i'm here, again. new york city. it's weird--i've been here so much lately, and gone on foot most of the the time, i know it way better than memphis, even though memphis is right next door. every time i come, i venture a little farther out, and see something i've never seen before. but then i also go back to places i have seen before, and they are becoming more and more familiar.

the thing is, i love it here. i've had some great times. one thing i love, i can always make people smile. i remember when i was a little kid, noticing how i always made people smile, and it's the same up here. when i smile at people, when i use good manners, or like today when i was sitting in starbucks putting film in my camera, or on the subway eating cheesecake--i can always make somebody smile. maybe it's just that they aren't used to having people smile at them, which seems to be pretty possible. the thing is, everybody says how rude new yorkers are, but i'm pretty sure i've had a lot more people hold the door open or move over a seat so i could sit down (without being asked) here than in tennessee. and if you do something nice for them, they always seem so grateful, i guess cuz the city gets such a bad rap about being rude. i dunno. but it sure does make me happy, making people smile. i mean, i know its kind of dumb and corny, but it's nice to think that maybe i helped make somebody's day better.

anyway, i love this city. just today, i wandered through greenwich village, bought old-school posters, ate some bangin awesome cheesecake, heard at least 10 different people playin music in the subway, saw the most beautiful murals on street walls and in the subway, j-walked across 5-lane roads, helped more than one person with directions, ran in central park, and just generally spent the whole day walking through the city, all the way from E.87th street down to bleeker, and from lexington ave over to 8th, and in the past few days i've done more than i can even recite (on a side note, the kids who work at art museums have proved to be surprisingly good help when you ask them for good restaurants.) i love it.

but day after tomorrow, i'm going home, and i'm not going to let myself regret it. cuz there are things i love about home too, mainly people. people i miss, to be honest, a lot. i'll say my sad little good-bye to the city, but when i get home i plan to make the most of it. see, being in new york city reminds me, life is fast. it moves; it doesn't sit still and wait for you to catch up. you can't forget your past, but at the same time you can't spend so much time longing for that past that you forget the present. you have to live in mind of both. so appreciate what you have, because life doesn't wait, and if you stop for too long, you'll lose it.