Shhhh

Tuesday, February 28, 2006 - 8:20 a.m.

Nobody was speaking. I did not know if it was quiet hour or not but this was the quietest train ride I have ever had. Not one person was having a conversation with anyone or on a phone. I could peoples earphones playing. When the woman dropped her paper next to me and I picked it up, she said "Thank You" and although it was quiet, it seemed very out of place.

There were a disproportionate people reading the NY Times today vs. the Trib or RedEye. Maybe that is why it was quiet, everyone was so into their paper.

One man with red hair walked into the train two stops after mine and saw me. His reaction when I made eye contact startled him. I wondered why I appeared to be so scary today.

Tuesday, February 22, 2006 - 8:05 a.m.

I have been driving too much lately. I have to get back to my routine of taking the train. Plus, my one fan is screaming for blog content.

There was a lack of commuters this morning. It always makes me question how late I am or did I miss some announcement like "you will be stuck at Belmont so you might as well take the bus"

This man entered with a wife/girlfriend/co-worker and he was carrying his lunch in a blue Walgreens bag. He had a bottle of water which he was not aware had leaked and his lunch was now floating in the water filling up the bag. I was dumbfounded that he did not notice. I also became transfixed if he would try to salvage his lunch or just go out and buy something new. Then I was grossed out by it and could not look at it anymore.

At belmont, a woman sat next to me. She got out at Lake as well. When sitting, she looked like she was my height but then she stood and she came up to my waist. I found myself staring and looked away when she busted me.

The Saturday Train

Saturday, February 18, 2006 - 2:10 p.m.

Went into work for just a few hours to catch up. My friend Michael gave me a ride and I took the el home.

It is BITTERLY cold but there is a peaceful serene to the el riders. Like we are all in this together. All the shoppers, retail personnel, waiters, security guards and overdedicated office workers are going to manage to make it to and from the train.

There was a man who had just purchased something from PINK at Marshall Fields (PINK is a men's brand with a shirt having a minimum price tag of around $125). He was reading the Tribune and had it folder so carefully so all he could see was the specific section he was reading.

There were these two young women who had just come from Starbucks. They were both wearing some bling sunglasses and their coats were very soft. Most people were wearing very dark coats but not these two, light and pastel. They came right out of a "enjoy your afternoon of shopping and making friends with some Starbucks coffee" ad (come to think of it, Starbucks does not have TV ads...hmmm).

Many people sleeping even though the sun was blaring through the windows. There was a black woman sleeping next to me who had beautiful skin. We was very soft looking and was deep black skin.

On my walk home, I always pass a church. In the yard of the church was a used early pregnancy test that someone discarded.

Tuesday, February 14, 2006 - 8:25 a.m. and 5:17 p.m.

It's Valentine's Day everywhere! EVen on the el!

First, I have been driving into work b/c of obligations immediately following work hence the lack of posts.

There were many couples on the train. There were many straight couples on the train. I guess Valentine's Day means riding into work with each other on the el. Very romantic.

There was a couple behind me who are very new...obviously. She was blathering on for the whole train ride and he said very little. When they got ot his stop, she commented "Allright baby, I love you" in a very little girl voice. He responds "I love you too" in a mockingly same little girl voice. Now, if you are responding to an I love you, you have be sincere. You can have a cutesy voice but not one mocking the person saying it to you.

He also walked away from the train and did not look back. If I knew that my partner was there, I would look back.

Thursday, Feburary 9, 2006 - 8:28 a.m.

There were people in my everywhere. A woman stopped right in front of me on the sidewalk to read a sign on a bus. Another woman could not seem to get just one RedEye before I took mine. That same woman pondered how a door works before entering the station. And then another woman was playing with her gloves in front of the stairs.

When I sat down, the man behind was listening to his headphones way too loud because I could make out that he was listening to Salt N' Pepa's Push It. Whatever gets you going in the morning.

This law student sat down next to an obviously uptight man in a beret. His bag brushed against the man's black pants which the student said excuse me. The beret man vigorously brushed his pants to remove the bag cooties and huffed. The student did not hear because he had an iPod and quickly got engrossed in his Property Law book.

Wednesday, February 8, 2006 - 5:02 p.m.

I was seated amongst a bunch of co-workers. They were not post-work friends at all b/c their whole conversation was about work or the upcoming CTA "upgrades" on the brown line. Two of the co-workers transferred at Belmont and the third guy seemed relieved to be rid of them.

Wednesday, February 8, 2006 - 8:25 a.m.

A man came up behind me as I was waiting for the train and muttered to himself "That's really too bad." I looked at him and he was not speaking particularly to anyone. I could not tell what was really too bad or what the reference was. He was not on the phone and looked a little dissheveled. The creepy thing is that he had the same sounding voice as my vice president.

