The 8:44 to Hell

Yesterday, I'm fairly certain I sat next to a pregnant woman on the Harlem line of Metro North whose fetus was on a cell phone. Okay, I'm exaggerating, but only a little. My commuting experience an hour north of the City every day has given me new insight into life. This is no ordinary commute. I'm pretty certain that it's a microcosm that pretty much sums up exactly how each individual on the train will travel through life itself. Some will chat away, talking about business in a self-important way that's completely oblivious to everyone around them. Some will loudly gossip on the phone without it ever occurring to them how embarrassing, vapid and even graphic their conversation is to people around them. Some will spend the time ingesting the smelliest, foulest food imaginable. Some will snooze away oblivious to it all. And some will just sit there, wince from time to time, and just take it. I guess I fall into the last camp, but this blog is my way of sharing this weird ride so many of us take twice a day. Yes, it'll probably amount to venting most of the time, but it will also be observations about how ex-City people interact when they're back living on top of each other, if only for two hours a day.