Friday, September 5, 2008

I have to be straight with you, dear reader: ignoring is bliss.

Ok.

So, I have to tell you something.

I made a conscious decision to cut down on my daily subway reports because, well, frankly, it was getting to me.

Many of you have approached me in search of the answer as to why I've been such a slacker at reporting the news of what, and who, is down there. So, I must come clean to everyone.

It's like this: The more you start to pay attention to who, and what, is around you, the harder it gets to detach from it and ignore it.

And the harder it is to pretend the city you love isn't filled with finger-nail-clipping a-holes who will throw garbage under the seat, sneeze out into the great open air without a hand for cover in sight, and then stare you down like a predator when you look away (A brief aside to all you blog-savvy subway predators out there: Do us a favor, hop on the Q101 Limited, get off at the last stop, then try that shit.).

But, more importantly, the hardest thing to do is to NOT to get really, really angry at the MTA.

The MTA raised our monthly rates in the beginning of the year because they promised station clean-ups, better trains and more buses on deserted outer-borough routes. But instead of keeping their promise, they announced that their accounting was wrong and they need to raise the prices again. (Insert joke about how if I tried that, I'd have this much.)

Sigh.

Anyway. There are some positive changes to report.

The new N trains are great. Clean and sleek and they do make the ride go faster. And, like some reverse-disease, they're spreading to the "worst" of the lines: to the W and M. I mean, it's basically like putting a new suite on someone who lives on the street. You can dress 'em up as nice as you want, but those finger nails are still filthy.

So. Yeah.

That's where I've been. Not fixating on the MTA's finger nails.

I will say this: I don't have the 3-train commute anymore, because I left my job in Brooklyn. But, guess what? I started freelancing in Newark and that requires an hour and a half commute on the MTA and NJ Transit and sometimes the Newark Light Rail. Jersey really is a fascinating place. I mean, 5 minutes outside Manhattan are dirt roads and wheat fields. WTF?

But, I digress.

And man it's feels good.

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