Don’t Burn The Day

I will go in this way
And find my own way out.
I won’t tell you what to be,
But I’m coming to much more.
Me.

Time is indeed moving slow but speeding, as I am one day shy from departing NYC (tomorrow, 02.28.08). With the birth of the blog and all, I’ve been able to document pretty much all my moves leading up to this point. (Great to have and be able to refer to when I’m 87!! I can say I was cool.) Slow but speeding it surely has been! My previous posts of Give Up To Gain and No Expectations alarmingly come to mind as I enter my remaining 24 hours of Manhattan-life. Crazy, crazy… even still!

As I’ve been counting up towards my days at home with the fam in Boston, I realize how much more of a “New Yorker” I am. The dual question of:

Has New York molded who I’ve become?

Or

Has New York simply provided me a channel to be the person I’ve destined to be?

This double-sided question came about after a friend recently asked me if I think I would lose my New York-sense in the same way I’ve lost a bit of my Boston-sense, while living wherever the road may take me…

Answer to All of the Above:

I may have lost my Boston accent and am pretty much ignorant to its city’s layout and workings, but I can not say I’ve lost touch with my homebody, family sense. And in that respect, Boston is essentially homebase for me, literally. My family and friends back home keep me grounded (regardless of my “big city” achievements) and for this reason, I still have a bit of the Boston in me (along with my sports teams).
New York has most certainly allowed me to break free from the borders of homelife and in turn, provided me with an outlet to express ideals that I’ve always had within. Growing up and attending public schools in my hometown, diversity was always prevalent, especially at my high school (at once, was the largest HS east of the Mississippi River). We had an after-school club for every ethnicity you can think of from Italian to Cape Verdean to Haitian to Jamaican to Irish to Asian. I was the chic who was in all sorts of nerd/community commitees (National Honor Society, Executive Committee, Student Senate, Key Club, Amnesty International) in addition to sports (basketball and moreso, track). (Go Boxers!) I weaved in and out of different circles with no problem. In fact, I was voted recipient of Housemaster Award (Green House) my senior year - an award voted by my student class for individual who possessed character, leadership, excellence in academic and community service… some gibberish like that.

Having graduated in the top 10 percentile of a graduating class of 700 students, coming to NYU in ‘99 was a pretty seamless transition on the level of size and multi-culturalism. I say this because during my freshman year, I met some folks from, say the west coast or midwest, who really had a tough time adapting to NYC and the NYU make-up. Me…Not so much. I felt at home. Options, independence, diversity, cultural stimulants, creative energies — all jumped at me and I loved it. With that said, I would think the latter, “NY has provided me a channel to become the person I’ve destined to be” is the more appropriate answer.

My next move to Shanghai (and/or wherever thereafter), will certainly not eradicate neither any of my “New Yorkness” nor “Bostonianess.” These are intangibles, already deeply rooted in the whole pie that is me. So, overall, it was kind of a silly question to begin with, but it definitely made me pause and analyze the whole scenario a bit. Confirming and reaffirming that this is me….

I will go in this way
And find my own way out.
I won’t tell you what to be,
But I’m coming to much more.
Me.

- lyrics excerpted from song entitled “#41″ from album Crash by Dave Matthews Band (04.30.96)

(the song that started it all, 01/07)

. . don’t burn the day. .