Happy Friday

In all the time that I have lived in New York (not even that long) I think I just experienced the worst commute of all my time this morning. It actually drove me to furiously download a meditation app on my phone to listen to so I wouldn't show up at my office ready to rage on someone (which I can't confirm wasn't the case).

I already left the house a little late... I knew this meant it would be a little more crowded, and I mentally prepared myself, but I couldn't care too much. Last night I went to a happy hour for UCSB alumni at a fun bar on the East Side and made a lot of friends (and joined the NYC Area LA Lakers Fan Club? Sure, why not?)

...and then one of my superbusy roommates was already up and cooking when I stumbled into the kitchen to make my breakfast and pack my lunch so we ended up talking for awhile.

My train stop runs above ground and approaching it, I could already see the platform bridge covered and crowded with people waiting. This was already a red flag. In that huge crowd of people, 2 or 3 trains went by with no one able to get on. It was at that breaking point where, when the doors open, the people have to hold on so they don't spill out onto the platform. I've seen it before, but something was really wrong. Imagine the bottleneck as more and more people came tot he platform and no one was leaving anywhere.

Then they decide to announce that trains wouldn't be running to Times Square due to a stalled train a few stops ahead, so you'll need to continue this just two stops down to transfer at the next and only junction on the way. With each passing full train that I couldn't get into, my temper was rising. Every freezing breeze that blew without another train in site made me want to javelin-throw an icicle. When I finally got on a train, they announced the stalled train had resumed and that our train would be running into Times Square. So the day was turning around.

But then, like 5 stops down, they decided to tell us LOL NM WE WON'T BE GOING INTO TIMES SQUARE and we all needed to exit. Oh man, the mob scene that ensued was just classic. My favorite was the older suit-clad financier with the Wall Street Journal next to me who totally bonded with this grubby, unshaven, hoodie-wearing hipster kid in Converse next to him. "Are you kidding me?!" "I know, man! This is ridiculous!" "Man, you're telling me!" "Don't they do this every day?" "That's what I thought, shouldn't they know how to fix it already?" "Seriously! No one should get off." "Yeah, NO ONE GET OFF THE TRAIN!" So no one got off and even though they still turned the train around, they did it with us in it instead of kicking us all off, ha!

So then we had to go back to the junction. And then I had to wait outdoors again for another train into Times Square. Then I had to wade through the puddles of people everywhere and squeeze myself into another shoulder-to-shoulder crowd uptown and got to work like an hour and a half late. Originally I was so seething angry I was texting my coworker telling her that I officially quit the city and this sucked, blah blah blah but then when I said I CAN'T EVEN TEXT ANYMORE I NEED TO MEDITATE, I really did download a meditation app and the whole thing just felt so stupid I just laughed.

Despite all of that, I am in an inversely good mood today. And it's not even my birthday!