things i learned riding the subway:

- apparently pokemon is not alone in the world. two middle school boys were engaged in a heated discussion about whether pokemon was better than his supposed ripped-off counter part, something called a digimon. from what i could gather, one has more feelings (because he can talk) but the other has a way cooler theme song (so much so that it was worth singing it together despite the other passengers). i'm not sure which character was proclaimed the winner, i was too busy wincing.

- some guy doesn't want to be !#$%ed with anymore and he's gonna %^&*ing %$## with whomever %^&$ing said that he was %$#^ed up. you'd better %$^&ing belive it. also, there's girl who's dating a guy who's going to help her get over that $##hole that she was dating before. some days, i think i could get behind banning cell phones on public transportation.

- backpacks and other large containers are subject to random search by the police. remain alert and have a safe day. (i did make it on the train with all mike's wooden ninjitsu lance-y stuff, though, so i guess they aren't that vigilant...)

- some days you get on the first train. some days you have to wait out three.