Kick boxing class today. totally kick ass. my instructor is a five foot Asian gen-y’r with  a good sense of humor and one powerful kick.

Juliet sent me a big old black scarf in the mail that she knitted herself!!! I don't think anyone has ever made me anything like that. I cannot explain how happy it made me. I am so happy I could just scream out loud. I am forever indebted to her and will always look out for her like a soulmate-brother. 

There is a blizzard coming this weekend. You can feel it in the air all over the city. New York is like no other place on earth when it comes to the cold weather because it is a place where no one drives. Unlike other places where it gets cold such as Minnesota or Vermont or Massachusetts etc, everyone walks everywhere here. So cold weather really means something different to New Yorkers than to other people around the country. No matter how fucking cold it gets you're still walking that ten blocks to work or the grocery store or to the nearest subway station.

Everyone is bundled up. you cannot even see anyone's face on the street. Just big bundled up blobs of dark warm clothing passing you by quickly. The only way you can tell these are actual people is because you can see everyone’s breath when they pass you by. The mood is anxious on the street. Everyone preparing for two or more feet of snow and freezing temperatures for two days. And you see, the thing of it is that we still have to walk through that to get to where ever we want to go. what a strange place. you still have to walk through it. you have to walk very carefully or else you will slip and fall on your ass on the hard sidewalk or on the subway stairs.
Having grown up in the South I have to keep reminding myself ‘people live here... they grew up here... they are used to this... to them this is normal... to the rest of us this could seem like the most ridiculous thing you could ever imagine... its not like these people have to live here.... anyone could pick up and move a few states further South and not even have to deal with this at all... but more people live in New York City than in any other city in America... funny isn't it? But you do get used to it... and you do somehow find a way to like the cold... as the freezing cold wind hits you in the face as you walk down the street as you are walking... and your face HURTS... there is something exhilarating about it... something energizing... painful yes, but somehow invigorating.

The only thing is that my apartment is constantly freezing and I have a sore throat. I spend all night under twenty blankets freezing my ass off. This sucks. And I find that by 7 am I am awake and just cannot sleep because of how cold I am. Again, this sucks.

I cannot believe how this move to New York has changed my life; in so many ways. Just totally transformed it. its like on overdrive now. Whereas before when I was in little Miami I was always just wandering around wondering why there wasn't anything going on... I moved to Miami three years ago and just shot into that city like a high-speed train on methamphetamines, digging into everything that the city had to offer and really trying to get into the community as much as I could... but I just didn't find much going on...  for the life of me I couldn’t find anything really happening. And I guess that's part of the charm of Miami to a lot of people. it’s a nice place to visit for vacation or retire to... but for a while there it was like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.... I thought it was me. just couldn’t figure it out. I was so fucking bored I thought I had died and gone to purgatory... you know how they describe purgatory... Miami is like that... its not quite  hell... but there's nothing much happening.... like an elevator that never stops on any floor...

After being here for the last few months I understand now what was going on down there. The gradient here is so high, the domain so large. People are playing at a very high level and it either eats you and swallows you or inspires and invigorates. For me its been a little bit of both so far. But I wouldn’t trade it for the world. At last, civilization.