That's A Wrap

UPDATE: New blog site changed to sterlingsuite.blogspot.com !

Officially out of New York City, officially settled into Riverside (dear God only temporarily, I pray). I had SUCH A BLAST on my road trip home, I am so happy it didn't happen any other way. Well, I wish Jayna could have come all the way to California, but they don't call it Game of Roads for nothing! It was not only such a great adventure, but also a great transition to the move from coast to coast. Next time I go out there, maybe I'll do the drive again and take the northern route.

New York is done. All the moving, subway waits, Metrocard refills, train rides with groceries I can't carry, day-long excursions to Target... all done. All the summertime bedbug scares, grossly overpriced everything in Manhattan, springboard diving, dripping humidity, and fight-to-the-death competition for resources for things as simple as a seat in Starbucks... all done! The fear of having a heart attack in the city and dying on the way to the hospital cause the ambulance is stuck in traffic in midtown... all done! To be fair, I'm equally scared of a heart attack now that I don't have a full time job with benefits, ha! Let's do a short recap of some of the things I got to do the past few years while living on the East Coast:

-Explored all 5 boroughs for culture, fun and adventure
-Day trips upstate along the Hudson, on Long Island, in New Jersey, weekends in Poughkeepsie
-Fourth of July on Cape Cod
-Road trip from New York to Niagara Falls and Toronto
-Saturday Night Live taping
-Saw the Yankees, Mets, Knicks and Nets play
-Got to watch the NY Giants win the Superbowl while in New York
-Frequent visits to/from friends in Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore/DC
-Got to visit Orchard House, the home of Louisa May Alcott and Little Women outside of Boston
-Ran my first race on the Coney Island boardwalk
-Survived two hurricanes
-Road trip from Baltimore to the Outer Banks of North Carolina for Memorial Day Weekend
-Saw the New York City Philharmonic play in Central Park
-Saw Chicago, Memphis, Alice in Wonderland and Once play on Broadway
-Listened to two September 11th survivors speak
-Went to the US Open twice
-Got to go to the Michael Jackson birthday party in Brooklyn
-Had my writing performed by a professional actress in the Lower East Side
-Road tripped to New Hampshire and Maine
-Spent a long Thanksgiving weekend in Montreal
-Got to be active with intensive ballet classes, a volleyball league and a springboard diving team
-Spent New Year's Eve at a warehouse party in Brooklyn
-Spent Halloween at a rooftop party in Brooklyn, and a booze cruise on the East River
-Celebrated Santacon two years in a row, yeesh
-Fourth of July in the Hamptons
-Ran into Will Smith (literally) in front of the Mandarin Oriental hotel
-Met Michael Douglas at a UCSB alumni party in midtown
-Had snow days in Central Park with 11 inches of snow
-Organized a team for NYC AIDS Walk (haha)
-Volunteered for the Vendy's on Governor's Island
-Got hit by a car walking to the train
-Drove countless times in the city, and even reached out my window and slapped the hood of a cab that was being too aggressive (he backed off after that, by the way)
-Got to see The Colbert Report three times, and even shake Stephen's hand (ahhhh!)
-Joined a trivia league, took Arabic lessons, joined an ASL discussion group
-Had Breakfast at Tiffany's once. Also, Dinner at Tiffany's once.
-Had a week in Florida including a road trip through Ft Lauderdale, Miami, the keys to Key West
-Saw Tom Petty perform at the Beacon theatre. And countless other small shows around the city
-Watched the Stephen Siller's Tunnel to Towers 9/11 Memorial Run/Race
-Went back to school at Columbia University
-Water tubing in West Virginia
-Saw the lighting of the world's largest menorah
-Watched Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein speak over Portlandia
-Watched Election Day countdown and coverage for the 2012 Presidential Election in Times Square
-Road tripped to Amish country in Pennsylvania
-Visited more bars, clubs and restaurants than I could ever name!
-And everything inbetween that made living in New York City so fun and fascinating!

Long live my New York City life
May 16, 2010 - July 13, 2013

Most people are interested to hear about how I am adjusting to California: Do I feel different? Do I regret leaving New York? Here are some of those answers:

1. I don't feel different at all. It doesn't even feel weird to live at home right now. It just... is what it is. I don't really see California or the world the same as when I left, but that's kinda true every time you take a trip or live somewhere new I guess, and that has actually made me love being home all the more. And I'm very thankful for all the places I've seen and friends I've made, and I'm already looking forward to their visits! If anything, I just feel exponentially more free, and alive, and like I can breathe and live again.

2. My biggest fear before leaving was probably that I would regret doing it. I worried that I was just in a down-time with New York, and would immediately wish that I was back there, which would be a very difficult decision to reverse. However, there is not one single shred of me that regrets leaving. As a matter of fact, as I was driving away, I was more upset that I wasn't upset at all. I kept thinking "didn't these past years mean anything to me?!" Of course they did, but my life needed more room to breathe, and living there much longer in my state sounded suffocating. New York City is New York City... it's fabulous and fun and I will always love visiting there. But every time I read about it, see a picture of it... there is literally nothing in my heart or soul that stirs... no nostalgia, no wishful thinking, no sadness. That is not to say that I didn't love my years there. I'm very thankful I had those years and experience and have all the memories I do. A New York native once said to me "New York City will put a mirror up to your bare soul" which I thought was pretty accurate. That is to say, you are forced to confront who and what you are, and I think that my time there sucked a lot of poison out of my life, and after my time there, I feel a changed person, for the better, and isn't that always the point?

Of course, this transition has already been interesting. What am I doing and what am I going to do? I still don't know, but I am investing in a few different routes for now, and we will see what comes of it all.

So what's going to happen to my blog? This was all started on the premise of living in New York City, and since I don't anymore, I've decided to end it here. It will officially be taken offline on August 31, 2013. But wait! There's good news! Since I have become so accustomed to sharing my life stories (and have had such great feedback from you all) I have decided to start a new one chronicling this new journey... so bookmark the page now: sterlingsuite.blogspot.com! The site will go live on August 1, 2013 (this Thursday)!

Thank you everyone for all your support and help and friendship for these past few years while I was so far away. I would like to leave this with the words of Lana del Rey:

The road is long, we carry on, try to have fun in the meantime.