Good Morning ...

 Just wanted to drop by and say hello. Hoping everyone had a wonderful Christmas. I'm patiently waiting for 2017. Although 2016 wasn't a bad year overall ... I ready to be done with it. I'm excited to see what 2017 has in stored for me. I know I am ready ... Are you?

I RISE ...

Weeks ago I had a photo shoot with an amazing photographer. Last night I received the prints and wow. Yall know that I am Ms. Creativity so I had to find a way to show them off. I knew I wanted to do a video but I didn't know what song to use ... While watching tv and seeing the preview to an upcoming show .. the song came to me. I put everything together and as I watched the video for the first time ... I cried. I cried because I saw the little white girl with blonde pig tails who was teased, picked on made fun of rise into a beautiful talented woman. I am not defined by my past nor should I be judged by my mistakes. Like a bird taking flight .. I soar. Like the tallest mountain .. I stand high. Like the universe .. I am endless. Through it all the good and the bad, I keep my head up .. I stand tall. And just like the sun every morning .. I rise. Special thank you and shout out to Nyree Cyrus for capturing these moments. It was a pleasure and I look forward to working with you again. #womenrock

#nycmtachronicles 12.09.16

The Bowels of Hell 
Today I left work early in order to take care of some things. While I waited twenty minutes in the cold for the bus I realized two things: it was one hundred and ninety three days until summer and there wasn't a bus in sight. Wanting to hurry up and get home before my ass froze to death I decided to take the train. Remember my previous blog where I stated I hated taking the trains? Well then you should know I was not thrilled as I went down into the bowels of hell. I boarded the #5 train and of course there were no seats ... whatever. I stood by the door and mentally prepared myself for this train ride to Harlem. To my surprise ... nothing happened. There wasn't anything to talk about. No performers doing stunts in the middle of the isle. No panhandlers begging for money ... well there was this one guy walking up and down the isle talking to himself.  Like the rest of the New Yorkers on the train I had the attitude ... don't bother me and I won't bother you. The only other thing worth mentioning was me saving a child (please hold your applause) from possibly going to the ER. 

A young man and his son were sitting in the corner (the one seater). The little boy looked about 2 yrs old. I watched as the little boy peeled the white sticker off the outside of his banana. Of course it took forever for him to rid the sticky paper from his little fingers. Once he was done, his father peeled the banana. Before the little boy could take a bite, daddy broke off a piece and ate it. Little man wasn't happy. He cried and cried and cried. Eventually he stopped and proceeded to eat his banana. Unfortunately he fell asleep before he got to the end of his fruit. 



As the train pulled into the 86th Street station, the father stands up to get the little boy ready. He pulled down his jacket and pant legs. Now here is where daddy made his mistake. He released his grip on the little boy to fix his own clothes. The train comes to a stop. Daddy is bent down not paying attention. The train jerks and the little boy goes flying forward. A pole was waiting to make contact with his little face. Without thinking I placed my hand between the little boy's face and the pole. I prevent the tot from running smack dab into the pole. Unaware of the danger he just avoided, the little boy looked up at me with a terrified look on his face. The father scooped him up and thanked me for my quick action. He asked the little boy was he okay. The whole time little man kept his eyes on me with a look of .. why you put your hand in my face lady? I wanted to laugh but he was already traumatized. I was just thankful instinct kicked in because his forehead hitting the pole was not going to be pretty. A child was saved from visiting the ER. Perhaps riding the train isn't that bad ... nah its still hell and unless I absolutely have to I'm not doing it again. However I am thankful that for the first time in ages ... Today was a good day with #nycmta.  

