Welcome to Long Journeys

They are worth it...

The trip from where I live in New Jersey to where my dad lives in Virginia can be taken several ways. The quickest, is probably by plane, followed by taking the train. However planes and trains are expensive and can be inflexible with their timing. That's why I drive.

Again there are several routes that I can take to get to Virginia. The most obvious is via the Turnpike. It is also the one I hate to take the most. Mainly because New Jersey is notorious for two things: traffic and tolls. The tolls between Northern New Jersey and Baltimore are some of the worst and traffic is unpredictable at best. I therefore choose to go the "long way" through Pennsylvania. It adds about an hour to the trip (if traffic is good on the Turnpike) and only costs a dollar in tolls on the way out of New Jersey. So I can get into this state for free, but I have to pay an escape fee??? Thanks New Jersey.

I've made this trip four times already. I don't want to think about what it's doing to the mileage on my car. It's a long drive and I spend my time listening to music or audio books. I also come up with new plots for my writings (this blog included). Heck I sometimes come up with new theories in philosophy and science (though nothing that realistic). It might be a long drive, but it's worth it. Seeing my sister and dad this Thanksgiving was wonderful and I'm thankful that I was able to see them. I wouldn't trade the opportunity for anything.

I am very thankful for the flexibility in my schedule to travel to see my family. Last year I traveled across the United States to visit my family in California for Thanksgiving. It was a lot of fun and I hope to go out there again at some point.

Where as this past summer I spent a very long day (and two even longer ones coming back) traveling to the upper peninsula of Michigan. If you've never been there, it's well worth the trip. It's one of the most remote places I have ever been to and Lake Superior really does look like a giant sea. I honestly don't think I could survive up there in the winter. People might go weeks without seeing another person outside of their town.

Lighthouse in the middle of no-where Michigan.

The longest trip I've ever been on though was to Osaka Japan. I flew non-stop 13 hours to Tokyo and then another hour to Osaka on a Pokemon plane (plus a half hour or so drive to Nishinomia).  It was a tough trip for an 11 year old, but so much fun. I admit that I was a little emotional the first few nights because I was so far from my home and family, but it was so worth it. The memories and experiences I have from that trip are priceless.

My roommate's family is coming this month from Brazil. It's a really long trip by plane and they are getting into New York at around 6am. They might be really tired the first few days, but my roommate is so happy and excited. They'll get to see each other after a long time apart.

It might seem like a long way away (and traffic might be a pain in the butt), but hitting the road to see family or the world is priceless. I live far away from my family now, which makes the times I do see them all the sweeter. I'm thankful to see them whenever I can.

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post (or you hated it) please like, share, or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me. If you want to and since it's the weekend after Thanksgiving, leave a comment about what you're thankful for in the comments.

Welcome To Dating

As Dot Would Say "I'm Cute!"

Dating in high school and college is very different from dating after you've graduated. For one thing, you aren't forced to interact with people your age for hours on end every day. You have to search our potential partners, which can be twice as hard if you don't like going out.

My first significant other out of college, was actually an old college friend. We lived an hour from each other, but they were going through army med school and I was just starting out, so the distance didn't bother us. Now, though, if I want to date someone it's different.

In college/high school I might have a class or two with a potential date. I might have even been in the same club or sports team. It was easy to know who they were and what they were interested in (and Facebook helped). I thought that dating in college was easy, especially since I ignored anything remotely romantic in high school.

Now, I have a couple of options for finding a date:

1) Going to a bar - you have drinks to help loosen you up, but it can be loud and and hard to start a conversation with someone. I've tried it a few times and none of them ended well. Other people I know enjoy meeting people this way.

2) Online dating - though I haven't tried this option, several of my friends have been really happy with it. My roommate from college lucked out and found a great person. My current roommate didn't have the same luck and met their current significant other outside of a bar in Hoboken. I think it's one of the easier ways to date in this day and age. After all, the media is constantly complaining about how Millennials are attached to their phones.

3) Random everyday occurrences - though I don't recommend dating co-workers (that could be awkward), there are many day-to-day interactions that could lead to potential dates. For example on this week's episode of The Flash (it's on the CW, Hulu, and Netflix) one of my favorite characters asked out the coffee barista. Another example would be me getting someone's phone number at the farmer's market (I then proceeded to run away, but if you are aware of who I am, this fact wouldn't shock you). You never know how you'll meet.

You never know who you're going to meet in the so called "real world". You might run into a friend you haven't seen in years and rekindle a friendship. You might stumble across someone who has the same interest in Halo that you do.

My point is, that I never expect to meet the people that I do. For better or worse they end up in my life and I have to figure out if they should stay in it.

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share or leave a comment. I love hearing for my readers and I hope you like hearing from me. Now, if only I didn't run away when someone gives me a complement.

Welcome To A Break In The Routine

Because on  Wednesdays we wear pink...

I am a creature of habit. This is a fact, not an opinion. I won't get too much into my weekly routine because this is the Internet and I have no idea who is reading this blog. However I do have a few habits. For example, I hit my alarm clock snooze button three times before actually rolling out of bed. As soon as I get to my office, I turn on my laptop and then go and get my first cup of coffee. On Sunday I go to the farmers market.

We all have our quirks.

So any break in my routine will throw me off. Daylight savings time is the worst offender of this change. For about a month after the changes, I'm really confused as to what time it is. It might be 9pm as I write this, but I feel like it's 10pm and should be fast asleep. It's also really confusing leaving work when it's pitch black outside instead of as the sun is setting.

