Memories of Being Eighteen Years Old in Manhattan

Posted by Moose on February 25th, 2008. Filed under: Adventures.

Shrieking like an over-caffeinated hyena at midnight, eight hours before finals start. The entire campus troops out of the library onto the lawn or opens the nearest window to release a semester’s worth of frustration. The night echoes with howls.

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Watching an episode of Ellen, the one with the first woman-woman kiss in television history, on a dorm TV with more lesbians than I’ve ever seen in one room.

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Understanding what “eating disorder” meant while watching her hip bones sharpen and her hair fall out.

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March of the Ghouls on Halloween in St. John’s cathedral. Men in spider suits rappel down columns while masked creatures on stilts move stiffly through the smoke.

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The corner market with resident cat that always naps on the apples.

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Spending the first Thanksgiving away from home in the emergency room with a friend who has kidney stones. After she’s released, we buy shrimp salad and Entenmann’s cake at the corner store and watch Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

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An unfamiliar scarf scratching my neck while my boots crunch through the snow.

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Salsa dancers in the aisle of the Nuyorican. I’ve never seen salsa dancing. I’m amazed two people can move together so quickly.

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Opening a cardboard box from home to find crackers, cheez wiz, and a bottle of bubbles. We blow bubbles out the sixth floor window and watch people on the street below jump to catch them.

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  4. Foiled
  5. Drunk and Full of Cake
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14 Responses to Memories of Being Eighteen Years Old in Manhattan

  1. Nora
    February 26th, 2008 at 3:09 am

    Wait, don’t I recall the dorm being set on fire? Or was that when you were 19?

  2. Teej
    February 26th, 2008 at 7:40 am

    I love the last sentence of this post. Captures my imagination.

  3. She Likes Purple
    February 26th, 2008 at 9:31 am

    I loved this. Inspired to do the same. Any day now I’ll have an original thought :)

  4. Moose's Maw
    February 26th, 2008 at 9:55 am

    Could I possibly have sent you Cheese Whiz?!?!? How disgusting!

  5. Nothing But Bonfires
    February 26th, 2008 at 10:58 am

    Oh, I love the last one. I would totally have jumped for those bubbles.

  6. Camels & Chocolate
    February 26th, 2008 at 11:53 am

    I don’t know if I would have been mature enough to land in NYC at just 18. Heck, I don’t know if I was even mature enough to move there when I was 22. By 25, though, I’ve got it figured out.

  7. jess
    February 26th, 2008 at 12:22 pm

    i just barely watched “breakfast at tiffany’s” within the last 6 months…for the first time ever.

    and i loved it. i finally “get” the buzz that surrounds audrey hepburn.

  8. Leah
    February 26th, 2008 at 1:02 pm

    Good stuff, Moose. Well done.

  9. Stephanie
    February 26th, 2008 at 1:45 pm

    Shrimp salad and Breakfast at Tiffany’s! Sounds lovely.

  10. Moose
    February 26th, 2008 at 5:25 pm

    Nora: The dorm was never actually on fire. But my 2 a.m. snack of Rice-a-Roni was.

    Teej: Thanks! Blowing bubbles onto the streets of NY is one of the best things you can ever do. I recommend it to everyone.

    SLP: Original thoughts are highly overrated. :)

    Maw: Yeah, you did. I imagine you were concerned about the French brie going moldy before the box could make it through the US postal service.

    NBB: Watching stern NYers jumping for bubbles was definitely an experience. And I can totally see you jumping to catch bubbles. :)

    C&C: I think I’d be more scared to move back NOW than I was going there for college.

    Jess: Audrey Hepburn in her sleeping mask in that movie is one of my favorite images.

    Leah: Thanks!

    Stephanie: Shrimp salad really does sound good. Note to self: Never think about shrimp salad when hungry and far from any form of food.

  11. All Adither
    February 27th, 2008 at 6:37 am

    College in Manhattan. I can’t even imagine such a thing. Though I’d like to. I went to school at a huge Big Ten U. I have lots of good memories, but it was a farm town. Pretty different from city life.

  12. metalia
    February 27th, 2008 at 9:11 am

    Oh, this is just perfect.

  13. skeezix
    March 1st, 2008 at 9:11 pm

    What a great post, I might steal the idea and replicate it for myself.

    I’ll admit I’m impressed that your friend ate shrimp salad and cake after her kidney stones. Usually I’m on steady diet of saltine crackers and coke for several days after a bout with those vicious little wankers.

  14. The Over-Thinker
    March 4th, 2008 at 4:34 pm

    Oooo…March of the Ghouls–that sounds so cool!
    Great post, Moose.

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