i don’t know how the rest of the worlds public transportation works, but here in nyc – the mta pretty much works against you. (my friend jess and i were tweeting back and forth about this very issue this morning…)

a flimsy, plastic mta metrocard allows you to get on the trains/buses… i get a monthly unlimited through work every month via transitchek. at any rate, i’ve run into situations where the damn thing has suddenly stopped working. whether it was a bent card, scratched or whatever… you bring it to the person in the booth for help and the first thing they do is swipe it on their end to make sure you have money or rides on it… the last time this situation happened it was on one of my monthly unlimited and the booth fool could see that there was still however many days left on it… instead of hooking me up with a new card so that i could transport myself around, i get a form to fill out (and mail out) so that i can send the non-functioning metrocard back to the mta and then get a check for reimbursement… (i forget how long that takes…) none the less, i have to buy a NEW ONE in the mean time.

now – i make okay money… but with paying rent on my own, general living costs, my own bills and on top of all my shit – still contributing at my mom’s house… i don’t have an extra $100 to just throw down for a new metrocard… why the hell doesn’t the mta give me a new card and do whatever the fuck they want with the one that doesn’t work?

…greedy, greedy, ass-backwards assholes.

i keep forgetting to post about this guy john conn i met/got a t-shirt from at the austin st. fair a few weeks ago…

this guys booth was full of prints and t-shirts of the nyc subways from the 1980′s – people, stations, platforms, etc. – they’re awesome shots. i would suggest buying a photo print if you can find him – they’re gorgeous! (on flickr i found that he sold at least once at the union sq market – not sure if he’s a repeat vendor, though…) my shirt got mangled within one washing… if he would silkscreen the images on, make the images bigger and on better sized/quality t-shirts, i think he’d make a killing. it saddened me greatly when i removed mine from the wash and it was all pruney.

this was the one that i bought, it was on a dark gray t-shirt…

unless i’m totally blind, i couldn’t find a way to purchase things off of his website or online anywhere. maybe i should send him over an email… anyways, go check out the galleries.

click here to see john’s official gallery. and click here to see a full gallery of shots that i had seen… (not sure why this is on another domain, but whatever – want you to see them all…)

i am on the m train right now and there is a six year old asian boy playing with a balloon with his sister… he keeps letting her hit it and he keeps yelling “pretend it’s the brown face girl!!!” and then randomly also yelling “the brown face girl is sexy!” and sticks out his tongue and moves it around… the sister laughs.

i don’t think the mother knows english or she just doesn’t give a shit… huge black dude next to me keeps giggling with me though.. we both have wtf faces going on…

so today was the first part of our office’s move. pictured above, lol, will show our office on the left (now) and where we will be situated tomorrow (right). yeah, 5th floor. both corner offices, across from each other, lol.

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so i just moved into my place, started my new daily commute… not too crowded in the morning and since i’m the third stop in from the first, i always get a seat… …getting to know the fellow daily commuters, daily faces…

so there’s this one fancy little italian woman (with the tacky hair i someday long to don)… i’d say she’s on her way to being old, always in her black fur coat… looking like a pug… anyways, she’s super short and fat, a total meatball… and she always stares at me with her mouth open. (i think she has trouble breathing) anyways, yesterday morning i see her entering the train. she’s got some lady with her… now i’m sitting in one of those newer train cars that for some annoying reason require a pole in the middle of the long seating bench area (it only fits three average sized people) at the end, next to the door. and i see her and her friend coming towards me to sit.

this lady with her is just as round, just bigger. like, a big/tall woman…

they sit down next to me.

as this new lady i’ve never seen before sits down next to me i can already mid-sitting hear her apologizing.

if you knew what would happen, why would you do that? ugh.

so she managed to get in next to me and squashed me so badly against the side of the bars that my arms automatically shifted forward and crossed. i couldn’t help but mutter a “jesus christ” as the air was pushed out of me… i couldn’t move and to get out, i had to wriggle.

worst.

…and i use the term “shelters” very loosely…
oh, also: do you see a time table at that bus stop? because i don’t… very informational and helpful!

the other day it was raining, and i had to keep my umbrella open while standing underneath this “contemporary” waste of glass that the MTA used from their “hurting” budget… at first i felt like i was being crazy with my umbrella still opened… but as others tried to fit in under alongside me, they closed their umbrellas and then opened them right back up a second later. the stupid things don’t shield you from the rain or snow at all… i hate to even say it, but even jersey’s got the right idea…

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i love it when the lights go out on subway train cars and platforms.
spooky!

i can either take the F train from 74th and broadway or 42nd st/bryant park from the 7 line.  74th and broadway is still in queens and the other stop is in the city, obviously…  so if a 7 express goes local i still have the chance to get off and take it from 74th and broadway…

well today, they decided to make it local after it was pulling out of 74th and broadway. and the damn train was too packed to try to get out at the next stop to go back…   i wasn’t too late to work, just made it.  but still.

GRRR.

then they keep us @ queensborough plaza because apparently an express train BEHIND us had to pass us.

um. yeah. what?
how was there an express train BEHIND us?

i was stuck sitting next to some guy with the worst breath i’ve ever smelled who felt the need to keep coughing and breathing with his mouth open.  i wanted to cry.

i don’t know which i’d rather deal with, the arrogant LIRR train riders or the ignorant 7/F train riders.

either way, i’m not happy with my PT adventures.

except for when you were around, turd.
it’s lonely around these parts