my god do I ever...I miss ALL corner delis!
- I miss people who walk across the street when it makes sense to regardless of what the light says
- I miss people who say "I don't know" when you ask them for directions and they don't have an answer, instead of stopping in the middle of the sidewalk for 3 minutes to say "Well....it's kinda that way near the Marshall Field's kinda, but on this side of the river and sorta near Wabash...or maybe Rush Street"
- I miss cheap manicures
- I miss subway systems that have more than 6 lines, and allow you to transfer in more than one location
- I miss people who don't stare at strangers speaking foreign languages
- I miss Century 21
- I miss clubs that play music NOT written, performed or co-produced by Eminem, Snoop or Diddy
- I miss bars that are open past 2AM
- Heaven help me, but I miss bankers. My friend told a chick the other day that he worked for a hedge fund and she said, "Hedgehog?!!"
- I miss being able to walk down the street for a full 15 minutes without seeing a white Abercrombie hat
- I miss summer in Central Park
- I miss brownstones
- I miss those guys in the yellow vests handing out flyers for "Flashdancers" on the corner as though strip clubs were just another form of entertainment (which they are) and not some horrible, shocking den of sin
- I miss seeing corny carriage rides confined to the Park where they belong instead of clogging up city traffic
- I miss unabashedly gay men being unabashedly gay in every corner of the city instead of the one, weird little Disney-gay neighborhood that was "set aside" for them
- I miss people who no longer care whether their college football team wins
- I miss restaurants that don't have chains in the suburbs
- I miss doing my banking at the corner ATM
- I miss being less than 2 hours from the next closest city (and no, Milwaukee doesn't count)
- I hate the Yankees. But I miss baseball teams that occasionally win a penant.
- I miss sample sales
- I miss random celebrity sightings that you never admit to being excited about while inside your heart is racing like a 13 year-old at your first concert
- I miss New York Magazine
- I miss good Chinese take-out
- I miss seeing people of every possible race, ethnicity, religion, nationality and persuasion waiting on the same corner for the light to change
- I miss mixed race people
- I miss busy streets at 4AM
- I miss people who say "fuck you" when they mean it and only smile when it's sincere
- I miss jokes about New Jersey
- I miss women who know how to walk in their impossibly high heels
- I miss my New York slice!
- I miss people who know that you don't have to speak louder when you're on a cell phone
- I miss people who occasionally drink something other than beer
- I miss being able to get around without a car
- I miss Buttercup Bakery and non-franchise coffee shops
- I miss subway performers
- I miss those oh-so-New-York moments where you feel like you haven't had human contact for weeks and suddenly you make eye contact with someone on the downtown 4 train and you both know that you're secretly laughing at the person asleep with their mouth open
- I miss people who actually get excited for the opening of an indie film or documentary
- I miss hotel lobby bars
- And I really really truly miss being able to talk about how much I love New York without some paunchy ex-Notre Dame frat boy in Dockers and a Cubs hat slurring into his plastic cup of Old Style that New Yorkers are all freaks and snobs."