NYC or Bust!

One of the hardest things about deciding what to do in NYC, is not actually finding something to do, it is choosing what to do. The amount of things that are going on in the city on any given day can be a bit overwhelming. There are times when I have not been able to decide and have actually settled for a pizza and movie at home only out of pure frustration. Throughout the summer there are outdoor movies, concerts, art shows, street fairs, plays, dance performances, and much more. I have compiled a list of websites that are a good place to start, though definitely not an exhaustive list, of places to look. Most of the websites I have included offer mainly free activities (no admission) as most of us who are new to NYC probably do not have a lot of money to spend on entertainment (plus why should you if you don’t have to?)

(more…)

So the renewal lease for our apartment came in the mail the other day. While there are many upsides to our apartment, there are also downsides.

Location wise, we are in a decent area. While our immediate neighborhood is pretty quiet and doesn’t not have a whole lot going on, we are close to a lot. Being in Western Queens give us easy access to Manhattan and we are within 10 - 15 blocks of everything we need. Our place is less than a block from the subway — it doesn’t get much better than that.

We like our building. All of the people who live there (at least those we have met) are friendly. For the most part it is quiet at night so we can actually sleep. Well, except for the lady who live above us who rearranges her furniture at least 3 nights a week at like 1 am.

On the downside our place in tiny. We really had to adjust from living in our seemingly huge apartment in Milwaukee, to something the size of a closet. I never thought I would be sleeping in a lofted bed and have to use a step ladder to go to bed when I was this age. I guess that is the price you pay to live in NYC.

Overall we have decided to stay where we are for another year. We really do not have the time or the patience to go out and look for a new place and then have to deal with the whole broker, broker fee, security deposit, first months rent thing again. Not to mention having to figure out the logistics of moving all of our stuff when we do not have a vehicle…

At this point I am just hoping a bigger apartment in our building opens up sometime soon. It would be so nice to actually have a bedroom, kitchen and a living room again instead of a bedlivkitroom!

When walking around NYC you will see tons of sky-rats (pigeons) all over the place. The best advice I can give for navigating the streets of NYC is to look down. If you see a bunch of bird poo on the ground, it is probably not a good place to sit or stand. You are standing in the line of fire.

It has been quite some time since I’ve posted here. Just to let everyone know, we made it. We are still alive, and surviving the NYC experience. It has been hard to find the time to update NYC or Bust since moving. Finding jobs, working, exploring the city and general life in the big city has taken up most of our free time.

With that said, hopefully now that we’ve had a few months to settle in and get into a groove, we will have more time to post. I still expect us to write some articles about the process of moving to NYC, but now that summer is upon us, we may find ourselves writing about actually LIVING in NYC. There is so much to see and do in this city that it can be a bit overwhelming at times, but always worth it. Finding the balance between living life and working life has been a bit of a challenge. Time seems to move very fast in this city. Days turn into weeks which turn into months and sometimes it feels like its only been days since we moved. We’ve been here almost 9 months now, but it doesn’t feel like it, hopefully this is a good sign.

Stay tuned for the future.

Maz and I have gotten quite a few questions lately and I thought I would answer them all in a post for everyone to see rather than e-mail responses to individuals… (more…)