The Modern Log

I’m going to try NaBloPoMo’s March challenge. The theme is “strange[r],” and since I’ve made the brave choice of moving to a new neighborhood, it seems like the perfect opportunity to chronicle the strangeness of a new place.

After 12 years in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, I’ve recently relocated to Roosevelt Island, that little bit of land between Manhattan and Queens. Why Roosevelt Island? I loved everything about it on my first visit. I haven’t been cured yet.

As a new neighbor, I’m going with the “say hello to everyone” move, one I picked up here at my workplace, where everyone is delightfully friendly – and I realized being that way is a better fit with my personality than I would have guessed. I mean, honestly, it’s kind of weird to not acknowledge someone you are looking directly at, right? Yet that’s what I regularly did. So no more.

“Good morning” was what I went with today. First up, the lovely lady in the hall (she smiled and returned the greeting). The next stranger I shared time with was a lady in the elevator. Her response to my hello? A grunt/growl. OK. Well, not everyone is friendly. Fair enough. I noticed, as she pushed her way to the front of the elevator to be sure to get off first – and as she let both entrance doors close on me – that she was wearing flip flops outdoors though it was pretty cold outside that early, and a kind of strange coat/bathrobe thing. She was also talking to herself. So maybe I get to file her under “eccentric” and not under “proof you should stop talking to people.”

Well, that’s what I’m going with.