Saturday, March 11, 2006 - 10:40 a.m.
Special Saturday Edition - I had to ride the train downtown to meet my theatre company to pass out flyers in the St. Patrick's Day parade. It is such an odd holiday to me that a good deal of the masses celebrate whether of the heritage or not. Plus, it really is the only holiday with strong connections to drinking besides New Years Eve.

I started my train ride talking on my cell phone to my friend, Heather. I was the annoying loud talker on the train. One man on the parallel seats actually rolled his eyes at me. Nice way to start a Saturday morning.

Sitting across from me was a man that I assumed to be homeless. He was dirty, his clothes had many holes and his shoes had een worn down. He was sleeping when I got on the train. When he woke up mid-ride, he pulled out a brand new, top of the line GameBoy and quickly played a game.

Many people wearing green were on the train. There were two young men from St. Louis who struck up a conversation with a couple from Seattle (which made me wonder if anyone going to the parade was actually from Chicago). One of the young men was wearing an Ireland warm-up jacket yet was of Indian descent. The other man stated that he had been drinking all night until 7 a.m. where he took a quick nap before this train ride. He had proceeded to start drinking once he woke up. The warm-up jacket man told the couple that he was drinking his favorite drink which happened to be green: Hynoptic (energy drink) and Hennessey. The two combined made a green color and he was drinking this out of a McDonalds glass with straw. He stated he drinks this every weekend.