The Reluctant Receptionist

it’s a relatively warm day in new york city today, meaning that it’s 55 degrees instead of our usual 15 below. seriously, i know that it’s going to make me sound like a cranky old woman, but this winter has been especially brutal. is it because i’m getting older? maybe i’ve just been busier than in winters past, which means that i’m forced to walk around in it more. that’s the thing about winter in new york. sure, it may be colder in rochester or indiana (i know for a fact that it’s colder in indiana, and when i graduated i swore that i’d never spend another winter there.), but in those places you have cars to get in. even if you drive an ‘83 mustang with no functioning heater, at least the windows block the wind. here in nyc we’re just out in it. anyway, i’ve digressed so far that i can no longer see my starting point. let’s just say that winter here sucks, and that i’ve been looking forward to spring more than i have any year in recent memory.

the thing about spring is that i find myself just wanting to get out. i find it harder and harder to fight down the urge to get out of the city, specifically to california. i don’t know why, but i have been absolutely dying to get back to the bay area for the past few weeks, and it’s now gotten to the point where i’m listening to pet sounds and so much for the afterglow and reading long feature stories in the san francisco bay guardian. it’s been a long, difficult, cold three months since the last time i got out of new york for any extended period of time (i don’t count my 15-hour trip to philadelphia last weekend, though i should count my wonderful two-day trip to durham the weekend before that) and i increasingly find myself needing a break. not necessarily a vacation, but definitely a change of pace.

i know, i know. bitch, moan. i’m busy singing and working at a day job that i like. we’re busy every night of the week with rehearsals or activities with friends, and that’s nothing to complain about. still, i fantasize about being able to walk somewhere with my shoes off, the cool grass between my toes, and look up at a blue sky and take in a deep breath of clean air. that doesn’t work so well in manhattan.