Countdown

Anyone who's ever experienced New Year's Eve (and that should mean everyone, sans those who fall asleep before midnight and just wake up in the next year) knows that the most important part of the night isn't the booze, the food, or even the umpteen number of resolutions that immediately follow.

No, the most important part of New Year's Eve is the countdown, the anticipation of the ball dropping in Times Square, the feeling of hope that accompanies those last few seconds before a new year arrives.

Five.

I just got back last night from my spring break trip to New York City, and I'm still reveling in the remnants of what had to be one of the best decisions I've made thus far in life. New York felt like a dream not just because it was a whirlwind of interviews and coffees and dinners and wanderings, but because it was a snapshot glimpse of what my life could be like in just two months' time.

Four.

I bought the tickets for the trip back in January with the idea that it would be a great way to explore NYC and really discover what it was about the city that drew me to it ever so much. I wanted to prove to myself that the city I was always drifting toward had more to offer than just a romanticized escape from the familiarity of Los Angeles. And I discovered that indeed, the two cities are too different to compare, and it's not that I prefer one over the other, just that one is probably better for me at this point in life than the other. I'm going home.

Three.

In two days, I had five interviews, and each one of them went a lot more smoothly than I had expected. The reality of actually picking up and moving to New York really set in when every one of the recruiters/editors asked when I would be coming to the city. It wasn't even an "if." It was a "when," and I didn't miss a beat when I told them: "June." There. I said it. There's a time element to this move and I'm going to make it happen.

Two.

Regardless of what happens in the next six weeks as I try to secure an internship or job out on the East Coast, I'm content to know that making that first move is a very viable possibility, and beyond that, a very real next step toward a city that is bustling with promise. Chalk it up to circumstance, destiny, luck, hope. It's not every day that I find myself talking to the news director of TIME or giving an elevator pitch to one of the executive editors at Entertainment Weekly. Or that I tap Elle's creative director on the shoulder and strike up a conversation. Or have coffee with the executive editor over at Time Inc.

These things aren't meant to happen, but they do. It's positive thinking to the extreme.

In NYC, and in life, anything is possible. Whether you think you can or you can't you're always right.

One.

I can.