in your eyes

Posted on August 4, 2009 by Poppy Cede

It’s been a while since I’ve talked about any subway adventures, mainly because everything is old hat to me now, but today something different happened.

I was sitting on the E train bench reading my book with my earphones in when two women, a man, and a little girl of 2 or 3 came to stand in front of my area of the bench. The man sitting next to me got up and, because the little girl didn’t want to sit down, the two women sat one on top of the other while they discussed events of their lives and what they would do once they got to Union Turnpike. And then, all of a sudden, the little girl turned to me and touched my book with her hand and I looked into her beautiful tan eyes and what I saw was love, compassion for all, and happy curiosity. The emotion of this hit me so hard that my eyes welled up with tears. I gave her a smile and said “hi,” she gave me a smile and said nothing, and I went back to reading my book. She didn’t want to sit, she just wanted to lean against me and hang out, so she did. And then at one point she bumped my book by mistake and turned around to look at me with sad, sad eyes and said “sorry!” and I shook my head with my big, sappy smile and wet eyes and eeked out, “no worries.” And then it was her stop and she was gone.

I wonder how long it will take me to forget her. Or will I remember her forever because of who she made me think of when I looked into her eyes? (Rhetorical, rhetorical.)

good news bad news good news goodtome news

Posted on June 23, 2009 by Poppy Cede

Had a rejuvenating evening with my boy and am feeling a lot better. Just in time for my monthly Tuesday-Wednesday with just me and the girls while Dawg goes off to learn Kumbaya a little bit more than the month before. (Thank you, Mom, for asking.)

The red line of DC Metro had a pretty bad accident Monday during the start of rush hour. I rode that line while I was there. The article also references a 1982 accident at the Woodley Park-Adams Morgan station, the starting point of the red line that B and I rode on. I feel all Final Destination all of a sudden. I’m not absolutely certain, but I’m guessing that NY Metro was assessing the situation in DC, which caused my ride home to have long delays for no apparent-to-us reason. I appreciate that, in retrospect. Always good to make sure not every Metro system is a target of something at the same time.

Ok, that was nice and cheery. Let’s change the topic to SpaceTweep! I am an editor there, thanks to Jenny! Did you know she and her husband work for NASA? They do. And they rock.

Aaaaaaaand, yes, I’m riding the NYC Metro (that’d be the subway) today. Go, me!

Today’s good deed done before 9am

Posted on April 29, 2009 by Poppy Cede

While sleepily riding the pole into Manhattan I heard sneezing through my earphones — petite, surprised sneezes that I thought were a woman’s. At the next stop I opened my eyes out of courtesy for those getting off then on the train and saw a man sitting in the seat next to the door trying his very hardest not to sneeze anymore. One got away from him and I stared politely (there is such a thing) to see if he had a tissue; he did, but it was the most pathetic, busted ass tissue I’d seen in a while, used about 20 times too many, and a long string of nose glop stuck between his nose and his hand. I started quietly giggling and reached into my bag. As the train came to a stop I walked over to the man whose eyes were closed, tapped him on the arm, and handed over my package of travel-sized tissues. He nodded and took the package then I hopped off the train, my 7 Ave / 53 St stop.

I am the angel of tissues.

I am a woman of few words.

Posted on April 6, 2009 by Poppy Cede

That was a good joke, wasn’t it?

Saturday was DAVE YORK 2!!!!!!!!!!!! So, here’s how the day went from my perspective: I woke up at 8:30am, didn’t really take to it too kindly because my knees hurt so much from kneeling on concrete the day before, ate some bacon, went back to bed until 2pm, showered, got ready, then left with Dawg to the train station. We took the J to the E then rode to 42nd Street where we got Starbucks and took A LOT of photos.

Then it was Dave York 2 time at the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square! In attendance from L to R around the Hard Rock table: Poppy, Dawg, B E Earl, ETinNY (he has no blog but here’s a photo!), Robin, Sparky, Whitenoise, Dave2, and Cissa!

After birthday extravaganza we headed to the East Side (lower) for drinks. At Union Square we were subjected to Maroon 5 top 40ness:

How’d they get the piano down there?

We had drinks at Jack’s but they kept fucking up everything so that we would leave. We took the hint rather than trying to tell them how to do their jobs and left to Coffee Shop Bar where I decided I needed a chorizo quesadilla for my fourth beer of the night, a Newcastle. After the Coffee Shop Bar we all went our separate ways, hugging goodbye, then everyone else jumped on a Q train while Dawg and I took the N to the E to the J home.

I have had no time to edit all the photos included in the links above because Sunday was WRESTLEMANIA. So, I’ll get around to it when I get time, but enjoy them sideways for now.

PS – HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my Gramma!

Why Dawg thinks my autograph is worth something now, and my obsession with the train is realized.