I'm sure I'm not the only person who has these issues and I do welcome change. A disruption allows me to be flexible and learn to deal with change without freaking out (it's not a major life change).

This week, I had a major break in my routine. I had Veterans Day off. I had never had this day off before and the fact that it took place on a Wednesday really through me for a loop. When I came back to work on Thursday, one of my friends and I noticed how much it felt like a Monday. Which lead me to be even more confused when I woke up on Saturday.

Now that it's Sunday, I am still working around the fact that I have to go to work tomorrow. I would rather sleep in an extra day, but that's not in the cards (or at least not for so called adult people).

How do I deal with these breaks in routine? Well, I usually have enough warning to get ready for the disruption. I try to keep my weekend and vacation routine similar to my weekday routine (I wish I could sleep past 8am, but alas I can't).

What about those days that I can't plan for? Usually my first response is to freak out. I'm stubborn like that. I hate any sort of change that I can't account for at least a week in advance. My next response is to calm down and assess the situation. I can calm myself down any number of ways from calling someone to talk it out to practicing meditation breath. One of my yoga teachers even recommends standing on one foot to make a quick decision (I haven't tried this one yet).

 Routines are familiar, safe and something I can control. However, life isn't safe, it's not something I can control, and as I keep moving forward, I am constantly put into situations that I haven't encountered before. A break in my routine can be welcoming. It can also freak me out. That's life. I sometimes think that it's the small stuff, the small everyday choices, that snowball into huge changes and are easier to deal with one small step at a time.

If only that was how all changes were presented. I don't know exactly what's going to happen tomorrow, but I take a guess that I'll still hit my snooze button at least three times before rolling out of bed.

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 like hearing from me. Until next week.

Welcome to Fall Leaves

They're everywhere!

I think the 60s and 70s really missed an opportunity for a pile of leaves to be a monster in a B movie. I mean, who knows what could happen if you get caught in a pile of leaves and they certainly get everywhere. I've had to clean my car out because of all the leaves at least once a week since they started to fall.

Brightly colored leaves are a factor of fall. When I was younger raking the leaves was one of the worst chores I could be assigned. It took forever and the leaves would be back by the end of the week. Jumping in the leaves was fun. I could pretend I was diving off to a new world like in Alice in Wonderland. I'm grateful I don't have a front lawn.

Bag of leaves were also often used as a Halloween decoration. People would buy these big orange bags with jack'o'lanturn faces on them. A few people would even jump out of the piles of leaves while we were trick or treating (maybe it was their way of cheating us of our candy).

I love the colors. Bright yellows, lush oranges, and fired reds make the whole world seem to glow. It's comforting and makes me excited for all the tastie foods. Sure the days are really short (especially in New Jersey), but when the sun is out its a prefect picture.

To deal with all of the leaves, I try to keeps a broom or vacuum cleaner handy. I don't know how many times I've dragged leaves into our apartment or have found a few stuck in my hair while I've been washing it. A quick vacuum gets most of the leaves up.

Fall is definitely my favorite time of year, even if it has it's annoying quirks. I'm actually about to make baked apples (hull out the middle of an apple, add brown sugar and butter, bake u Gil tender and you have a delectable dessert).

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 like hearing from me. Now about those baked apples...

Welcome to Halloween Decorations

Tis the Season to Decorate like Crazy

Halloween is officially over. At least according to major retailers. I'm still celebrating by watching Coraline and the Nostalgia Critic has an extra Nostalgiaween episode coming out this week. It will probably be another week before all of the Halloween decorations have come down.

All of the pumpkins at market!

 
Then comes the Christmas decor. I wouldn't mind too much, except that Thanksgiving comes a good month before Christmas does and retailers barely seem to pay any attention to that holiday (though I personally feel it has a great potential for a market).

Personally I think Halloween has the better outdoor decorations. There are a lot more options for the spooky holiday. Driving through the different neighborhoods, I saw skeletons, ghosts, spiders (I think a lot of people read the same magazine there were a lot of them), and graveyards popping up on people's lawns.

Neighborhood decorations

Growing up, we had a small hill on our property that was the perfect spot for a graveyard. We would put up tombstones, have a witch crashed into a tree display and show everything in an eerie green light. It was a lot of fun to set up (taking it down was another story). We would put a fog machine next to our front door and put decorations in our front bushes that the trick or treaters would have to walk next to to get candy. Everyone who drove on our side of the neighborhood could see our house and we always got complements on the display.

My roommate and I were able to put up a decoration on our door. It's a ghost saying "Boo". We also put up smaller decorations like candles and a few signs reminding us to have a "spooky time". Though it wasn't a lot, it was still festive. We don't exactly have a lawn to put up a graveyard. I wish I could have recreated something like what I saw at the Chelsea market in New York City.

Decorations at the Chelsea market in NYC

The town of Ridgewood even set up decorations in town. There was a small celebration in the park at the center of town for the little kids. It wasn't a lot, but it was still cool to see. Definitely something for kids under the age of 7.

The park in Ridgewood featured a graveyard with ghosts and spiders on Halloween.

They even had a pumpkin patch for the kids to pick out pumpkins in.

Sorry Linus, no Great Pumpkin in this patch.

I'm sad to see all of the Halloween decorations come down. Yeah, sure Christmas is just around the corner and I'll start getting the whimsical magical feeling deep down in my gut. I'd rather have Halloween stick around a little longer. After all, if it's aceptable to have Christmas lights up until February, shouldn't we be able to have that graveyard up until December?

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 like hearing from me.

Until next week.