New York was...hmmm...I am so over New York. One time it held a charm for me but now it is just another big, congested city trying its darndest to give its citizens a sense of humanity. It fails like most major cities do. There is something oddly cold about New York - really it snowed! You can be surrounded by 1,000s of people and feel so isolated. I forgot what it is like to bump shoulders with someone and not apologize. My first day I hit about 10 people walking on the streets and I stopped to look at them about to apologize only to realize that it didn't even phase them - it was like I didn't exist. Me, the Buddha with the big shoulders, doesn't exist - now there is your existential thought of the day.

Oh yeah and the taxi driver tried to take the Queensboro Bridge to go to JFK instead of the Midtown tunnel. Hello? Where does he think I am from - Santa Barbara? Oh yeah I am. But I still have a drop of my old NY self left in me.

The taxis in NY offer a flat rate to all the airports so the Midtown tunnel charges a toll and the Queensboro doesn't. He was trying to save $4.50 and add 20 minutes to my trip. He thought I was some yokel from the sticks since he picked me up in front of the Radisson who wouldn't notice his diversionary tactics. I reverted back to my old NY self and asked what the eff he was doing and he turned around to go to the Midtown tunnel. I didn't use the eff word but in my NY days I have been known to cuss out my share of cab drivers - bastids.

So I have firmly realized that I am a small town boy who likes the simple life. I just love the antics of Nicole and Paris. Oh yeah, and what has Brittany Nicole Smith been up to??? God, I got to know.