I've been out of High School for an entire month now, trying to figure out what I need to do for myself, as many of you know (and have been surprisingly generous about.) After much thought last night, I came to the logical conclusion that New York would actually be the best place for me to go, as I have a G.I Bill from one of my parents coming up in the Fall that'll not only cover the cost of at least two years of school for me, but also cover the cost for minor housing, come August.

At this point, I see it as the best option for a wide variety of reasons. There are several people I know on the east coast that I can rely on, one of them in the state, and I figure I could use some toughing up after having screwed around in Hawaii for the past five years.

So I need you folks to help me with the territory, as the last time I ever went to New York, I was like... 6 year olds, and we saw a car on fire in the middle of the highway on our way home. I don't know a damn thing about the place beyond that visit and what I've seen in nerd culture. And finally, it's not the City I'm aiming at, though I'll take it if its a nice option. Just the state in general.

Tell me what you know, dorks.

Don't blow any money on NY basketball, that's for sure. *ba dum ching!*

Have you explored the cost of living for New York City? Most people are priced out of that town. Maybe some of the Burroughs have reasonable housing. Just make sure you can afford to live where you go. Spending all your time making enough money to pay the rent and not being able to enjoy the area you are in is no fun. Since the rail system in the NE is pretty good, you can live just about anywhere and then visit most of the interesting cities in a weekend rail trip.

I see your from Hawaii. Hope you're OK with the cold, because it can be pretty brutal, especially this year. And imo, the cold svcks. Snow can mess up a lot of stuff. I live in a not as cold part of the country, around 40's and 50's, and I hate it.

And the only places I know about in NY state are NYC and Buffalo, and the latter is ghetto as hell (sorry anybody from Buffalo , No hate on Buffalo, every city has a bad parts. Some more than others.)

There's a multitude of schools around the state. Have you applied to any? The SUNY schools are the best buy, but unless you're a resident for a certain length of time, they can be pretty pricey too.

New York seems like an alright place, gotta watch out for the bad parts as all big American Human cities.

What's wrong with the University of Hawaii - Manoa? That same GI Bill might cover all four years of in-state tuition there. Yeah, yeah, I know. You want to get out and explore the world. If that's the case take it from someone who tried that route and came limping back to California to finish school here after a three semesters out-of-state.

new york is an extremely expensive place to live, the only affordable housing is terrible. New york is a great place to visit, but not one very many people like to live in unless they're making much more money than the average person.

I currently live in New York.

It's a bigger state then most people think. Upstate areas are very nice (pretty much mountains and forests.)

I've been to the city a lot and it's decent but very dependent on where you are(Avoid the Bronx/Harlem). Also it can be very pricey.

I've lived on Long Island all my life and I love it. It is pricey though and some areas are hit and miss.

New York is not bad at all if you know where you are going and what places to avoid.

You have tons of options for Colleges and Universities as well.

Networking is the problem with Hawaii. There is only so many places a person can go to on this Island, and not enough people as ambitious as I am about what I want to do. As it stands, I can't even find a regular minimum wage job out here, let alone people to make a series with.

I need to go somewhere that has plenty of options, a community of people like me, and people I know. New York has all three of those things.

You still haven't said whether you want to go to metro or non metro NY. Non metro would include central to eastern Long Island and the entire upstate area north and west of southern Westchester County. Metro would be the 5 boroughs along with southern Westchester and western Nassau counties.

Metro is expensive. Yes, it is.

How come no one wants to go to Indiana? I mean it's not like it's a boring almost backwater state.. Oh wait..