Does anyone like this place?

I've been in an anti-Jersey mood lately, even moreso than usual. I just wonder how many people out there actually "love" this state versus the amount of people who are here because of closeness to family members or closeness to abundant salaries.

NJ souvenirs include the ubiquitous "Jersey girls don't pump gas" tees.  Honestly, the fact that I don't have to pump gas is an added bonus in the cold winter months, but I'd survive if I had to  pump my own. There's always the Jersey shirts that declare messages about being a tough, badass person. I don't think of tough, badass people when I think of NJ. Instead, I think of fast-talking, self-involved people who simply like to put on an act of being tough.

I just can't imagine what people love about this state. We're known for having the highest population density. We're also known for being a shopping mall mecca. Also, Nj has a higher incidence rate for both cancer and deaths from cancer.

When I think of this state, I think of the word "wasteland." I haven't read TS Eliot's work of the same name (I'm assuming that he, in fact, "invented" that word) since college, but I feel the sudden need to go back and read it.

The people who "love" this state are the ones who have their beach houses and exclusive memberships to small tracts of land on which they can golf, ride horses, or do other activities for which other states have tons of space.

I can't imagine being here for my entire life. 

Best personification of the week

I'm always aware of creative language, but during the school year my awareness of it increases exponentially.

Tonight, I gave in and purchased a new Ipod. My previous Ipod started intermittently dysfunctioning, as of last Sunday. I tried a "diagnostic test" for broken sectors, but to no avail. I tried putting the Ipod in the freezer (recommended by someone on Apple forums). The Ipod worked for 3 consecutive songs and then zonked out again. I'd like a 160GB Ipod, but don't feel like buying it now. That led me to this evening's quest: go to where the devil lives (Walmart) and buy an Ipod Shuffle.

After yesterday's rain and high temperatures (57 degrees), today took a 180 degree turn. The skies were that wintry gray color. When skies are like that, I call them "indecisive skies"--the kind of skies that look like they could start blowing snowflakes around.....or..... the type of skies that are just miserable-looking, but that are simply "bluffing." The temperatures dropped down to 26 degrees and I could once again see my breaths in the air.

As I walked into Walmart, there was a cart-pusher standing on the sidewalk, taking a break. Cart-pusher is such an odd word, but I Googled it and could not find an alternative. I could clearly sense that the "cart-pusher on break" was slow and had some kind of developmental issue.

He said to me, "It's cold outside today." Normally, I hate those obvious kind of statements, but with this man, I knew that a kind reply would make his day. I replied, "Yeah, it was even snowing a tiny bit before."

Then, he responded with words that were simultaneously child-like and lovely: "Mother Nature gave me a cold kiss today."

Immediately, my mind thought That's the best personification I've heard all week. The comment also made me smile. When most of us comment with words like, "This weather sucks" or "It's so fucking cold," this guy came up with a lovely image.