Little Bit Crazy

Ok, so I was getting worried that I hadn’t run into any good blogging material since I started my blog but alas, yesterday I was given some decent material. I was out in unfamiliar commuting territory for me. Typically when I go to this area I take the MARC but this was after the last MARC train and taking the metro from Silver Spring takes forever as to get to Shady Grove you need to go through Downtown DC. So being the savvy commuter I am I figured out a quicker way. I needed to take a bus to a metro closer to my final destination and then I was on my way. Well, as I said I don’t know this area well at all so I brought up the area I needed to be on my map on my phone and found the general vicinity, unfortunately Google maps doesn’t tell me EXACTLY where the bus stop is and there were several bus depots stops along this street. So I walked past a bunch of bus stops before finding my final destination. I had to walk past a bunch of people sitting on the bench to see the sign that was on the opposite side to know that it was the right stop. As I walked by this woman barked at me, “ARE YOU EVER GOING TO LEAVE ME ALONE!!!!!!” If you have ever seen the show Big Bang Theory, I have now officially seen Howard Wolowitz’s mother. Seriously the voice was uncanny and honestly this woman looked exactly like the picture the paint of Howard’s mother. I didn’t really think anything of this emotional outburst as I have never seen this woman before in my life, nor had I been bothering her. I go and stand over on the opposite side of the stop and just start people watching. The entire time Mrs. Wolowitz’s is muttering and mumbling to the lady next to her. Again, not really paying any attention to what she is saying. I was about to pull up the bus’s schedule on my phone when I noticed a printed schedule inside the bus stop, instead of typing lots of info into my phone it was easier to walk over and read the schedule. So I go over and and Mrs. Wolowitz freaked out again! This is when she proceeded to tell me as I am just looking at the schedule that and not engaging her at all, I am stalking her and that if I didn’t leave her alone she was going to call the police and I was going to the big house. Yes, she actually used the term big house! At this point I am laughing to myself at the use of the phrase, big house. However, I am trying not to enrage Mrs. Wolowitz by her noticing that I am laughing and just walk away and go back to my little spot and continue to people watch. At this point the poor girl that was sitting next to her got up and moved to the opposite side of the bus stop and Mrs. Wolowitz and kept saying, Miss do you see….now do you see she was bothering me?! She kept saying this to that poor girl over and over again. The bus arrived the poor girl and I got on and Mrs Wolowitz stayed on the bench (thankfully). I hope she doesn’t encounter anymore stalkers before her bus arrives!

Shame On Us!

Today my husband, brother in law and I went to a craft beer and food truck festival. It was a gorgeous day, hot in fact. We had a great time downtown off, the waterfront sampling beers and eating really yummy food out of local food trucks. Bands played 80’s music we all sang all too (and besides my husband, who knew Blister in the Sun was a remake from the 80’s) Beach balls where kicked and tossed around in jubilation. A great day was had by all. My husband and I parted ways as he went to a friend’s house for the rest of the evening. My brother in law was headed to see friends.  I was headed home to see my kids and thank my Mom and Aunt for watching my kids all day while I enjoyed myself.

 I got to Metro Center and there was a wait of 20 minutes. Due to all the alcohol I had consumed I not only had to go to the bathroom, I was also hungry. So the wonderful Metro employee let me out without having to pay as I explained my plight that I needed a bathroom and maybe some food. I intoned to walk to a bar that three years ago I know was there, but apparently not anymore. I wound up a half of block outside of Chinatown so I decided to go to a bar that I knew for a fact was still in business and I could get a glass of water, another beer and an appetizer of some sort.  I had all of the above paid, my tab and saw a Starbucks. Knowing I have two children who dislike sleep, I got myself an iced coffee. I was cut in line by several young kids, but through my Zen state of all the previous beer I had consumed, I did not let it bother me. I grabbed my iced coffee and hit the road. I then walked into Chinatown Metro Station, for those of you that are familiar with this area this is an EXTREMELY busy station as it as a hub between various lines. As I came off the escalator near the farecard machines I saw man in Nationals gear writhing on the floor trying to reach his hat. I literally watched people step over this man.  I have encountered drunks, drug addicts and various other kinds on the metro but you could tell he was different. I stopped and asked the man if he was ok and he said, no, I need help. I grabbed his hat and offered my hand to the man to help him up. He then got up and started limping, clearly he was disabled. I then yelled, CAN SOMEONE HELP THIS MAN. Then a Metro employee came over. I asked the man if he needed more help, you can tell he was very humbled and embarrassed by the situation and he thanked me and said no. At this point the Metro employee that came over in my during my freak out, walked with him, I watched them help him up the escalator. I walked away.

