20 November, 1998

Big Lights, Big City

Well, my entries seem to be coming at a rate of one a week these days ... testament to how little time I have to spend just being myself.

This does not mean, that I'm not myself when I am working, be it on a paper for class or a project for work. But I simply don't have as many quiet moments of reflection as I used to. I'm finding that my only breathing space occurs during my commute in and out of the city.

Metro rides, by dint of their very nature provide ample thought-provoking material or simply, beautiful scenery once the train has left the tunnels beneath the city.

One of my favorite Metro activities, is people watching. There are folk from all walks of life on these trains, tourists, commuters, families with small children, street-people, students ... a sampling of the population of this large metropolitan area.

Last night's ride down from campus featureed many a tired, worker dragging a weary body homeward. It also revealed the conversation of three mid-to-late twenties men, sounding slightly inebriated, or maybe simply indulging in a fit of obnoxiousness, talking very loudly about their latest sexual conquests and the nature of male-female relationships. All three were dressed in "preppy casual" with button down shirts and leather bomber jackets or those barn jackets with the suede collars which are so ubiquitous on college campuses. They were clean cut and fairly good-looking. But the words coming out of their mouths belied their appearance.

This morning as the sun rose inevitably, golden and bright over the train tracks, I was in the company of many another owl-eyed, barely awake commuter making his or her way into the city. As usual, I am dressed far more casually than the rest of the crowd, even on Fridays. I am tired myself, so I don't notice as much as I might otherwise, sticking my head into a catalog trying to decide on Christmas gifts for my family.

The most interesting encounter I've had thus far today, was with, what I can only assume to be, a government agent just outside the coffee shop where I buy my Friday morning croissants.

Because I have to be at work so early on Fridays, I usually treat myself to some morning pastries instead of my quotidian diet of fruit and rice cakes. Right across the street from my office, is a "Bread and Chocolate" shop which has decent croissants and pain au chocolate otherwise known in this country, as a chocolate croissant.

I had already bought my pastries this morning and was heading out the glass door with my head down, when I nearly bowled him over. Dressed in commuter garb: suit pants, button down shirt, light colored trench coat, I didn't at first, notice anything different about him. Then I noticed the buzz-haircut and the transparent, nearly invisible wire running down the back of his left ear.

Whoa. Secret Service apparatus. How exciting. Yet another of the side-benefits of living in this area. Though we get to see parades of dark cars with bullet-proof windows, and the guys in the dark suits and shades all the time, it still phases me when I bump into the governmental security apparatus.

Maybe it's just something left over from my childhood of wanting to be a spy, like in Mission: Impossible, but that whole "James Bond in real life" thing still gives me a cheap thrill.

Later on today I will have another quiet ride home and more people to watch, and perhaps I'll even get some reading done. I certainly have enough schoolwork on my plate to warrant doing that to the exclusion of all else.

In the meantime I have a web site to check, pages to code and ideas for stories to jot down, so that when this latest jolt of inspiration fades, I'll still have the concepts close at hand to write them down later.