Posted on April 4, 2009 by Poppy Cede

A few weeks ago Dawg forwarded me information from HARO requesting that people who had recently moved to New York City be in a group photo for a prominent publication. Some demographic info and the reason why I moved here were all that were asked for, so I answered it and thought nothing more of it. And then the emails started flying… and I got the invite to be in a group photo on the cover of New York Magazine. The shoot was originally planned for “Friday, 4/3 or Sunday, 4/5″. And then it was Friday at an unknown time, unknown place. And then it was Friday at 1pm at an unknown place. I asked work for Friday afternoon off. And then it was 5pm on Friday at Pier 59 Studios. But because of the number of changes I decided to keep my afternoon off and that way if the time changed again I could show up quickly, but since I had the afternoon off all to myself I made plans with myself that could be ditched at a moment’s notice if necessary.

You know how I talk about the subway a lot? Well, I decided that I would go to the MTA Transit Museum in Brooklyn (yah, I didn’t know it was in Brooklyn either until I read the subway map while sitting on the downtown R train) and look at the history of the subway. I’m a very visual person, so reading the history wasn’t what I focused on. I instead focused on the trains’ evolution, how the trains used to be a bit more of a personal and cozy experience, but how over time they have become more durable and accomodating to more life circumstances, sacrificing the comfort they once provided. And then a bunch of 4-year-old kids wearing subway shirts all ran down the stairs screaming and I laughed my head off at them and went back upstairs to take a few photos at which point my camera battery conveniently died. It was so tragic.

I left the museum, back to street level only to discover that there was a torrential downpour in Brooklyn. I scurried the few blocks back to the Court Street station and got back on the R to Manhattan. I hadn’t eaten lunch yet so I decided I would treat myself to lunch at Times Square. When I arrived I looked around for The Place that I wanted to eat at, although I had no idea what place that would be, I just knew I’d find a place that tickled my fancy, and then I saw it: The Brooklyn Diner. I ate there once before with Dawg the weekend of Brittcon. In case no one ever noticed, I love New York City diners, especially the high-end diners. This diner has $17 bacon cheeseburgers on its menu. And guess what I ordered? Bacon cheeseburger deluxe (pickle, onion ringlets, and fries included) with a side of mayonnaise. Oh, and a fountain soda Coke. While I waited for my food to arrive I checked my email to make sure the photo shoot time hadn’t changed again. I kept feeling in my heart like it was going to be changed to 3:00pm, so I was really anxious to see a new email from the New York Magazine photo shoot organizers when I was sitting down to eat at 2:45pm. But the email was just confirming the same details as before, as well as letting us know which stage at the pier to report to. So, I took my time eating my burger and leaving silly comments on a few blogs, then enjoyed a cup of coffee while I zoned out.

When I was done with my meal it was almost 4pm so I ducked into Duane Reade and bought the cutest little brush for my frizzed out hair then hailed a cab to take me to the Chelsea Piers. Of course I was there at 4:30pm so I sat at the cafe inside Pier 59 and drank a Coke over ice. Then it was time for the shoot. We all got in lines by first name, gave our name, got a nametag, filled out a questionnaire, then got our individual photos taken. At his point it was back to waiting and waiting and waiting until the photographer was ready for the shoot. I went back to the cafe while we waited and called Dawg to tell him I was bored then texted my mom that I was at the shoot and wished she was there with me.

At 6:45pm we were finally called into the studio for the group photo. We were arranged in a pie wedge-ish fashion and shown an inspiration photo — as in, a photo of people we were to emulate. I am not sure I can tell you the rest of the details of this part because I did sign some form and didn’t actually read it, but let’s just say that hilarity ensued and I personally was moved around the room so I’m not sure where to look for me in the published photo. Oh, and my knees hurt from kneeling. And I taught two girls how to handle a pompous, inconsiderate, money-grubbing asshole, but I’m not confident they were ready to absorb the knowledge quite yet. And I laughed my head off at a girl who had a very similar Harlem experience to my own from 1998. And I managed to laugh and smile and enjoy myself and enjoy my company without actually learning anybody else’s name or introducing myself or becoming fast friends because…

That’s me. I am quirky. And this city lets me be without making me feel bad about who I am as a person. And I hope you see a small speck of me on the cover of that magazine when it comes out. I’ll definitely tell you when to look for it if I get the heads up, but if there’s an issue about New York Newbies, that’d be the one. But for me this was more about reinforcing my love from a distance for the way this city works, and the way I effortlessly float into and out of aspects of city life but still maintain my quiet and reserved and peacefully crazy sense of self.

And then I went against Dawg’s suggestion of taking a train downtown to get to the J because that way makes all local stops so I walked an extra block or two up to 23 St (8 Ave) and I got a seat on the E train uptown and I put my earbuds in my ears and closed my eyes and rocked out all the way home.

