Critical Thinking

Well, I've made it. I'm on the West Coast. It still feels like a vacation, and every time the thought "I actually live here now" occurs to me, I have a mini anxiety attack, but I made it.
If anyone is wondering how the road trip went, it was great, but I'm not going to write about it here. I was pretty good about keeping an actual, physical journal through the whole shebang, and I think for once I'm going to keep my thoughts on all that to myself. If you are seriously dying for details, ask me in person, look at pictures on facebook, or watch the vlogs that we made on the road. They're pretty entertaining.
Suffice to say, MJ is strongly considering (in fact pretty much has already decided on) moving here. 10 days from scoffing at my choice to wanting to follow? Take from that what you will :-)

I have been noticing quite a lot lately that everyone here seems to move... well, much much slower. In NYC, when you order a sandwich, that sandwich will be made, wrapped up, and labeled in a matter of seconds. I've seen some deli guys wrap a sandwich tight enough for space travel in under 5 seconds, it's really quite remarkable.
Here, it's a different story. The only people who seem to be in any sort of rush are LA drivers (and to those of you who feel the overwhelming need to drive erratically from lane to lane, or even off the road itself to get a car or two ahead, you are a disgusting lump of overinflated moose snot with the patience of a 4 year old with ADHD, and you need a simultaneous lobotomy/enema). Moseying is too strong a word, but I will say people here just sort of... amble along. It's really weird, and when my deli lady wants to have a conversation with me rather than make my sandwich and move on to the next, I feel like something is out of kilter with the universe.
In fact, the happiest people I've seen here are always the people who work in sandwich shops. What is it about this job that makes your day so sunny?? TELL ME YOUR SECRETS, SANDWICH GODS!!

Anyway... This prompted me to think about some other immediate differences I've found between the coasts.
Keep in mind these are simply my first impressions, I'm no expert on LA. In fact I'm not really an expert on anything, so woe befall the fool who takes anything I say seriously.

Believe it or not, the people here (exempting sandwich slaves) are meaner than in NYC. There is a weird, unspoken rule in NYC that, because there is so little space, you respect and properly ignore how close people get to you in crowded situations like subways and elevators and free concerts. We mostly do this odd personal space shrinkage, where even as you're standing right up against someone else, you don't make eye contact and respect that space.
Here, you need to give people a WIDE berth, or they will call you out on it. I saw this happen just the other day when this dumb bitch snapped on a guy behind her "What are we, cuddling? You're a little close!". Keep in mind, this guy was far away by NY standards, but even if he wasn't, a simple look of uneasiness will usually suffice to send a message. No need to get snappish about it.

No matter what some who live here may say, LA is still, in a big way, playing catch-up with NYC in terms of food. Yes, there are some great restaurants scattered around, and the down and dirty Mexican food is great, but delivery needs to be punched up a notch, and most restaurants, unless you have a personal foodie guide (and I do, thank the flying spaghetti monster), are uninspired and mediocre. Fresh and organic food is more easily available, but there is nowhere I've seen, except for Whole Foods, that has a build-your-own salad bar. WHAT is that about?

Dress code. I have almost stopped myself from going out in flip flops at least 5 times, only to be assured that most places will apparently welcome you in even if you look like you just came off of the set of Blue Lagoon. Everywhere I go, there is a very eclectic mix of levels of formality, but in terms of most people having individual style, point goes to NYC.

I will say that both cities are pretty obsessed with how much better they are than every other city in the world, but people in NYC don't talk about it nearly as much as people do here. NYers simply are better, they don't need to talk about it unless asked directly. LAers are constantly talking about how great LA is, and how beautiful the weather is, and how amazing the bars are, and how stimulating the culture is.
The lady doth protest too much, methinks.

The thing I miss most about NYC is how assured I was, or eventually became, living there. I always knew pretty much where I was going and how to get there, and even if I got lost, I could find my way back. I know learning this new city will take time, but I didn't realize how much of a luxury it was to really know a city, to feel like, at times, you own it. Here, I'm out of my element, and it's very uncomfortable.

I'd like to say a few words about the few people that I really really miss, but I'm just going to start crying if I do, and then I might make an egregious grammatical error, and I would never forgive myself. For now, I'll just say that to those few people (and you know who you are) I miss you every day. Specifically to Astoria, the Financial District, and Williamsburgh, I send my love from the west.

That's all for now. More on this later. And, if you'd like to see the first road trip vlog from MJ and myself, click on this underlined thing here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSxyL7_SYfo