Transit Trouble.

Image borrowed from The Buzzer Blog

As some of you may know, I am working full-time at the Down Syndrome Research Foundation for the summer, and I commute from the south of Richmond all the way to the north part of Burnaby and back everyday. So I spend quite a bit of time on transit, and I've had my fair share of awkward moments on the bus, the skytrain, and the Canada Line.

When I am not pushed against four other people around me during the rush hour, I actually find it quite fun to watch other people during the commute. From impressive leaps through closing doors to an embarrassing time when a lady caught the bus just as it was leaving and made a public announcement saying, "Thank you everyone!!!" only to find herself lacking change for her bus fare, I've realized that despite being on transit for so many hours per day, it can still keep you somewhat entertained. Not counting that instance where I was yelled at by a bitter, 50 year old virgin on the Canada Line for "not being aware" and "having my bag in his stomach, my hair in his face, and my earphones in" which, apparently, is a sin and totally not what everyone else is experiencing on a crowded train. Not that I (nor anyone else) took him seriously, of course-- I soon put my earphones back in and took pleasure in seeing his look of complete outrage.

After work today, it was another day of crowd jostling on the Canada Line, and I had my hand on the middle handrail (the one pictured above). There was a rather chubby woman standing to my left, and she seemed a little oblivious to how she could conserve as much space as possible to accommodate more space for other people. She moved around a lot, but I couldn't exactly give her the space to do so since there was, unfortunately, another rather oblivious and chubby man to my right.

I didn't mind, really, until we were at the Langara station and, for some reason, she felt the need to press herself up against the entire bar to make space for invisible people that were apparently passing behind her. An awkward moment proceeded to take its place when she pressed her chest up against the bar right where my hand was. I happened to be removing my hand from the bar at the same time, so she basically pressed her chest right up against my hand for a second before I dropped my hand. I wasn't looking at her, but from my peripheral vision, I saw her give me a brief, accusing look. Don't flatter yourself, lady! One, I'm not into boobs. Two, even if I were (of which there really is a 0% chance, just fyi), most likely I wouldn't be interested in ones on a woman who looks like she's nearing her fifties.

In addition, I looked across the train when there were less people, and saw a lady standing across from me in a completely pink outfit. Pink knit sweater, pink silk scarf, pink trouser pants, pink shoes... and holding that popular Damier canvas LV bag that every spoiled woman seems to have nowadays. In her other hand, she held a very beat up Michael Kors shopping bag. Aside from my dislike of high-end brand name bags (perhaps I will talk about this fad to waste money another day), what I thought made it a painful sight to look at was not only the horrible clash of colours, but the irony in her carrying of brand names contrasted by how obvious she was being in trying so hard to indulge in brand names that she's even used a small Michael Kors shopping bag to the point of ripping.

Anyway, this entry doesn't have a point at all. I just felt I should record some amusing instances I've come across from being on transit so often.

More obligatory shopping.

I ran out of eye cream a few weeks ago and hadn't had the chance to go out and buy some more yet. I've been using the Anna Sui eye treatment cream for quite a few years (and Biotherm before that), but I decided I wanted to try something different this time. After asking my mom, who told me to try Clinique, and looking around the cosmetic section at Sears for a bit, I decided on the Clinique "all about eyes" cream. When the lady at the counter asked me "what my concerns were", I told her I usually stay up late so I'd like to reduce circles and puffiness, and she recommended this one for me.

When I got home, I was digging through my mom's collection which consists of numerous bags of her prized cosmetics, and I took some stuff that she probably isn't going to get around to using. I gave her a call to make sure I could take her stuff, of course. I'm excited to use her Lancome eye palette! These are all the colours I mostly use on a daily basis.



And on a final note, I bought a brand new stick of my favourite product, Tide to go! On Friday, I was commuting to work when I was forcefully pushed by a girl behind me, who apparently really wanted to stand in this one spot some steps away from me, even though she would have been fine where she was already standing. Without noticing that I had no space to move aside to for her to pass through, she pushed me and my heavy handbag slid from my shoulder to my elbow, jolting my arm and causing the coffee that I was holding with that hand to spill... onto the Korean girl sitting below where I was standing.

Even though it wasn't my fault, I apologized profusely to her and asked her if she was okay. She said yes, but her face looked something in between "upset" and "outraged" (even though it was just a tiny bit spilled onto her t-shirt), so I took my Tide to go from my bag and said, "If you like, you can use this," and told her how to use it. She looked a little skeptical at first and she dabbed at it (I told her she had to press down... but she wasn't pressing hard enough and I didn't want to be like NO YOU HAVE TO PRESS HARDER FOR THE TIDE TO COME OUT). So in the end, the bus reached the terminal station where we were all getting off, and I told her she could keep it.

Needless to say, I was hugely disappointed that I lost my favourite item. But I got a new one today, so it's fine now :)

Obligatory shopping.

I bought two new pairs of shoes today, finally. I'm picky with what I wear, so although I like fashion, it's actually quite difficult for me to choose something that I'd want to wear on myself. New shoes for work!