Little Scootie all tucked in and ready for bed!! Haha

Before moving here I’ve never had a commute to work longer than 10 or 15 minutes all of which I usually spent in my car alone, probably listening to some of my jams. Not only have I tripled (sometimes quadrupled) that amount of time, but I’ve also opened the door to a whole new world of commuting with the thousands if not millions in the city. I’ve ended up writing a lot about the subways or buses here mostly because something interesting is likely to happen there.

You never know what you’re going to get when you step into that crowded subway car day to day. Some days you have the one-man band complete with speakers, harmonica, and guitar. Other days you fear for your life because of a self proclaimed ex-drug addict turned Jesus preacher screaming, “Are you ready to die today? Because I’m ready, right now! I hope to see you all in heaven.” Then there are the more low-key days of street rappers or acoustic performers. Truth be told, I have heard some really fantastic talents on the subway and I’ve even heard that you can make around $400 to $600 a day performing throughout the subway. I haven’t checked those figures, but I definitely believe they could be true.

I’m not a complete public transportation veteran yet, but I already feel like I have a good amount of subway experiences, as well as the ploys of people looking for money. Theoretically I see why people do it too. First of all people of all income levels ride public transportation. Of course, there are people who take cabs, car services, or have their own cars that don’t rely on the subways, but looking from side to side on the car you are faced with clear income diversity. Second of all, you are deemed with an audience that cannot easily leave the scene. Yes, people certainly ignore beggars or performers, but they are aware of their presence more than they might be on the side of a street.

This afternoon a guy probably in his late 20s or early 30s stepped into my car. Both sides of his lips were pierced and he had baggy pants on as he was preparing to address the subway car. I had my ipod on, but could still hear his speech over my music. He started by talking about how we can’t judge people simply by the way we look and something along the lines of we need to be thankful for the gifts that we bring to society. He went on to talk about how he has been teaching at a local YMCA for a number of years and had helped countless amounts of students. He talked about students he had helped that were dealing drugs when they came into the program and are now in college playing sports on scholarships and continued on with a number of more stories. Then he hit his forte of his purpose by explaining that the YMCA didn’t have the funding for his program anymore and felt that it wasn’t important enough to continue funding and was looking for any support he could get to continue the program. 

My heart was heavy for his cause and I couldn’t give him the $2 I had on hand faster on my way off the subway. It’s New York and you can never be completely sure of what people’s agendas are, but I would like to believe his intentions were at best. To hear the passion in his voice for helping others and bettering their lives left me feeling very inspired. I am a complete believer that education and caring support can make a difference in others lives who are struggling in one way or another. 

I had a smile on my face the whole way home from the subway and felt that I needed to pass on my inspiration. I challenge you all to attempt having even a 1/10th of the passion that the man on the subway had today about helping someone other than yourself. It doesn’t have to be money. It can be something as small as a word of encouragement or a simple smile because it is the little things that really do add up to make a change in this world. I end this post inspired, and really hope that you all can consider just taking one small step each day in bettering someone else’s day.

Goodnight!

Weekend Wrap-Up: Was my attempt at a low-key weekend a success?? Yes! As low-key as I’m probably going to get living here.. It was a nice little break though! There was a lot of sleeping in involved, which doesn’t make much for a good blog post but let me tell you it was fantastic! 

Saturday I headed down to Columbus Circle which is about the closest to a mall that I know of so far in the city. There is a bus that goes almost right there from my apartment so it was a nice little (well kind of long) ride. One thing I like about riding the buses or in taxis is being able to see the city. You miss out on the views when you’re in the subway. On the flipside though you miss out on the traffic that the taxis and buses hit, minus the occasional “train traffic.” Once I made it close to Columbus I had a couple of blocks to walk where I passed a good ten people dressed up like zombies. There must have been some zombie walk or something going on downtown. 

Columbus Circle is a pretty cool place. It was even cooler because I met another duck fan walking around there! Most of the stores there are all pretty upscale though. J Crew, True Religion, and some other designerish names that I didn’t really recognize. I ended up spending most of my time there at Borders, does that surprise any of you? I found a sweet section of the bookstore on hauntings and ghosts in New York. There is some creepy stuff that has supposively happened around here. After running around the mall I decided to attempt to make it to Union Square. Instead I ended up somewhere down by the NYU campus and the meatpacking district. I really enjoy just walking around in places I haven’t been and seeing different places the city has to offer. There was something going on at NYU because there were a bunch of volunteers leading groups around.

After walking around for awhile though I headed back up to the UES and out to dinner with my roommate and her Mom and her friend that were in town for the weekend. We went out to a place called Arturo’s which is an Italian restaurant about a block and half away. The food was absolutely delicious! Great service and a cozy atmosphere. Authentic food is something I can totally get used to out here. No more going back to Olive Garden after having more authentic Italian (that is as authentic in the states as I’ll get). After dinner we stayed in and just had a girls night of talking and hanging out. 

Sunday was another morning of sleeping in and heading to the 1 o’clock church service on the Upper West Side. After church I did a little shopping on the way home and then took the little Scootie out to the park. It was absolutely beautiful out today! I’m trying my best to take full advantage of the nice days here before the winter turns on us. I’m getting more nervous about that each day. People who have lived here for awhile seem to get a kick out of hyping up how bad the winters are. I’m getting less and less excited for that season..

Wrapped up the evening by going to Shake Shack for dinner. Mmm mmm burgers! It’s not possible for me to get sick of burgers.. absolutely delicious! Now I’m onto trying to wrap up a long to do list, skype sessions, and cleaning before bed. All and all the low-key weekend was a success though!