Subway Pinball

Since I started working at a normal job a couple of weeks ago, I've been trying to figure out the best way to handle the morning routine. Most importantly, I've been looking for a way to avoid all those people on the subway every morning.

It's like being trapped inside a pinball machine - 20 million people, who all need to be at work by 9:00, pushing & shoving & bouncing back & forth as we grapple for purchase from one stop to the next. Although it's certainly an interesting way to start the day, I thought I'd try going to work a half-hour earlier. Perhaps if I got on the subway before everyone else I would at least get a seat as we rode in the sardine-mobile.

Bad idea. It turned out to be even more crowded at that hour, & people seemed to be particularly irksome as we made our way to work. Instead of bumping around a pinball machine, I was a really thick sweater being squeezed through a laundry wringer.

The next morning, I left the house 15 minutes later than normal (now 45 minutes later than the wringer experience). That was sooo much better. There were still a ton of people on the train - probably several tons in fact - but they weren't as grumpy as the earlier morning bunch. I got to stand in a relatively decent-sized space where I could breath freely, & I still made it to work with time to spare.

My experiment yielded especially good results actually. I'm really really not a morning person, so getting to sleep 15 minutes longer is going to work out just fine for me. Now I just have to work on going to bed at a decent hour.