Progress

          Things are finally happening.  After three weeks of being in limbo - riding the bus back and forth from New Jersey to the city, frantically racing to be the first to put an application down on an apartment, and filling up my documents folder with specifically tailored cover letters - it is all over.  That is, I got a job, and we got an apartment.
          First, about my job.  I am the newest member of the seafood team at the upper west side Whole Foods Market.  I start in "a week or so", and from that point on I will perpetually smell like fish, so I hope Kyha is ready for that.  I'm really excited.  All the people I have met there so far are great, and I think I get to wear one of those super stylish double-breasted white chef's shirts.  I think the manager said I might have to work at 4:00 AM sometimes though, so when I start complaining about that, remind me that I just said I'm really excited.
          As for our apartment, we couldn't be happier.  It's in a great location in Central Harlem, four blocks north of Central Park, on the 5th floor of a great old building with an elevator, all for only $1,200 a month.  WHAT!  1,200 dollars!?  I know, what a great deal right!  Ok, sarcasm aside, it is a lot of money.  But, this is New York, and realistically it's about as cheap as they come.  Aaaand, for the area we're in it's a steal.  Aaaaaaand, it's pretty big!  I mean, it's actually small, but compared to most of the other apartments we looked at, it's big.  We signed the contract and got the keys today, and we move all of our stuff in on Sunday.  Then, I can finally take that stupid (Almost) out of the blog title!
          Oh, I also started school today, which I keep forgetting is the whole reason we moved all the way over here anyways.  It was great!  My class today was "Introduction to Planning", and I loved it.  There are only ten students in the class, and we all sit around a big table and pretend we're professionals who know what we're talking about when we discuss things, and it's fantastic.
          I am overjoyed to finally be able to settle down and have our own apartment.  My aunt and uncle have been amazing, housing us and feeding us and transporting us, but I'm ready to get some routine going.  I have all these visions of what I think life in the city will be like.  Hopes.  Expectations.  Assumptions.  Dreams.  And from now on, this blog will probably be about how everything here is different than I thought it would be.

More of the Same, Plus Some New Stuff

          We still don't have an apartment.  We didn't get the first one we applied for because apparently somebody else had an application in before we did.  But oh well.  Now we're back on the prowl.  Today, while Kyha was busy bringing home the bacon, I looked at five apartments, and applied for one.  Tomorrow I'm gonna go looking again, and every day from now until we find one.  Yaaaaaay.  In other news, um, I still don't have a job.  I do have an interview for the seafood department at Whole Foods on Friday, though!  I've been taking a ton of pictures, so maybe I'll upload those sometime soon.  A guy on his motorcycle sped through a red light, hit a van, and died at the scene of the accident today about a block from Kyha's work.  I saw a Rolls-Royce on Monday.  And there are still people everywhere, all the time.  Things are never dull in the city.

It's been, one week since you looked at me

          Well, it's officially been a week since we moved across the country.  For me, it still feels a little bit like I'm on vacation.  We are still living in New Jersey with my aunt and uncle, who have been more than generous in feeding us and keeping their pool heated (like I said, vacation).  We are suppose to hear about that apartment we applied for in Harlem by tomorrow.  I still don't have a job, even though I've applied for like twenty.  No joke, probably like twenty.  Kyha, on the other had, got a job in like three days at an awesome coffee shop called Ground Support down in SoHo.  She's there right now.  The worst part about this past week has been the hour and fifteen minute bus rides into the city that cost $25 round trip per person.  But, it's better than paying for gas and parking.
          The highlight of our week, though, was getting to watch Cami Bradley dominate America's Got Talent at the Radio City Music Hall.  The Bradleys were kind enough to get us some tickets, and we can't thank them enough.  It was such a memorable experience.  Besides that, I've been walking around a lot.  I mean, a lot.  I have blisters and everything.  I went to the public library, which was super awesome.  I ate falafel from a food cart, which was also awesome.  I saw a guy peeing on the sidewalk in broad daylight, which was less awesome.  Right now, though, I'm just praying for a job interview, and that we get that apartment so I can take that stupid (Almost) out of the blog title.  Oh, and Kyha asked me to do the laundry while she was at work... so I should probably do that.

