What I Did:
1. Go to four out of the five NYC boroughs.
2. Go to the ballet.
3. Take several cooking classes.
– One in putting together beautiful salads, to celebrate the summertime opening of an enormous new Whole Foods
– One in Food Photography with Food Blog Award nominee with Matt Armendariz
– One with blogger and cookbook author Shauna James Ahern and her husband, The Chef, in gluten-free cooking.
4. Go to a show at The Knitting Factory
5. Saw Tiki Barber playing in a park in midtown with his sons and his wife
6. Lived with the same roommates in the same apartment and loved working for the same company for an entire New York City year. Unheard of.
7. Went to musuems (International Center for Photography, MOMA, The Brooklyn Museum and the Museum of Natural History. Oh, and the Lower East Side Museum, for just a few minutes with Neil.)
8. Went to lots of farmer’s markets and cool places like the new Urban Rustic.
9. Have tons (let’s see, nine or 10) friends come visit me here, and who let me drag them all over creation to see my new home.
10. Learned the art of reading on the train.
11. Went to a house party in the Bronx.
12. Went to a Yankees game (By the way, the Red Sox won 11-4, b*tches! We all know how THAT season worked out. GO SOX!)
13. Met a few “top bloggers.” (I don’t kiss and tell. They know who they are, and they are all “top” in my book.)
14. Went to Peter Luger‘s.
15. Helped run a conference to help men, um, pick up women. Yes, seriously. Oh, Neil’s new book(s) comes out today, I think. It’s an awesome set.
16. Met a few top MySpace executives. (Josh, give me a call.)
17. Saw Margaret Cho naked! (In her “Sensuous Woman” show at The Zipper Factory.)
What I Didn’t Do (Yet. Or Maybe Ever.)
1. Go to Staten Island. This is only important because I’m Italian, and they gots Eye-talians there.
2. Go to art house cinema. This is only worth noting because I want to and because I live within walking distance of BAM. I need to go. Immediately.
3. Go to the Statue of Liberty (though Bunny and I did go look at it from Manhattan while she was in town)
4. Go to a concert of an artist I’ve always wanted to see
5. Meet Ruth Reichl, Jay-Z or Lil’ Kim
6. Move to Manhattan to be closer to my office, or get my own place in Bklyn
7. Go to enough museums (there’s still The Met, the Whitney and The Museum of Sex).
8. Join the Park Slope food coop. :-( This is something I want to do, but just can’t justify due to the distance and time commitment.
9. Take a dance class.
10. Write more.
11. Go to some famous New York places, like Biggie’s apartment, “233rd and White Plains” or Queensbridge.
12. Joined the New York City Public Library (my only resolution for 2008).
13. Go to Coney Island
14. Go visit the Latino food vendors (famous for their food’s authenticity) at the Brooklyn ballparks.
15 . . . I give up. I did more of what I wanted to do, and less of what I didn’t want to do. That was the point of moving to New York City. The “things I want to do” list will always be full, even as I cross off dozens of items on a weekly basis.
Goals For 2008
– Join the NYC Public Library (see above).
– Launch that damn food blog I’ve been “researching” for a year now. I’m not leaving this city until I get all those ideas out on the World Wide Web.
– Leave work at a reasonable hour or move closer to my office, so I can have more of a life.
– Love more. And be loved more (if and when possible).
– Seek out new authors, musicians and visual artists and start to explore theater.
– Buy some new furniture and invest more in my home, regardless of whether or not the street address itself is permanent. I am worth the investment and the feeling of security that stability brings.
And, while I’m here, I have to say congratulations to Nina and Donny on the new life they’re creating. Can’t wait to see you this weekend, Neens!
Dangerously Enthusiastic 