It's neat how this city is so new, yet so familiar all at once. In general I remember where the neighborhoods are, which street goes where, and a few places to go around town. However, just stepping outside my apartment and taking a walk around, this place feels so surreal. For one thing, most of my high school-era random city walks came after sneaking onto the PATH train and slumming around the Village. Now I live in the shadows of a Trump-owned apartment building and Bloomingdale's. I passed a La Perla boutique on my way to get coffee this morning. La Perla makes underwear which costs more than my car. It's just insane. (No jokes about my car, please!)

I've been taking a different way to and from work everyday, and walking down/up Park Avenue is really great. It's breathtakingly wide and grandiose, and there's all these trees! Gee, just like a park. Go figure.

(I did *finally* make it out of my immediate area last night, when I met up with a fellow fellow for dinner and drinks in the Bowery.)

Today I'm just running errands, unpacking, perhaps grocery shopping. Which reminds me of another example of the new/familiar thing: I know every word to that annoyingly catchy Food Emporium jingle, but I've never actually been to a Food Emporium.

Well, it's good that 'someone made a store just for me', with 'my kind of quality', because I've been eating out everyday this week. My credit cards are getting tired.

Oh, also, a big to-do going on today is that the Olympic Torch is being run through the city. I saw it when it came through Lyndhurst for the '96 Olympics, so I don't know how different it could be.

And if I really wanted to see a big flame run around the city, I could wait 'til... oh, you know where I'm going with this one.