Scenes from the Max

Quote du jour: Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain.
- Lily Tomlin

Maybe it's just me, but if I saw someone wearing headphones and with their head down, their eyes fixed on a book, my first thought would not be "Oh! There's a person who wants me to sit down and talk to them!"

The young guy on the Max train, however, thought otherwise. Full of a twitchy kind of energy, he cheerfully launched into a full flood of conversation; all that was required of me was that I sit there and listen.

Mostly, it was the kind of talk that's hard to argue with. He said things like "I hate rain. It makes everything wet. I much prefer sun or snow." Um.... yeah.
Then he switched over to talking about how he hated the legal system. "I mean, I got a notice to show up to court, but there are two courthouses within a few blocks of each other. How're you supposed to know which one to go to? So they said I didn't show up. It's so unfair." Didn't the notice include the address where you were supposed to go? "And cops. I hate cops. I mean, it's good that they're there if there's an emergency or something, but basically they're just all pigs." Um... would you even notice if I started reading my book again?
Thankfully, he got a phone call and got off a few stops later. He kept protesting to the caller "Well, if you tried to see it from my shoes, you'd understand..."

***

The ride home was much quieter. No one felt the need to tell me anything at all; I sat and listened to conversations on all sides. It felt very peaceful. The two guys across from me were talking about boat races they were involved in; one guy held a paddle and was dressed in sporting clothes like he just got off the river. I didn't think much of it until the time came for the paddle-holding man to get off the train. That was when he unfolded the long white cane and began tapping his way toward the doors.

I don't know why it surprised me that a blind man was involved in boat racing, but it did. It's good to overthrow your expectations from time to time.

Exercise du jour: Walking day today. The bike ride yesterday, I'm embarrassed to report, left the muscles a bit sore. (Though not the knees! Maybe replacing the bottom bracket fixed things. I hope.)
Done! Couple miles, but better than nothing.