When I moved to New York City the subway cost $1.50. A weekly pass was $21 and when your friends came they could get a "Fun Pass" for $6. My first job paid $10/hr, then I got the graveyard shift at Anytime where I could make $57 from midnight to 8AM. A decent apartment on Bedford and N11th was $980 a share, $1200 if you were a fucking dotcom millionaire and wanted a 1br. My cellphone was $60/mo, renting 2 movies cost $9, but you could get a bottle of Bulleit Bourbon for $19. I could make $75 for writing a book review, but the 30 day metrocard went up to $70. For a while I had a print-column called "This Week on The Interner" that paid $45. Record needles were one hundred and fifty seven fucking dollars. My big break came as a Sunday night DJ gig for 10% of the bar! I made $10 (and gave it to the bartender because she was nice). "Motherfucker drinks and cabs" was $50, but not including "$18 cab to work (late) the next morning." I filled 18 notebooks with my satanically organized bookkeeping and other bad ideas, read 516 books, wrote 8 novel-length disasters, one delightful memoir. I had 5 girlfriends, more great dates than I could have imagined, put 1,499 numbers in my phone (curiously not ONE of them from NYC's 929 area code), came in 2nd at Moth Grandslam, went on 6 NPR shows, played "DJ" in 7 music videos, and had a tryout for Japanese Foodnetwork. If I were an accountant I'd say that moving to NY is an unsustainable business model. But whenever anyone asks if I'd consider moving, I assume they must be kidding. (at New York City)