Welcome To The Social Life

I'm gonna party all night long...

This weekend was crazy. It was nice to take it easy today and do some cooking and cleaning. I even set up my GameCube and started Luigi's Mansion. How can a Mario game be so scary while being so ridiculous? 

I started the weekend by going to a party on Friday. My roommate invited me along to their old roommate's graduation party. I said sure, I'd love to meet some new friends. The party was at a family's house. Of course the first thing I am asked is if I'm 21. I'm not 21. I'm a few years passed 21. I don't think I'll ever stop looking like I'm teenager.

The party ended around midnight. Where did we go next? A bar of course.

Now I'm normally not the most social person you will meet (I'm an introvert, I like my quiet time). I stayed out til almost 3am. It's been a while since I did that (I think Las Vegas, but definitely college). It was fantastic.

Yesterday evening I went out to a bar to watch the first part of the hockey game (how the hell did the Blackhawks score 3 minutes into the $&@% game?!?!). I was on my own and the bar is less than a 15 minute walk. I stayed about an hour and a half just talking with random people and watching the game. I left after the Blackhawks ($&@% them) scored 2 minutes into the second period. There was no way the Ducks were going to recover after that beating.

Now contrary to what has been said about introverts, I am not shy. I like meeting new people. It just needs to be on my terms. I might hold back at first, get to know the environment and then strike up a conversation with the person closest to me.

"Where everyone knows your name."

While at the bar I met several couples. One man called me a "browd". That's a new one. Honestly I didn't actually believe the accent here would be that pronounced. Like many other things, I was wrong. I also got a lot of "where are you from" questions, as my "accent" becomes easier to hear when I'm tired/more relaxed/have been drinking. No one here says y'all, that's weird.

If you're new and town and want to go out, go out. How else will you meet anyone? If you don't like bars, try hanging out in coffee shops, see if there's a farmers market or go to the library. Meeting people online is also an option as there are a lot of groups who post events online. 

You never know who you'll meet until you strike up a conversation.

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y'all love hearing from me.

Welcome To The Village

Happy Holiday Weekend everyone! I hope everyone has a good Memorial Day weekend and take a few moments to thank everyone you know (and maybe not know) who helped protect and shape our country. If you're in the DC area, maybe go to Arlington National Cemetery for a visit.

I've been in New Jersey for three short weeks. There's a lot to do. I moved to a village that actually kind of resembled a village (though more like one in Europe as oppose to an M. Night Shyamalan film). I would say that the two is three streets by five streets (take that as you will) with the train station cutting through the upper third.

It's a nice village. There are gaggles of teenage girls wondering around without parent supervision, so I think it's safe to say that the area is very safe, even at night. It reminds me a lot of the town my college was in.

I've basically made it my mission to try every coffee shop in town. So far I've found five coffee shops by design. Only two of those are national chains. One is technically a french pastry shop, but they're practically the same thing right? I would also, happily make the argument that the doughnut shop qualifies as a great place to get a cup of coffee, along with maple bacon doughnuts (yes, they do exist).

The first coffee shop I went to in the area had a very hipster vibe. They play different styles of music, but I've mostly heard alternative rock when I've gone in. They have pictures of the Beatles and Stones all over the walls and a few arm chairs.

The second was, well, Starbucks. They have good breakfast sandwiches. They are also the closest to the privately owned bookstore that has authors come in for book signings. A lot of people frequent it.

The next would be the french pastry shop. Not only do they have amazing breakfast sandwiches and desserts, but you can watch them make the crepes fresh. I can't wait to take my sister there. It's absolutely delicious. My roommate, their significant other and I went there last night for dessert. (I started the day out with sugar and ended it with sugar).

The forth shop I tried had a distinct health theme. I tried one of their glutton free, dairy free muffins. It was good and not very sweet. They also had a service dog working there. I enjoyed all of the different rooms in the shop as well. It is easy to find a secluded corner for reading at this shop. It's also right across from the train station.

Finally I tried the donuts shop yesterday. They make all of their doughnuts fresh at one of their locations and there is coffee. They have a lot of flavors. I tried their maple bacon doughnut and their chocolate version of Twinkies (it's not called that...I can't remember what its called).

I haven't been to the two bagel shops yet. The people of New Jersey seem to be obsessed with bagels. My office has a bagel breakfast every other week. They complain when they get more pastries than they want, saying it takes away from the bagels. Since they serve bagels, I assume they also serve coffee. Therefore they are on my places to try.