The end.

And that’ll be 50 cents an autograph, thankyouverymuch.

PS – I am uploading museum photos but Faiqa posted this really sweet post about me so I’ve published my post since it seemed to capture the essence of her words about me. Faiqa’s approval makes me happy in my heart.

UPDATE: Now with photos! Brooklyn | Transit Museum. Aaaaand, as I mentioned, the camera battery died after that. BUT I am sure someday everyone with cameras at the event will post their photos.

Show us your cupcakes!

Posted on April 1, 2009 by Poppy Cede

I’m writing to you from my new-to-me work laptop! Back to lapping it! Yee!

Tuesday morning’s subway experience: I passed up an E train to to take an F. I sat down in a seat and one woman sat next to me while another woman sat on the bench to my side. I noticed they were together, so I offered my seat to the woman on the bench to my side. She mouthed, “are you sure?” to which I said, “no worries!” and hopped up to change places. And, then, suddenly I was next to a man who smelled like pee who kept scooting his butt closer to me in his sleep. I knew he was there when I chose my seat. I chose to switch positions with the woman whose friend was sitting next to me. I chose to sit next to that man. And then as soon as another seat freed up and the two women scooted over one seat to their left I chose to return to my original seat. (I never said I was a saint. Someone else said that about me!)

In the afternoon Mena came over to see me to ask me if I’d go to Dean & Deluca to pick up cupcakes after work for our respective honeys. I waited an extra 40 minutes past the time I had planned to go home and walked with her to the W 56 Street store. We spent about 20 minutes picking out cakes and cupcakes (I chose two pieces of death by chocolate cake, 1 vanilla cupcake with buttercream frosting, and one red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting) and getting our items packaged and paying for them, then we walked to the 57 Street station and took the train to Canal Street where we sat on the platform waiting for a Z train which would have stopped at each of our stations, but a J train arrived first so I said bye to Mena and hopped on the J train to 111 St. When I got off the train I noticed firefighters at the end of the platform holding crowbars. I walked past them and went down the stairs (111 St is an elevated station) then street side I saw several emergency responders and two fire trucks.

When I finally did get home I set the bag of cakes and cupcakes on the counter and went into the hallway to kiss Dawg … and then I heard a big crash. Ripley, unbeknownst to me, was in a very bratty mood, so she decided to knock the bag over to the floor. I lost my cool. I started crying and screaming and being really pissed off that my beautiful cupcakes I had not even shown to Dawg yet were on the damn floor. Still in their containers, but squished. RUINED! I never did take pictures… but later we ate the chocolate cake and made little happy noises with our mouths.

I took a photo of my bruised leg for my brother but I’m not exactly sure where it is right now so I’ll have to put that up a different day.

That’s all I feel like sharing for now. Happy fish of April! :smiles:

What makes a good…

Posted on March 24, 2009 by Poppy Cede

subway reading book:
Anything that’s buy one, get one half off at Borders, really. That’s how I shop. But other criteria: Paperback, lightweight, easy to put down if necessary, but engrossing enough to make you lose yourself in the story. A bit of history or factual information is good if you’re in the right mood. Make sure to have humor or lots of killing (but not too graphic, because train sway plus nausea is NOT a good combo). And make sure you don’t mind ripping the pages by accident so don’t bring your first edition Winnie-the-Pooh.

subway television show:
This is my guilty pleasure show that I found on iTunes flukily, so please don’t laugh at me. It’s called Mistresses. And it is fucking ADDICTIVE. It’s about four women who are best friends. One is married to a man who can’t have babies, but she is suddenly pregnant with her assistant’s baby. One was the mistress of a man dying of cancer who she helped die then took up his son as her lover until he found out the truth. One is the widow of a man who went missing on 9/11 but who she has found out had a mistress after receiving a lot of money for her husband’s 7-year loss, a son with said mistress, and HOLY FUCKING SHIT HE’S STILL ALIVE (as in, he faked his death then sent his mistress to nag his wife into giving her 1/3 of the money). One is the girl who shags all men worth her 5 minutes but she has recently tried out a lesbian encounter and fallen in love with the woman she helped plan a wedding to said woman’s female love of her life (and now the two are seeing each other on the side). This is episode 5, people, and all of this has happened. American TV has NOTHING on the Brits. It’s best viewed on my iPod touch while riding the F (for Fuck) train. Dawggy, now you know what I watch but won’t tell you about. :smiles:

subway human interaction:
Certainly NOT the elbow grope I got Monday night by the homeless man collecting change in his coffee cup. I have a lot of compassion for people in need. I have zero compassion for men who rub up against women in the subway under the guise of needing pocket change. I physically removed that man’s elbow from my boob. He looked at me. I did not look at him. He moved on and totally groped the next lady’s entire head with his chest. Disgusting.