#nycmtachronicles 12.08.16

Hot vs Cold 
On the commute this morning I sit with my two friends who shall remain nameless to protect their identities. Lets just call them Friend A and Friend B. As far as I was concerned, the bus was very comfortable. The heat was on. It wasn't blasting but just enough to keep the coldness off the bus. Mid way through our trip a window near us pops open. I immediately felt the cold air blowing on me while Friend A and B was relieved because they were hot. We immediately went

into a hot vs cold battle. They said it's hot on the bus while I say it's not. I gave the friend closest to the window the evil eye until she reached up and closed the window. As soon as she closed it .. the window popped back open. She closed it again and again it popped open. Personally I think she wasn't trying very hard because she wanted the window to remain open. After the third try of closing the window .. it popped back open and she gave up trying. how convenient.  Need-less-to-say .. the window remained opened for the rest of the trip. I really do think it was a conspiracy between Friend A and Friend B. Next time I will get up and close it myself and it won't pop back open. Today the score was: Hot - 1 Cold - 0.


Phoebe
The bus driver's voice is so deep and raspy that he sounds like a phone sex operator. At one point I couldn't even tell what he was saying. I'm sure having his mouth all up on the phone when announcing the stops isn't helping. It really sounds like he is talking out of his nose and faking the sexiness. Matter of fact. He sounds like Phoebe from Friends on that episode when she had a cold and thought she sounded sexy when singing at Perks. My sticky shoes. My sticky, sticky shoes, why you stick on meeee ...LMAO 😝


Hey Friend
As I sit here writing this blog, I had to airdrop the above pic from my phone to my laptop. Now when you use airdrop on an iphone all nearby iphone users pop up if they have their airdrop. Four people on this bus was using their iphone. One of these days I am going to use this picture and send it to everyone who pops up on my airdrop. I swear one day I'm gonna do it!!!

A Honker
So apparently Phoebe is a honker. He has honked the horn at least 1700 times since I got on this bus. He even honked at a passing bird. And then at times he leaned on the horn. He is making entirely too much noise with that horn. Damn Phoebe give it a break. However, in spite of his raspy voice and love for the horn ... he is very nice to the passengers and drives the bus really fast which is always a good thing in my book.

Sizing things up
Why do some passengers get on the bus, dip their metro card and look around the bus like seeing if it's safe to walk down the isle. Uhmmmm hellooooo you already dipped your card. I don't know about you but once I dip my card and paid $2.75 my ass not getting off the bus. I don't care if there are four hookers, a smelly homeless person, a loud cellphone talker, 75 little kids or a zombie. Okay wait ... I think I would get off for a zombie. Everyone knows .. I DON'T DO ZOMBIES!!!

Nosy
Am I the only one who looks at other people phones to see what they are looking at? On the average most people are looking at social media, shopping or watching a movie. They are so boring .. just once I wanna catch someone looking at something they should be looking at in the privacy of their home so I can give them dirty looks. Oh and shout out to the people who screens are filled with so many cracks you can't even tell what the hell is on their phone. And a double shout out to the companies who make those privacy screen protector for phones ... they really work.

#nycmtachronicles 12.07.16

Hold the 🚌 please!
Anyone who knows me knows that I am slow. They also know I am usually late. When getting up in the morning at 5:30 I feel as though I have all the time in the world to get ready and leave out the house at 6:45. However every morning it seems like after 6:15 time purposely speeds up. Before you know it, it's 6:30 and I just finished putting on my make-up. I still have to find something to wear then get dressed, make my lunch and dash out the door to catch the bus at 6:50. Lets just say I rarely take lunch to work. On the norm, I am running across the street to catch the bus. It's so bad that my friend sometimes stall the bus driver when she sees me coming out the building. When I get on the bus .. the bus driver looks at me laughs and shakes his head. So today I told him for his Christmas present I was going to start being on time. Odds are he won't be receiving a present from me.

Evil Book Bag Boy

Recently a little boy about four or five years old has been riding the bus with his mother and big sister. He is the cutest thing ever but I have a serious problem with him. Okay perhaps it's not with him per say more with his book bag. As you can see from the picture, his book bag lurking at me like it knows I be talking about it. This bag creeps me out. Why would parents by bags like this for their kids? Every time I look up to see those eyes staring at me. I was extremely happy today when mother and daughter got on the bus and the little boy who I've named Evil Book Bag Boy wasn't with them. I think I'm going to start bring a towel with me to throw over the book bag like the little boy did to the clown in Poltergeist. 

