Identity

Does this street view of Grace Court look familiar? Yes, it does to me too. This picture was taken this morning as we're having a snow day, again. Chirping birds singing their spring song seem to be gone too.

Earlier this week my colleague Nikki had given me this issue of Time Out New York with a smirk. Where do you belong? Ah, the eternal question.

According to the quiz, I am "Manhattan leaning", though to be fair the Brooklyn that Time Out reports on is a lot more pioneering and hip than that part of Brooklyn I live in. And there really aren't any questions that would indicate any type of Eastern Long Island/Caifornia Coast/South Florida leanings either!


Above are two pictures of my Jetta arriving in Brooklyn Heights early October, and one taken in September right before its 3,000 mile road trip from San Clemente. I realized last weekend during my Brooklyn driving tour with Stacy and Logan that I currently orient myself according to Manhattan, not Brooklyn. Part of this I'm sure is familiarity, and the majority of my friends who live there, as well as my office. I also feel very close to Manhattan, as I literally see the island from every window in my apartment. Maybe once I get the hang of Brooklyn I will stop thinking I am facing north instead of west?

Where do you belong? I am not sure. I do really like Brooklyn Heights, and New York feels where I am supposed to be right now. Though winter has been long and somewhat uninspiring these past several weeks, and I have been dreaming of sea air, sunshine and the ocean, which has seemed very far away.

The entire time I lived in California, I think I subconsciously oriented myself to New York. I love California and never thought I was going to leave, but I also also never wanted to change my 917 cell phone number, and kept a New York drivers license for 6 of the 6 1/2 years I lived there (mainly, though, out of laziness, and reluctance to take the written test). In California, friends thought I was "East Coast" though several friends and co-workers in New York think I am "very California." And now back in New York, it's strange to me to have a 718 home phone instead of 212....though also strange not to just leave the house in flip flops, without having to bundle up in a bunch of layers, hats, gloves and snow boots.

In an effort to commit to a place, at least for now, I had made a date to go to the DMV this morning, and register my car and get a NY drivers license again. I was also facing a deadline of my California registration expiring -- ironically, when I'll be in California next month, on the same date of my 6 month anniversary of living here.

My friend Karen had tipped me off that the DMV at 11 Greenwich Street in Lower Manhattan wasn't that crowded, and its really not crowded on a snow day when NYC schools are closed and even my local branch of Citibank is shut.


Not the most inspiring of places but, it came with a bonus!

Here's Karen, one of my best friends, who was on her third visit back to the DMV with some missing paperwork.

So now I am trading this...

For this...
And with some reluctance, as the California script makes me think of the golden west, and somehow fits a cute white Jetta that cruised around in a SoCal beach town. "The Empire State" seems like it would belong on a sleek, impressive car, in power black.

Well, another bonus of the day, in addition to seeing Karen and my car having a new identity, is that I'm supposed to fly to Florida on a last minute trip, weather permitting. So while the long term is still a little hazy, and the path unclear, for the short term, I will be able to wear my flip flops outside of my apartment, get my dose of sea air, see my family.

And come to think of it, an easy weekend trip South was a big reason why I moved back East to begin with.

Happy Friday everyone.