Some of my friends have asked me whether it was hard to move from New York to New Paltz. I must admit: It wasn't. Going from the Big Apple to a place surrounded by big apple orchards was made much easier by the Internet.
Even without the Web, we could still cheer ourselves with the fact that we're just 80 miles away from Gotham, and part of our decision to move to the NP was predicated by proximity to NY; after all, with our kids' 6 [sic] grandparents on the Upper West Side and my biweekly unicycle club get-togethers, we wanted to stay fairly close to The City (capital T, capital C). Of course, those visits are only a few weekends each month and wouldn't be enough to sate a city mouse who felt trapped by all of the open space of a rural community. What makes a move to the country so easy is that we can still connect to our interests and our friends via the computer.
In my case, I was thrilled to learn about the International Scrabble Community (or "ISC"), where people from around the globe (mainly the US) can challenge eachother to a highly competitive round of their favorite game. Thanks to the 'chat' feature, Scrabblers like me can also keep in touch with distant buddies even when dozens or hundreds of miles apart. I discovered the ISC a year before we moved, and I knew that it would make the transition easier. I can't make it to the weekly meeting of the NY Scrabble club, but I can play a dozen fast games online everyday, and in some ways, that's even better. I've kept up with people I knew from before and have made new pals. Can you spot one of the 6-letter words using these letters: DEFINR? *
I've also used the Internet to connect with people via my blogs (especially this one), and that's been quite rewarding. If you'd like to get in touch, just drop me a comment!
EBay and other online purchasing sites have helped, too, since we're not completely dependent on local shops for all of our purchases. iTunes has taken the place of an actual music store (for better and worse), and NetFlix has kept us fairly current with movies and tv series.
So what's been the hardest part about moving out of the big City? Was it getting used to the smogless air? The quiet nights with nary a car alarm to disturb our slumber? The endless search for a parking spot? No way. The hardest thing about our move is when a storm disrupts our satellite Internet connection. Oh, the horror!
_________________________________________
* Answer: There are several words in the letters DEFINR: 'redfin' (a type of fish), 'finder,' and 'friend.'
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment