PlatKat.com: From the Desk of the Uncoolest Person in New York

Monday, July 03, 2006

From the Desk of the Uncoolest Person in New York

For the next month, Gus has sublet another apartment in Nolita, a trendier and more convenient part of town than the location of his last sublet. It's nice being close to more restaurants and subways, but it has also brought to my attention that Gus and I are Very Uncool.

As we walk through this part of town, we see all kinds of hipster fashions and punk rock styles. Everyone's doing their thing and wants to make sure they look good doing it. That's super, but as I strut around with frizzed out hair and a face covered in sweat (it's humid as hell here), sporting an Aqua Teen Hunger Force t-shirt, I have come to realize just how nerdy I am.

It's not that I'm afraid anyone thinks anything of it. It's just an observation. And I think Gus has it right when he says that everyone's trying so hard to work it because they've dreamed of living here all their lives and now it's finally happening. They're gonna make it! They're so talented and original and amazing and they're gonna get discovered! Yeah! (Pulled almost directly from a comedy bit by David Cross about people my age moving to the big city with a backpack full of shit and a dream.)

I think Gus and I share an equal amount of excitement about moving here: Moderate. Sure, this is a big move for us and it will be neat to live in a new place, especially a large city. I drained half my bank account just to secure an apartment here. But we don't wake up every morning jumping out of our shit because we're in the Big Apple. We're as happy to be here as we were to be in Austin, which is as happy as I was to be the Bay Area, which is... you get the point. We see ourselves as people in a place doing stuff. We're not going to conquer the world, we're just going to enjoy getting some good pizza without having to drive all over the place.

That said, I walked to Gus's work today. I didn't take this route exactly, but that's about how long it was. I made pretty good time. Since I was doing it in place of my morning workout (it's still only about half), I'd broken quite the embarrassing sweat by the time we met up. I almost didn't go into all the nice stores in Murray Hill after our Cuban feast because I was afraid the salespeople would be so grossed out they wouldn't let me try on clothes. I tried to seek out other people with a trail of sweat down their shirt, but couldn't find anyone. Long story short, I bought a ridiculously expensive pair of jeans, but then I found $20 on the sidewalk outside my building. That hardly makes up for the jeans, but it's still pretty cool.

posted by platkat @ 2:18 PM