24: If its good enough for Keifer Sutherland, its good enough for me.

I know I haven't updated this in ... oh, many, many moons (which is really unfortunate because a lot of terribly interesting things have happened) BUT whats past is past and there's no sense in dwelling in it and tomorrow is another and so forth.

Now for a hypocritical recap of the event you SHOULD have heard about:
I was in a show in March.
Lil and Herring (Erin) came for Spring Break.
Julie visited.
Becky visited.
I got a new job and quit the new job after three days.
I went home and sang in Sarah Payne's wedding.
Helena and I went to the Central Park zoo. Then I joined her book club.
I celebrity sited David Moscow.
I went to my friend Liz's wedding and then to the beach for vaca with the Matthews and mom and dad and my friend Jennifer.
Lil went to Kenya and came back (ok, I wasn't directly involved but it affected me greatly).
Rachel Craw moved to Washington Heights and I made the trek uptown to visit and haul things back to Queens.
Lisette visited.
I saw the fireworks on the East River from the roof of a Brooklyn apartment on a rainy July 4th.
We went to Matthew's wedding in New Hampshire.
Mom, Dad, and Lil visited.
Becky visited again.
Liz and Aaron moved back.
I celebrity sited Zach Braff.
I hung out with James's friend Shannon who is doing an internship here for the summer.
We went to Central Park summerstage to see Neko Case.
The last Harry Potter was read.
I turned 24 years old and am now gearing up for a proper quarterlife crisis.

Phew. Now: more pressing matters.

Public Transit Nightmares.

My 25 minute commute took me 3 HOURS on Wednesday.
First of all I had to be at work at 7 am. Which means wake up a 5:30 be out the door at latest by 6:20. It was pouring. Even with a raincoat and umbrella I was soaked when I ran to catch the last car on the R train.
We travelled LESS than a full stop before stopping abruptly and being told we would not be able to proceed due to "water on the tracks". Then we were told that everyone in the train needed to move to the last two cars. Luckily, I was already there. Then for "saftey" they turned off all the power which means the AIRCONDITIONER and wait to be emergency evacuated. Wet, hot, and crowded for over half an hour we waited. Then they opened one of the train doors and we single-filed out walking on the ledge between the subway car and the wall for 15- 20 feet until we got to the dirty, scarcely used emergency exit stairs which led to ladder steps that went up to the street. Lighted the entire time by two MTA employees flashlights. I was worried for the fat people. And the pregnant women with strollers ... though that was an afterthought. It was definitely a unique New York experience. I feel like I know one of the secrets of the subway now.
The sad part is that was only one of the three hours it took me to get to work. When I came out onto the street I had no idea where I was. I did know we hadn't gone very far and I ran into a landmark (my grocery, Pathmark) within a few steps and was able to navigate myself back near home. From there I walked 16 blocks or so to the next subway. Rode two crowded, stalling trains and wound up walking from Grand Central station to 18th and 5th (roughly 24 blocks and an avenue). No wonder I'm employee of the month (or was for May... I forgot to put that in the recap.)

Until we meet again (6-8 months),
Brannon