Starting 2007 in NYC

I left work early and was walking through Times Square this afternoon on my way to the train. I know they say that real New Yorkers avoid 42nd Street between Sixth and Eighth Avenues and all other tourist-strewn stretches, such as Bleeker Street between Sixth Avenue and La Guardia Place or St. Marks Place between Second and Third Avenues, but I still love walking through Times Square before and after work. I wonder how long it'll take for that to wear off.

As I was about to cross Broadway on 43rd Street today, I looked up at the "2007" that is waiting to be lit at midnight on Sunday. I first noticed it last week while standing on that same curb, and I had looked up at it for so long that I missed the signal to cross the street. New Yorkers and tourists had flowed around me as if I were a rock in midstream as I stood there looking up at the numbers. I think my mouth might have even been half open.

Approximately a year and a half ago, when I first decided to stop talking about moving to New York City and actually make the moves toward doing it - stop talking and start walking as they say - I had told myself that I would not start 2007 in North Carolina.

I am five months into becoming a New Yorker, and I am four days away from my goal. It hit me last week as I stood there staring agape at the "2007" over Times Square.