two

there’s two different paths i can take to walk to my office. well technically theres 3 if you count the subway but thats boring i only take that if im in a hurry or if its really really humid so lets ignore that. they’re both the same length and they take the same amount of time for me to walk so it’s not like theres a rational “best” route for me to take. they both have different vibes and energies though so i like to switch up which route i take from time to time. 

i like walking vs taking the subway because it makes me feel more grounded in the city, like oh yeah theres buildings and people and birds and shit here too, youre not just being shuffled from point a to point b in underground tubes (even if it is faster (well sometimes until you get STUCK on a train and you dont have any cell service and you dont know why because the conducters voice is so muffled (but i digress) ) ) or looking at the city from the inside of a cars glass window like its an exhibit at a zoo or the aquarium. theres also a huge sense of spontaniety. like sure the buildings stay the same but one day i’ll be walking down the same path and BAM some bastards put up scaffolding that will stay up until the heat death of the universe. or i’ll be walking down the same path and notice something is slightly off and only later realize its because some scaffolding actually got taken down, which is a very very very rare event in manhattan. the buildings change too. one day the amc theater is just a normal movie theater the next its screening venue for the tribeca film festival. one day theres an empty office building the next day its an office for okta all furnished and everything. or one day theres a bowl slop place for the office workers and the next day its got a big FOR LEASE sign up front. things change all the time, sometimes slowly sometimes quickly.

or even the people too. sure theres the usual aspca/peta/greenpeace people who i have to go out of my way to dodge like they’re video game zombies but other than that i never see the same person across multiple days. its the summer now so theres a lot of foreigners and midwestern families staring at google maps but also like companies doing guerilla marketing like handing out free samples of antioxidant water or vegan cheese or some dumb brooklyn shit, but its fun to walk by and look at all the people standing in line or taking videos for a future corporate tiktok post, theres an energy around it, it’s all manufactured fake energy obviously but so is most of nyc stuff anyway.

oh right im getting a little off track here let me talk about the two paths. i’ll call them A and B

path A

so path A is a straight shot up to my office from the subway stop. i pass through a park where every other day theres a farmers market and i always mean to stop by there and pick up fresh meat or vegetables for dinner but i never do because i never have ideas of what to make for dinner until late in the day. and besides been going out like every night for like months now so im never home for dinner anyway. but the **idea** of it is nice.

so after that i cut through a plaza and thats where all the guerilla marketing things happen, there will be random other shit there too like one time i saw a jazz band playing out there at like 11am in the morning. they were pretty good i sent them some cash on venmo. or there will be like a pickleball court (LAME) for some stupid reason or hideo kojima will be posing in front of a bookstore (COOL). random things like that happen.

i then pass by the flatiron building which is tragically covered in scaffolding right now and walk through a park nearby. its a nice little reprieve from the city theres a lot of grass and flowers and weird art installations sometimes and a dog park so you’ll see a lot of people walking their dogs around its all very cute. its not a total escape of a park like central or prospect but its nice to like sit on a bench during a nice day during or after work and feel the sun on your skin.

path B

path B i have to take a slight turn from the subway. its on a busy street theres no plazas or vendor trucks although i do pass by the same halal carts and breakfast carts every day. there’s so much scaffolding that i get surprised when it comes down (this has only happened once but it threw me off on my walk). i dont pass by a park but i can see glimpses of it when im crossing the street, like it exists so close yet so far. its mostly office buildings and a cafe that says its open 24 hours but when i look it up on google maps the app says it closes at 10pm. the older office builidngs i think are gorgeous, they feel really imposing and sturdy and have a sense of weight to them that newer buildings don’t. they have like these large open areas you have to walk through before you get to the front doors, there’s arches on the top that pierce the skies, and some of them have like statues of people or gargogyles or these intricate beautiful designs to them that you don’t see in newer buildings. like there’s a sense that the architects and the people who commissioned these skyscrapers wanted to portray that they had power and were doing important shit inside their towers and were important shit. then you see these modern buildings put together with cheap materials and no sense of grandoise to them, like the property owners are embarassed that they put this building together.

its all office buildings but its a nice change of pace from path A becuase theres not really any tourists. its all office workers or people who are Going Somewhere so they all walk briskly and aren’t stumbling around with tour guide books trying to find the empire state building.

so those are the two paths. there’s also a third path i used to take, going south instead of north. i used to date someone in jersey and id go from their place to my office taking the path, getting off at herald square and walking south. i never could get a rhythm of that path and id always make a wrong turn or go the wrong way after i got off the train. i havent taken that route since i broke up with them since theres no need for me to do so. a temporary path closed off for good, i feel like theres something poetic in there.

wait yeah thats it i think theres a metaphor here

most of living is like taking the same route continuously with minor changes to the scenery day in day out. sometimes something big will happen and you’ll take a different route and you’ll have those old paths closed off to you forever. and thats just something you have to live with. but most of the time nothing really major happens and you notice the same things but there can be a joy in the routine i think. it gives you structure it gives you meaning it gives you purpose.