Just spent about a week in Queens, which I was very much looking forward to. But the lesson is very direct. My Queens time is behind me!
I am leaving really thinking to myself, "How did I live in this place for so long?" I was in queens from 2007 until about two or three years ago, so 2023 or 2024. Something like that.
Everything is inconvenient, expensive, and frustrating. The quality of things is very low. It's a lot more cheap and a lot more comfortable out east on Long Island.
It's a good time to think about impermanence. Many of us scramble and burn a lot of energy defending what kind of person we are. I have a few friends who are very dedicated to living in a certain place as part of their personality or identity. But that is like trying to hold onto soap bubbles - something a child does really. They are great because they are effervescent!
I was very happy in Queens during my time here and thought it was a great place to live. But that is not me, that was me, then. I am me, now. And one day I will most likely wonder how I lived so far out east on Long Island. But today I am eager to get home.