I Love commuting

I LOVE COMMUTING.

There are so many reasons why I LOVE spending FOUR hours a day on the move. For one, it provides me with time to read. It limits my hours of sleep to less than 7 per day. It gives me time to nap. It motivates me to wake up at 6am to start my day. It is why I curse myself for staying up too late cooking or taking cuts on the batting tee. During the summer, it gets me outside to enjoy the brief glimpses of sun light that I would otherwise miss out on. During the winter, it gets me out on the pitch black streets to admire the star filled skies. It is a fabulous ice breaker and conversation topic for me that usually go like this:

Co-worker / Stranger: So where do you live / where do you work Felix?
Me: Brooklyn / Tarrytown
Co-worker / Stranger: Wow, how long is your commute?
Me: 2 hours each way
Co-worker / Stranger: Oh Em Gee! Why don't you (blank)...? (In their head: Felix is an idiot)

I love the being able to cozy up to strangers on trains. I am stoked (literally) when someone tries to squeeze in the two inch space between the pole and where I sit when they obviously need space 50 times that size to fit. There’s no better way to meet New Yorkers than to snuggle so close to them that I can almost smell their BO, if I haven’t passed out from it already. I love standing in the subway car and getting beaten mercilessly by textbook filled book-bags carried by Asian kids half the size (pretty kinky I know). This ritual serves to toughen me up for football, for all the rough 2 hand touch tackles that I’ll encounter during the season. I also love the distinct smell of an empty subway car during morning rush hours. When I step in and sit in such a car, I know that the unforgettable smell will not only stay with me, but also with the disheveled and homeless man or woman sitting in the opposite corner of the car.

I love the surprise I get every time I step into a subway car. Living in a relatively temperate city like New York, it is heavenly to be able to experience the temperature extremes of different climates. Who needs Texas or Maine when you can experience the blissful chills of Antarctica or the idyllic heat of the Sahara right here in New York, in my very own subway car. Better yet, the inability to anticipate and predict the climate of one's subway car makes the commute so much more interesting. Invariably, I’m always dressed for the wrong subway climate, shivering numb during the summer and sweating bullets during the winter. Just remember, the climate changes between transfers too so the excitement never stops. Most of all, my favorite part of commuting is watching the train that I need to catch pull away from the station just as I am getting there. Why you might ask. Well, every time that happens, it’s guaranteed that I’ll miss my connecting Metro North train as well as the connecting Tarrytown shuttle bus. Consequently, I’ll be at least 40 minutes later than usual, which means I get to stay at work 40 minutes less. It’s a win win situation.

I LOVE COMMUTING. If only I get to commute on a boat to work every day as well, then the world would be perfect.