As I stepped on to the R train yesterday morning on my way to work and took my place against the door at the end of the train, I noticed a former co-worker of mine seated close by. So, I did what most people would do upon noticing someone they knew. I ignored her. It's not that I don't like this girl, because I do, but I ran into her at the gym a few weeks ago and we chatted for a while and caught up on life and I didn't think there was much more for us to discuss at this point. So, rather than lose my coveted spot against the door and trade it in for a small spot to wrap my hand around on the germ-infested pole next to her while being forced to make small talk on our journey into Manhattan, I chose to ignore the situation. I felt a little bad, but in the end it really wasn't worth it. Am I wrong? What would you have done?

Song of the moment: "Apologize" by One Republic feat. Timbaland. Have I named this song already? I don't know and I really don't care because this song is awesome. It causes me to stop what I'm doing whenever it comes on and break out into my best gymnastics floor routine. Also, I've become obsessed with Timbaland ever since he start producing EVERYTHING and turning Nelly Furtado into a cooler artist and hanging with her and JT and appearing in their videos. Not to mention, Timbaland and "One Republic" made an appearance on one of my favorite soaps, "One Life to Live."

Yesterday on my commute home from work on the subway, my colleague told me a story about a rude man on the bus and it is so appalling that I've decided that it needs to be shared. Here at "Thoughts On a Subway," we tend to neglect the bus (most because Subway Gal has rode it a grand total of about 5 times over the course of her life, and that was for about 10 blocks up or down Queens Blvd, because she doesn't understand the bus system and doesn't want to take the time to do so).

So, as the story goes, my colleague and a bunch of riders at a bus stop in Queens got on an already crowded bus and the only empty seat was being occupied by a box of donuts. So, one of the women who boarded the train with my colleague politely asked the man sitting next to the box of donuts if he would please move it so that she could sit down. "No" he replied. "Did you pay $5 for your box to sit there," she responded. "No, but I'm not moving it," he huffed. At this point, all the other riders on the bus were calling out to the bus driver for help and he too asked the rider to move his box of donuts, only to be told, "no" by this horrible man. By this point, the other riders were conspiring to take the box of donuts and start eating them. Me? I probably would have opened the nearest window and thrown the box of donuts out of it, or, better yet, sat ont he box of donuts. And farted.

In the end, the bus driver wound up stopping the bus and pulling over and telling the man that unless he moved his box of donuts he would not continue driving. Reluctantly, the man finally moved his box of donuts.

I listened to this story in horror, growing angrier each time this man refused to move his box of donuts. What is with some people? And where do they get their sense of self-entitelment from? Unreal.

As I was drafting this post on the subway ride to work this morning, a middle-aged woman wearing a too-tight shirt that my friend actually purchased from H&M last season and wore as a dress, stood next to where I was sitting and was fubmling in her bag for god knows what and as a result wound up repeatedly hitting my legs with her cheap plastic purse. I tried, unsucessfully, to push the bag away, and was about to throw the bag across the subway car when, luckily for her, she got off the subway.

Song of the moment: "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" by the Beatles and the opening of that show with Corkey the retarted kid. They made up a song on ESPN's "Mike & Mike," show the other day using that beat and it's been randomly playing in my head ever since.

On my commute home this evening after work, I stepped onto an R train and spotted a vacant seat, which was actually being partly occupied by a fat man (probably in his twenties) and his backpack. No big deal, right? I mean, his eyes were closed so he obviously didn't see how crowded the train was and how he obviously shouldn't be occupying two seats, right? Wrong.

"Excuse me," I said. Nothing. "Excuse me," I tried again, a bit louder. Nothing. I tried again, this time tapping his shoulder. He finally looked up at me, disgusted at being disturbed, but he did reluctantly remove his bag. However, he did not move himself. In fact, he resumed the position of resting his head on the dirty window next to him and jutting his hip and fat leg further onto my seat. "Excuse me!" I said. "What?" was his brilliant reply, "I moved my bag," he continued, as if I should be applauding his effort. "Yes," I tried to explain, "but you're taking up half of my seat. Nothing. I couldn't believe this was happening. I wanted someone to make him move, I wanted to tell on him! But then I realized that there was no one to tell, and unless I wanted to use the mace (rush hour isn't really the place for that) I was going to have to just deal with the situation.

"Ok then," I said and took my book out of my bag and rested it on him as I read, while I stuck out my elbow and pressed it into his fleshy side. Still nothing. I rested my feet on top of his. Nothing. My guess is that he probably didn't even notice anything was going on because his awful music was so loud and his body so fat that it must have been immune to my gestures.

