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November 11, 2005
Subway Story
New Yorkers have a very special relationship with their Ipods. Unlike most of the country, the primary mode of transportation for the average New Yorker is mass transit. Between thirty to 45 minutes a day (or more for many) adds up to a lot of time to sit and wait. Many of us use this time to listen to our Ipods, mp3 players, read the latest NY Times best seller or catch up on the latest rumours out of the Post.
I've taken to listening to my favorite podcasts on my Ipod. Because it's spoken word, there's an intimacy in the listening that isn't quite so obvious when you are listening to music. Many of the podcasts to which I listen often inspire me to outright laughter. On one such occasion I was riding the subway and completely oblivious to all but the most basic elements of my surroundings; train, bench, just past 14th St. I was completely in the throes of the latest anecdotes on the Dawn and Drew Show. Sure enough, whatever they were discussing tickled me so I laughed. Shortly thereafter movement out of the corner of my eye finally got my attention. Across from me and to the right there sat a man in his mid to late fifties who was clearly agitated and a bit weird.
Strangeness is ironically no stranger to the subway. He was making Mickey Mouse ears and moving his head side to side. He may have been saying something; I don't know. I had headphones in and wasn't paying that much attention. I did take note of his particular brand of exotica, marveled at the inordinate number of unique people in the city and focused again on my podshow. Again, I noticed movement and realized that he seemed particularly focused on me. Now he was doing the rotary dial finger at his ear as if to say he was crazy. Well, no argument there. He was definitely crazy.
I went back to my podcast. A few moments later, the guy was still staring at me and making crazy motions. Finally I understood. As I was listening and laughing to The Dawn and Drew Show I was facing his general direction. Strange Guy must have thought I was laughing at him when I was laughing and reacting to what I was listening on my podcast. He wasn't nutty (or at least, he wasn't just nutty.) He was defensive.
That gave me a good laugh. I felt a little bad for the guy and I really do hope he wasn't as bothered as he seemed to be. Perhaps I should have explained the situation. In the end, I decided it was best not to engage him as I was just as likely to provoke him as anything. Within an instant, I'd arrived at my destination. I exited the train and got back to my podcast. It was sometime later when I realized that Strange Guy could just as likely be writing a blog entry about this weird Laughy Girl he saw on his daily commute as I would be writing about him.
I love this city.
Posted by mermu at November 11, 2005 05:36 AM
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