Spring had sprung in San Diego just as my 'winter quarter' finals had ended. After three months of relative grossness (cold winds and rain, not unlike a Texan winter), El Niño gave way and the cloudless 75-degree days finally returned.
What better way to celebrate than to head to New Jersey, home of cold, desolate industry and rudeness?
As it turns out, in a short four days I was able to taste everything Jersey had to offer: the bleakest inner city, the pristine New England old money of Princeton, a quick jaunt into nearby Manhattan, and a simple American home life filled with central heating and fried food.
Let's start with my first real day of my trip, which was spent in Manhattan. Met up with my awesome cousin Kelly, better known as the
art correspondent for the Wall Street Journal. She's unbelievably connected in the art world. She knows everyone. They all know her. She goes to Europe. And she's a great tour guide for Chelsea, the neighborhood where all the happening galleries are. She knew just the person to introduce me to the world of modern art, a world which I have zero percent comprehension of. Yet this guy - whose name I unfortunately forget - showed patience and passion alike as he walked me through what was in the gallery, who did it, and
why. The 'why' is always what's gotten to me about a lot of modern art. It was here that I learned that every artist and every work have their own 'why.' And things began to make just
a little bit of sense when I got a guided explanation of why someone would make a demonic skull out of Ikea parts or why someone would chop up an entire tree and throw it in a transparent box.
Kelly's good like that. She knows just how to show me her world, despite her
awesomeness in the art field and my complete ignorance. She also knows where the good food at. Food pornographers, listen up:
Cookshop, in Chelsea, makes the most unique burger I've ever had. Absolutely delightful.
The rest of my time was spent with my proxy family: Ali and Rex, two good friends from my UT days. They're a married couple, and they represent the two extremes of New Jersey life. Rex is a Ph.D. candidate at the posh Princeton U, while Ali is wrapping up being
the hardest motherfucker on the planet. She's wrapping up a Teach for America experience. She's so hardcore that she's wrapping up year three. Of a two-year contract. She's endured three years in an inner-city New Jersey school, where I spent a day helping out. There were four and a half teachers in the room: Ali, two student teachers who've worked with Ali for all year, one more teacher whose status I don't know, and me. I'm the half, since my JET experience doesn't really count. With all of us, a room of fewer than 20 third-graders was barely controlled chaos. Every type of problem child, all in the same room at the same time, none of them literate, is a nightmare scenario. And Ali's been a savior to those kids. The Man has noticed: right as I was actually That Guy running to his gate in an airport Ali rang to inform me that she had interviewed for a scholarship that morning - and she had just been rung to be informed that she won it. A full ride to NYU Law School. She had clearly paid her dues, and the committee recognized that - as well as her passion and her clear intent on helping disadvantaged kids for a career. Well done, chica.
Rex kicks ass like it's his job. My IR/PS education paid off as I spent a day pretending to blend in at an IR Ph.D. program, complete with talks and free food. And, to my amazement, things made sense! What would've been nonsense gibberish six months ago was now understandable, thanks to my education. Hooray. So Rex's research is statistical in nature, and for those of you who know what this means, he has
one million observations. Ridiculous.
So I mentioned fashion in the title. I knew that the next time I headed to New York I had to hit up the one American location of
Uniqlo. That is, my Japanese Lord and Savior. Uniqlo (as in 'unique clothes') is the Japanese equivalent of H&M or Gap, or maybe even American Apparel. It's the cheap basics. Lots of solid colors. Totally my thing. I went on a shopping
rampage, because a spree isn't an adequate word, and came home with a haul of stuff for $90. I'm now ready for summer.
Gaming happened there, too. Specifically, Ali and I dove into The Beatles Rock Band, which was my first time with the game. It was fantastic. I could, quite possibly, buy that game and be done with music games forever.
Yeah, I know I'm behind the times with the gaming - a forthcoming reviews post will illuminate as much.
In any case, I've had the quintessential New Jersey experience in four short days. With that in mind, there's no reason to stay there for any longer.
