Couch

So our couch and loveseat came (very nice) and while the movers were really good about putting the furniture where we wanted it and unwrapping it, they were not so good about removing the wrappings from the front walk where they tossed them. So we had to wrangle all the plastic wrap and padding and corrugated cardboard into a managable pile to dispose of later. As we were doing this, a guy passed by slowly riding his bike on the sidewalk, almost stopping, and openly stared at us as he rode over to our next door neighbor's house where another guy was in the front yard. Then they both stared at us, folding and stomping down the cardboard and pushing the plastic wrap into a bag.

Quiere algo? I yelled at them.

No, the guy on the bike yelled back.

Okay then, I said.

When we got back into the house Mr. Coqui asked me what I had said, and I told him it meant "You want something?"

"You should be nicer to our neighbors," he said.

"They were staring at us!" I said. I'm not going to not say anything if they're going to be all rude and stare at us like that.

Am I wrong?

Guns, guns everywhere!

I've been seeing these signs around, and frankly, they're pretty alarming. My first thought was, People need to be reminded not to bring their guns to the pharmacy/coffee shop/pizza place? Then I thought, oh my god, there are people here who think they need their guns with them all the time!

And then another New York transplant told me that Minnesota has a concealed weapons law bascially allowing any adult over the age of 21 to bring his or her gun wherever he or she goes, and so businesses have to put up these signs to officially prohibit people from bringing guns into their stores.

Okay, like most New Yorkers, I tend to think guns are unequovically bad, and the less of them there are on the street, the less people get shot, legally or no. So I'm not a big fan of this "I need a gun for my personal protection" argument, because a gun on the scene only guarantees that it can be used. Anyway, I tend to think that people who believe the opposite are, well, crazy, and by extension, more volatile and likely to make rash decisions when they feel threatened.

And I threaten people all the time, especially when I'm on my bike and they try to hit me with their cars. When drivers run stop signs or forget to signal and check their mirros before making a right turn into me, then I am sure as hell going to say something, and it's going to be loud and likely full of curse words. Because dammit, if you're going to ignore traffic rules, at least look at where the hell you're going.

So my question now is: not only do I have to worry about stupid drivers who can't follow traffic rules, do I also have to worry about them shooting me because I told them off? Do I have to stop telling people off? Because I don't think I have it in me to sit tight on my bike after I've swerved out of the way of a jackass who can't signal or at least look first before making a turn.

Hello Twin Cities!

We like to watch the New Yorkers and see if they make it, a colleague said to me when we met in person for the first time.

I used to believe in the theory that having lived in New York I could "make it" anywhere, but as I started to visit other places and friends from other places visited me, I realized I was actually pretty spoiled. I could get whatever kind of food I wanted, when and how I wanted it, and most likely have it delivered to me. I could see whatever movie, play, art exhibit, concert, sporting, or literary event I wanted (as long as I could afford it, get the tickets, and could get out of work in time). I could borrow my parents' car and drive to the beach, the mountains, or Montreal, and did all of that at one point - and better yet, could have taken public transportation to all of those places, or to anything I decided to do in any of the boroughs at any time of day or night. And now I've come to expect it.

So now the boyfriend and I are in Minneapolis, exploring the Twin Cities for three years. We'll live how normal people live, come to expect what normal people expect. We'll see if we can really make it anywhere.