I Wish I Was "SPECIAL" like Derek Jeter

Where are my plus-sized people at?!  I finally figured out why there are no fat people in New York.  Turns out you walk A LOT in this great city.  I've probably walked about the length of a marathon since I've been here.  Not that I'm complaining, because I definitely need the exercise. 

Speaking of exercise, I went to my local 24-Hour Fitness in Madison Square Park area.  It's about a 2/3 of a mile walk from where I'm living, so I get a nice warm-up before I workout and a nice cool down on my way home.  So on my first day at the gym I walked in and my membership should work there since I can access any 24-Hour in the country...or so I thought.  Turns out the 3 locations of the 24-Hour's in Manhattan are "special" because they were designed by Derek Jeter or something.  Big Whoop!  Anyway, they are pretty nice, but nothing "special" in my humble opinion.  So they explained to me that I could workout for free this time but I would have to upgrade my plan to something that would cover the Ultra Sport or pay $15 everytime I came in.  I guess the monthly rate in NYC to workout at these "special" gym's and everything else below it is $120/month!  I know right, ridiculous!  But he told me that they could currently offer it to me for $69.99 and I would only have to pay the difference in what I'm paying now, which is $10.  Technically I don't pay my membership, my lovely mother does so paying an extra $60/month was not something I had in my budget and not sure I can continue.  I freaked out a bit because I really need to keep working out if I'm going to be standing on my feet all day in a kitchen baking up goodies.  But since I have the greatest mother in the whole world she made it work.  Love ya Mom!  The good thing is when I move back to Seattle I can downgrade back to the $10/month.  Crisis averted, phew!

Since I knew I would be walking more around NYC I brought a few pairs of tennis shoes with me, one to workout and one to walk.  Well it's been raining nonstop for 2 days now and not like the misty on and off rain we get most of the time in Seattle, but it's been pouring buckets out here and I mean like BIG TIME buckets!  It's been windy, thunder, lightening and hail this morning.  Both my tennis shoes are soaking wet and my jeans were drenched all the way up to my knee.  Thanks goodness for dryers.

I went out and had to buy some items that I never really owned in Seattle, which I know will sound weird to some of you, since I probably should have owned these things already: an umbrella and some rainboots.  Now depending on how long this weather lasts I'm not sure how long I can keep my umbrella.  It's like when it snows in Seattle and people abandon their cars on the side of the road.  It's so windy here that there is an umbrella burial ground out there.  I've walked past about 30 of their mangles bodies on the streets just yesterday.  I'm hoping Big Blue and I are in for the long haul, I'm a poor college student now and I can't afford to keep buying new ones. My new rubber boots are tall and I wanted a solid color but they only had designed ones.  I chose these black and white patterned ones and they pretty styling if I say so myself.  I might just wear them everyday until it stops raining and then maybe just for funsies on a medium weather day, whatever that means.

I think the reason I've never had any of this stuff is that you don't really walk a lot in Seattle.  You mostly drive around from place to place, so running from a building to your car is like a few seconds.  Whereas here in NYC you are outside most if not all of the time.  It's those slight differences that really make you feel unprepared and I never thought I would say this, but I miss the Seattle rain.