The Movie in My Mind

I don’t know exactly what it is about New York, but there is definitely a magnetic force that has a hold on me.

Perhaps it’s the films I watched throughout my life so far. The idea that walking the streets of New York City will be like stepping straight into the movie of my life.

I recently asked my Facebook friends what their favourite films set in, or about, New York were. Here is what they came up with:

Home Alone 2     Rosemary’s Baby     Taxi Driver     Annie Hall     Private Parts     Gangs of New York       King Kong     Ghostbusters     Serendipity    Sex And The City     Manhattan     Big Business     Kissing Jessica Stein    The Squid and The Whale     Arthur      Arthur 2 - On The Rocks     Wall Street     Breakfast at Tiffany’s     On the Town     Serpico     Reign Over Me     An American Tail     The Secret of My Success     In the Cut

I watch a lot of films, and I have seen many of these, but not all of them. I have some DVD renting to do! Of course there are a million more films about NYC – would love to hear what your favourites are.

Will my idealized notion of New York being one big film set be crushed when I eventually do arrive? Will my feet hurt with all the walking around I plan on doing? Will I be mugged in Central Park? Will I leave my purse in a yellow cab by mistake? Will I queue for hours and pay through the nose to get to the top of the Empire State Building? Will I feel lost and lonely in the big city?

Or will it feel like home?

I think about old school mates who have perhaps gone off to university for a few years after school finished, but returned to our old village and settled down with a local partner. Married, bought a house, had a baby or two. It must be a comfortable life for them. A secure life. Perhaps there was a moment, who knows how long ago, when this may have been something I also saw for myself. But I’m sure the feeling didn’t last long. It certainly hasn’t been there for a very long time. I have a restlessness in me that keeps longing for bigger things. Funnily though, this drive is still constrained within the need to have a full-time job with regular money coming in. I haven’t got the courage yet to branch out as a freelancer. But I know that will come eventually. Perhaps once I’ve paid off my credit card..!

And the feeling hasn’t diminished since I’ve found myself suddenly with a lovely boyfriend. If anything, the desire for adventure is even stronger – I just want to run off and have fun in NYC with him! Living in NZ is strange – I love it, and I forget sometimes that I am actually living in a different country from that in which I grew up. This should be exciting right? But perhaps it’s the fact that I’m still hidden away down this corner of the world, that I feel a little closed in. The really exciting part about living this life is that I never know what’s around the corner. Where I will end up next. What’s going to happen next week, next month, next year. I’m 30 years old and definitely not ready to slow down just yet! Bring on NYC!