Exhibit B: New York City

As promised- and I know you are all on pins and needles waiting for this entry- I will now continue to explore the possible options for what's next. If you are new to my blog (and let me tell you, new readers are rolling in by the hundreds) I would suggest scrolling down to the entries entitled "Green Day" and "Blogger Envy and the Case for Africa" and doing a little background reading before finishing this post.

So. New York. What can I say about NY. For anyone who doesn't know, I made NYC my home from January 2002 until May 2005. I managed to live in three of the five boroughs, worked five different jobs, met some of the most amazing people in the world, and tried out for three popular competitive TV shows (Star Search, Who Wants to Be A Millionaire, American Idol) . But all that instability is very draining. It drains you emotionally and it drains you financially! So in May, due to some health issues and to the fact that I was facing another apartment/roommate/job change I decided it was time to walk away from the city that I love so much.

But I need you to know that I still love NYC and I have every intention of moving back there someday, once I figure out how to raise my earning potential. Currently, with the job market the way it is, my Bachelor of General Studies (with an emphasis in Biology) degree just doesn't bring home the type of paycheck necessary to live in NYC. Unless, of course, you are willing to work 70 hours a week and live in the spare bedroom of a strange married couple or rent a room the size of a closet from someone who smokes a joint or two a day and eat a steady diet of egg-drop soup and Whopper Jr's from Burger King. To some of you this may seem quite worth it. While I was doing it, it was definitely worth it. But after a while, when that Broadway show you wanted to see comes and goes and you had to miss it because not once during the entire run of the show did you have enough money for a ticket, or despite the 70 hours you worked at your two separate jobs you still had to call home to borrow some money to pay the rent, or you spend another gorgeous spring day inside your apartment, because even though you have enough money to get to Central Park, you don't have enough to get back... After a while, you start to wonder why you're really there.

Don't get me wrong. I loved it. I would unequivicably do it again in a heartbeat. After all, for every thing I had to miss out on due to low funds, I had 10 amazing experiences that I wasn't looking for. And being totally honest, if I hadn't had the aforementioned health complications (or if I had just had health insurance), I would probably still be there now.

But I'm not. I'm here. Waiting patiently. And planning. Plotting my eventual and triumphant return to New York City!