Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Strangers on a train

Whew, i'm back.  i've kept on thinking about things that might be worth blogging about...but i've been a little busy lately, and certainly a little tired...so i've just never managed to get my thoughts together with my time until right now, this moment.

First off, for the past 2 weeks i've been going to bartending school, learning about making drinks and stuff - definitely been having a blast,  but i've had to wake up around 6AM, a lot earlier than i am used to, so it's wiped me out a lot when i get back home in the afternoon. 

But now i'm here.

So which thoughts should i begin with for my first post in a while?  Let's start with the Metro.  i love the metro.  i love riding it.  i love going in a tunnel and coming out the other end in a totally new place.  i love the people on it, they're the best!  Last week i saw a guy reading Thomas Hardy start surreptitiously, but totally checking out this one girl who got on reading Henry James.  i saw a girl reading The Irresistible Revolution, which was just nice to see.  Also nice to see was the guy going through Deuteronomy - i'm not sure if he was trying to do the whole bible cover to cover or what, but it was cool no matter what.

but here's what i really like about being on the metro: that feeling of knowing just exactly where i'm going.  When you're a tourist, you have to carry around a book and a map with you so you know which attractions to see and where they are.  There's plenty of hurry-up-and-wait involved while you figure your surroundings out.  But i'm not a tourist here - i don't know the city like the back of my hand or anything, but i'm definitely not a tourist.  i'm familiar with the metro lines, where they go, what's at the major stops - so when i get on, i sit down take out my book, and keep a tally in my head of the numbers of stops we've gone through.  And when i reach my stop, i get off, quickly find the escalator to my next train if i'm transferring (sometimes running to catch it if i'm lucky enough to have it waiting for me), and i'm good.  i'm confidant, comfortable.  i know where i'm going.

Of course, we very seldom get that opportunity in life, knowing where we're going and how to get there.  But here's this one chance to make sure you've got it figured out.  And it isn't hard to look around and see who's ridden that line a thousand times, and who's just trying to get in to see the monuments.  i like to imagine the tourists seeing me and thinking, "Oh, we could ask him, he probably knows what to do."

On my more profound days, this is the part where i might try to find some interesting sermon-esque way of tying this all up with Christianity or something.  Maaaybe that we have confidence in living with Christ, so it's okay if we don't know where we're going?  Or we can take comfort in Christ the same way we take comfort in the things that help us know where we're going?  i'm not sure...i had a few more in the back of my head, but i'm not gonna do any of that.  i'd just be forcing it, it doesn't come naturally to me this time.  So i'm just gonna let it stay as is - i enjoy the comfort that comes from being one of those guys on the metro who knows what's up.  Feels good.  Nothing more complicated than that.

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