Haecceity.nu

I have officially arrived! I’m jet lagged, but that’s to be expected. I’m looking at a 3-hour time difference, here, and it’ll take some getting used to. So far we’ve been waking up at weird times during the night and getting tired really early in the evening.

I still can’t get over some of the little differences between NY and SF—I’m noticing them all the time and I think I’m starting to annoy Louie by pointing them all out. So instead of pestering him, I’ll list them for you:

1. People run red lights more often here.—Or at least this is how I’m perceiving it. We saw no less than 4 cars run red lights yesterday, both in Palo Alto and San Francisco, and I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen that many cars do the same thing in New York in a single day. Crazy drivers.

2. The fire hydrants are white.—Is that really supposed to stand out on the street?

3. The cabs are several different colors, not just yellow. (Here’s a picture of one that’s lime green for proof!)—The colors crack me up. Some are even normal car colors like black and white, how am I supposed to tell what’s a cab and what’s not? Somewhat confusing, but I guess I’ll get used to it.

4. There are palm trees in Union Square.—Yes, you read that correctly. There’s a Union Square here, too, and there are palm trees. About 4 on each corner of the square. It’s pretty nice, actually.

5. OMG hills.—I love the hills. NY is so boringly flat, I really like this variety and the tiered look it gives the city when you look at the skyline. Reminds me of Paris or Athens only without the European currency. I think the nickname “Paris of the West” is apropos.

6. People wait at the crosswalk for the walk sign.—This is one of the toughest things for me, I’m finding. I, as a native NYer, have this itch to walk across streets whenever there are no cars. I don’t seem to mind if there’s a “WALK” sign or not, or even if there’s a crosswalk. So, here, people just don’t jaywalk. You can, apparently, get a ticket for it or even arrested. Ok, I get it, you’re not supposed to do it, but do they really fine or jail people here who do? They don’t in NY. I’ll let you know if I ever get ticketed for jaywalking.

7. People walk slower, too.—This is a given. Everywhere besides NY feels slower.