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Thursday, December 31, 2009

Happy New Year

Today on the light rail I was invited to a New Year's Eve party by a group of construction workers.  I declined the offer.  Did they think I would say yes?

That reminds me of people who confirm people on Facebook they don't know....or confirm people that don't exist.

Moral of the story: Don't smile at people if you don't want to go to their party.

The rail was slow today, probably because the cops were out checkin' due to the Texas bowl.  Have a good weekend and check back Monday for some more interesting stories..when Houston isn't crackin' down on freeloaders.

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

My friend Bo

Today on the light rail...well, it was actually on the light rail platform where I wait for the train to come....a familiar looking homeless man approached me to have a conversation.  I say familiar because I feel like I know this man.  I don't know his name, but I see him every so often on this particular platform.  We have similar conversations every time we meet, but clearly this man does not remember who I am.  We'll call him Bo, because that seems like a typical homeless man's made up name.

So Bo approaches me (walking right past the pay station) with his usual "Good morning!"
I politely reply, "Morning." and get right back to my "bee-boo-bop-boo" on my cell phone (as my roommate calls it).
Bo: "You doin that text message thing? It's like writing a letter, huh?"
Me: "I'm actually checking my Facebook."
Bo: "Facebook? I aint never hearda no facebook...when I was yur age we jus wrote love letters to our girlfriends. Aint no text messaging or facebook."
Me: "That's nice."
Bo: "Yuh nowadays you cant even talk to a real person..always talking through a computer..I aint cool wit dat, yaknawhati'msaying?"
Me: "Yes sir, I know what you are saying."  (bonus points if you catch the south park reference..the man did not)

Luckily, the train came and I didn't have to talk to Bo anymore.  But once again, Bo steps on the light rail without ever buying a ticket or swiping his Q card.  He's done this before...and one time there was a cop checking tickets.  His excuse "ah naw sir, I was too busy talking to that pretty little lady over there I completely forgot to get a ticket.."  He was pointing at me.  The cop made him get off at the next stop and buy a ticket real quick...which he did.

Bo was fortunate this morning as there were no cops.  He got a free ride to the soup kitchen and a free conversation with a girl he doesn't remember having the same conversation with multiple times before.

Moral of the story: Write love letters instead of text messages.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Box of grass

Today on the light rail, I experienced a homeless man rolling a joint. At first glance, I was confused by his crayon box full of grass...and then I thought to myself, that is not ordinary grass. He quickly shuffled around to hide what he was doing. He was so fast; I didn't get a chance to take a picture with my phone. It made my morning. A homeless man...ratty old clothes...hasn't shaved for months, maybe years...has a permanent dirt tan....and at 9:00 in the morning, he was about to get high.


The moral of the story: if you give $1 to a beggar, they'll buy drugs. And show them off on public transportation.


I'll take this opportunity to welcome you to "Today on the light rail...”. Every morning, I share with the twitter community the ridiculous antics that occur on public transportation. I decided it would be beneficial to the whole cyber community to partake in these experiences in more depth. I've seen everything from trannys to prophets on the light rail. Sure it's no New York subway, but that's what makes this even more interesting. I don't know what the motive behind the light rail was other than Houston trying to take a chance at being the home for the Olympics some day, but I do know that it wakes me up every morning and makes me realize that people are simply ridic. So enjoy my adventures...read this every day...maybe I'll get to add some pictures if I learn how to take them discretely.