feeding and breeding

in the animal kingdom, almost all activities can be traced back to the need to feed or breed.

on the left and right here, you've got your feeding activities.  in the middle there, looks like plenty of both.

etiquette, pt 4

what's noteworthy here?

1. "priority seating for seniors and disabled" sign
2. no matter how professional you may look otherwise, white backpack straps make you look like a kid again -- a very old kid
3. empty, non-priority seating on the right

what you might not know:

1. strappy here was standing.  who knows what prompted him to sit.
2. the train was pretty empty, so no one was actually being inconvenienced.  still, it bothers me.

batman

i've never argued against being prepared.  that's how you avoid icy stares from your fellow rider when you board, know the fare and have it ready so we don't all have to wait for you.  and, for crying out loud, have some idea where you're going.  if you're a tourist who doesn't know the language or are stupefyingly inebriated, you have an excuse.  the rest of us shouldn't have to play 20 questions with the driver before we know whether we should be boarding or not.

that said, the person below and his batbelt full of gadgets is taking preparation a bit far, don't you think?

first of all, batman never took a bus, at least not while suited up for action.  second of all, what exactly is he prepared for?  i was tempted to create some sort of crisis just to find out.  "EVERYBODY FREEEEEZZE! THIS IS A ROBBERY!!!" except that everyone knows buses are only used for hostage situations, never armed robbery.  my guess is the crisis needed to fully exploit his preparedness would be a flat tire on a bike.

i just hope this isn't the response of home security employee after their car broke down.

blind yeller

i settle into my seat, journal open, pen in hand, ready to splash my insight of public transportation onto the page.  in the background, "have a great day!" arrives at my ears at the next stop.  sometimes riders know each other.  who am i to begrudge them their friendly farewells?

i continue trying to put brain to paper.  "have a lovely day, metro riders!" comes bellowing out at the next stop.  i hadn't heard such enthusiasm on the bus since an entire family found out their earned income credit check was finally coming through.  some riders mumble thanks as they step off.  i look up to see this.

at the next stop, he gets up.  before he gets off the bus, he turns and faces the riders for one final "everyone, have a great day!  don't forget to thank your driver."  he turns to the driver.  "you have a beautiful day.  thank you."  who's more sick, him for being a (literally) blind optimist or the rest of us for thinking "GODDAMN, that's too much sunshine.  now wonder you're blind!"

facebook page created

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a man of god

i'm not joking.  it's not even that warm and shirtless here tried to sell me on jesus.  i did thank jesus that this man had a bag.  who knows what other goods i would have been forced to look at if he didn't?

bikers over riders

alright, bikers, it's gettin harder and harder for us pedestrian passengers of public transit to take your presence kindly.  you take up at least three bodies' worth of standing room when you don't act stupid.  this is something metro, in their infinite wisdom, has decided to formalize.

seats removed for bikes, strollers and large luggage

that's right.  two rows of seats and a handicapped seat have been removed from a whole lotta trains because there are so many more of you bikers than when gas was only $3.50/gal.  on some trains, it's a full three rows, six seats.  congratulations for makin more of the rest of us tired riders stand in your honor.  half the time, you bikers even rub salt in the wound, taking a seat while leaving your bike to fall over on someone.

someone sitting across the doorway from his bike

but, no, that's enough, is it?  instead of making use of the sanctioned spaces, you gotta crowd the doorways of the trains makin it a serious project for the rest of us to get on or off.  and for your inconsideration, what penance do you pay?  why, yall get off first, to, y'know, make room.

two bikes in the doorway

and if that ain't enough, there's been a serious spike in the number of yall crowdin your way onto an already crowded train and only riding a stop or two.  why you wasting time?  it's hard to find two, even three, consecutive train stations in the county far enough apart that you can't ride faster than it is to wait for the train.

so, enough of my ranting, what's to be done about this?

the best i can come up with is hopin this bike share thing works out and expands dramatically.  maybe if there are bikes everywhere, no one'll feel the need to bring em on the train.  the logistics of this are questionable, but it's one tiny glimmer of hope since it's become clear relying on bikers' general considerate nature is failing.

now, if bike sharing don't work and the legions of bikers continue to have enough bad apples causing me to voice my grief, i might just have to advocate for a bike ban.  no one wants that, do they?

lollipop

i wasn't quite sure what was going on here at first.  of course, it looks like an adult or large child is sucking on a lollipop, but only ravers do that in public and even then only when they're raving.  with no glowsticks to be seen, it looked like someone with childish tendencies.

upon closer inspection, however, i think that's some sort of quit-smoking device.  the thing inside the plastic tube looked a bit like a cigarette and i have heard that for some people, smoking is just a habit that can be replaced with other habits like sucking on a cigarette-looking thing encased in a plastic tube so it looks like a lollipop.

of course a more clever person would use the plastic tube as a mechanism for holding the smoke so they could go right on smoking in non-smoking settings, much like kumar's smokeless bong.  of course, there's always the problem of exhalation, though i guess nothing an even more clever person couldn't work around.

bob marley in the house (not literally of course)

sometimes it's hard to know if people go out of their way to become living stereotypes or if it just comes naturally.  i'm sure i'm guilty of living a cliche when looked through the right lens, but some people live their cliches when looked through just about every lens.

i invite you to take a look at the above picture and take a wild guess at what the dude smelled like.  at first, you might be tempted to say "urine" because he looks homeless, but it don't take but a day or two of being homeless to make one realize a paper bag is no way to carry one's possessions.  even at the height of summer, moisture forms overnight and damp paper gives way to ripped bag before the sun comes up.  also, the homeless tend not to wear such light-colored pants and when they do, they tend not to stay that clean.

well if your train detective and profiling skills haven't led you to a reasonable answer yet, it comes as no surprise to the rest of us that this guy smelled like reefer -- dread-locks, bob marley t and burnout blanket being pretty dead giveaways.  now i'm not gonna go around accusing anyone of anything.  who knows?  maybe he was just in the room and maybe he didn't inhale.  but that'd be an awful shame.