Silence, the blessed sound of nothing.

I suppose silence isn't so much nothing, but the absence of the yammering of unwanted mouths, the endless pings and rings of cell phones, the music people share (that no one else wants to hear).  Silence, my dear friends, is the endangered species of the digital age.

Case in point: my commute in this morning.

I first take my car to the train station, approximately 2 miles from the house.  I then climb aboard the South Shore Railroad for my trip into Chicago (approx 2 hours), then walk from Millennium Station to the Washington Street stop for the Chicago Transit Authority Blue Line.  I then take the Blue line to the University of Illinois at Chicago.  All told, my commute is approx 2.5 hours, one-way.

At only one time during this 2.5 hour journey, am I alone.  That lowly 2 mile commute to the train station from my house is the one time I spend truly alone, just me, my car and likely NPR.  If I am lucky, I will catch a good story, if I am not, I change to music.  Let's call this part of my trip 10 minutes, just for grins.

I now have 2 hours, 40 minutes left.  During this entire 2 hours, 40 minutes, I am surrounded by people.  Sometimes people I know, but more often than not, total strangers.  We share close quarters, indoor space, punctuated by the comings and goings of fellow passengers.  It isn't wholly unpleasant, but it is not the private, confined space of your own personal automobile.

This morning I had to endure the following:

1. A woman (on the South Shore) and a man (in the Washington CTA station) who insisted on sharing their choice of music with all.  
2. A group of college-age people who shared videos on their phones with one another, at full blast.
3. A man who insisted on sharing his opinions on everything (although NO ONE asked him to).
4. Several cell phones, ringing endlessly without being picked up.  I do not know the reasons why, but I assume it has to do with the flagrant ineptness of said cell phones' owners and their ignorance of the vibrate/silent feature.  

It is days like today that I feel the age of civilization is as close to an end as it ever has been.  The "civil" part of civilization has been wrenched from its moorings, tossed asunder by the relentless onslaught of selfish bastards thinking only of themselves.  

As much as I love my commute (and I do) and I love taking public transit (I do), there are days I understand why people would much rather just get in their own car, in their own personal realm of joy & peace, than ever make contact with another human between home and work.  It is days like today that I arrive to my destination with a belly full of bile and an urge to spew it.  

Lucky you, dear readers, you get to hear all about it. 

The Email That I Don't Want

Hello Athena,


I just wanted to say hello and check to see how you were doing. I have a new phone number xxx-xxx-xxxx, if you ever want to get in touch with me. I was just thinking about you today and wanted to say hello.

Talk to you soon,

Jack
*******************************************************************

For those of you playing along at home, Jack was a guy I dated a few years ago. He and I met thru a dating site, where he proclaimed to be divorced for three years, single now, no kids.

I later found out that: 1) he wasn't divorced, had never been divorced; 2) was, in fact, married to a very nice woman and 3) wasn't apparently planning on divorcing, just liked to cheat.  Oh, and his wife said they'd had a number of problems in their 12 (!) year marriage but she always hoped he'd change.

Oh Sister, Love May Be Blind, but You've Gouged Out Your EYES.

Since that time, I've not been in contact with him.  I have received a few emails from him (like the one above, received at my work email account last night), but have steadfastly ignored him. 

I will continue to do so.

'Talk to you soon' -- how's never, Jack?  Never good for you?  Good for me.

150th post.

Here's to my 150th post on this blog. *cheers*

I probably should import the myspace blog but I am lazy and I have not asked Maestro how he did it yet. It is probably easy to do but that makes it all the less important that I do it.

Did work today -- trying to get things squared away before the boss goes on vaca. He's gone for two weeks and when he returns, I am in Sweden. Nice timing, eh? Not planned but I'm not arguing either.

Glad to see that Jay and Jenny had a nice trip to Vegas and that Sharkboy missed them while they were gone. The Mean Girls take off for Vegas next week and I am certain that it will be more fun than should be allowed publicly. I would tell Vegas to lock up their liquor and bacon but that will be apparent soon enough. If you are visiting Vegas anytime during or after the Mean Girls trip plan on shortages of vodka, whiskey, rum and bacon. Don't say I didn't warn you.

A1 is back from her medical leave and looking/feeling good. Glad to have you back, friend.

I know this is silly, but I still wonder why that jackass' wife insists on staying with him after 2+ affairs. She must be criminally insane or have really low self-esteem. Get on some happy drugs, girlfriend. Life is better without cheating liars. Trust.

I encourage my readers to check out some fellow bloggers' blogs as listed on my blogroll. I must say I've developed a healthy addiction to the [Cherry] ride, as well as Drunken Chud on the Gancer's blogroll. Both make me laugh, for obviously different reasons. Chud's diatribe on crappy music chosen on jukeboxes made me howl. Go Chud. Continue your rein of terror via the jukebox. Gancer and [Cherry] can be found on 'I may be from Indiana, but I'm not an idiot'/Fitnessnerd's blogroll.

I'll be seeing Media for lunch tomorrow, for those wondering about him.

This weekend, in addition to my volunteering at 'Hops for Pops,' I'll also be finishing up the guestroom closet, doing some paperwork and in general getting myself ready for Sweden. July 11 is the day we leave and I have a boatload of crap to get done before then. *sigh*

I sit here on my bed, with a sleeping orange kitty by my side, thankful for this method of communicating known as 'blog.' Part therapy, part daily diary, part utter musings of an unwell mind, my blog is an open entre to my brain and how it works (or doesn't, as the case may be). Thanks for being around these last 149 posts. On to 151!