erin's mom's Journal: Deck the Halls

I'm getting ready to go to the 'rents for the holidays and I have this "sick to my stomach" feeling that I haven't had since elementary school (oops, wait --- I did have a few semesters like that in law school too). All I want for Christmas is some Xanex. (You can sing along if you want...) Living away from NY for so long makes me forget how nasty life can be in Large Apple: subway cars packed with people of varying ripeness; drivers who aim straight for you if you don't get off their turf; surly storekeepers; car alarms that come to life at 2 a.m.; and no place to park. Ahhh, the good life. So why do I get so nostalgic for the City? I guess because I can blend in and be anonymous, neutral, an observer, nondescript --- unlike my luminous presence in the Southwest. I hope I get a cab driver that speaks 2 words of English when I get to LaGuardia. Actually, my last livery driver spent the entire ride (45 minutes) talking in a non-Romantic foreign language on a cell phone. He must have had unlimited anytime minutes (is there such a thing?) Spike a little nog for me.

Uh, OK...

[snjoseph]

Hey Erin's mom (incidentally, feel free in the future to identify yourself in a way that characterizes you as more than an incubator), why'd you live in New York for such a long time just to complain about the things that every American already knows is wrong with New York? To the best of my recollection, I've never been to New York, nor even particularly close to a New Yorker, yet a modest diet of sitcoms and cop shows have already conferred upon me the set of Canonical New York Prejudices (foreign cabbies

Re:Uh, OK...

[erin's mom]

Okay, I was being pissy about my travel to NY, and yes, I did fall back on the stereotypical complaints that no respectable NYer would think of uttering. My apologies (I'm not trying to dumb down, really -- I'm just not as articulate and intellectual as you may have been led to believe.). How's this: "The worst part of visiting my family is the ride along the Gowanus. What a joke!! They've been workin' on this road for at least 8 years!! It was supposed to be finished in 13, but with the way road constr

Re:Uh, OK...

[snjoseph]

Yeah, that's the stuff. Get the flava of NY provincialism!