There was a woman who got on at Belmont. The train was pretty crowded so she was standing and holding on to the pole right in front of me. She was trying to read the RedEye as she stood. The corner of her paper kept catching my hair front time to time. At one point I moved my head a bit but it did not work. She felt really bad a apologized profusely. It happened a couple of more times but I found it strangely comical rather than annoying.

Ran into a friend who also ran into another friend who she works with. This other man was talking about his mid-year review which strangely enough I had yesterday as well. Then he said it went better than his mid-season review which struck me as odd. So this man has four reviews a year? One annual, one mid-year and two mid-season? He works for a very large advertising agency and hopefully he is happy there. Hopefully, they are happy with him. If they are not, they have four times a year where they can tell him about it.

I have started a new book, called "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro who wrote "Remains of the Day". Will keep you posted.



Tuesday, February 7, 2006 - 6:35 p.m.

For future reference:

doorhugger. door-hug-ger. (dôr-hug-gr). n. A word I made up to describe a person who despite the availability of seats or the amount of people on an el train, feel the need to crowd around the exit to be the first one off the train making it difficult for others to enter or exit the train.

The evening train was filled with empty seats and doorhuggers. They were especially a problem for me with the amount of crap I was carrying from just coming from the gym.

I sat next to a guy who was very fidgetty which was contagious and I became very fidgety. We had plenty of room but it was perplexing why we both found the presence of the other person so uncomfortable.

Tuesday, February 7, 2006 - 8:20 a.m.

I have the dropsies this morning. Something in my physical make up is off today. The train is approaching everyone in the station is scrambling to get up to the platform. I can't get my gloves off. I can't unbutton my coat fast enough to get my wallet. I can't unzip the pocket where my wallet (yes i keep in my coat as to not ruin the line of the pant). I am resolved to having a fumbling day as the train departs without me.

There was a man with glasses and a beard - very granola, of the earth type. I look up and he is knitting what appears to be a blanket. I thought "good for him". I also noticed he was wearing a scarf that he must have made himself.

The train appeared to be going at a snail's pace today. Was this due to my internal clock or to was the train really going that slow. I still arrived at work just at 9 a.m. which seemed normal.

I dont have good hair. I have very fine very thin hair and on the train was many people with really good hair. This one door-hugging boy in particular. Why can't I have thick brown hair, perfectly cut and shaped into a faux-hawk if I so desire?

definitely bad touch

Friday, February 3, 2006 - 8:29 a.m.

A guy touched my bag right before I entered the station. I don't know why it freaked me out so much. He was trying to get around me on the sidewalk but actually cause more of a ruckus by touching my bag than if he just scooted around me. I had my very large umbrella open so I had no periferal (sp?) vision to see him approaching. His rush-ness worked, he got on the train and I had to wait for the next one.

The train was packed and I stood for the first half above this mother with a hacking child. The little girl was cute but she kept using her doll to cover her mouth from the cough.

Thrusday, February 2, 2006 - 5:05 p.m.

Rode the brown line to Diversey since I was meeting a friend for a movie. I have not been on the brown line since I moved and forgot how clean it is. Very little trash and everything looks so kept up. Makes you realize the true classism that is the CTA when the brown line gets renovated stations and clean cars while the red line has dirty stations and cars. You would think the opposite was true since more people ride the red line and there are more red line trains per day than brown line. The one key element is the brown line travels through affluent neighborhoods for the most part.

Thursday, February 2, 2006 - 8:27 a.m.

There was a little girl yelling at her mom on the sidewalk. She was probably around 4 or 5 years old but she was saying "Enough Mom! I am tired! You go on ahead and leave me alone!" The mother's response was just "c'mon now ... let's go to school". My mother would have had a whole different response if I said those words to her.

I often feel not in my own skin on the train. where I just cannot get comfortable, all my limbs feel out of place. This morning was one of those mornings.

Smooth as silk ... until

Wednesday, February 1, 2006 - 8:12 a.m.

At the top of the platform was a man with blond hair, glasses and a Marshall Fields bag. He looked at me, then chuckled to himself - then looked away. MAde me feel rather self conscious. I looked to see if something was on my coat or not. Then I decided he was crazy and not to give it another moments thought.

The train was stangely empty for a wednesday morning and I was sitting by myself for the longest time until Belmont when this woman ran to sit in the seat next to me. Maybe she was so excited like "if I sit next to the EL blog guy, he will put me in his blog." Well ... here you go lady ... I did.

Around Clark/Division, a man entered the train then proceeded to go the next car through the doors between the trains. The going between cars phenomena has always perplexed me. It also scares me if the train all the sudden hits a bend in the tunnel, you are sunk!

Rather uneventful ride until the Grand stop where this doorhugging man shouts at this woman exitting the train "Next time, learn to fucking say excuse me, you fucking bitch! Who do you think you fucking are?" After this, the man mutters the rest of the ride, as if this "bitch" ruined his day by not saying excuse me to someone blocking the door.

Something must me going around since one of my co-workers said there was a fist fight between two women on his red line train, right around Grand. Was something being pumped into the air at the Grand stop?