I've been meaning to do this for awhile...

Time Out New York has a list of 118 things you gotta do before you can call yourself a New Yorker. Let's see how many I managed to accomplish in my seven weeks there:

1) Order a coffee, regular, one milk, two sugars
I was a bit skeptical at first because I usually have my coffee with Half and Half/Coffee-Mate and sugar, never milk, but once I tried it, there was no turning back. I now balk at the idea of a vanilla latte...

2) Have a personal water-bug/rat horror story at the ready
It wasn't exactly horrible but I did spy a particulary large and very black rat scurrying among the train tracks and another time, I was waiting for the bus in The Bronx and I caught a rat scurrying up the very steps I was sitting on...

3) Get dripped on from above and hope it's water from an AC
I guess this is a summer phenomenon in New York. There were plenty of times when I would be walking down 43rd street and feel a drop on my face, look up, note the lack of clouds, and see the AC units sticking out of the buildings...

4) Claim a favorite spot in Central Park that doesn't include the word sheep, meadow, lawn, or Bethesda
Yes, I do. It was Sunday and I found myself walking north and through the park trying to get to the H&M in Harlem because I had yet to figure out that there are crosstown buses that take you from the eastside to the westside and so I was walking, walking, walking and happened upon this cutesy lake with ducks. And did you also know there's an outdoor swimming pool in the same area?

6) Master the Sidewalk Shuffle
Walking west on 43rd is way less crowded than walking along 42nd. And I somehow managed to ditch my California stroll and really haul ass.

7) Identify August by the smell
I assume this means that August is really, really humid thus making the garbage bags on the street stink up but my precious few days in New York in August were fabulous. Blue skies and cool breezes.

8) Buy a pair of socks at a street fair
Or three belts for $10. Same difference.

9) Incorporate a lexicon of Yiddish terms into your vocabulary
My favorite is schlep.

10) Indulge in a classic pastrami on rye
Katz's was great. Carnegi Deli could go to hell. Zabar's was fantastic.

11) Go to the Bronx for something other than a baseball game
Hello? I lived there for 7 weeks.

12) Stay home on Friday and Saturdays because they're for amateurs
Mos def. My drinking started on Tuesday and ended on Thursday.

13) Get lost in New Jersey-even though you can see the Manhattan skyline
After the Indian wedding reception at The Best Western, we circled around the Jersey suburbs looking for the turnpike until some nice Jersey man pointed us in the right direction.

14) Devise a subway escape plan
I actually don't have one but a girl at work talked about how she carries a flashlight in her purse if such a situation should occur. And I think during the heat wave in July, there were trains that had blackouts and people had to get out onto the tracks and walk out. If that were me, I would probably step on a rat...

15) Fall asleep on the subway and miss your stop (bonus points if your waller gets taken during your nap)
I didn't fall asleep but it was one in the morning and I was engrossed in my crossword puzzle, listening to the iPod, and fantasizing about The Jersey Boys show which I had just seen that night and then I started eavesdropping on a conversation between these high school boys and before I knew what was happening, I missed E 180th and immediately got off at Pelham Pkway. I was definitely disoriented once I got down to the street and had visions of myself on the five o'clock news and wondering who would miss me once I was gone but then I found the right bus stop.

16) Know exactly which car to get on based on where the turnstiles are at your destination stop
I definitely know the Times Square stop like the back of my hand now. Except I think this one is worded funny. Don't they mean "know which turnstile exit leads to where based on which car you get out of"?

17) Say to somebody, without irony, "whaddayagonnado?"
And still using it in L.A.

18) Push your groceries in one of those old-lady carts
With dignity I might add. Ok, not really but it did make my trip to Path-Mark a lot easier.

19) Tell a cabbie how to get there
After arriving at LaGuardia, I took a cab to The Bronx armed with my sheet of precise directions. And I still had to listen to him bemoaning the fact that he was going to The Bronx

20) Order dinner at Peter Luger without a menu
Ok, so we looked at the menu but I think it's enough that I knew about the 1-2-3 ordering. A "1" meaning enough steak for one person. "2" being enough for two people, etc.

21) Doze through car alarms, sirens and drunks shouting in the street—and have a hard time sleeping without them
The night I drank too much wine and passed out at my co-worker's apartment in the East Village, I woke up with a miserable hangover to the sounds of construction and garbage trucks but then I realized THAT I WAS IN AN APARTMENT IN THE EAST VILLAGE IN NEW YORK AND LIFE COULD NOT GET ANY BETTER.

22) Feel a great sense of relief when your plane flies into JFK or La Guardia
Or when your bus from D.C finally lets you out at 34th and 7th and you get on the 2 train headed for The Bronx. Sigh.

New York is great and the sooner I get myself back there, the sooner I'll be one happy Nina.