i'm engaged!

i regret switching from the local R to the express N today.

normally i enjoy transferring to the express. i am just a block away from my apartment rather than a less convenient but far trendier 10 blocks--although that does give me an excuse to buy new boots or a scarf or one of those cabbie hats. other reasons to transfer? until today the weather consisted of rain and cold air smacking me in face.

but this time after transferring i found myself caught between an episode of Real Housewives of New Jersey and a scene from the movie Barbershop, which was more obnoxious than entertaining. i murmured to myself what i announced to my family when Joe Carter hit that devastating HR in the 1993 World Series: 'shoulda walked.' i was in first grade and had just learned what an intentional walk was.

on my way back my entire life plan changed. a homeless man said he liked me, proposed to me, and lured me in by telling me that he had food stamps. it turns out that even though my love was obviously unconditional, my acceptance was as temporary as the data entry job i'm returning home from because he pulled the same gimmick on my sister after her commute. Maury Povich, here we come!

despite breaking off the engagement, i did spare some change. more often than not, i do. it stemmed from an instance where i was applying my make up on the train and i ignored a man who was probably homeless but most likely not blind. i felt really selfish. i had enough money to buy a variety of normal earth-tone & very bright/socially unacceptable since the 1980's eye shadows, but 50 cents so this guy could muster up a bag of Fritos from a Hudson News Stand was too much to ask?

they now announce (repeatedly) that it's illegal to solicit for money on subways. well call me a felon, or i guess an accomplice, but without the money they are garnering from these crime-ridden subway rides, they could die. will some of them feed an addiction instead of their stomachs? sure. are most people doing this because they received those obnoxious gold coins from the Metrocard machine that would otherwise go toward tipping bartenders? maybe.

i still think it's pretty amazing that the homeless can survive off of other New Yorkers generosity, regardless of their motivations. by no means am i endorsing poverty. in fact, poverty is the one socio-political issue everyone can rally around. people are pro-war,or pro-choice, but i can't say i know anyone who is pro-homelessness. unless you're one of those people who yells at them to get off the street and get a job. first of all, if they can get a job and i can't, i'm REALLY doing something wrong considering i have a degree. secondly, i doubt it's a laziness factor--i think most of these people, be it a mariachi band or an overall God enthusiast, simply want to be a functioning member of society. third, if you are one of those people who takes time out of your day to lecture the homeless on being employed, you should probably reevaluate your priorities. also, you're a jerk.

take that you L.A. types that think the Greatest City in the World is entirely cold and hard. we are simply an island with a marshmallow inside, that kind of looks like an apple.

-k.