A Healthy Sacrifice

I’m pissed. Oh baby, I’m pissed. I’ve managed to hold onto that parking space for four days already, avoiding errands and all outings that involve the use of my car. And tomorrow I am leaving for Maine, a ski week of scaring the hell out of everybody in front of me on the mountain, meatballs and red sauce, bacon and eggs, beer, a week of snow and cold and hope of seeing moose, and a week that I’d love to leave my car in that great parking spot right outside of my apartment. But my subway station is out of service this weekend, and I have to take a trip into the city because, stupid me, I’ve decided to get healthy. I have gotten involved in a contest that has given me a three month free membership to a $1,500 dollar a year gym (with a locker room that has individual showers… with individual shower doors!). Today, too soon, I have to go into the city to meet with a trainer and most likely curse my agreement to this contest. And because my laziness scale has weighed in favor of losing my parking space over taking a shuttle bus to an operational subway station to take me to the gym, I will later wince my way out of the gym, and gingerly lower myself to my car seat so I can drive back home and circle my neighborhood cursing this parking space I’m about to give up. City living ain’t easy.

3 Responses to “A Healthy Sacrifice”


  1. 1 Bjay

    Nav,
    Perhaps you should consider moving out, I mean not only do I have enough parking for a small village in my driveway I have a gym in my house. I m not bragging, im merely suggesting that with every choice come the consequences. for example the two most exciting things to happen to me in the past two days involve fowl. Yesterday as i went to pump the excess water from the pool in anticipation of today’s heavy precipitation, i had the crap scared out of me by a guinee hen lying in ambush behind my wood pile. Then today on the way into school i was held up in traffic by a turkey, really. And by the time the children arrived for school he was right outside the front door boasting with full plumage and distrupting the usual arrival procedures.
    So if you think you’re ready to trade the hustle and or bustle of city life for ample parking and adventures involving fowl the burbs would love to have you.
    Gobble gobble,
    BJay
    p.s. stay tuned for plans this weekend, that is if you’re not still skiing.

  2. 2 RPM

    Rich,

    Although it is four blocks south of you, we almost always find a spot on 51st, just below the abandoned Schwartz Chemical factory. It’s affectionately known as “Rape Alley”, and can be easily identified by the old, long-haired homeless guy who can sometimes be seen doing handstand pushups against the side of the building.

    Your neighbor,

    Rich

  3. 3 DLM

    My record for circling the streets for a parking spot near my Manhattan apartment was 2hrs, 5min. It was in the year 2000, and that day, I had a day off (I think it was my only day off that year) and just wanted to stay in bed, but got up early for no other reason than to move the car to the other side of the street so I wouldn’t get a ticket or get towed for blocking street cleaning, and over 2 hours later, having finally parked about 15 blocks away in Spanish Harlem, I stumbled back into my apartment cursing out loud and scaring people on the elevator. Still, you gotta love the excitement of the hunt for that perfect spot. Even now, at home I park on the street in the city of Pittsburgh, although for some reason there’s almost always a spot, right in front of my apartment. Boring. Alas, those days will be officially over next week, when I move into my first ever house, with a 2-car integral garage. And in addition, what will I do with my ice scraper? Boring.

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