I used to visit New York City on a weirdly semi-regular basis. The first time was back in 2016, when my dear friend Anna invited me to tag along with her on a visit to Ukraine.

I took a Greyhound overnight and got off at Madison Square Garden at right around the break of dawn on a rainy summer morning in late July. There was hardly anyone in the street, and Times Square was almost completely empty. It felt a bit like I had the run of the town to myself.

I wandered around for a while marveling at how big everything was. I was only going to be there for a few hours before meeting Anna at the Newark Airport, so I could only choose one really big thing to do. So I visited the MET.

My God. Things that I'd only seen in text books before that moment suddenly became real. This was technically before I went all in on medieval warfare and armor, but I still spent a lot of time there. I tried to visit every single room of the MET since I didn't know if I'd ever be back through.

I spent a big chunk of the day trying to get my phone dried out. I had cracked it earlier in the summer at karaoke I think, and it was drizzling very lightly in the city when I got in. At some point my phone just turned off and being in the big city alone with no way to contact anyone isn't ideal. I went to a CVS and used some of the limited cash in my pocket to buy some clear tape and I covered up all the breaches after I did my best to dry it out. It functioned pretty badly for the rest of its life and I replaced it maybe a month later.

Incidentally I've visited it three times in total so far. The second time was with Anna at the end of Summer in 2019, and the third time was with Caitlin on Valentine's Day of 2020.

I wanted to go back and take a more thorough look at the MET. At the end of Summer 2019, I got Anna to go with me and we flew out. I could just do that at on a bit of a whim back then.

We stopped by the USS Intrepid at Pier 86. It's a World War II era aircraft carrier, an Essex-class specifically, so it's only about 800 feet long, compared to the 1100 or so that nuclear carriers tend to start at.

It's filled to the brim with airplanes. You may recall that I am rather fond of aircraft. It was such a delight to be there and to show my obsession to my best friend. If you ever feel like having a tour of the National Air Force Museum in Dayton, all you have to do is ask.

My Dad had told me a few stories of his working on an aircraft carrier in the 60s, the USS America specifically. One was of pulling the chains to bring her into harbor and getting to see them in person I started to understand how herculean my Dad was in his youth (and he is still one of the physically strongest people I've ever known).

They also had a nuclear submarine there as well as the space shuttle Enterprise. I was happy to finally get a glimpse of it myself. They transported it past Tucson on the back of a jet just after I'd left and everyone else had gotten a great view of it passing through. It unfortunately wasn't in licking distance though. Nope, not getting any context for that here either.

We of course took a jaunt by the MET, where I got to enjoy more of the sights. And we took the Statten Island Ferry and got a great view of the Statue of Liberty. Anna's first foray into the country was in the area so she was a fantastic local guide.

By this point life was pretty good. I made a good wage, my bills were pretty low, I was in a steady relationship. My Dad was sick but I mostly just tried to ignore that.

In 2020, it was damn cold, but I was hellbent on doing something super duper special for Valentine's Day with Caitlin. We split airfare and the Airbnb and hit the MET of course. I'd already subjected her to my tour of the museum in Dayton.

We marveled at how much Egyptian stuff there was. It's troubling now that we're more aware of imperialism than we used to be. Caitlin cried upon seeing the Book of the Dead, seeing all the treasures of some ancient dead lady and knowing she lived and died just like we're in the middle of. The city was pretty exhausting, so we had to use a chunk of time napping.

She'd been through before, so wasn't very disappointed to miss the MoMA as the line was obscene, though she went on and on about how big Starry Night really is. At the end of the day, I took her up to the top of the Empire State Building.

Now that was a date to remember. If only how absolutely fucking freezing the windy side of the building was vs how warm the outdoor torches kept the opposite end.

During that trip, our host's mother had just passed away the day before, so we tried our best to be scarce and not need anything. And I tried my best not to think about cancer.

I've gone a few other times. My company used to have an office in Edison, NJ that they'd send me to now and again. I'd make my way up to Manhattan as much as I could in the evenings on those trips.

Mostly I just walked around the High Line and found crappy pizza places what make those greasy extra hot slices that remind me of childhood. Marveled at how the car parks worked.

New York's a lovely place, but I'd probably not enjoy living there too much.

My company's started sending me places again. And I've gotten to do a few different trips this past year. That office in Edison isn't there anymore, having been combined with the one in Philly. There's a chance I'll be sent that way at some point.

I don't know when I'll see New York again. I'd like a chance to stop by some of the other museums, like MoMA

I often get a little antsy living in Columbus. It's not a bad place to live at all, probably the best I could hope for. But it is a bit of a glorified suburb.

And it's not like it's impossible to visit New York. I could even probably still do it on a whim like I used to, though it'd likely be a bit tighter than I like. Plus I need to get someone to visit Snyper.

Still, I haven't seen most of the city. I've explored Manhattan a lot but other than that only a cursory visit to Brooklyn. And getting harassed at JFK when I got back from Ukraine. That's a whole other story though.

No idea what the future holds. I'm a little wary of airports in the current atmosphere, and especially of international travel. I took a quick jaunt by Greyhound up to Milwaukee this January to do a cool LARP convention event, though the winter wasn't exactly kind to me.

I'd planned to try for a trip to Alaska at the end of winter, but some unforeseen financial obligations put a pin in that. I still mean to try for it again.

And of course there is one thing I'd like to do in New York, and that's catch a Broadway or Off-Broadway show. They tend to be (relatively) cheap in the winters, so maybe I might brave the cold one more time.

Ah, to dream outside the shire.