State and Main is funny stuff. The situations are a bit worn out, but the punch lines are mostly great, and there are lots and lots of them. With its huge ensemble cast and typically Mamet staccato rhythms, the whole thing reminded me of nothing so much as an episode of Sports Night, only funny all the way through instead of only trying to be funny 1/3 of the time.

Enough about State and Main. Now let's talk about 3rd and Pine. After the movie I thought I'd have a sandwich at this falafel shop my friends have been recommending. I figured, weekday, two in the afternoon, surely there'll be a meter open... Ha. Ha, ha, ha. No, I got caught in an insane crush of holiday traffic, and even though I gave up on the falafel almost immediately, it took me just about forever to extricate myself. This was my third attempt to try this restaurant. And as I sat in the middle of a rapidly calcifying traffic grid, in a city with neither a decent mass transit system nor sufficient parking, trying to start a 20-mile trip home that would end up taking two hours and 35 minutes — that's 50 minutes longer than the movie — I looked through my drizzle-spotted windshield at the endless gray sky and thought, "Wait a minute... why am I here again?" Why am I about to take a bunch of jobs and commit to another year 3000 miles from my sweetie in a metro area that I don't even like? What is there for me here? And I couldn't think of an answer.

So start spreadin' the news, I'm leaving in February: New York, New York. Not for good — in 2002 or thereabouts I'll be back on the move. Of course, given that my last few stretches of time in one place have been ten months, sixteen months, eighteen months and now twenty months, you probably knew that already. Let's put the over/under on Brooklyn at 17. Place your bets.

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