Subway Sociology #9: The Wheels on the Bus Don’t Go Round

All the conditions were right for a repeat of our apartment-hunting bus experience. It had again been raining. We had again accidentally attempted to take a shuttle bus that was replacing regular train service during a major popular event (in this case sportsball instead of a concert) that had filled each shuttle bus to max …

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Meteorological Misanthropy #2/Subway Sociology #8: Winds of Change

History Channel Announcer: "Tonight, four of the world's strongest men will compete for the world's greatest prize: bragging rights!" Partner: "That's not much of a prize!" Lavender: "You've obviously never had your entire sense of self-worth founded on other people's perceptions of you, I take it?" Partner: "No, why would I set that as a …

Subway Sociology #8: Railway Acts of Baked Goods Generation

Starting a new job costs physical spoons, even when it saves mental spoons. My new longer commute has left me pretty drained this week. I did plan to post yesterday, but an unexpected situation on said new commute took precedence. Other people's stories aren't mine to share. So, all I will say is that, if …

Subway Sociology #7/Improv #18: Dysautomomia

You know it's hot when... Your city subway sends you an emergency number to notify if you start to roast alive in their subway cars using the system they normally use to notify about line delays!  Wait, were you expecting a punch line to that one? Because that experience was real and is deadly serious. …

Subway Sociology #7: Weed Out the Weak

I have spent many years traveling on a graduate student's budget. Travel was - and is - my preferred way of handling the Christmas holidays, which would rank second after the week-that-shall-not-be-named (aka this one) on my list of least favorite times of the year, except for the fact that my travel tradition actually makes …

Subway Sociology #6: I Seat Drunk People

Did I ever mention that I am an irony magnet? This is an important baseline state of reality to establish for new readers who might otherwise question how my Partner and I, specifically, ended up being the second and third of (hopefully only) three residents of a large urban city stuck explaining the intricacies of …

Where’s Whoopsie #18/Subway Sociology #5: Mixed Martial Arts

First, for those wondering. The bad news is that I don't have a new job quite yet. The good news is that that is because the interview process keeps getting longer each time I go through it. I'm not finished with it yet, but I'm also not out of the running yet, either. There are …

Improv #13/Subway Sociology #4: Party Poppers

*Knock knock* "Who's There?" "Wobbly" "Wobbly who?" "Wobbly out in this weather when I know I will fall over? I'm very dedicated to my art, ok? Now offer me a seat on this train before it's you I fall onto..." Amtrak preemptively canceled some Acela routes and other regional commuter routes in advance of the …

Subway Sociology #3: Of Subways and Cigarettes…

CW: mentions of an attempted robbery on New Year's Eve that did not result in any injuries or financial loss. Mentions of past acute traumas, including a threatened mass shooting, that I have experienced, fortunately also without injury. Does acute trauma add to the mental trauma load if you've already experienced the 9th Circle of …

Subway Sociology #2: Triggersplaining

TW: Talking potentially triggeringly about someone else talking definitively triggeringly about the Kavanaugh hearings. I talk very loudly at times. It's an occupational hazard of ADHD. In hindsight, I'm sure that I have said things about things that have happened in my life loudly enough into cell phones in various public places and on various …