The Personality of Cities

I was strolling along Manhattan the other day in the wrong direction, as usual.  The snow was beating against my sad, limp excuse for an umbrella as i used it to shield my face from the headwind.  I got lost in China town again, and I managed to use the most unnecessarily expensive route via the subway because every time I thought I was close to my destination I got off only to realize that I was far as fuck.

But like any city I'm not accustomed to, the transportation becomes muscle memory with routine use.  This is assuming I have muscles (I hardly believe it myself, but I do!).  During my stay in Tokyo, I noticed the city was planned out with various side streets that led to more side streets on the sides of streets.  You can gain your bearings pretty easily for routes you frequent.  But— that is only a select few areas.  I've wandered over 4 hours through Tokyo suburbs at night following the wrong set of train tracks with a beer and cigarette to light my way.  I considered sleeping in a playground and feared i would startle locals in the area.  Luckily, I scrounged up some broken Japanese to ask a police officer standing outside his outpost how to get home.  He put his guard up when I approached him initially until he realized I was lost and trying to get home. He proceeded to happily pull out a map and gave me directions (THAT I UNDERSTOOD!).  And the second time, well, I don't know why I thought I knew where I was going after my first journey.  This was the flaw of going out in a city that shuts down their trains in the early hours of the next day.

There is also another thing that brews in highly populated areas, and that is the strange.  Maybe not necessarily strange —more different.  It seems that it is in human nature to try and prove one's unique ability; ranging from, the ostentatious fashion to the projecting personality.  Some people seem to dislike being categorized as ants buzzing around doing ant things.

Or cat things

That being said, I am one of those people (not a master cat trainer unfortunately).  I desperately try to stand out otherwise I have this gut feeling of being lost inside humanity.  I don't want to be a grain of sand in the hourglass, I want to be the one staring at it from the outside.  This is why i love to create.  It is an ability to say "Hey i'm something"  and even if it is a small something... it's better than nothing.

However, not everyone wants to show off.  Introverts exist in the background of all our lives.  They peacefully try to co-exist in-between the big acts.  Carefully crafting their own little worlds for themselves to live in.

Do I think everyone needs to prove something? No, not unless they want to prove something.  I have my own reasons for doing what I do.  Don't you?

It is up to all of us to lead our own lives.  I think the biggest thing I've learned by living is that...you should be living for whatever it is you enjoy.  Not what someone else enjoys, not what you "should" enjoy, but what makes your face flicker in content and passion.  Even if that means letting cats perch upon your head in public.

-Joe