U.S. Bomb Kills 3 British Soldiers

no comment.

judgment queens

why are there trillion billion million ‘uh, i'm the hot shit, and you’re not’ types in nyc? this morning as a transferred from the N train to the 7 train at queensboro plaza this east asian chic gave me the once over that ended with her eyes glued to my gym shoes. why oh why is it that women in nyc insist on wearing three-inch heels when it’s pouring outside? part of me wonders if they’re jealous that they didn’t have the ovaries to skimp on their outfits.

i deliberately avoided getting into the same compartment as judgment queen to find an ‘uh, don’t come any where near me’ eye roller queen right next to me. i understand where she’s coming from cuz the trains get so darn congested most of the time, but this one was out of control. i tapped her (cuz she was listening to her ipod) and said excuse me so i could latch on to the bar, and before i could blink there was an ‘uh, give me a break’ eye roll. as the train pulled into grand central, it became quite clear she simply has an eye-rolling disposition because she had done that to at least three other people in a span of ten minutes.

i’ll have to start coming up with some creative responses to these situations because it’s just painful to have to see people so judgmental and miserable day in and day out.

valentine's day, shmalentine's day

bah, humbug!

what the tiny little island of manhattan runs on...

disgruntled city-working borough-residing who trek in every morning so they can pay the bills

unmarked white vans that weave their way around office buildings and talk police officers out of ticketing them - especially since they were just trying to grab a bite to eat during some down time -or- they went to deliver something at one of the gazillion office buildings in the city and they couldn't find any parking...

the sweat, tears, and toil of a helluva lot of working class folks that make sustenance for all the 'professionals' that come through the island

money money MONEY

where do a**holes come from?

i'm glad you asked, cuz quite frankly this question popped into my head today, and i've already formulated a few opinions on where they come from and why they persist to exist.

most of my pent-up angst about this comes from knowing a few of them (a**holes), and the rest of it, to be honest, comes from the state of the world more generally. if people really did care about their environment and the organisms in it, most societal ills would most probably cease to exist. granted people in positions of power have a disproportionate amount of control over this, but there are folks all along the spectrum that sadly enough buy into 'the way we live.' i guess we all kinda throw our hands up and point fingers at each other, go to bed at night, and wake up in the mornin and point fingers at each other some more. (case in point --> ENRON, check out the documentary, very, very sad!)

back to the question of the hour though - where do a**holes come from?

well, the ones that i know personally, i think it comes from them just having severe insecurities and not knowing how to deal with them in a constructive way. instead, they just transform that into this insidious approach that they take on to life and inculcate in others, causing so many generally optimistic and positive people to question themselves repeatedly and waste hours, days, months of their lives agonizing over thoughts like, 'he's such @@)(@*@. or maybe i'm reading into it too much. maybe, i did something to cause him to behave in that way. or maybe, what i _know_ happened didn't actually happen??!?!' and so on. basically, a**holes everywhere are wreaking havoc and causing people to become delusional, despondent people who end up shelling out lots to seek counseling.

now, that's a rant.

things that irk

so many incidents in nyc happen in transit. as unbelievable as it my seem, i have another anecdote to share with y'all. today post-work, i decided not to go into lower manhattan for dinner and drinks with a friend cuz i was feelin a bit grungy today. instead, i headed into jackson hts to return a bollywood film that i've been holding on to for ages. after doing that and running an errand, i got on the R train towards manhattan, got off at steinway, and proceeded up the stairs. and you're probably wondering - why is she _still_ blabbering about her day-to-day?

it gets more interesting....believe you me.

as soon i ascend the stairs there's an ad board that's white (with no bills posted) and someone's scribbled: 'deport all illegals' '1. not immunized' '2. closing down hospitals' and '3. (too annoyed by the first three lines i read to remember this one)'

almost instinctively, i went up to this racist, classist, ignorant message and began to rub the writing to see if i could at least make it known that someone disagreed with the message enough to mess it up.

i guess i'm a bit of an odd person because the things that typically irk people don't irk me. but ideological warfare really gets under my skin. particularly when the ideology is founded on privilege, elitism, and entitlement. plenty of 'legals' are not immunized. plenty of working class 'legals' require hospital care that they can't afford and doesn't exist for them. and aside from all this, the so-called intellectually and materialistically wealth that the 'haves' have is something that was passed on to them because they come from generations of peoples that have had access to that language, that way of being, of thinking, of acting.

and what of the families that produce first generation college students, you may ask. well, what of them? - i would ask in return. because honestly, how many of them are there? they'll always, always, always be the exception, never the norm. when the norms change, that's when i'll give another look at this issue, and revise my stance.

oh yeah, when i left it the scribble read 'port all legals.'

the lady at queensboro plaza

the battle begins when you set foot out your door in nyc! pedestrians and mta commuters turn into monstrous beings, and see their co-travelers as arch rivals (when really they just have pent up angst against all the general societal evils - the system, the bureaucracy, their bosses, their families, their friends, and so on)...

i stepped aside for two people to come in my direction, unnaturally bringing myself to a complete stop *just* for them to pass by. their body language indicated that they wouldn't stop for me, so i let them go. then there was a bit of a lull in traffic, so i continued towards the last compartment of the imminent 7 train towards manhattan.

then this lady (now i know why ppl use words like uncivilized or uncouth) comes and stands in front of me, while my body language clearly indicates that i'm heading in the direction of where she's standing. i'm thinking, geez lady, get a clue - read some body language. she must have been thinking, get the f out of my way. because before i could even see it coming she's pushing me to a side by trying to walk _through_ me. for reals. i've already blocked parts of the incident of my mind because i can't remember what exactly she said - maybe something like, 'okay, already!' i, of course, having a severe case of the asian-mute syndrome didn't say anything until after the fact. i didn't even really say anything that harsh - just 'jesus christ' and continued on towards my destination.

do note that this is the second time that i've had a violent running-into at this particular station. one time, an mta maintenance person ran a trash-on-wheels into my thigh. now, that was really f'in painful (unlike this woman who basically bounced off of me since we were both in our poofy winter gear.)

hmmmm. perhaps i should move back to chicago's western burbs where there's so much space that it'd be challenging _to_ run into other people.