I moved to Brooklyn by accident, really. Gretchen lived here in a 3-bedroom apartment, and one of her roommates was moving out at the same time I was thinking of moving up to New York. True, it was in Brooklyn instead of Manhattan, but that's not a good reason to turn down the chance to live with one of your best friends. Plus, it's just on the other side of the Brooklyn Bridge, so it's almost like living in Manhattan I reasoned.
This was all good in theory, but in reality there are things like train delays. The first time I had to work on a weekend at Alice's, my twenty minute commute took me over an hour. I was not impressed. Steve and Ellen both live in Manhattan, and I work there too-- it felt like my whole life was in Manhattan, and I had to keep making the trek back to Brooklyn because that's where I sleep.
I bonded with Ryan, one of my co-workers at Alice's, over our disdain for Brooklyn--
"I don't understand the appeal," he said one day.
Me neither! Everyone says the rent is cheaper, but I don't believe it...
"That's just bogus.... my girlfriend and I pay the same per-person for our 2-bedroom as you do for your 3-bedroom. And we live on the Upper East Side."
People like the pace of it-- they like living 'in the city' but not having it be as hectic. I don't feel like it's any different from the Upper East Side.
"Cuz it's not. It's just harder to get everywhere and you have to deal with hipsters. Stupid, stupid hipsters" (and then he went off about hipsters and how they wear stupid tiny shoes; but that's a story for another time).
This past Friday on our way to the beach, we made a quick stop at Trader Joe's (a block and a half from my apartment) to get supplies for our adventure.
"You're really lucky," Ellen said. "Your Trader Joe's isn't crazy like the one in Manhattan!" It's true-- if you've ever been to the TJ in Union Square, the line literally starts when you walk in the door and wraps around the whole store. But I can stop at our Trader Joe's on my way home from work and be in and out in less than ten minutes. Once we had our picnic supplies, I asked if we could make one other stop before hitting the road for the beach: the best iced coffee I've ever had in my life; and it's two blocks away from my apartment.
This is worth making the trek to Brooklyn for-- I told my brother.
I was walking to the subway with a friend from work the other night, and I told her she has to come spend a day in Brooklyn--
There's so much to do there, and our neighborhood is just great. You really need to come see it-- I heard myself say. What did you just say?! What are these words that are coming out of your mouth?! Have I started to like Brooklyn?!
Gretchen and I attempted to go to church this morning with Steve, Ellen, and Brandon (who was visiting Steve from NJ for the weekend) up on the Upper East Side. I'd heard about Apostles NYC and have been wanting to visit for a while. When we got to the train, we found out it was running local instead of express, which meant we'd get there about five minutes late. Annoying, but whatever; Steve can save us seats and it'll be fine. And then we got to the Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall stop and heard the ominous announcement, "Ladies and Gentlemen, there has been a train brake emergency at 14th Street; all 4 and 6 trains will be delayed." And delayed we were. After fifteen minutes of hearing that announcement repeated, we decided to try the bus route. Forty-five minutes later we showed up at Apostles NYC, just in time for the last two songs and the benediction.
A month ago I think this episode would have launched me into a pontification about the evils of living in Brooklyn and why I wanted to live in Manhattan where you're closer to everything. But for some reason it didn't phase me-- I actually found the whole thing amusing. As I walked home from the subway tonight, it felt good to be back in my neighborhood. I noted how different Brooklyn feels from Manhattan. And then I noted that I actually like the feel of Brooklyn. In fact, I might even be starting to love it.
Hmm.... I might need to find something else to bond with Ryan over....
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