1.25 Metro Ride

I always think about not paying the 1.25 to ride the train to work, but always chicken out. No one is truly watching. It runs by the honor system here in LA so if no one stops you, it's not a big deal. I never do it, until the other day when I was forced to because the train I catch departs at 9:24 a.m. and it was 9:23! No problems! Yes, I am a complete nerd. However, this morning, a family was getting the shake down by a police officer on the train because they didn't have tickets. I guess it's luck of the draw.

Paying the 1.25 is worth it. This past week, I sat next to a gentleman on the train that looked familiar to me. He had a tight cropped hair-cut and a mustache two degrees of thickness short from being a porn-stache. It turns out this gentleman interviewed me for the METPRO program at the LA TIMES when I was in college. Let me tell you, I blew the follow up interview or else you'd be reading this on LATimes.com. He was pleasantly surprised I remembered him. And when I told him about the organization I worked for, he asked for my card and to keep in touch. Some how, I was on the same playing field with him so many years later and it felt good.

Sometimes the train makes me nauseous purely by the motion, like sea sickness. Other times, the people on the train make me want to throw up. I want to look at it positively, riding the train has perks. Like watching crazy deranged ill-mannered people loose their cool. Put enough people from all walks of life together in a moving closet and I guess you'll get some occasional flair ups. This happened yesterday when a stocky, thick-necked woman began yelling from the top of her lungs to pair of older Asian women: "No BITCH, I'll Fuck you UP... BIIIITCH!"  Put a little Dominican/Puerto Rican twang to the voice and you have yourself comedy gold. It's only funny in the re-telling. At the time, it was annoying and uncomfortable. Who does that? Who yells and talks to themselves, cursing and yelling and proclaiming they don't care about anyone or anything but kicking someones ass. It's dumb.Apparently its completely normal for Subway culture. Having traveled to NYC many times, and having lived in Oakland, I've witnessed many a crazy things on the trains and BART. I guess it means the LA METRO system is growing up. Starting to join the ranks. From street performers asking for money to bums talking to themselves, we've come a long way. I almost shed a tear. What I do love about the train is I get to read. I'm reading the Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell and I love this book... I'll explain later..

Daily Titan

My friend Jaime posted something on Facebook that made me think. He said he was working late and it took him back to when he worked on his college paper into the wee hours. I remember those days. I did the same thing. Assistant Sports Editor at the Daily Titan consisted mainly of eating Del Taco, listening to music, playing wiffle ball and generally goofing off for hours right before copy editing and checking for mistakes on my page. Believe me, there were always at least two the next morning and considering all the shenanigans, I'm not surprised. In all seriousness, all of us college editors would put so much effort into our product only for it to be criticized or overlooked the next day. It didn't matter. Those stories were our babies and that's why we cared. But to tell you the truth, I couldn't wait to put the paper to bed so we all could go home and get the hell out of there. Great times.

It all begins....

As my fingers hit the keys on my laptop and the words begin to appear on the screen, I think back to my days as a journalist. It sounds surreal to even say it but yes, I once wrote for a newspaper. I thrived on writing a melodic lede to capture a single moment in time to make the reader feel an emotion. I almost wanted to be a poet in print. Cheesy huh? Now I'm my own editor (yikes!) and I get to write about whatever I want (Oh, oh). With that in mind, this blog is for me. It is part journal, part therapy, part irreverant chatter, part meaningful discourse. It is my take on sports, love and food, all the things that make up my life, my playbook, who I am.  I hope it sparks something inside to express yourself with a comment or perhaps you may just read it and smile. That's OK too. Whatever it is to you, I leave to you. I know what it is for me -- a way to find myself again.