Thoughts on the Transit Strike

Thought #1: I love it when shit like this happens. LOVE it. Somehow though it doesn't seem like so much fun yet. I'm all alone in my apartment with no one to have a strike, "stuck inside" party with. Sadness. And now I'm at my desk at work and I wonder what's happening outside. Are people drinking 40s in Time Square like we did the night of the blackout? Maybe they're drinking hot buttered rum instead-- If so, I'm jealous.

Thought #2: I've been avoiding getting Starbucks lately as my rent is far beyond my means. SO this was the perfect excuse. I used 2 sub-excuses. First that I would have to walk 30 blocks in the cold and I wouldn't want to get cold while doing that. And secondly, that I know that our kitchen supplies "will be at a minimum if a transit strike occurs." So Grande Skim Chai and a blueberry muffin it is!

Thought #3: I also thought this morning: "I bet if I wear sneakers to work without bringing shoes with me I can get away with it." But I didn't. I totally should have.

Thought #4: While laying in my bed this morning with my laptop, (Side thought I had: my bedroom is so damn bright it's amazing how much more willingly I wake up in the morning) I checked NYTimes.com to see if a strike was happening and, although it was on the first page, I was somehow still skeptical. What if they didn't update the page since 4AM when they say the strike started? Then I thought, "how do people know if there's a strike unless they actually go see it for themselves." I don't know if it was because I was tired, or if I was just suddenly dumb, but it puzzled me. Where do people get their up to date information?

As I walked out of my apartment, thinking that probably there was a transit strike, but who knows how often the Times ACTUALLY updates it's webpage, I noticed far less people on the street than normal... and far less cars. I noticed a woman hitching a ride on Columbus Ave. But somehow till I got to the subway I wasn't going to believe it. How do all these people know for sure? Then I realized-- THEY have TV. I do not. If Katie Couric was telling me, I'd for sure believe it! I saw a man on the street next to me who looked like maybe he watched "The Today Show," "Sir, you probably think I'm crazy for asking this but I don't have a television and I was wondering if there's really a strike." He laughed at me, but confirmed it.

Thought #5: Things like this do bring people closer, or at least open up lines of communication. I now know that the guy who sits next to me lives around the block from my old apartment, that the security guard drives in from Staten Island anyway, that the woman in line with me at Starbucks had a meeting so she HAD to find a ride in. It can be a big bonding event. Like how there was that baby boom nine months after the blackout.

My current roommate and I kind of bonded the night of the black out. We walked up 24 flights of dark stairs with a 6 pack of Corona and a Jesus candle-- praying, but swearing that we were bound to get raped.

We didn't!