Fives

Yesterday was my five-year anniversary of moving to New York City. Compared to some of my friends who grew up here, I don't think I really count as a New Yorker, but half a decade is still a significant amount of time. Enough time that I know the subway system, rarely get lost anymore, have a set of favorite places all over the city, have lots of friends.

In five years, I've lived in four apartments in three neighborhoods in two boroughs with ten roommates. I've accumulated a master's degree, tens of thousands of dollars of debt, and barely any furniture. I've worked at ten organizations (if you count internships), forgotten how to drive, and ridden the subway at least 3,000 times, at a rough estimate.

So, in honor of five years, here's five lists of fives, with dates when I remember them and links when I can find them, under the cut.

Five Best Food Experiences I've Had Here (not cooked at home):
1. Tasting menu at wd-50. October 2006.
2. Tasting menu at Palo Santo, my birthday, this year (I ate chicken hearts!).
3. Pizza from Grimaldi's on the Brooklyn Promenade. 2004.
4. Dinner at Bouley. August 2006.
5. The themed eating tour I did with some friends, of carbs stuffed with fillings: Chinese dumplings, Venezuelan arepas, and Italian pastries. Note all these places are within a three-block radius of each other. December 2003.

Five Best Personal Accomplishments:
1. Getting my master's degree.
2. Finding a job.
3. Finishing the NYC Half Marathon.
4. Finishing the NYC Half Marathon again, and beating my first time.
5. Riding the subway every single day without totally losing it at someone.

Five Celebrity Sightings:
1. Tim Robbins rollerblading in the West Village.
2. Al Roker walking down the street near Rockefeller Center.
3, and 4: Al Sharpton and Jon Stewart, in the same Starbucks in the West Village, but on different days.
5, (and 6). Bob Balaban and Matthew Modine, both filming (different) movies on my street, when I lived on 108th St.

Five New York Experiences I Would Prefer to Never Have Again, Thank You.
1. Watching out my living room window as a junkie was beaten up by the dealers from next door.
2. Giant flying roaches. Bugs and pests of any kind, in fact.
3. Being stuck in the subway for two hours because it rained.
4. Getting full-on flashed by a (completely unaware) homeless man. (Incidentally, in the same damn Starbucks that I saw both Jon Stewart and Al Sharpton in. I've started going to Joe, instead, when I'm in that neighborhood.)
5. Moving into and out of 4th and 5th floor walk-ups, without hiring movers.

Five Best Only-In-New-York Days/Experiences:
1. 77 Boadrum performance: 77 drummers, 77 minutes, July 7, 2007, 7pm, Fulton Ferry State Park. Mandi blogged about it and a bunch of people took pictures.
2. Walking over the Brooklyn Bridge and then eating pizza from Grimaldi's and ice cream from Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory on the pier, see above.
3. Exploring the top of the gate at Grand Army Plaza and seeing glassblowing studios, Open House New York, October 2006.
4. Seeing the Japanese Garden Room and the Temple of Dendur by moonlight, at the Met.
5. Manhattanhenge. Twice a year!

I could come up with a dozen more lists or give each of these a dozen more, but for the sake of being even, I'll stop here.