smoker's defiance

in one of the more confrontational scenes i've witnessed on the train, the man on the left below came on board the train (which, by the way, waited for him unnecessarily) with a lit cigarette.  when someone told him cigarettes aren't allowed on the train, he replied, "give me a ticket then."  people were visibly covering their faces to avoid inhaling the second-hand smoke.

defiant smoker on the left, slightly worried but mostly indifferent man on the right

he took offense to a woman in the corner.  i didn't hear her say anything, so it may have been a look or maybe she was fanning the smoke away.  "you gonna give me a ticket?  you broke-ass bitch.  you best get some security for you muthafuckas."  the profanity-laced tirade went on.  maybe i'm cynical, but i got the feeling that despite his bluster, no one was really scared of this guy.  the feeling i got was, "fine, dude, have it your way."  perhaps some of the nurses on board were thinking, "when you're in the hospital, we'll remember you."  probably not though, as nurses tend to have gentler souls than my vengeful ass.

well, no one did give him a ticket.  i sort of get the feeling his entire life is a ticket and just one more might make him snap.  anyhow, he got off at the next stop.  maybe due to his smoking, the mile between stops was too much for him to do on bike. 

the lit cigarette and busted up handlebar pad of winners

i fully understand this guy's life is probably shit and, as dave chappelle told us (well, me anyway), he ain't got no therapist, so he takes to booze and cigarettes.  what i don't get is he didn't take a single drag off the cigarette while he was on the train.  smokers, correct me if i'm wrong, but isn't that just wasteful?

i thanked the man who spoke up as we got off the train and another woman getting off said some kind words to the one that had the tirade directed at her.  crisis both binds and breaks.

coat (as) hanger

most people have coat hangers.  some people do dry cleaning.  but this is the first i've seen of dry cleaning on coat hanger on coat as hanger.

candy(land) bike

it's raining out.  i hear a swishing coming down the platform.  probably just somebody with squishy, waterlogged shoe soles strolling down.  as it turns out, it's actually the sound of the bike below.

those beads around the spokes are free to slide up and down.  as you can see, the ones in the top half have slid to the center and the ones on the bottom half are hugging the rim.  there's some sound during the actual sliding back and forth, but mostly, it's when they hit the rim or the center that there's sound.  but, as you look at the picture, the sound isn't the most interesting thing about this bike, is it?

customized rear splash guard, itself housing more reflectors than most bikes have in total, all arranged in primary and secondary colors.  the beads themselves following the same color scheme.  side-view mirrors.  mounted lamp.  saddlebags (hard to see, but trust me, they're there).  it all speaks for itself.  this is clearly the bike of a young person, most likely a girl, probably one just discovering the wonders of her mom's friendship pins.

wrongo!  it's just a dude going to work.

parenting

i'm not the world's foremost expert on parenting.  so is my initial reaction that maybe this kid's a little too big for the stroller he's in one shared by people who are?

i mean, it looks comfortable and i wish i had someone to push me around, but don't his shoulders make him look uncomfortable?  even so, he's got a book open, he's behavin hisself and he's not obese, so i shouldn't complain too much.

money, money, money

another weird instrument

drums don't usually qualify as weird, but maybe drums that might be mistaken for a chair do.  like this one.

can't say i understand drums well enough to understand why you'd want one that's so odd a shape.  most likely reason i can think of is you happen to have a tree trunk lying around.  or maybe the little dimple almost counts as a second drum.  or maybe this guy should just hand out flyers of performances so i can hear for myself.  alas, no luck.

aspirational transportation

jack donaghy once said, "don't dress for the job you have, dress for the job you want to have."

well, this man is not accessorizing for the mode of transportation he's on, he's accessorizing for the mode of transportation he wants to be on.