9/11 will always have an undeniable significance in New York, but it also happens to be my NYC anniversary. In 2005 on September 11th, I took a Dominican shuttle bus from Providence to New York with a bunch of suitcases, my bass guitar, and next to no prospects. It was, as plans go, a terrible one. But somehow it worked, and four years later, I’m still here. I’m still slightly shocked I haven’t bombed out of the city yet.

I don’t have any milestones to report this year – not because I didn’t do anything, but because I stopped keeping track. This is, of course, the city that never sleeps. I have some things I’d like to accomplish before I hit Year Five, and I’d like to stay in the mindset of “what I want to do” over “what I did.” So I’m going to try and look forward this year. I saw a lot of my extended family and old family friends this summer, and a lot of them asked, “So you think you’re going to stay in New York for a while, then?”

The answer to that question was always, definitively, “Yes.” I can’t imagine moving anywhere else right now, except maybe LA, and only if someone offered me an awesome job. And even then it would be begrudgingly. I’ve built too much in New York. Too many friendships, too many ongoing shows, too many good creative environments and too much access to talented people to leave now. Not before I do the things I want to do. That’s the goal this year. Get those things done, continue to enjoy life. Got your back, NYC.