Please use back doors to exit off the bus.
My next rant is about the #nycmta bus drivers. Every day on the M103 the bus driver (not always the same driver which makes it worse) stops in front of a tree with an iron grading around it. The doors open and the passengers sometimes have to hop over it to get off. The majority of the time there is a pile of garbage beside it which makes it even harder to jump over. Why passengers just don't go to the front is beyond me but never-the-less they shouldn't have to because there shouldn't be anything blocking the back door.

Well today I gave the bus driver kudos for leaving enough room at that stop for passengers to get off. Then he drives a few blocks and does this. Although passengers aren't doing any leaps to get off the bus, they now must squeeze between two buses. What pisses me off the most is that there is always enough room in front of the bus for the driver to pull up giving passengers a free path to exit off the bus. I've realized that these bus drivers really don't give a flying flute. I know somewhere during their training they were told to make sure it was safe for passengers to get on or off the bus. This also includes pulling up to the curb. Oh please don't get me started on that one. 

Where's the heat? 
On a good note my 2nd bus is nice and warm. Well it was warm after I closed two windows and the emergency hatch. Thirty something degrees and people have windows open like its 85 degrees outside. Sometimes I feel like I am the only person in the world who likes the heat. I'm on the bus all bundled up while others have their coats are opened acting like they gasping for air because it's hot. As I write this blog in the bag of the bus .. three people started coughing and only two covered their mouths. Hmmmmm perhaps I should have left the windows opened to kill those germs now circulating in my area. Time to use my scarf as a mask. Until next time ... 

#nycmta 

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And I can feel this for sure .. I've been here before - Teena Marie 

#nycmtachronicles 12.06.16

Years ago while taking the bus home an altercation broke out between two passengers. A woman (Lady A) who wasn’t all there in the head started with another lady (Lady B). Lady A decided she didn’t want the rest of her McDonald’s french fries. Instead of leaving them in the bag she proceeded to throw them on the floor and at Lady B. Of course this didn’t sit well with Lady B. I was comfortable sitting in my seat watching the incident unfold in front of my eyes while trying very hard to stay out of it. It was comical until Lady A threw french fries at me then it wasn’t funny anymore. Since she involved me, it was my duty to put her in check New York style. I threw the french fries right back at her. She proceeded to yell louder. Lady B obviously had had enough. She pulled out a box cutter, jumped up out of he seat and threatens to stab Lady A. Passengers started screaming and moving out of the way. The bus driver stopped to come and investigate. Lady A had the nerve, the audacity to say Lady B and myself started the whole thing. Passengers started yelling she was a liar. The bus driver told her to get off the bus. She refused. He then said he wasn’t moving the bus until she got off. She still refused. At least six or seven passengers started yelling for her to get off the bus. Lady A realized she was out numbered and got off the bus leaving french fries all over the seat and floor. Okay so I said all of this to say … this incident birthed the posting of #nycmta which is now #nycmtachronicles.

I began posting about my commute on nycmta to my Facebook page. I take two buses to work and two buses going home. Why don’t I take the train you ask ... well that’s a whole ‘nother story. On a typical day my posts consist of: buses never having any heat, long waits, bus drivers stopping in front of objects obstructing passengers from safely exiting the bus and so much more. And there are my stories about life: a little girl (Curly) who ignores her father to talk with her friend, a man (dubbed The Sniffler) who either has allergies or a serious drugs problem, the book bag that keeps staring me down and last but not least a father with two little girls who runs for the bus just about every day. I’ve named this family, The Runners. As you can see, my commutes can be very entertaining.

Now that I’ve officially introduced you to #nycmtachronicles check back to see what goes on during my commutes. And don’t be afraid to leave a comment perhaps you saw something worth talking about. Until next time …

Livin' my life like it's golden, It really matters to me,  - Jill Scott