Some Good Things About New York

1. No mirrors in clubs. In some of the coolest bars, when you finally get up to go to the bathroom to see if your 'look' is holding together, there's no mirror, only a ton of graffiti, so you have to go back out with no inner check, just your outer self still operating, and it feels kind of good and unusual.

2. The bars. It has the best bars, street for street, than any city I've been in. These are real bars, where there's a gleaming wooden expanse to rest your arms on and admire the bartender and look at fellow patrons with open curiosity. Often restaurants have this bar section and it's warm and welcoming with great old wooden decor. Yes. Bars.

3. Beer! Ha, there isn't one point that doesn't involve alcohol. No, but this one is: beer by the bottle. I've never lived anywhere else where you can just yank an India Pale Ale or other fine beer out of a 6-pack and buy it on its own. I'm not sure why New York permits this, but it's a great custom. I used to live in Clinton Hill and there was a ritual: at the end of a hard work day, we'd all trudge up the subway stairs, wait at the light and troop into the corner deli where everyone went to the back and bought one bottle of beer. Oh, occasionally two. And cigarettes, sometimes. Obviously, we were all going home to studios where we'd drink the beer alone. It was warming, it felt very communal. Now I live in a richer area where the custom isn't as cemented. And the beer costs a lot more.

4. Flowers. The city takes a lot of care to plant flowers that offset the effect of the towering gray slabs. The flowers are beautiful colors, too.

5. Pumpkins. In the fall, the city puts pumpkins in the giant flower holders and around street-light bases. They glow when it's dusk, and it's pretty cool.

6. Start times. In Michigan, jobs and school started at 8 am. In New York, rush hour lasts well beyond 11. I'm sure it starts around 7 but I don't know because I've never been asked to be anywhere before 9, and even that was always elastic, and employers are forgiving because of the subway.

7. Good looking people. They live here, and it's fun to look at them.

8. Parks. The parks are well maintained and if you've lived here even a few months, you thank god for them daily.

Okay that's only 8 but it's not too bad, is it? I wanted to balance the crabbing I do about NY all the time.