Weekend wrap-it-up

Posted on March 16, 2009 by Poppy Cede

Things that happened Friday through Sunday:

Friday

M&M picked me up at work and drove me from Manhattan to Queens without freaking out or getting us killed. I giggled from the back seat.
We had sit-down dinner at East Meets West then did a little shopping for emergency Coke supplies at the Super Stop & Shop.
My parents showed me the magic of a blow-up full-height queen-sized bed that is as tall as Dawg‘s and my floating bed.

Saturday

We went out to the Georgia Diner for The Great Parent Meetup at which my parents met Dawg’s parents and we all ate food. (I had the Greek omelette [Feta and tomatoes], a side of bacon — burnt to order, and a Coke.)
We took the train from Queens to Manhattan and wandered around Chinatown, stopping at several ~~illegal~~ illustrious vendors, Wo Hop (17, not 15), and a Starbucks that makes great espresso.
We went home on the train and shopped at the Key Food near the subway stop, including 2 half-gallons of Blue Bunny ice cream and a 20-lb bag of Jasmine rice.
Dawg and I tested our ability to quietly say hi. :winks:

Sunday

The Great Bagel Odyssey brought us to a total of 3 bagel places, the first being Forest Hills straight-up Jewish, the second being Russian Jewish, and the third being Italian (not Jewish). During the odyssey is when I learned I had a cold. We also went to Starbucks for coffee after the first bagel place and ESPARKS on the way home.
Watched TV back home, all of it trash.
Went out to Johnny Rockets for burgers and Borders for subway books:
Watched the two hour premiere of “Kings”- pretty good!
Poppy took the Nyquil. *zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz*

Photos of the weekend are available in Dawg’s flickr stream, on his orange blog (a great story about a bakery photo shoot gone wonky), and on his photo blog over the next two weeks.

In other news, today is my niece’s birthday!

Yes, that’s me as a senior in high school holding her for the first time. If my math is correct she is 17 today. I am taken aback by how time flies…

On a final note, see you all at Talkshoe for tonight’s 10pm Eastern talkcast of Lick. Slam. Suck. The topic? TEQUILACON, sillies!

“I’ll chop it off and sear it before I go to the hospital!”*

Posted on February 12, 2009 by Poppy Cede

Let’s see. The train was really busy so it was hard to read my Triangles book for some parts of the trip. And then when we got to the transfer station it was really crowded and I watched somebody get arrested and then I went down the escalator and caught a train just as it was about to close its doors! … Yup, that was the train.

I got boots for The Steff and Donkey’s wedding this Saturday. Black boots. Black heel boots. Black knee-high heel boots. (Yah. I haven’t opened the box yet. Georgie keeps trying to get in there. I wonder if she wants to play dress-up with them… hmm.

Ripley did a bad thing Wednesday morning and Dawg warned me when I called on the way home that he and Ripley were not on speaking terms. When I got home Ripley was in a timeout location that we didn’t create for her, she just started using it and then she didn’t leave that spot all night. I picked her up a few times and Dawg held her for a minute to say the punishment was off, but she just kept hanging out in the timeout spot. And then I went to sit down to write this blog post, stood up, looked down, and there was Ripley giving me the love eyes, hanging out on her back with her belly exposed. Yaaaaaay. And now? She’s snoozing with her head propped up on a stack of papers on my desk, staying warm by the computer. *zzzzzzzzzzzz*

*In case you missed my habit of leaking Top Chef info, you’re in luck! SPOILER: That’s what Fabio says after he breaks his finger and they ask him if he wants to go to the hospital DURING the elimination challenge. Hardcore, sir, hardcore.

We interrupt our program to bring you this regressage: chinchilla has the word inch in the middle.

Posted on February 10, 2009 by Poppy Cede

I think this week is going to be a Write Off. Where I turn off the writing.

That’s sweet, isn’t it?

But I did homework, a show, and two posts for Lick. Slam. Suck. so it’s not like I’m doing nothing besides working all day.

Exciting subway adventure this morning: I was on the E train before 8am this morning. I didn’t get to work until 9:15am. Let me just explain to you: I should have been out of the tunnel by 8:42am at the latest. Slow trains due to traffic, then there was a sick passenger. I cannot even explain in words how much it irks me when I am early to leave for work but forces beyond my control make me late. That took away my coffee time, my Duane Reade time, my Dagostino time… come on!

And then mope mope mope woe is me mope mope mope insert me complaining about being unloved mope mope mope and who can guess what time of month it is? mope mope mope it must be bedtime.

Mope.

Hey,… that’s poeM.

By the way, the Triangles have eyes and can think like a borg collective. That’s effed up.

Poppy Cedes

Category Archives: Subway Stories