My Daily Commute

All of my neurologists tend to ask the same type of question: where do you live and how do you get to work? I answer "Crown Heights" and "the subway" but I can't fully convey what it's like to live in my apartment and commute to work. I think environmental stressors cause blips in my brain waves, because it can be overwhelming at times to be surrounded by so much stimulus. Let's see what you think:

1. My Room

Much to my  mother's disdain, I still don't put away my laundry, shoes, or books. I don't make my bed and tend to...well, just throw things around. Saturday is my day of cleaning up the tornado I create in this space. Don't worry, I push everything off when I go to sleep ("push" being the operative word here).

2. My Block

 

My apartment building is the first one on the right. Why do people think Brooklyn is so dangerous? Does this block look terrible to you? No. However, the big castle-looking building is the New York State National Guard Armory that just so happens to be a halfway house. And last September I had to side-step a crime scene with my Japanese food. But really, it's not bad at all.

3. My Morning Commute

I wait every morning to get on the A train. The picture above is taken at Fulton Street, a stop on the southern tip of Manhattan that has no fewer than 6 train lines that run through it, connecting Manhattan to Brooklyn and taking commuters up the east or west side of Manhattan. Just for perspective, there are five people waiting in lines crammed side by side all the way down the platform, waiting to literally smoosh into the subway car. Sardines, that's what we are. 

The A train isn't usually this packed. I'm on it for 45 minutes and transfer to another train that takes 20 minutes. Door to door, I spend an hour and a half going to work. 

4. My School: I am going to put together a post that chronologically catalogues what a day in the life of a teacher really consists of. It will be entertaining to say the least :)

5. My Ride Home

The 1 train runs over this bridge and brings me to the A train in the absolute grossest subway station in all of Manhattan. A picture doesn't do it justice. Just imagine what it would smell like if 5-7 homeless people lived in an underground tunnel that has no ventilation...or bathrooms...and white fungus growing on the ceiling that periodically drips in brown pools. Enough said. 

6. My Recovery

Megan's cat Gracie, Alex Trebeck, and pajama pants. That basically sums up my nights when I'm home. Speckle in trivia night, happy hours, and movie nights. Soon, I will have 3 softball games a week.

This is my cluttered daily life, constantly surrounded by people in the greatest city in the United States. New York City is such a vibrant, exciting place to live, and I'm so glad I moved here. But the daily grind is stripping me of my energy and resolve, and I'm suspecting something needs to change.