Two Incidents

You see some odd things riding public transportation. The more of them you see, the less remarkable they seem, but some things still move the needle. Those are some really unfortunate things, and I try to be careful who I bring them up to, because they're generally rare and hearing of them could turn people off taking public transportation. I don't mind mentioning them here, since I figure there's minimal risk of my moribund readership taking public transportation in the first place.

A couple of interesting things have happened in the last couple of days. On Sunday, I was coming home from a comedy theater. I'd gotten to hear a joke of mine in a show, and I'd attended a Christmas party. The night was capped off by a crazy guy sprawl out next to me on the floor of the subway station platform, incessantly flailing around and screaming until the next train finally came. I was glad he and I were not going the same way.

The next thing was just last night, when I saw a real brutish-looking guy who also seemed like he could have just been in a car accident. This was at the very same station as the above incident, I should say. The guy seemed very happy by nature. He reached out to me. I stopped and took out my earphones. I don't know why I did it. I usually am better about avoiding that kind of thing. As it happened, he just seemed to want high fives. After about three of those, I was able to move on.

That second incident was not bad. I actually could see it in a very positive light and be glad for a happy human encounter, but I'm not like that. The first incident wasn't great, but could have been worse. In that case, I really ought to have moved along immediately, except that I feared provoking him with overt action. Anyway, it all came out all right in the end, and I remain fully confident in the viability of public transportation.