In the morning, during rush hour, a woman managed to shut down northbound lanes on I-85 and southbound lanes on I-75 when she threatened to jump off an overpass bridge. Also, a cable came loose inside the southbound MARTA tunnel.
Of course, that train was jam-packed, standing-room-only.
People were taking the delay and inconvenience with generally good humor. I amused myself by watching my fellow passengers and their seemingly-instinctive body positionings as they attempted not to invade each others' personal space despite being crammed together. There were a lot of people standing back-to-back in the aisles (personal space boundaries are much smaller behind than in front) and angled so they wouldn't be pointing directly at any of the people in the seats. And everyone had that blank, unfocused expression people get when they're desperately trying not to look at anyone or make eye contact.
Also, I saw (and experienced) "sitters guilt," survivors guilt's baby cousin twice removed. It's when someone gets off, and you take their seat, but feel guilty that everyone else still has to strap-hang. Despite being the closest person to the seat, I felt like I'd done something wrong when I plunked myself down. It wasn't like anyone was glaring at me for taking it, or that there was anyone more in need of it, but I still felt guilty. And I noticed a similar uncomfortable expression of guilt cross the young man's face who took the next empty seat across from me.
Brains are weird, and watching people on the MARTA is fascinating.
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Writing Stuff
The online GrendelSong launch party has commenced! Put on your virtual party hats and head on over:
Published:
- The podcast of "Returning My Sister's Face" is now up at Pseudopod! It's read by Stephen Eley who did a fabu job and handled all the Japanese words speckling the tale with amazing aplomb. Go listen, yo!