thoughts about personal space...

so, i'm running late this morning but i decide to go on the metro anyway. due to the i-40 construction and the fact that gas is about $15.00 a gallon, lots of people use metrolink now. it is quite crowded. so crowded in fact that your lunch bag and tote may not even have the luxury of having their own personal seat. my first seat mate is a young well-groomed guy who gets up and nabs the first unoccupied bench. you know how when you fly, there is always that person who you see at your gate and you instantly say to yourself, "please g-d don't let that be the person i sit next to." of course, i glance out the window and there is that dude, waiting to board the train...need i say more? in a flash, he is next to me, talking to himself, reading the wall street journal and inching closer and closer and closer... i wasn't officially panicking but suffice it to say, i could not wait to get off! so, at the next tunnel, i think to myself, "great, i get off after the tunnel..." (not necessarily this particular tunnel but by now i am on a mission to GET OFF). i hear the conductor say "forest park" which btw is not my stop and i look out the window where it does not look like my stop. nonetheless, i always get off after the tunnel, so i hopped (yes jerry, i hopped) up and ran off the train...at the wrong stop. so yada, yada, yada...i was only 15 minutes late for work.