That Young Knockout Kid

is when I’m hungry for pizza. They just don’t know how to do it in North Carolina like they do in Jersey.

As I was sitting in traffic earlier today listening to The Bouncing Souls’ album Anchors Aweigh I realized that over the last year their music has not only found it’s way into my heart but their music has made me love New Jersey again and for that I am incredibly grateful.

I hated New Jersey for a while after I moved to North Carolina, really just hated it. I would say I’m from there and smile when asked but I didn’t like to think about it. I let what a some lousy people did to me ruin, in my mind, 18 otherwise good years in The Garden State. My parents were born in New Jersey and my grandparents were too (except for my mom’s mom who was born in New York City and sold apples on the streets with her family during The Great Depression). My three grandparents who have passed away are all buried in New Jersey and I hope they are resting in peace because I still miss each of them a lot, and I’m sad that being in Jersey last year for my grandma and grandpa’s funerals bothered me so much.

I don’t know that I can even name many things that are great about New Jersey (I’ve found I actually prefer to pump my own gas), but it doesn’t matter. The Bouncing Souls songs and Greg Attonito’s voice have reminded me of the great moments and things I experienced, and it’s probably not a coincidence that my two ‘favorite’ songs of the Souls many great ones would probably have to be the Jersey oriented ‘So Jersey’ and ‘Ghosts on the Boardwalk’.

Even though I’m “ready to walk a path that is new”, Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey will always and forever be my home.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_Blackout_of_2003

Wow, I totally forgot about this until now. God that was a hot, miserable day. 

a sleepless night spent worrying over taking a trip north. I’ll only be in New Jersey for 2 or 3 days but it still feels like 2 or 3 too many. Ever since my last trip to California where Edward introduced me to some friends of his as being ‘from North Carolina’ I felt as though I’ve lost a part of my New Jersey ‘heritage’ as it were. I suppose two and a half years of living in North Carolina and never really feeling like I belong will do that. It’s weird though because I’ve never particularly identified myself as being ‘Jersey’ but my parents are from Jersey (dad from Guttenberg, mom from Union City originally) and all my grandparents were from Jersey and my great grandparents were from Jersey (somewhere in Hudson County, I forget the exact towns. although I can never remember quite when my grandma’s family came from Italy and my pop pop’s from Poland). I don’t want to lose that part of my history but I still feel like I have nothing to gain by going there but bringing bad memories to the forefront of my mind again. I love my friend Mike like a brother and look forward to seeing him but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have serious doubts about the state of my general emotional well-being by taking this trip. I think the risk is worth the reward though, I really want to see Philadelphia up close, Boston for the first time, and to be able to say I stepped foot inside of Madison Square Garden.

Addendum: as the future sole carrier of the immediate Brunner family line/name I’d like to relocate us to Southern California where our skin will become dark and our ethnicity even more irrelevant (100 plus years in America will do that). 

That was much longer/more personal than I’m used to posting so if you actually read it, thanks, so here’s some kittens inspired by kittens.