I remember when I was a kid I used to LOVE going to the mall. Loads of toys and other goodies I wanted but simply couldn't afford. It was a lot of fun to walk around and make a "wouldn't it be nice to own this" mental inventory. Now that I can afford all these things, I keep away from malls like from a bad disease....
I've learned and became aware of the small endorphin release your brain gives you after you purchase something and I've also learned that shoppers remorse is a heavy kick that happens quickly after your purchase becomes transparent to you and you realize you really didn't need that stuff; you were tricked! Perhaps being aware of these things has saved me a considerable chunk of money. These days I tend to buy only what I need, and I am happy with that. Though I have to say that I do miss those times of hanging out with my friends and checking stuff out.
Perhaps malls have changed. Lately there seems to be a homogenizing effect in the malls of America, if not the rest of the world. The more I go to them, the more I realize that they are all owned by just a few large mega-conglomerate companies who use the same marketing formula to create a synthetic sense of happiness, funnel you to a dozen or so similar stores, and have you shop till you drop.
No matter where you go in America it feels like a carbon copy shopping mall formula has been sprinkled across the suburbia's land. You got your food court, you got some kid play area, your GAP, Apple, Banana Republic, Sears, JCPenny, Williams Sonoma (if its middle / upper class burbs) and a bunch of other shops. Its always laid out the same way, the same non-threatening feel-good music pumped in the background and it has become overly obvious what all of these mechanisms are designed to do.
Its a pain to be aware of these things. Now when I go inside I am aware of my stimuli being overloaded by the sights, sounds, smells all designed for my buck. I guess thats the price you gotta pay to get out of the house on a very wet day (until my kids learn to appreciate museums and art galleries - no I dont mean to sound like a snob).
Monday, October 4, 2010
Monday, February 16, 2009
The Taste of the Apple
I had a truly wonderful opportunity to live the past two years in New York City. Every civilization has key empires, each of which has a crowning city that becomes a cultural, social, and economic mecca. Over the past twenty + years I can say without a doubt that New York City has been, and is one of those meccas. Right now I believe that there are five key cities that are the nuclei for arts, money, culture, and more. Those cities are New York, Tokyo, London, Shanghai, and Paris. There are key commonalities among all of these places, many of which stem in parallel from the heavy domestic and international capital pumped into them. This money slowly trickles into the communities, their hospitals, museums, infrastructure, clubs, restaurants and so forth and its what gives these cities unlimited growth potential. This investment capital also pulls in a lot of people into those places. Lets face it, when humans smell cash, they want more of it. Lots more of it. Competition goes sky high and the only way to get more is to bring the best and brightest talent the world has to offer.
I am living in a time that places New York City perhaps at the pinnacle of the last century. This is what captured my heart these past two years here. Parks, museums, restaurants, just about everything here is among the best in the world. Having a little bit of time to myself on the weekends feels like I am taking a vacation while I enjoy the amenities of the city.
Unfortunately all of this comes at a steep price. Unless you have millions of dollars in inheritance, you will have to work quite hard to enjoy these fruits. Life here for majority of New Yorkers can be segmented into two parts. You have your "work life" which is your Monday through Friday grind where you put in your work time, take care of cooking, cleaning, family, errands, etc. and then you have your weekend life which is the reward you get at the end of a very long and hard work week.
The "work life" can be difficult and often it scares many people away from here. This is a very competitive place where businesses thrive on having the best talent. Strangely, this "best talent" doesn't dictate what it wants, it simply complies with what is expected out of it so that the business they work for can continue on its desired path. Work conditions here are hard, arduous and not meant for people who wish to lead a family life. On top of this they are faced with a very high cost of living. There is a plethora of people who want to live in these cities. Strangely living in them is not enough. People want to live in the best parts of those cities. For this you must pay a very heavy premium. Best burbs with the best schools cost an arm and a leg. So how can people do it? The ultimate question to ask becomes: how can people make the money to afford a house in a great region where they feel their kids are getting the best education AND live a balanced life that doesn't burn them out? They often can't. Unless you inherited a small fortune, something has to give. You either have to work a lot harder, or you have to compromise on a lower level region. There is always the third option; pack up and move out!
To some it simply isn't worth being here and struggling day to day to get a taste of the American Dream. As the cities continue to attract more and more people, the density grows. Along with the density you have more traffic, more rudeness, noise pollution, stress, and a higher cost of living (steaming from the demand outweighing the supply). Space per person here is small, and the more rats you pack in a single box, the more aggressive they will become. I see it every day and I hate it at times. This is a place that burns people out. I have seen people here transformed into animals, not being aware that they are morphing into a biproduct of their environment.
Bottom line; its hard, damn hard to make it here and enjoy it all. I will be moving in a few months to a smaller, more affordable city (Boston). As we all age, it is human nature to only save the best memories and try to bury the bad ones. I will probably always remember NYC for all the great things it offered; great dining, fantastic museums, architecture, amazing skylines, parks, great entertainment and so much more. I have no clue what it will be like adjusting to a smaller place, but one thing is for sure, the Monday through Friday life should be a hell of a lot easier.
