Just because

The last few days have been hectic.  My first night I ran around from Flushing to Astoria to Manhattan's Wall Street (where I'll work).  The second day I visited Brooklyn (Williamsburg area) and met a couple of cool guys at Barcraft (Starcraft 2 tournament) in Midtown.  Yesterday I visited my future work to get finger printed, went to check out Harlem, East Harlem, the Upper East Side, and a friend of a friend in Flushing.

I've been doing this mad tour of NYC so I could find a place to live.  Statistics and numbers are great for getting an overall idea of a place, but nothing beats walking around and relying on that gut instinct.  I found myself thinking "I could live here and be safe" probably too often so I came up with a new test, "Would my family feel safe if they visited?"  That put a whole new perspective on things.

One of the places I saw was in the Upper East Side, a studio/1 bedroom that was for $1600 a month.  The location was great and the building was beautiful.  I love the brownstone walls and the high ceilings.  I did my calculations and I could barely pass the rule that rent should be no more than 1/3 of after-tax income or 1/4 of gross income.  I thought about it long (as in I fell asleep for 4 hours and woke up with a decision).

I'm not going to get it.  Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should.  It's very tempting, but I don't need to live in a hip neighborhood.  I just need a safe place that isn't an hour or longer for a one way commute on the train.  I need to be more resourceful, should play it safe for the first year and save up what I can (or at least use it on funner things than a place!)

The previous days I've spent with a destination in mind.  Tomorrow, I'm following the locals on the subway.  Wherever they go, I'll go.  There's gotta be a place that is affordable and safe.  I just need to find this local secret!