Indiana is one of the states in which you can’t buy alcohol at the grocery store on Sundays. Fair enough, but as I discovered soon after moving here from Ohio, you can’t even buy sparkling non-alcoholic cider on Sunday because the beverage is bottled and distributed by an “alcohol vendor”, and the scanners are programmed to “flag” alcohol vendors’ entire product lines on Sundays. Some stores “chain off” the beer and wine aisles on Sundays, but others don’t bother. Nothing like being stuck in line behind a non-resident traveler who’s run into the store for a six-pack, only to be told by the cashier that the purchase can’t be made until the next day.
It’s a pain to be on “New York time” from late October to mid-April and “Chicago time” the rest of the year, but I actually like not having to change the clocks periodically. I wish the overwhelming majority of the country would just scrap Daylight Savings Time.
New Jersey:
*The driver’s licensing scheme for teen drivers. permit for a year at 16, extremely limited license at 17, and on your 18th birthday, you magically turn into a perfect driver, I guess. If you’re over 18 when you get your license, though, it’s still a ‘limited license’, but I’m not sure how. None of the limits apply.
*Toxic waste dumps.
*Suburban sprawl.
Traffic circles and no left turns.
*To everyone else in the country, NJ is the shore and the turnpike. Finding someone is from NJ and asking “What exit?” is not funny. Very not funny.
*The traffic. The speed limit on 295 is 65. I’ve been passed while doing upwards of 85.
*The mob. There was a mafia hit in a parking lot behind my school last year (not a student, but a parent.)
Washington
-Many serial killers or or killers in general originated from here or did their operations here (Green river killer, ted bundy, the washington DC sniper).
-The rain
-The rain resulting in nothing to do except sit inside and drink coffee
In Indiana, we view the presidential primary races from a detached distance. We don’t get to vote until after the dust has settled over the winners and losers. Our legislature fiercely refuses to change the voting date, and the reason is not available to mere mortals. :rolleyes:
Oh, and that pesky business of being on Chigago time part of the year, and New York time the other part.
[list][li] The humidity. Now that it’s getting cold, you can feel the wet chill. The kind that gets right into your bones.[/li][li] The handful of people who will speak to you ONLY in French, even when it’s obvious that you’re Anglophone (not so much a problem for me, more my cow-orkers.)[/li][li]I can’t buy a Big Turk candy bar around here to save my life.[/li][li] All the lottery tickets are in French, and somehow not as much fun as they were in Ontario.[/li][li] Those goat-felching pur laine bstrds. “You’re in Quebec now, so do as we do. Assimilate or eff off and die, foreigner.” [/li] It’s not just the foreigners who bear the brunt, though. My sweetie grew up here, and as a teenager, she recieved death threats for being on the board of Alliance Quebec.
I am overseas and I don’t really mind when my teachers think Tacoma is in Oregon, but one of my classmates, from CA, couldn’t think of what state was north! What the HELL! There’s three big states on the whole west coast!
I hate the fact that I don’t know how to pump gas and am not used to sales tax… though I’m happy enough about the reason I got that way.
[ul]
[li]It’s hard to spell[/li][li]You can’t buy beer in the grocery stores, only in the liquor stores.[/li][li]These liquor stores aren’t open on Sundays. What is this, 1620? Damn Blue Laws.[/li][li]Famously dysfunctional state politics, and everyone expects it to be that way and doesn’t care.[/li][/ul]
When I got here (I’m from New York) the state’s most notorious criminal (Whitey Bulger) was the brother of the state’s most influential politician (Senate President Billy Bulger) and no one thought this was the slightest bit strange. It would be like if John Gotti’s brother was the Governor of New York.
Being looked down upon by the rest of the country (except in football) kind of sucks.
Last year, we finally voted to outlaw cockfighting but our “law enforcement” officials wouldn’t enforce the law. I believe that the ban was eventually ruled unconstitutional. Party on Garth.
