And the Moral of the Story is…I Still Miss Pumping My Own Gas

Well, I have officially lived in New Jersey for one year now and of all the things to get acclimated to (living on my own; figuring out what people are saying with that Jersey accent; the quiet, quaint town of Princeton; being at least an hour away from anyone I know; trying to explain to people what a bubbler is), I still am not a fan of other people filling up my car with gas.

In the 10 years I’ve had my car, the ‘get gas now, girl!’ light (as I like to call it) has only come on 3 times…all since living in The Jerse as I routinely see how far I can go without getting gas with the hope that I just might be in another state at the right time so that I can fill it up myself. Pathetic, I know. What can I say? It’s the simple things in life – like filling up one’s gas tank – that I enjoy.

Navigating a completely new state where I know not a soul was scary, daunting, exhilarating, tricky, awesome, and dare I say, fun. Though looking back on the last year, I found that I’ve traveled a lot to be closer to family and friends, if only for the weekend…hmmm. And I don’t really see that stopping any time soon.

Now that I’m in a new apartment closer to town and can easily walk/bike to the theater, everything is so much nicer! Just about every night I take a walk around town and campus and it’s so pleasant. No particular destination; just walking and usually chatting on the phone (yes, I AM that person with the iphone ear buds who looks like I’m talking to myself). My old apartment was in the boonies surrounded by woods and I feared unexpected confrontations with deer, foxes, coyotes, and the like, so needless to say, I’m quite happy where I am now.

Speaking of which…I’m nearing a state of complete apartmental unpackedness. Only one full box of crap remains and it’s all left over from Rhode Island which didn’t get unpacked during the move last year, so I really don’t have high hopes for it at this point. But we all have a box like that somewhere in our homes, right? No? Just me? Damn.

As I lift my glass of water in the air (it’s 11:30 on a Wednesday night…what’d you expect?), cheers to another year of NJ in NJ. You know you’re as excited as I am, admit it.