Monday, August 6th

Overcast, humid, threat of rain. 75 degrees.

Before 9 am.

N: A striking image of old-world-meets-new greeted me at the top of the platform stairs: a woman in a floor-length navy blue burka, a shadowy sliver for eyes, and black silk gloves was chatting on her hot pink Razor phone.

A new train arrived as I reached the mid-point of the platform.

Once on the train, I recognized the mousy brunette standing next to me, but couldn't remember how I knew her. I tried to place her in context for a few stops, but aborted the attempts to connect myself to her as she absent-mindedly leaned her whole body against the pole, crushing my hand with her back.

7: I smashed into a few aggro commuters who plowed into me as I got off the train. Train arrived as I reached the end of the platform.

G: One of the only seats open was at the end of the first car where I found a blond woman in her 20's wearing cut-offs and an iPod. She made the unorthodoxed decision to sit in the middle seat of the three-seat row, and put her oversized bag on the far seat next to the door.

I looked down at her, silently urging her to move over so we can have a seat of bags to separate us. She defiantly stared back at me, daring me to sit down next to her. The doors closed with a bing-bong, I pursed my lips and sat down beside her. She scoffed and got off at the next stop, but I hardly noticed because I realized I only have 150 pages left in Harry Potter!