Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Confessions in Jersey City

I walked to the gym this morning and noticed my new coffee shop in Jersey City is closed for the day. Legal Grounds, which gives coffee for a dollar with your own mug is a down home, coffee shop from days gone by mixed with a hip, wifi feel. Coffee is great, but when they are closed what am I to do? Paulus Hook still lacks lots of these amenities. So, I decided to head to the gym at Synergy, also the cheapest of health clubs in Jersey City.

A guy on unemployment has to watch his budget, eh. It is great though, gives you what you need, Nautilus, free weights, and all kinds of machines. It is also the most diverse gym by far I have ever worked out at...from mom's to kids, to young men to women, from fringe hippies like me, to Arabs, Indians, Latinos, African-Americans, you name it. It is very cool. You want old New York? Come to Jersey City.

After the gym, however - contemplating watching the Palestinian massacre on television without a coffee was not something I cherished. There it was in front of me. Starbucks (no link needed). At the bottom of the gargantuan, pathetically drawn, architecturally stupid, structure of Grove Pointe, a Starbucks. I thought to myself, I have not yet enjoyed the beauty of an egg nog latte yet this holiday season. Voila! In and out in two minutes with a huge egg nog latte. A Venti, they call it. Italian they are not.

The old and new mixed right in this city that is struggling to define itself. Anyway, on January 2nd, Legal Grounds will reopen and I will return.

Thought of the day: Why is one Israeli life worth 350 Palestinian lives?

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