Great news, it's predicted there will be 1 million more people living in New York in the next 10 years. I can't tell you how excited that makes me. We have way too much room right now, we definitely need to tighten things up with another million people. It's outrageous to have a vacancy right as astronomically high as .04% And why should I have the luxury of being able to get on one of the first 6 trains that go by? (and maybe being able to wedge myself into the door jamb of the 7th or 8th) That kind of decadence is what makes other countries despise us.
Ah, the joys of the subway. I love waking up every morning knowing I'm going to have to battle my way to work through throngs of ignorant, rude, and downright malicious people. Just this morning I had a lovely experience.
For those of you not from NY let me try to explain the subway procedures; as a train pulls up to the platform it is common subway etiquette to stand to the sides of the doors so the people getting out can actually get out. Of course this procedure is rarely followed leading to a power struggle of who can push harder, those getting out or those getting in. If these jackasses would realize that if you let people out you can get in much more easily and quickly life would be just that much more tolerable. So as I'm waiting for a train, attempting to let people out of the train, this black (calm down with your accusations of racism bullshit, it's an integral part of the story) woman comes barreling down the platform and rams into my back like a linebacker trying to break through the defensive line for the game winning touchdown. There was no need for this since she could have waited literally 3 more seconds and walked onto the train.
After she slams into me, nearly knocking me down I look back at her and say "Excuse me" since I was obviously at fault for getting in her royal highnesses way. She starts off in a tirade, complete with the neck bobbing and the hand in the face, and ends it with, "You not even white" (grammar left intact) Now I'm as white as they come, so I have no idea what the hell that means. I guess she thought I was acting rudely so I wasn't acting white. I thought that was not only a pretty stupid thing to say but also pretty demeaning to all other ethnicities, including her own.

New York changes people for the worse, there's no question about it. I have seen it happen to countless friends who moved here and since I just moved here I wanted to keep a record of my conversion to the dark side (if indeed it does happen as it has to every single person I've known who moved to the city)
If you're a New Yorker I know what you're thinking; "This is some fresh faced kid who can't hack it in the big bad city of New York. You've got to be super cool, sophisticated, worldly, all tempered with a toughness that can only come from living here, in order to make it in this city" Well I've lived all over this country, in many of the largest cities, and have traveled around the world so I've seen a thing or two in my day and I would consider myself pretty tough and worldly. Take 99.9% of New Yorkers send them to Fiji in the middle of the night with no money and no idea where they are or where they're going to stay and see how long they last. I consider that tough and worldly, not taking the 6 train past 96th St.

But I digress, the point of this whole thing is to document my experiences and try to discover why it is that even the nicest person in the world will be an a-hole after living here for a year.
Let the fun begin...