NYC continues to be a love hate relationship to me. It offers so much but it demands a ton out of you. Perhaps I will live here again someday. Who knows... For now I am preparing my leave on very good terms and look forward to coming here to visit as often as I can.
Space-
I am living in a time that places New York City perhaps at the pinnacle of the last century. This is what captured my heart these past two years here. Parks, museums, restaurants, just about everything here is among the best in the world. Having a little bit of time to myself on the weekends feels like I am taking a vacation while I enjoy the amenities of the city.
Unfortunately all of this comes at a steep price. Unless you have millions of dollars in inheritance, you will have to work quite hard to enjoy these fruits. Life here for majority of New Yorkers can be segmented into two parts. You have your "work life" which is your Monday through Friday grind where you put in your work time, take care of cooking, cleaning, family, errands, etc. and then you have your weekend life which is the reward you get at the end of a very long and hard work week.
The "work life" can be difficult and often it scares many people away from here. This is a very competitive place where businesses thrive on having the best talent. Strangely, this "best talent" doesn't dictate what it wants, it simply complies with what is expected out of it so that the business they work for can continue on its desired path. Work conditions here are hard, arduous and not meant for people who wish to lead a family life. On top of this they are faced with a very high cost of living. There is a plethora of people who want to live in these cities. Strangely living in them is not enough. People want to live in the best parts of those cities. For this you must pay a very heavy premium. Best burbs with the best schools cost an arm and a leg. So how can people do it? The ultimate question to ask becomes: how can people make the money to afford a house in a great region where they feel their kids are getting the best education AND live a balanced life that doesn't burn them out? They often can't. Unless you inherited a small fortune, something has to give. You either have to work a lot harder, or you have to compromise on a lower level region. There is always the third option; pack up and move out!
To some it simply isn't worth being here and struggling day to day to get a taste of the American Dream. As the cities continue to attract more and more people, the density grows. Along with the density you have more traffic, more rudeness, noise pollution, stress, and a higher cost of living (steaming from the demand outweighing the supply). Space per person here is small, and the more rats you pack in a single box, the more aggressive they will become. I see it every day and I hate it at times. This is a place that burns people out. I have seen people here transformed into animals, not being aware that they are morphing into a biproduct of their environment.
Bottom line; its hard, damn hard to make it here and enjoy it all. I will be moving in a few months to a smaller, more affordable city (Boston). As we all age, it is human nature to only save the best memories and try to bury the bad ones. I will probably always remember NYC for all the great things it offered; great dining, fantastic museums, architecture, amazing skylines, parks, great entertainment and so much more. I have no clue what it will be like adjusting to a smaller place, but one thing is for sure, the Monday through Friday life should be a hell of a lot easier.
NYC continues to be a love hate relationship to me. It offers so much but it demands a ton out of you. Perhaps I will live here again someday. Who knows... For now I am preparing my leave on very good terms and look forward to coming here to visit as often as I can.
Space-
Thursday, January 1, 2009
An Appropriate Intro
In the ocean of blogs, another one is born. Its purpose is to let me, spaceghost212, spill his brains out once in awhile on random thoughts and events experienced in my life. I don't intend to write for the sake of improving humanity but to simply use this web tool as a canvas for my thoughts. Sometimes you have these random ideas that don't start to gel until you can write them all down and then it somehow all starts to fit with one another.
I finished college Dec. 13, 1997 and since then noticed that my thinking and writing skills are getting duller and duller as time goes by. Many of my friends went to get higher education (MBAs, PhDs, MDs, etc). I on the other hand went into the working world where I was taught to do a few things and do them fairly well. After a brief brush with the corporate working world I ended up running my own web design studio. Over the past seven years I've been working from a home office where human contact is non-existent. In my office I speak at random times on the phone with clients. Overall however I have very little contact with people. My daily verbal conversations are at a minimal and with that said I can safely say that my linguistic dexterity has gone down dramatically. I hope that writing this blog will revive and exercise certain parts of my mind. I just hope I have the energy to write often as its pointless exercise when its not done in a disciplined manner.
Lets see what happens...
I finished college Dec. 13, 1997 and since then noticed that my thinking and writing skills are getting duller and duller as time goes by. Many of my friends went to get higher education (MBAs, PhDs, MDs, etc). I on the other hand went into the working world where I was taught to do a few things and do them fairly well. After a brief brush with the corporate working world I ended up running my own web design studio. Over the past seven years I've been working from a home office where human contact is non-existent. In my office I speak at random times on the phone with clients. Overall however I have very little contact with people. My daily verbal conversations are at a minimal and with that said I can safely say that my linguistic dexterity has gone down dramatically. I hope that writing this blog will revive and exercise certain parts of my mind. I just hope I have the energy to write often as its pointless exercise when its not done in a disciplined manner.
Lets see what happens...
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