The simple reason for this is that I don't want to be bored. I don't want to ever fully relax, either, because the next step after that is boredom. New York may have many problems - drugs, violence, prostitution, etc. - but one thing is guaranteed: it'll always be exciting. When I'm in my golden years, I'll be more predisposed than ever to just do nothing, but where's that going to get me? Imagine - I'm sixty, with another good twenty years of my life to go, and I've settled down in the country in a small farmhouse. Isn't that a waste? It's places like the country we go to so we can calm down for a bit - not a place where we can live.

I'm perfectly content to slow down every once in a while, but I don't want to stop. If I retired in New York, then my life could be just beginning.

The basic reason for this is simple: I deplore awkwardness in all its forms, and when someone's staring at you for a whole day, never really saying anything, you end up feeling awkward. Really awkward. An irritating talkative person, on the other hand, you can go one of two ways: one, you can put their voice away as background noise and get back to sleeping/reading/listening to music; or two, you can actually get to know them. Some of the most interesting people I've met have voices that make me want to kill them.