And she's off!

That's it. This is my last post before I get on that overnight bus to my second favourite city to spend Christmas and New Year's. Like Leonard Cohen brilliantly says in the movie I'm Your Man, "New York's almost as good as Montreal". Heh.

In a fortunate turn of events for my wallet, my cousin's roommate has agreed that I stay over while said cousin (Carmen) is visiting Chile. On the other hand, my favourite hotel in NYC, Ye Olde Carlton Arms, has let me off the hook for my 10 day reservation and is still keeping my reservation for the first night, when I can't stay at Carmen's because she'll still be in town. This is also a good thing, because it means I get to see her before she leaves.

My friend Pepi has very graciously invited me to a dinner with friends and other Chilean ex-pats on Sunday, and probably to a New Year's Eve party. It sounds really good and I appreciate getting included in the fun. My original idea for going to New York was a sort of Holden Caulfield remake -minus the depression- because I didn't know if there would be anyone familiar there. So I was prepared to entertain myself, and in a way I still am. But having friends to party and hang out with makes it even sweeter.

The first time I felt that click with New York was on the bus ride in to Manhattan from the airport, one time that I had 5 hours to kill between my plane and the bus to Montreal. I realized I recognized the highway signs from an episode of Seinfeld. In town, everything was familiar, from Woody Allen movies, and jazz songs. Then I started seeing movies and tv shows and *recognizing* parts of the island. Now I know the layout of the streets, the names of the neighbourhoods, and I've even been to the Seinfeld diner. I love New York. It's my dream city. Not that I don't get the parts of it people dislike, like the unrelenting ambition of its citizens, or the overwhelming anonymity. It's just that, for me, as a constant tourist (or my preferred term: pilgrim), it's a fantasy. Part of this year's fantasy includes hanging out in town by myself, maybe skating at Rockefeller Center, visiting the Museum of Natural History, etc. What I really love about New York is that there's so much to do that my fantasy is never completed, and therefore I'm never disappointed. How can even MY expectations exceed the Big Apple's capacity to meet them?