There are a few other larger breakfast places (both of which I have been to for lunch/dinner). One of them has amazing flavored marshmallows for hot chocolate. I've had the strawberry flavored. The other is a pancake house that serves you so much food, you'll have left overs for days afterward. I have not tried the coffee at either place though.

I was hoping for a few more non-chain stores (there's a Dunkin Donuts, but I haven't been there yet as I'm not fond of their coffee). However the town is small and the fact that there are any is wonderful. I love being able to walk to all of them too. It really is like being in college again, except there's no college or college students (though there are tons of teenagers).

Moving is tough, but exploring my new environment is helping with the adjustments. If only everything wasn't so expensive. Ah well, until next week.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off), please like, share and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me. Let me know if you ever have questions about my Wonderland.

Welcome To New Jersey

A Comparison To The Great State Of Maryland

An artists liberal interpretation

At this time last year I was on vacation in the state of Hawaii. I had a significant other, a job in Maryland, and my own apartment. I had no idea that (fast forward one year) I would eventually move to New Jersey and pretty much start from square one. (Okay, the job is the same, but that's about it).

First things first, both states are expensive. Though in Maryland I could afford to live on my own, New Jersey not so much. Luckily I found a nice roommate with a great apartment. This (oddly enough) lowered my rent. My insurance rates also went down (again odd as far as stereo types go). That doesn't mean I'm still not spending a lot of money. Food and other merchandize are also at a mark up.Thus say that New Jersey is the more expensive.

Point goes to Maryland.

Now as for going to the DMV, driving to work, and having the convenience of shopping centers pretty much everywhere, it depends on where in the state you are. Where I am in New Jersey there is a ton of shopping, plenty of (moderately priced) public transportation and I can walk all over the place. There are also a few DMV locations that are friendlier and faster than in Maryland.

Where I was in Maryland the public transportation was cheap (like dirt cheap, I think that's where all my taxes went to), but shopping centers weren't as frequent and I had to do a lot of driving in heavy DC-Baltimore traffic.

Oddly point goes to New Jersey.

 My commute is incredible here. There's no traffic (except for the odd school bus). I have a reverse commute that gets me to my office between 15 - 20 minutes. This is comparable to the distance I have to drive daily. Maryland, ha, no such luck. Traffic is cruel in Central Maryland. I typically just doubled the driving time anywhere out of sheer habit.

So with such a great commute, what do I have to complain about the New Jersey highway system? Well, New Jersey seems to like tolls. To the point that going anywhere out of the state equals paying a fee. Heck, most roads to the airport seem to include a fee.

I'm going to call this one a tie.

That brings our count to:

New Jersey 2
Maryland 2

Huh, that was supposed to be my tie breaker. I guess my overall opinion is that New Jersey and Maryland are pretty comparable. Or at least as far as I can tell.

But Virginia is still the best!

If you enjoyed this post, or it really pissed you off, please like, share, or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y'all love hearing from me (or at find me mildly amusing).

Welcome To Moving Part 2

The boxes, oh the boxes...

Before I begin, I'd like to give a shout out to my mom. Happy Mother's Day! I hope you are having fun with the rest of the aunts. I am happy you're my mom. Have a beer for me.

Now back to our regularly scheduled blog post...

 
This week was a challenge in unpacking. I honestly wish I could just wave my hands, say some magic spell like in Harry Potter, and have everything put exactly where it needs to be. I'm not a wizard in the Harry Potter world, so I can't do that.

No, this week I spent unpacking all of my stuff and finding places for it to go. My roommate has been very kind and understanding. In fact I just managed to get the last big box out of the apartment a few hours ago. I feel accomplished (even if my bed still has a million and a half things piled on it that I need to put somewhere before I sleep tonight.

At least I've found everything...or at least I think I have. There were a few boxes that had been misplaced (mostly pillows), but I did end up finding them eventually. I have also brought some new containers that fit nicely under my bed.

My biggest advice when it comes to unpacking is set a goal of at least one box per day...and maybe take a few items out of the car.

It's certainly a process and if you can find help, take it. My wonderful cousin and his wife came down on Friday to help me move somethings and just hang out. It was nice seeing a familiar face. I think the hardest part of all of this was that I did it by myself.

