NYC.1

I just finished watching an episode on Hulu. This could be any Sunday night. But it isn't...because I'm in Brooklyn.

Zach's and my host, Lin, are currently at an Eat the Easter Bunny dinner party. I love the sentiment and in that they are Lin's friends you know they are going to be great people, but there is only so much New York City that the brain can handle some days. And so tonight I am staying in with the comfort of internet TV and thinking.

I can admit to this: I wanted to fall in love with New York. Part of me still fights this idea that I should be somewhere big. New York. Los Angeles. It doesn't matter what you do in NYC, just the fact that you are in NYC gives you a credibility. Since whenever I decided I wanted to be a filmmaker I've thought of myself on some level in New York. And perhaps that has been the most fascinating part of my time here. NYC hasn't swept me off my feet like people say she will.  I find her fascinating in ways I never expected but on some level I feel she is overhyped. Not that she doesn't deserve awe, but awe with a footnote.

So first a few brief details. Zach and I are staying with our friend Lin and his boyfriend Mark. They have a beautiful apartment in Prospect Park Brooklyn. Lin informs me that Mark is responsible for the incredible design inside their apartment, and we've bonded a wee bit over vintage wallpaper. They are marvelous people and we couldn't ask for better hosts. I seriously can't say enough positive things about these two.

We have been moving at high speeds since we landed on Friday afternoon. The weather rushes between beautiful but windy as fuck to Oregon style rain. Yesterday was downright miserable weather wise. Today was spectacularly clear but cold. Another NY friend gave us good advice when he said that the weather is always colder than it says on weather.com because it never accounts for the wind. That was 100% true today.

I have a lot of thoughts and they will come out in bits and pieces here. There will be overlap. They will be both short and long. But I find NY over stimulating. I know I've only been here a few days but I don't find that it's inspiring creativity within me. There is so much hitting the senses all the time that there are times in the day when literally my depth perception dims. I mentioned this to Lin and he knew exactly what I was talking about. At some point you reach sensory overload and your brain says, "No more."

I think I'd love being here for design and art, but not for story telling. Not for film. That part of my creativity hates this place. Bristles defensively at it. The design part of me explodes with joy at every piece of lovely iron work and every new boutique shop. There is so much I could learn here with the museums and the galleries and all of that. But I really just don't feel that way instinctually about filmmaking here. (I'm saying this all for me personally. Different people react creativity to different circumstances.) I feel like New York tells the same stories. Not that there aren't other stories to tell but that the same ones get told here. Whereas I feel that new art can be created here. I still need to think on this and maybe my opinion will change but right now, that's my impression.

I could go on here for hours but I need to spend the bit of time I have left alone here tonight reorganizing my suitcase. It's no big surprise that I've taken over the corner in which I planted.

Tomorrow Zach and I have to say goodbye to Lin and Mark (who apparently have jobs during the week) and take a boat ride around Manhattan (thank you Mom and Dad) and then hopefully explore the museums that close Tuesday and Wednesday. Good lord we will have seen a lot of museums. That will be a post in and of itself.