The city won't love you back

My love affair with New York is over.

There are not many reasons to move to New York. There's aspiring artists of every variety, there's money, and there's those of us in love with the speed, the glamour, the opportunities, the culture -- in love with the enormous whirlwind high-chrome highdef dragonfly buzz of life in the City.

I'll admit that I moved here because I was in love with a man, but I was in love with the city too. But it is brutal - everything costs too much, the streets are dirty, it's cold in the winter and hot in the summer, and the classism and the poverty breaks my heart every day.

The point of this blog is to explore New York. More specifically, to explore Manhattan, and only the cheaper bits of it.

Everyone has their own New York, you see. There are 9 million of us, and most of us never cross paths, we have our own little hang outs, the things we like to do. Me, I tend to be on the west side. I'm not much for the bar scene, I like to be outside as much as possible, and I've got a serious itch for art.

If you want to talk restaurants, it's going to be sushi. I'm trying to go to every sushi place in Manhattan.

There's something deeply satisfying about taking on an impossible task and making progress.

My plan is to write about what I do and whatever the hell else is on my mind about the city. I'm not insanely busy every day - and I spend a lot of time in the park, or just walking around - so don't expect an action packed highly scheduled new york in three days whatever. It's the way I love, yo. On foot, at large, occasionally in disguise.