It's a hard thing to do and if you don't have someone there with you it can feel like the world is ending. At least if I have to move again by myself I know what to expect, but I highly recommend having a friend or family member help.

I need to go finish cleaning off my bed. Hopefully I get some sleep soon.

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off), please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you like hearing from me. Now, back to unpacking.

Welcome To Moving Part 1

Otherwise Titled: Adventures In What Not To Do

So yesterday I wasn't exactly in the best place to try and write out a blog post. The day before I was in an even worse place. I moved on Saturday from the Baltimore suburbs to Northern New Jersey, right on the border to New York State. To say the experience was traumatic would be putting it mildly. I've been nothing but a reck since Saturday morning.

My first mistake was thinking I only needed two days to pack up my apartment. This was the first among many. By Friday night (or ungodly o'clock Saturday morning) I finally crashed on my sofa. I had only packed a few boxes and the movers were due in less than eight hours. I had spent the day running around like crazy trying to return the cable boxes, put in a change of address, drop things off at Goodwill and throw out as much as I could. It wasn't nearly enough.

What I should have done is take off a whole week.

So when the movers arrived Saturday morning, what was the first thing I did? Oh yeah, I burst into tears. 

My next mistake was thinking that it would only take a few hours to pack everything up, get it all into the truck, and finish up cleaning the apartment. I thought I'd hit the road around noon and have everything off the truck by nine. 

Oh boy was I wrong.

It took nearly five hours to get everything packed and onto the truck. The cleaning took so long I finally gave up and I hope I get even just a bit back from my deposit. I cried several more times and wanted to curl up in a tiny ball and refuse to leave. The movers did let me put in Ducktales until they had to pack up the TV and DVD player.

I ended up leaving close to four.

The movers decided it would be best to come on Sunday to drop everything off. It was one of the very few good decisions I made.

I took the long way to New Jersey. You know how it is. I wanted to avoid all the tolls off of 95 and it would cost less if I accidently took the wrong exit. That was where the good decisions ended. The first leg of the journey was simple enough. I had done that trips for years on my way to visit my granddad. I ended up getting lost, not once (oh no, I'm that kind of special), but twice. Thankfully the first time I ended up on a road that paralleled the route I was actually supposed to take. The second was a mixed up exit that took me about twenty minutes out of my way. Both were very pretty and very vexing. 

I managed to get to the apartment around nine. Thankfully my new roommate was here and she was able to let me in. This leads to my next epic mistake.

I way over packed my car. 

Like to the point where I still haven't gotten nearly enough out of it. I ended up passing out on the couch. I slept for well over eight hours (maybe around nine). 

This brings us to yesterday.

I woke up and went out to breakfast. It was pretty cool that I was actually able to walk to a coffee shop instead of be really confused as to where the hell I should forage for food. On the way back I was able to pet a very cute husky. That was where the good part of the day ended.

The movers were unfortunantly two hours late. They got stuck in traffic less than twenty miles from the apartment. Don't get me wrong, these guys were amazing. I would totally recommend this moving company to anyone. Five stars all the way. 

They basically filled my room with boxes. They filled it to the point that there was hardly any room to maneuver the rest of the furniture and I had to get a little creative. 

We then went to my storage unit (because let's be real, I moved from a single bedroom apartment that was mine to an apartment share, I needed more storage). We filled it up.

Here's where we get to another mistake. I didn't exactly know where anything was. I discovered today that one of my kitchen boxes that should have been in storage is actually here. I have no idea where the other box is that has the stuff I actually need today. I'm not going to have fun digging it out if it's in storage.

Finally I had to set up my bed. Thankfully a guy I met the last time was up here (a potential roommate that didn't work out) was willing to help. He first took me out to dinner (again smart despite the fact I wanted to get started right away). 

Now getting the bed together was a challenge to end all challenges. We can thank IKEA for its wonderful bed designs. It took four hours to put together and we kept messing up. It didn't seem like we could do anything right putting it together. It did eventually get done, but parts of it are a little shaky and I don't think it will make it to my next location (where ever that might be).

My adventures in New Jersey have only just begun, but already I long for Baltimore and DC. I want to go home. Back to my own apartment with all of my things in my crazy chaotic way instead of feeling like an invader into someone else's domain. I hope I adjust soon. 

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post, or it really pissed you off, please like, share or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys love hearing from me. Right now this blog might be the only thing keeping me sane.