Luckily for me, a man sitting across from me got off the train shortly thereafter and offered me his seat. I thanked him and told him that it's good know that there are still some kind and considerate people out there. Once I was settled into my new seat my neighbor leaned over and said, "I would have hit him with the book." Darn, why didn't I think of that? Actually, I won't lie. I did think of that, but decided to let it go because I wasn't in the mood for a scene.

Driving with my brother. The first time I drove with my brother was actually only a few months ago when he was driving me and my boyfriend back to Queens after a trip to visit my fam on LI. It may have been the single most horrifying experience of my life. I thought driving with my father was scary, but it turns out that my brother is like my father driving x 5! I'm talking weaving in and out of traffic, just missing hitting the car in front or next to us by centimeters and braking hard. It's scary, and nauseating. I've been in the car with him a few more times since then, but I've been riding in the back with my eyes closed. Well, today I had the unfortunate experience of riding shotgun on our trip back to Queens from LI. I was on LI today with the fam watching my little sister graduate high school. BTW, when did high school girls get such big BOOBS??? And when did they start flaunting them all over the place in tight shirts and cut-out dresses? I don't think I started dressing slutty until I was in college. But I digress. Anyway, we picked up his friend on our trip and my brother began telling him about all my past driving accidents, like when I hit the motorcycle driver and he ended up on the hood of my car, or when I got into an accident in a parking lot (though I did later wind up going out with the guy whose car I hit, even though he still made me pay him!), etc. etc. But, that was years ago and I've become a better drive since then. Besides, he's the one who told me he's "this close" to getting his license taken away. And I could see why, as on the way my brother almost hit about 5 or 6 other cars, but the radio was blaring so loud that we couldn't hear other drivers screaming at us, or horns blaring so that we wouldn't know if we were about to get into an accident, but at least we would go out listening to Kanye. I saw my life flash before my eyes several times, and to prove this wasn't just me being dramatic, even my brother's friend was yelling at him from the back seat. Once we reached the exit for Queens Blvd. my brother's friend leaned over and said to me something like, "Lucky we made it back in one piece!" "KNOCK ON WOOD!!!" I yelled at him, as I frantically searched the car looking for wood and not finding any. "WE AREN'T THERE YET! Don't say anything else until we get there," I shouted. We did finally make it to my apartment and once outside of the car I was so happy I almost kissed the ground. The whole trip made me think, "maybe our public transportation system isn't so bad . . . " On second thought, yes, actually, it is.

It really pisses me off when a cab driver asks me for directions. I mean, HE IS THE CAB DRIVER! Isn't he supposed to know this stuff, or at least have a GPS system in place to help him out? I don't drive in the city, you do, so you should know the directions. If I'm in a cab it's most likely because I'm a drunk and why on earth would you ask a drunk girl for directions? You have one job to do: drive a cab. Do it right and don't ask questions! If there's one thing I really hate it's incompetent people.

Song of the moment: I guess the entire "Hairspray" soundtrack because I'm sorta watching that movie right now and the music playing in the background is prohibiting me from thinking of a good song at the moment.

There's nothing I love more early in the morning than a group of women who board the subway already in mid-conversation and then proceed with their conversation while standing shoulder-to-shoulder in the crowded subway car. Now, this wouldn't be a problem if they weren't SCREAMING at each other. One such incident happened to me yesterday morning on the subway (my first day back from vaca) when two large women hopped on the already-packed train and started shrieking, yes, shrieking at each other! This type of conversation is unnecessary because a. they were super close and didn't need to be shouting at each other to be heard, unless one of them was deaf, but I highly doubt it, and b. it's early in the morning and some of us are trying to nap or read.

Unfortunately, this type of situation happens all too often, and usually a group of kids/teenagers are the offenders. They are the worst because they have no shame and they will scream at each other about anything and everything, especially matters that are private like sex, STDs and drugs. And the cursing!! Now, I am far from an angel and have been known to throw around the occasional curse during conversation, but the number of curses and the vulgarity of them that fly out of these kids' mouths are disgusting! And this is NOT something I enjoy listening to on the subway, but I have yet to speak up and put an end to the insanity because these kids travel in packs and can kick my ass. Has anyone had the guts to risk their life and speak up against these screamers??

Song of the moment: None, because I'm too tired and can't think of one right now, but I'll have a new with the next post. Promise!