i heart commuting!

Um, did you hear that a tornado hit Brooklyn? I know, we're so cool! (and now wet and bedraggled, too, but that's another story) The thunder in the storm last night was so loud and so close that it set off car alarms. Don't even bother counting the Mississippis between the lightening and the clap -- they were practically simultaneous.

So this morning, after all hell had broken loose and the streets were littered with the cats and dogs it had rained, I got up to go to work. (Like you do when you have a job and live in Brooklyn.) But when I got to the station, there were no R trains running. None. I thought maybe I'd walk to the F train and try that. Nope, no such luck. No trains at all.

Well, gee, I thought to myself, I could walk to work, schlepping all my stuff and getting hot, sweaty and nasty, or I could go home and try again later.

You know you would have gone home, too. Don't lie.

I changed my outfit (it was too hot anyway) and mopped my kitchen floor. (you know, typical Wednesday morning activity...) I laid on the bed for about fifteen minutes and decided to try again (for the subway, not the mopping), and when I got to the station, I changed into my terrycloth bathrobe and enjoyed the sauna. (well, I should have. It would have been a real pore-cleanser.)

After about twenty minutes, a train came, and was fairly empty, so I got on it, got a seat and just sort of went with the flow. When we hit Atlantic Avenue (six years later), they said the train was going over the bridge to Canal Street. Sweet! [it's a shorter commute.] However, when we came off the bridge, we were at Grand Street... which wasn't Canal Street. No sweat really (well, no additional sweat) -- eventually the train would get to midtown and I would just walk to work.

People were friendly, chatty, hot, and someone near me was farty (which was unfortunate). And there was a REALLY cute guy on the train and I thought, as he sat down next to me, I'd chat him up and have him in love with me by the time we hit West 4th Street, but... he was married. So I silently punished him by reading my Instructional Design Manual and keeping my charm to myself. (But man oh man, he even sweat in a sexy way! No fair!)

People were actually excited to see me when I got to work, so that part was nice, and they're cranking the A/C here (surprise surprise) so it's not like the swamp my apartment would be.

Secretly, I kind of love days like this. It feels like a snow day, except much much hotter, and New Yorkers (at least the ones who decided to delay like I did) took it pretty much in stride.

What else can you really do? Swim to work?