Daily Journal Entry #8

I learned so many things those first few months riding the train twice daily. For example, there are three to five specific groups of people that ride the train on any given day. After a semester of commuting, I was able to spot these people, even in their best disguises, from a train car away. The Daily Commuter: These are either the classy business types or sleepy college kids. The former can be spotted carrying briefcases and newspapers, and they lack the ability to talk on their cell phones at a decibel that doesn’t make you want to bang your head (or theirs, for that matter) against those sad green-tinted Plexiglas windows. Beware, these people will ruffle their Wall Street Journal in your face and will not ask for the unoccupied seat beside you…they will just take it. The college kids are much easier to spot. They are often seen scrambling to finish forgotten homework, studying for tests in classes they haven’t been to in weeks, or more likely, sleeping slumped down in the seat with their mouths hanging open. Some S.C.K (sleepy college kids) will make the effort to shower and get dressed before leaving their houses in the morning, but more often than not, they will roll out of bed, barely remembering to brush their teeth before rushing outside and speeding all the way to the train station. They board the train breathless, having run all the way from their haphazardly-parked cars, and smell heavily of coffee and sleep. The Sports Fan: Often drunk, perpetually confused, and inexplicably loud, the Sports Fan is the bane of the Daily Commuter. The Sports Fan never travels alone; he is accompanied by at least three equally obnoxious friends and a six-pack of Miller Lite. Busch Lite, if he’s under twenty-five. It is not uncommon to see a Sports Fan Family, consisting of a mother, father, two fighting 10-15 year-olds, and an infant dressed in the team’s colors. Even as early as nine in the morning, the Sports Fan is on the wobbly path to inebriation and loudly arguing whether it is a better idea to get off at the Jefferson stop or to ride into downtown and take the red line/bus/cab to Wrigley Field/Soldier Field/Comisky Park. The Suburban Family: As nice as a category this may seem, it is the kiss of death for everyone on the train car. The Family is very much like the Sports Fan Family, except that they lack a purpose. The Suburban Family got up one weekend morning and decided to spend the day in the city. With no consideration for the very irritable train folk, they quarantine their screaming, snotty-nosed, bickering children into a set of flipped seats, and instead of quieting them down, they only add to the noise by shouting threats every two to four minutes. The Suburban Family does not know their way around the city, so be prepared to be asked directions. Do not huff and sigh at the commotions The Suburban Family makes the duration of the train ride because that will just encourage them.