Foot Loose

No, literally, this man has NO shoes on....

To be fair, he might have a legitimate explanation - his shoes got stolen, his feet are swollen and don't fit into shoes, his feet overheated, he's a tarpal nudist.... - but I didn't ask. It's warmer today than it has been in weeks, so maybe he's been looking forward to this spring day, brought to us by global warming, for months now. I just don't know....

On my other side, did crazy just get unleashed? I'm not sure if this woman is having a conversation with an invisible friend in Spanish or if I just can't see her phone. The convo started so abruptly... I didn't see a phone ring or any dialing action going on.... ok.  All right, there's a phone.

Ok, that's all I can handle for ten minutes on the red line. I'm outtie!!

MBTA - Let Me Upgrade You

Soooo, word on the street is the MBTA has five dozen new hybrid busses waiting to hit the streets! Can you say #upgrade?  Looks like the fare hikes are making an impact on efficiency. We like this. New busses will be noticeably distinct from the older fleet. New seats, upgraded windows, super quiet, and energy efficient, what??? I'm keeping an eye out and personally hoping they end up on one of my fave bus routes....

Zippity Do Da

Grrrr, it's a crotch in the face type of morning. What I wouldn't give for a booster seat right now. Eye level always wins against staring at zippers in the early morning.

In other news I am still really excited about my adult lunch box made from the wetsuit looking material. Lunch has never been this fun to carry.

Stinky-Town

It smells especially horrrrible on the train today. Not sure if it's my overly sensitive nose or just the people... well, actually, I'm sure that it is them, I'm just not sure everyone else is having the same problem with inhaling that I am.

The man standing next to me has his arm raised high in the air holding onto the handles and he is NOT "Sure". Good grief. The kids on the shuttle ride to the train earlier were also completely undeodorized and on top of that smelled like food.

I just don't understand what anyone had against a little perfume or Degree. Dove is available for men and women. CVS had coupons. Hell, I have extra coupons. Ughhh. I just can't. When is my stop???

The Fighter

This guy really thinks he IS the fighter. In reality something about him is more Christian Bale - older drugged out brother of the fighter - than Mark Wahlberg. I mean.... we're on the T and halfway through a vertical nap he decides to start flexing, punching the air, and pivot turning on his heels. He's getting in some legitimate air jabs though. There's a chance he may know what's he's doing, and yet he still looks half asleep and more than slightly suspect. Hmmm....

Hoodless in the City

Ohh! Sometimes I really love the life of the freelancer. Hopping into new and old favorite cafes, getting into as much cold weather as I can tolerate before ducking indoors, and doing the work I want. Deep down, I have a feeling this is how I'm really supposed to live.  

In other news, I'm really taking chances out here without a hood on. It is still winter after all and a mini blizzard just broke out. While I knew before I left the house that there was a possibility for snow, I've also pretty much stopped believing the weather reports. Beyond checking to see what exactly the temperature is, I've made a habit of assuming the timing of snow, rain, or other Nor'easters is only semi accurate. So, for that reason I almost messed up my eye make-up trying to walk down a windy street with snowflakes making the direct contact with my eyeballs, and all the teary-eyed-ness that came along with that mishap.

In other news, nothing truly unbelievable has been happening on the trains these days.. Odd. Although, wait, I take that back. There was a man on the train earlier wearing a ski mask (aka balaclava - vocab word of the day!) with the design of a skeleton's face on it. Ugggh, sir, violation! That was frightening. He walked toward the doors of the car and proceeded to stand in front of another guy who was on his phone and looking down. I was about 80% sure I was going to hear a scream when he finally looked up from his device, but shockingly, there was nothing. Maybe his heartbeat raced for a second, or maybe he was so totally absorbed in his own screen that he didn't really notice the dude at all?? I don't know, but I was alarmed and then just annoyed, probably enough for the both of us.

Ski mask for jerks.... smh!!

"GIRL"....? Really?

My latest appalling T-incident began when a fellow passenger called me "girl". Seriously, that was his introduction, "Hi, girl!" and he really didn't seem to register the inappropriateness of referring to an almost 30-year old black woman as GIRL! He even went so far as to continue the conversation, while I sat, waiting on the platform, head cocked to the side, with a confused expression on my face, like "GIRL??? WhereTheyDoThatAt?? I addressed the fact, but I'm afraid I didn't go far enough...

"Did you just call me 'girl'?" I asked
"Yes... oh, I should've said 'sister'...?"
Is he serious? "Mmmm, no. I just haven't been addressed as 'Girl' in a couple of decades." Ummm, more like EVER. Even when I was referred to as "a girl" no one was picking me out of a crowd and using "Girl" in place of my name, or a second person pronoun. Completely oblivious to my inner thoughts, dude continued chit-chatting about the weather and his journey home, not noticing I had utterly tuned him out and was reaching for my headphones.

The problem(s) with this situation:
1) He's a 50-something older white guy referring to a black woman as "girl". As if the term weren't racially charged enough, "Girl" is not even a proper form of address, it should be "Miss/Ma'am" or something along those lines.
2) If this type of behavior was never racially correct in the past, it is most definitely outdated in 2014. 3) As I grappled with whether or not I should try to put his ignorance into context (like maybe this guy is older than I think and out of touch, or maybe he's from the south...?), I realized I was less intent on correcting him and more intent on addressing the fact that his word usage was odd.
4) I apologize in advance to the next black woman, or any grown woman for that matter, that he refers to in the same way. Singling me out as "Hey, woman" would have been equally weird, but less offensive, derogatory, and belittling. I should've corrected him when I had the chance. The next woman might just give him an angry face, and based on his reaction to me, it's clear he just won't get it.