Monday, December 28, 2009
Be Jeweled
Last week it was watching a young woman apply make-up over a 20 min period; this morning I am watching a girl apply many diamond studs to her ears. 8 in each ear, I count; keeps them in a little blue box. insert, clip; insert, clip. now her ears sparkle and glisten in the morning light!
Getting Off at a Different Stop in Life
Conversation overheard on the train: "Oh, I've learned, now. I want to get a job and make money the right way and live a right life, instead of sellin' drugs, winding up in prison, and losing my baby." On this Friday before Christmas...amen to that.
Transit Greeting
UNNERVING Adventures on the Light Rail - attempting to board train when a crazed man inside jumped in front of the door and yelled "YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE! GET THE (expletive) OFF OF HERE! YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE! GET THE (expletive) OFF OF HERE! So thought of my own skin and stepped back down on the street. and will call transit police to let them know that the ambassador of car # 123 is NOT doing his job correctly!
Morning Complexion
Young lady across from me on the train got on at same stop and has been applying make-up since she sat down. Eyeliner on the lashes, some color on the lids and brows(?), lip gloss...and now more eyeliner. And now rouge and more lip gloss. I am watching the "morphing" of a face! Fascinating..., even to a father of daughters! Poor thing-her pencils and tubes keep sliding all over the seat.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Morning News Headlines
Adventures on the Light Rail - woman with newspaper in her hand, reading the headlines out LOUD to us, and then commenting on the stories, like a female Paul Harvey! Don't have to read the paper myself, I'll just tune in to HER station! Good Day!
Monday, December 7, 2009
"Tis the Season to be Jolly..."
After nearly 20 years (off and on)of riding light rail, I guess I am overly sensitive when train breakdowns and delays happen on the system.
Since I started riding the train again into work earlier this year, the problems have been minimal, but this morning's drama was especially frustrating. Bad weather in the area apparently led to a stalled train on the tracks downtown, and so in-coming trains were delayed at several stops for several minutes, and at 29th street, we all had to "disembark" and catch a bus that would take us into downtown via P street, and hopefully drop us off "as close to" our destinations as possible.
Getting off of the train at 29th there was HUGE crowd waiting to get on the buses, and like a bunch of extras from "The Towering Inferno," once a bus pulled up and opened its doors, people started shoving and crowding onto the bus. One short gentleman with a red suitcase started plowing thru the crowd to get on the bus. This upset eveyone else near him and a shouting match and a scuffle started near the bus door. One man started hitting and pushing the short guy and while he WAS being obnoxious, he didn;t deserve to be pummeled, so I got into it a bit with the lead guy shoving him and, well...it was just not a pleasant way to start a Monday. Embarrassing to see our fellow human beings overreact like that. We're not evacuating a building, people - we're getting on a bus!!!
On the bus - packed with ex-train riders - tempers were still flaring, people were making alternative plans and thinking of alternate routes. Probably a lot of folks didn't make it to school or into the office on time. Finally got to work myself a little more than an hour AFTER I first got onto the train in the early morning...normally a 25 min ride and walk. That's life on the Light Rail!
There is nothing as unsettling as sitting on a light rail train that is idle, waiting or stalled, going nowhere, realizing you have someplace to be at a certain time...and you can do nothing about it. But wait. And wait. It is a feeling of total powerlessness. One just has to take a deep breath, and be willing to surrender to the mercy of someone else's schedule. Or get into a fight about it.
Since I started riding the train again into work earlier this year, the problems have been minimal, but this morning's drama was especially frustrating. Bad weather in the area apparently led to a stalled train on the tracks downtown, and so in-coming trains were delayed at several stops for several minutes, and at 29th street, we all had to "disembark" and catch a bus that would take us into downtown via P street, and hopefully drop us off "as close to" our destinations as possible.
Getting off of the train at 29th there was HUGE crowd waiting to get on the buses, and like a bunch of extras from "The Towering Inferno," once a bus pulled up and opened its doors, people started shoving and crowding onto the bus. One short gentleman with a red suitcase started plowing thru the crowd to get on the bus. This upset eveyone else near him and a shouting match and a scuffle started near the bus door. One man started hitting and pushing the short guy and while he WAS being obnoxious, he didn;t deserve to be pummeled, so I got into it a bit with the lead guy shoving him and, well...it was just not a pleasant way to start a Monday. Embarrassing to see our fellow human beings overreact like that. We're not evacuating a building, people - we're getting on a bus!!!
On the bus - packed with ex-train riders - tempers were still flaring, people were making alternative plans and thinking of alternate routes. Probably a lot of folks didn't make it to school or into the office on time. Finally got to work myself a little more than an hour AFTER I first got onto the train in the early morning...normally a 25 min ride and walk. That's life on the Light Rail!
There is nothing as unsettling as sitting on a light rail train that is idle, waiting or stalled, going nowhere, realizing you have someplace to be at a certain time...and you can do nothing about it. But wait. And wait. It is a feeling of total powerlessness. One just has to take a deep breath, and be willing to surrender to the mercy of someone else's schedule. Or get into a fight about it.
Don't hold a gun to Mother Nature
Adventures on the Light Rail - Guy on cell phone; "Did you get white stuff on the ground last night? Well, WE didn't!! It better snow tonight or I'm gonna be (expletive) PISSED! It (expletive) snows and misses OUR (expletive) house!! Anyway, honey, love you-bye!!" Unbelieveable. Monday morning on Regional Transit...
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