Liking NYC Better

I have moved around many times during my life.

When we moved to New York in April I hated it. It was a tough adjustment for me.

Now I like it much better and I think that it was the best move we have ever made.

It still surprises me that I like it here. Until moving here, I had lived my whole life in the South.

Living here is still not without its challenges but I have adjusted.

Following the election last November we decided it was best for us to move and when other situations came together, we decided to make the move. Even though I have moved around a lot, I do not like the moving process at all. However, we got to work and made it happen.

Sadly, there are some that didn’t understand why we moved and not happy with our decision. I am sorry about this reaction to our move. This was something we had to do. It is unfair to expect someone to stay in a place where they aren’t happy. We are happy here.

Although we are happy here, we are still not sure if we will stay here either. There are several factors which might determine another move. The main factor is finances and whether or not we can afford to stay where we are. It is very expensive to live here. So we could end up pissing off more people should we decide to move again. I don't know. We will see how this plays out.

For now, we will live in the present. We love the adventures we have here. We have easy access to the New York Subway and Long Island Railroad. We never had these adventures before. We felt stuck while watching others travel the world and living through their social media posts. Now we get to do it after not being able to do it for many years with our moves being dictated by my job.

Right now as I type this blog I could look to my right and see the LIRR train roll by with the skyline of Manhattan in the background. How cool is that? Yep, I'm liking it better now.

When Your Must Should Be Most

The fragile ego of a writer.

I know it well.

A critique over one typo can throw a writer off and make them even question why they bother to write in the first place.

Yesterday it got me.

An unsolicited editor found an error in one of my blogs. They felt compelled to inform me of it.

One word with one wrong letter.

I find it irritating that I can write hundreds of articles without any comments whatsoever and then one person picks out one single typo.

“Must” should have been “most”.

OMGosh that alters the entire writing universe!

Well, for some reason I can’t stop writing but I can limit my audience. I have evolved as a writer over the years. I don't have a need to impress anyone. I write for me. In the beginning my motives were different. I wanted approval, attention and popularity. I don't need affirmation from anyone to write. I can write in this blog or I can write where there is no audience like in one of my many journals.

I'm not going to let one typo stop me but it does alter my course a bit. It forces me to re-evaluate why and how I write.

I have written - and self-published - a few books hoping secretly for some sort of success but never achieved what I expected. Each success, each failure and each critique forces a writer to re-examine why they do what they do. I once wrote for others but now I write for me. In the past I was even guilty of "targeting" my writing toward someone but have done a better job of stepping back.

One typo.

Does that change me now?

I guess we will see. Stay tuned.

Post-COVID Paranoia

I am no longer testing positive for COVID but I am still recovering both physically and mentally from having it. I have this nasty, annoying cough. I sound sick.

It has been two weeks since I was ambushed with a nasty fever and every part of my body being in pain.

I hate being sick. I hate COVID and if you've had it, you understand. If you haven't then you probably think it's nothing or perhaps you are one of those who still think it was a hoax. Yes, a "hoax" on the ENTIRE world. I don’t want to hear any politics about it. It means nothing when you are sick.

Aside from the annoying cough and fatigue, I now worry about being around too many people. Everyone is the enemy now. I cringe being on an elevator right now. I just assume they all have nasty germs and could give it to me again. Honestly people have some nasty habits out in the world. I walk down the sidewalk and I notice people coughing, hacking and spitting. Gross! I'm a little freaked out right now.

I wish we could see COVID. It should either been a green mist or dark smoke.

I have tried to not drive myself crazy figuring out how I got COVID. I just don’t want to get it again. I can’t imagine how much worse it could have been had I not been vaccinated. I’m not going to debate that issue either.

And wearing the mask....I’m wearing a mask more now and I really hate wearing it. I would rather have a shield around me.

I will get over this eventually. Eventually I will let my guard down once again. I will stop wearing my mask and not use hand sanitizer. Only to make myself a target COVID again.

I have heard people downplay COVID by saying “it’s just like the flu”. Well I don’t like getting the flu either.

I will eventually get over this but I’m not happy with this right now. I’m still angry that COVID wasn’t handled right in 2020.

So here I sit coughing between paragraphs and hoping this round with COVID will go away. The experts say I still have a few more weeks to deal with this coughing.