Wednesdays in New Jersey

Are much the same as Tuesdays and Mondays. I'm getting used to the drive, at least a little bit. I don't freak out on Route 1 and have become a little bit jerkier in my driving like everyone else on the road which I take as a sign of growing confidence and assimilation. I wish though that there was some kind of paint ball you could shoot at the cars who do that thing where instead of waiting a turn to get on the road, they speed up in the lane that's ending to the very front and cut in. That is what my world has shrunken to--thinking of ways to exact revenge on the people around me.

One thing I like about New Jersey is that you never ever have to get out of your car to pump gas. I always feel like apologizing to the attendants or tipping them, especially on cold days when their fingers must be freezing. But I don't say sorry or tip, I just leave my window down the whole time in a show of solidarity, and to prove I'm not totally spoiled.

Here are the other good things that Luke and Dan would like me to list.

1. The best American musicians come from New Jersey. Their evidence: Bruce Springsteen, the Smithereens, Bon Jovi, Frank Sinatra, Frankie Valley, and Fountains of Wayne (what???).

2. Dan's fifth grade teacher once told him that there's an inactive volcano in Sussex County.

3. There's a pizzeria in every strip mall,  called Brother's Pizza, or Anthony's or Pizza King or the Real Pizza King, or Anthony's II.

4. Most unreal reality TV shows characters are from New Jersey, specifically from Northern New Jersey.

5. Highest incidence of murders gone wrong. Florida would be the second place for this honor. Whenever we start watching episode of 48 Hours and the premise is about an abandoned car with a decomposing, faceless body in the trunk and a Florida license plate, you can bet it was found in New Jersey.

6. Most intense road rage in any state. Yes, that is true. We are back to the beginning of this post.