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.

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