After I walked away I felt very bothered by the situation at hand. I watched people WALK over this   man on the floor of a subway system.  They were going about their day as if that was a normal situation. Ok, coming from a person that takes mass transit daily, I do not typically see people on the floor and if I do natural instinct tells me that is not NORMAL. I cannot fathom why people just acted as if this man did not even exist, like he was a ghost and we can just step over him. How I am I, the blind girl the one that doesn’t drive, notice the man on the floor squirming and trying to get to his baseball cap? How does know one else see this? How do metro employees that have cameras all throughout the system not think that this is wrong? Apparently there is something wrong with me that I think that this is abnormal and others think this is perfectly acceptable.

The reason for this post is to not pat myself on the back. It is not to say what an awesome person I am for helping this person. Simply, it is to bring up the fact of human decency. How long would that man be laying on the floor before someone thought, hey that’s not right. How many others would have walked over that man before actually offering their hand to help him up? And even if you thought the man was a drunk or drug addict, why would you not offer to help him, even if in the simplest way was to help him off the floor of the metro, it is not like he was asking for a sponsor, just to be helped off the floor.

Situations like this make me scared for the world my children live in. What went from such a fun filled, carefree day made me shake my head towards mankind. I hope that the man got where he needed to go. I am upset with myself for not seeing him father. But I was so taken aback by the situation at hand that I didn’t even think to make sure he got where he intended to go. There have been many times over the past years I have questioned life and why certain things have transpired and asked WHY? Today I realized just how simple life really is

Bamboo Man

Today getting off the train I noticed a man in about his 60’s, wearing a jansport backpack (threw me back to middle school circa 1993) a grey suit and a large straw hat carrying what looked to me like bamboo and a HUGE stack of it and it was about three feet long. What I cannot tell is where he was going. I followed him down the escalator and he went straight when I needed to go right to head to work. I was very conflicted I wanted to follow bamboo man so badly to find out WHERE he was going with his armful of bamboo and what his plans were for the bamboo. Was he going to build a house? Could be trying his hand at homemade bamboo flooring (I mean it is all the rage) Does he have a pet panda? Some have said it could be for gardening purposes. Honestly the direction he was headed in is a new apartment complex where I don’t think Panda’s are allowed and a garden would consist of a house plant or government agencies. Is it possible he lived locally where he COULD walk to his house and use it for gardening, possible, but unlikely as there is not a ton of residential houses in this area. I chose to be on time for work so I could not follow him. I really wasn’t sure how I would explain to my boss why I was late. Well, I saw a man with an armful of bamboo and needed to know where he was headed. My boss puts up with my craziness but even that may be taking it too far. Sadly, I may never know what happened to Bamboo man’s bamboo and it is something that is going to bother me. Maybe I will happen upon bamboo man again. Until then I will be on the lookout for older suit wearing gentleman, carrying a jansport back pack and donning a straw hat at the Twinbrook Metro Station.

WHY

So you are probably wondering WHY I started this blog. For the last year I have been highlighting things and people I see on my daily commute on Facebook. My mom and several others have urged me to start a blog of my wacky encounters. I have seen and encountered a myriad of oddities. Some are hilarious and some make me want to smack the person sitting next to me. Either way here starts my blog of my commute. I am a working mom of two kids and I also happen to be legally blind so I don’t drive (the roads of Maryland are much safer because of this) thus having me use mass transit when my husband isn’t carting me around. I commute by bus and subway every day in the DC area. Other days I head to job sites downtown or in other cities and sometimes even take the local MARC (think train) to get where I am going. So I hope you enjoy my adventures and enjoy my take on what I see. Please don’t take me seriously or become offended by what I say and lastly, don’t judge my grammar. My grammar sucks I pray my high school English teacher Dr. Godball never happens upon this blog because she’d be seriously disappointed in the deterioration of my writing skills. Happy Reading!