Shiny Happy Emily: New Jersey is My Home and I Like It

Note: This is a special Internet Potato version of Shiny Happy Caitlar wherein Emily is taking over, and covering all of the themes from the past cycle.

You all knew I was going to write about New Jersey and how it makes me happy now.  I'll admit, after I sat in the Rutgers student section rooting for Maryland when the Terps beat the Scarlet Knights and only like five people threw stuff at me, I had an epiphany.  I guess I can't complain as much about the Garden State.  But also, all those other categories we have are awesome, so I'm going to go through each category and let you know what I enjoy about each theme we've covered this past cycle....in New Jersey.

Alcohol
Even though the city I live in isn't exactly a quintessential college town, it's got a bit more of that college feeling than College Park, Maryland.  Namely because it has more than four bars.  There is this one bar, that happens to be called Old Bay, that us policy and planning students hit up more than the other bars because it offers half price beer and live music throughout the weekend.  And it's not just Coors Light (ew, have you heard that the same company is going to start brewing both Coors Light AND Miller Lite?!).  They have all these delicious foreign beers for like $2.50.  It's great for a beer drinker like me, and even great for Tori, because girlie drinks are also half price!  Also, FYI, if you google Coors Light and Miller Lite, one of the first hits is Growlers, which is this great bar a block from where I USED to live.  Sometimes my computer scares me.

Hits
Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi are obviously from this state.  And I figured, oh, maybe it'll be ironic/fun when I hear their songs.  No.  Everyone plays Springsteen and Bon Jovi till the cows come home.  We started class last night with my professor complaining that his flight was late and he missed the first 45 minutes of the Springsteen show.  Then everyone started talking about how much they love the new album/can't afford tickets the show.  And I probably said nothing.  Because other than OAR and Good Charlotte, does anyone know of any band from Maryland?

Snacktime
Grad school classes are only once a week.  Which means they're really long.  But most of us can handle it.  Except for this one kid, who literally sleeps through every class, for the entire time.  I don't even know why he bothers coming, because he's literally out cold every week.  Meanwhile, since classes are so long, we get a break, and one of our classes is in this huge, old farmhouse and they feed us bagels, fruit salad and coffee over break (it's fantastic).  Well, the sleeping kid is always totally with it for break, eating a bagel, talking with the class, hanging out...But then when class starts again he GOES BACK TO SLEEP.  I am not kidding.  So we've decided he thinks he's in nursery school, and his day consists of a series of naptimes and snacktimes.

New Jersey
Uh, I'm going to skip this one.

Children
I just got this awesome new job, which I can't go into a lot of detail on, but it involves visiting high schools across the state of New Jersey.  I'm glad it's in New Jersey, because it's kind of a small state, and I live in the middle, so I never really have to drive over like two and a half hours.  Unless there's traffic.  But I went to a high school the other day, and was SHOCKED at how little some of those kids were.  I was taller than most of the boys!  I towered over the girls!  I walked through the lunchroom and no one threw anything at me!  They joined together in a chorus and did a dance routine in the gym!  The best part about this job though, is that we have to dress up in business clothes because they're afraid that we're going to be mistaken for high schoolers.  I can't wait to be mistaken for a high schooler.

Art
Ok, I'm going to go off my topic a little bit and go to New York City.  (Still, I take New Jersey Transit into the city and it's really easy and air conditioned, so props.)  Last weekend was this awesome event in the city, called openhousenewyork, where they gave free tours and opened up all of these places to the public, all in the name of art and architecture.   I took a sweet tour of Battery Park City, and it was excessively nerdy, but also really cool.  You can see my photos here. (Then I went to an equally arty place, the East Village and saw this great movie about the font I am writing in now--which is Helvetica for you non-nerds.  I highly recommend it, especially to Lauren.)

Weather
It has been unseasonably hot across the country this month.  People died running both the Chicago Marathon and the Army-Ten-Miler last weekend.  Scary.  I went for a run this weekend too, but the only scary thing that happened to me was that all these Gideons tried to give me bibles.  What the heck do you do with a bible while you're running??  They even opened the beaches last weekend because it was just so hot.  CRAZY!  I live much closer to the beach now than ever before, which thrills me, but I haven't been since the summer.  But I heart the summer and the beach, so that's great.

Game Shows
Jeopardy! is on television here, which is fantastic, since it is my favorite television program.  It's the same everywhere, but it's better here.  Why?  Because at home it's on at 7:30 p.m. and here it's on at 6:00 p.m. AND 7:00 p.m.  This means I can watch the show at 6 in my room, and then impress my roommates at 7 in the living room, and then e-mail all the answers to my friends in D.C. and they can beat all their friends at 7:30!  (Except for this week, because it's kids' week, and if you don't know the answers, you're in trouble.)  Regardless, this is probably the #1 reason to move to the New York Metro Region.

Fear
Last month, I was on the train, coming home from the city, when four middle aged women franticly ran to come sit next to me.   Clearly, they were on their way home from seeing Oprah taping a show in NY that day, and they were terrified.  So I asked them what was wrong.  Apparently, while they were sitting in another car, a crazy man threatened to kill them.  And they thought they'd be safer sitting by me?  I'm so not ok with that.  If someone threatens to kill you, I'm not so sure I'm your best defense.  But that guy got off the train in Trenton or something and we were OK.  I'm such a good protector.

Circles
I have no idea.  And I'm running late to class.  So you might have to wait on this one.

Shiny Happy Emily has never run before, but you can tune in to Shiny Happy Caitlar at 2:00 p.m. on Thursdays instead, or Emily's Trivia Quiz on Fridays at 9:00 a.m.

Comments

[Tori]

"I had an epitome."

Really good sentence, Em.

[Lauren]

Haha, this was a good idea for a post. And, like Tori, I am glad you had an 'epitome.'

[The Mayor]

Dru Hill is from Baltimore.

[Mom]

"Epitome" Yikes! Epiphany sounds more like what you meant. Good bulg today.

[Not Mom]

"Bulg" Yikes! Blog sounds more like what you meant.

[EmGusk]

hahaha that's what happens when you realize at 8 am that you haven't written your blog yet and are going to be in classes for the rest of the day...I didn't get to edit as much as I usually do. Whoopsie

[Valerie]

Don't knock the sleeping guy. I tend to be narcoleptic in classes too.

[EmGusk]

p.s. don't make fun of my mom.