Garden State

If you'll remember back to last week, I set out to update my drivers license, only to be told by the NYC DMV that I needed to prove "proof of birth." Since I was born in New Jersey, I hoped a trian to Trenton today. Here's why I went in person. You can have it mailed to you, but you have to fax them proof of identity, and it costs $25 plus a shipping cost of $27, and you get it in 15 to 19 days (that's express...never has anything taken 2 weeks and been called "express," but I digress). It cost $21.50 to take a round trip to Trenton to pick it up in person, and the Department of Vital Records is 3 blocks from the train station. Easy decision for me. So I hop the train, and make my way to the Garden State, the place where I was born, New Jersey. The first stop out of New York is Newark, and all though Newark is very close to New York, it feels so far. You really can't even see the city. We went through a bunch of stops, New Brunswick (where I was born) being one of them. About an hour and a half after I left, I arrived in Trenton, NJ. Got to the place, filled out the paperwork, paid my money, made some NASCAR small talk with the girl behind the desk, and boom, done. The whole process in Trenton took less than 5 minutes (it took a while to get there, and it took a bit to walk over to the place, but the actual time at the Department of Vitals was litterally in and out). So I headed back to the train station to head back to New York. Riding through Jersey is the strangest thing. Geographicallly, I'm about 20-30 miles outside of New York (if you're from GA and never been to New York and don't remember, think Alpharetta or Lawrenceville to Atlanta). Got back on the train, and headed back to the city determined to update my license and piss off the DMV at the same time by walking in 5 minutes berfore they close. Alas, they closed at 4:00 pm, and I arrived at 4:40. Guess it'll have to wait until Tuesday to do that (since Monday I start at my new job...for more information on the job, see the blog "Waiting"). So who knows what shennanigans I'll get into with the DMV. That blog will be sure to be a doozy. So, here's to me proving to the state of NY that I was indeed born, and not spawned or hatched like perviously noted. Until next time!