good things about living in a city

hi. today i am surveying the positive aspects of living in a city, because, you know, sometimes you forget to appreciate the more specific parts of your public life (!)
so lets make a list like our dear cowbell!
*i like to eat foods from different parts of the world! did you know that yogurt comes from eurasia?
*you can always find crazy people! for instance, the other day, i was people watching and there was a greasy fat sportswear clad 40 yo dude sweaty, leaning to one side, listening to headphones AND smoking with no hands! cartoon character i dare say not!
*you don't have to look at people but alternately, you can stare with no one noticing!
*drinking in industrial areas (la: alleys, ny: roofs) is fun! the other day i dropped a lighter from a 5th floor fire escape! falling lighters is so CITY!!!!!
the very best thing about living in a city though is being able to observe people and talk about them. this is especially fun in a city that is not fluent in your language, where the discussion can take place right in front of said specimen. did you know if you have a face tatoo, you can apply for state disability because you are considered legally insane for getting a tatoo on your face? they think you are crazy because you have sentanced yourself to a hard life of alienation and social dysfunction. i mean, aren't there tons of other less visible symptoms of debilitating insanity? i want my money back.
so, i am reading guns germs and steel, which has started to influence my dreams. i have been having lots of dreams of prehistorical americas and all the giant mamalids that used to inhabit n america (GIANT SLOTH! CHEETAHS! REINDEER!- not actually americas!!). i also had a dream about the flys that fly around the apartment. and about the inca empire.
pretty awesome. has anyone read the account of pizzaro's meeting with the inca emperor? catholic dude hands him the bible and atahuallpa throws the book back at him! now thats what i call conviction. i am interested in making some animal based mythological fiction. i'm thinking childrens books explaining the evolution of the disintegration of our political system and ecological well being. like the cartoons about europe pre worldwar II where russia is a bear and austria is an eagle. is anyone else interested in outsider mythological illustrated fiction?
back to all things city, i would like the opportunity to build a city from scratch. think about all the opportunity constantine had when he got to build his cities. or the pharoahs. now thats civic action. all you have to do is find enough people to move rocks. i'm thinking with good enough mythologies, i (we) could do this? i mean, when i think about what i do all day, i could really be doing something more useful with my time. pulling giant rocks with ropes would at least give me something to look on at the end of the day. or making plans to get everyone to pull rocks. especially when you think about what everyone else does right now at their jobs (is service really a job?).
what about crown heights? you can really apprecitate the mythology and history behind their outsider architecture.
today someone described the eyedoctor's skill similar to the skill involved in making burritos.
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