New York City has always been the place I saw on TV in that Gossip Girl episode, in movies as the center of all crimes, on the news when the analysts were speaking about the recent market drop. Before last summer, I had never thought about working in New York City.
I remember waking up in the morning and getting ready to go to work, only to get into an elevator to get downstairs to the Clark St. subway station. Even though the average time for NYC commute lies around 30 minutes, my train stopped 2 stops from Wall St., 3 stops away from Fulton St., and it only took me 5 minutes to walk to our office building. There were a few times when I had to walk across Ground Zero to get into Merrill Lynch's trading floor in World Financial Center, and I would be stunned by the harbor view of Hudson River after I got out of the building. There were also a few times when I had to get on a 20-minute train ride to go to the new Bank of America Tower, which would soon be our new office as well as BofAML's trading floor, just one block from the Times Square subway station. I would be standing at the security checkpoint watching the glass gates slide seamlessly down and in to allow employee passages and admiring the virtual logo display at the end of the elevator hall before getting into a button-less elevator to find out that elevator stops were controlled by a panel outside in the hall prior to entry. The building was so fancy that it made me think there must have been some sort of aesthetic requirements set for all the buildings that made it into Times Square, the center of Manhattan.
With a city that never sleeps, working in NYC has never been more fun than I could imagine. The skylines were always lit up by the lights even when it was 3am at night. Streets were jammed with cars and people that whoever decided to drive in the middle of Times Square must have gone out of their minds. There was almost never a time when you can stand around the area without seeing a yellow taxi 20 feet away from you. Night times and weekends were full of concerts/Shakespeares in the park, big apple barbecues, Broadways, parades, food fests, lounges, bars, clubs...(http://newyork.timeout.com/)
Today, I woke up, put on a pair of jeans, and with the car radio tuned to AM 740, I drove 45 minutes south on I280. I met some smart people and a lot of passionate Yahoo!'s during the day and I came home with a Y! backpack, 3 Y! folders, and a MacBook Pro. There were no trains, no skyscrapers, no lights, no taxis... but there's a very strong sense of anticipation and excitement that I have never ever felt before.
Working in Merrill, or working in Manhattan, is a prestige. Carrie wears high-end apparels, walks in heels, talks to rich bank[work]ers, and does not like it when her new phone's area code was 347. Working in Yahoo!, however, is about impacting 1 OUT OF EVERY 2 people online.
A typical day of a person consist of 8 hours of sleep, 8 hours of work, and 8 hours of life (assuming the occasional / persistent overtimes are compromised by weekend hours). If only I can combine 8 hours of Yahoo! work with 8 hours of New York life, I would be...
... dreaming. XD
There are a lot of sections missing in http://www.timeout.com/san-francisco/... >.<
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