Uptown Bitchslap = Not Cool

Well, unless you're my father, you've probably heard that we got a lot of snow here in New York City. My Dad called me last night to ask how much snow we got. "Well, we got about 27 inches."

"Yeah, we got about seven inches here too."

"Twenty-seven! We got twenty-seven inches."

"Oh my God! You got 27 inches! Hold on," he said. Then he reported to everyone at home that we got 27 inches of snow. "Okay," he said getting back on the line, "Are you eating okay? Do you have enough toilet paper?". Let's see, I'm 25 now, so my father should trust in my ability to take care of myself somewhere around age 55.

Depending on your point of view, the snow is either a big deal or not a big deal. Or, it's a big deal that wouldn't warrant such commotion if people knew how to do their jobs- this is how G4 feels as well. It was bad news for me because I was looking foward to Sunday Brunch with MuppetLover, EdithVed (visiting from Boston), and my old college roommate. Needless to say none of us wanted to leave our apartments, in fact, I barely left my bed except to fetch more yarn and cookies ... mmm, yarn and cookies...

So by this morning I was half stir-crazy and ready to get out of the aparment. I stepped outside and everything was so lovely and white- the snow muffles noises so everything seems quiet and still and there was far less traffic on my street. Why do I disdain the snow, I asked myself. This is when New Yorkers are truly at their best! People were friendly and helpful, that is, until I went underground.

As soon as I descended into the subway everything smelled like wet dog. I took the Q Train to Canal Street to change to the Uptown 6. We had to wait a very long time for the train, the Express Trains were running but nothing stopped at the local track. Finally I got on the 6 which was more crowded than usual but not too bad. However, as we made more stops on the local route the train got really crowded. At one stop there was a commontion. A large guy started yelling at this woman. He was screaming at her, calling her a bitch because I guess she did not make room for him when he tried to squeeze onto the train. She was just a quiet young woman on her way to work. I had gotten a seat by this time so I was able to see everything. People were uncomfortable but no one said anything as he called her a "fucking bitch". Then, he hit her. Honest to God, he slapped her in the face. Maybe not so hard, like he slapped her to get her to pay attention to him, then he continued agressively yelling in her face. He towered over her.

Of course, by now we were all watching. We all saw him hit her and as soon as he did a bunch of men started yelling and trying to intervene. This only made the guy crazier. He was going balastic yellnig rascist profanities you can probably imagine. The men tried to distract him from the woman, but periodically he would remember it was she who made him mad and he would focus on her again. The crazed man began yelling at the men that were trying to protect the woman that when they got off the train he was going to beat theri asses. The train was so crowded, there was literally no where to go, we couldn't move. Someone told him when he got off the train he was going straight to jail and he told us in his own special way that he had already been to jail. Finally with a few stops the congestion let up enough that people could shuffle around and get the woman away from this guy and form a barrier between them. The woman looked shaken, but was okay.

At 51st Street I could barely get off the train, people were stampeding in and I couldn't get out, I almsot fell on the wet platform. As I tried to make my way to the station exit some new asshole on the platform was shoving in and yelling Fuck at the top of his lungs. I have to say, my nerves were shot. I kept imagining the psycho on the train pulling a weapon and all of us packed so tightly we couldn't move.

Thanks for a great morning commute, New York!