Blogging here and blogging there, blogging blogging everywhere

This writing rhythm might become the default pattern for a while. Given that I make my 10 to 6 “living” blogging for Discover, I’m usually game for something different when I get back to the house in Brooklyn, or still working. Either way, mid-week posts could be few and far between. Also, there may be an exposed wire in the house, because when it rains, as it is this afternoon, the internet fades in and out.

Life is good, I suppose. I’m getting fairly good at my job. Typically I’m expected to find stories to write about for Discoblog, which takes a chunk of time. But it’s fun, I get to write plenty, and I’m going to start working on ideas for larger online-only stories as well. So that’s exciting. And if you have good ideas for science stuff you want to read about, you should tell me. In addition, I perform a number of intern drudgery tasks, like putting in hyperlinks to outside sources in magazine articles when they go online. However, those kind of paint-by-number activities can provide a nice break from thinking though stories.

The newness of New York has started to recede amazingly quickly as I’ve grown accustomed to packing into the same subway and cubicle. In the middle of an office away from windows you can forget you’re in Manhattan in short order. Frequently I walk out of the office onto 5th Avenue and think, “Oh yeah. Here I am.”

Thankfully the city is enormous, so I won’t run out of things to find anytime soon. Last night I walked over the Brooklyn Bridge for the first time, which is just as gorgeous as you’d imagine. Then I walked through lower Manhattan listening to country music to preserve the feeling that I’m a foreigner here. And wandering randomly in a northward direction I accidentally found little Italy, which was having a carnival. Funnel cakes, bright lights, shouting carnies. The whole bit. There’s no better feeling than an unguided journey consummating in something big. I felt like I was in “Big Fish.”

But let me rein in my gush. I would love to stay in New York at the end of the summer, if it turns out to be at all possible. And when you’re standing on the Brooklyn Bridge at dusk looking down the length of Manhattan, it seems like living anywhere less spectacular would be sufficiently unsatisfactory to be avoided at all cost. The nice thing about New York, though, is that there are enough foul smells, over-packed subway cars, ridiculous rents, and unsavory individuals to keep the thought of greener pastures in the back of your mind. Leaving in August would be a downer, but there’s always the awfulness to boost your spirits.

Well, I have to go -- the World Science Festival is here in the city this weekend, so I'm going to NYU to see a presentation on science & sports. May be blogging it Monday for work. Take it easy, world.