InstaBlog August 12, 2013 at 02:40PM

One of the most surprising things I've noticed since coming to New York is how dirty the subway stations are. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, though, because like 5 million people ride the subway every day. I'm not complaining or anything. I'm still gonna use the thing, and I don't think it's an unhealthy amount of filth. It just seems that every time the subway is featured in a movie or tv show it looks so clean and pristine. But I suppose that's because movies aren't real life. #nyc #newyork #subway #instablog

I ♥ Harlem

          Two days of apartment searching are in the books.  Thursday and Friday we caught the bus into the city, Thursday around 2:00 PM and Friday around 10:30 AM.  Its about an hour and a half ride, and the bus drops us off at the Port Authority Bus Station, which is a huge multi-story building full of buses, subways, people, and noise.  My cousin Christopher met us there.  He's lived in the city for like 14 years, and if wasn't for him, Kyha and I would probably still be lost in some subway station somewhere.  Christopher navigated the labyrinth of subway stations and streets as we walked all over the city looking at the apartments we had found on Craigslist.  He told us what was good and what was bad, and steered us city newbies away from the places that would be regrettable.

          In total, we looked at five different apartments, and yesterday we actually applied for one!  Yes, it is in Harlem, but before your mind flashes to images of broken windows and drive-by shootings, you should go take a walk around East Williamsburg, Brooklyn.  That place is sketchy in every sense of the word, and makes Harlem seem like heaven.  Garbage everywhere, broken sidewalks, big dirt yards surrounded by chain link and barbed wire.  I was just waiting to get attacked by a pack of ferrel dogs.  Oh, and the apartment building we viewed looked like a place they might stay at on The Walking Dead.  All that to say, we're really hopeful that we get the place we applied for in Harlem.  Its super nice.

          Overall, being in the city has been amazing.  I feel like I've seen so much, even though I know I'm only scratching the surface.  I'm a nerd, so I think the old buildings and churches are awesome.  The subway blows my mind, because its huge and goes everywhere (and, fun fact, was opened in 1904).  We've seen some crazy things too.  Most of you have probably watched the video Kyha posted on Facebook of those guys dancing on the subway (if not, you should go watch it).  On Thursday, while Christopher and I were waiting for Kyha to use the bathroom in the Port Authority, I watched a man dig through the garbage and come up drinking the last little bit of Kyha's iced coffee from Starbucks, which she had thrown away just minutes earlier.  It was a nice reminder that so many people have so much less than we do, and even though apartment hunting is stressful, and my legs hurt from walking, and we won't have a lot of stuff in the tiny little apartment that we eventually get, we have what we need and we have enough of it, and everything is going to be fine.

          We're taking today off from the city to hang out with my aunt and uncles in New Jersey.  It'll be nice to relax for a day.  On Sunday we'll go back to New York.  We're going to look at two more apartments, and Kyha is interviewing for a barista job!  Right now, though, I'm gonna go sit on the porch.  It's nice outside.

Start

          The truth is, I've always wanted a blog. I've never started one up though, because I've always thought it was a little pretentious to think that my life was worth writing about, and to assume that people would want to read about it. Not because my life sucks or anything, but just because everybody else has their own lives too. And I do the same stuff that just about everybody else does, so why would anybody want to read about me doing the stuff that they do already. But now, Kyha and I will be living in New York City, so I thought maybe that might push the excitement level of our life up just high enough for people to want to read about it. Or, it just makes me more pretentious for thinking that just because we live in New York City people will want to stop what they are doing to read about the things we do. But, I'm going to go ahead and take that risk and start this blog up anyways.

          Of course, I should say that we don't live in New York just yet. After a strenuous 24 hours of trying to catch a standby flight from Seattle to Newark (made a little less strenuous by our friends Russ and Kaitlin, who graciously allowed us to stay at their place when we didn't get on the last flight of the night), we finally made it across the country. We are staying with my awesome aunt and uncle in New Jersey until we find a place in the city. Right now I'm sitting on their back porch. The crickets and cicadas are about as loud as a rainstorm. I used to live in North Carolina, and I'm realizing how much I missed the East Coast. I asked Kyha what it's like to be this far away from where she's lived her whole life. She said its hasn't sunk in yet.

          We're planning on going into the city tomorrow afternoon to start searching for an apartment. For those of you who said you wanted a blog post (mostly Kyha and my mom), here it is. For those of who didn't and are still reading this, thank you.  I kept it short just for you.  I'm sure the next one of these will be more interesting.

Corey