On the Metro Blue Line to Long Beach, Wednesday, March 10, 7:40am:

Boy, was I sleepy this morning! All I wanted to do was nap as soon as I stepped onto the train! I go to pick out a seat and lean my head back on the pole and close my eyes. Aaaahhh, looking forward to a 1-hour nap before heading into the office. As the train starts to go, I notice that my seat and all the seats in my train car are facing opposite the direction that the train is travelling. Ugh, how annoying to sleep facing backwards, but I'm too tired/lazy to get up and move. The passenger behind me, however, has a better idea. (He looked like a Mexican Charlie Chaplin, by the way). He turns himself backwards so that he's facing the same direction as the motion of the train. He's leaning his back and his head on the pole and back of my seat, with his knees and legs resting on his seat. Ok, that's cool, I've done that before too, but then he starts to shift his weight and I start to feel a hard pull and PAIN at the base of my neck. Mr. Chaplinorito, you're pulling my HAIR, sir! Not wanting to make a scene, I just slouch down a bit to release the tension, and figure if I just sit still like that, I should be fine. I'm fine for 5 seconds or so until gravity kicks in and Mr. Chaplinorito starts sliding down the back of my seat. OUCH, you're REALLY pulling my now hair Mr. Chaplinorito! Ok, no more sitting still. I grab my hair, yank it out (ouch, slowly, ouch) from behind my seat and the oblivious Mr. Chaplinorito, and move to the empty seat next to me. Boo, this seat doesn't have a pole for me to lean my head on. Lucky for me, Mr. Chaplinorito and his entourage got off at the next stop, I shift back to my old seat, rest my head back on the pole, and now, where was I? ZzZzZzZzzzz....

On the Metrolink to San Bernardino, Tuesday, March 2nd, 7:15pm:

There was a drunk guy on the Metrolink on my way home today. Normally, I would expect this to happen on the Metro Rail, which attracts all sorts of people since it's not as "expensive" as Metrolink. It was quite surprising (and entertaining!) to have him along for the ride among the usual "polite" crowd; it's always interesting to see how the "working" or "upper" classes react to "other" classes. I wondered if the conductor was going to throw him off the train for being drunk, but I guess they wouldn't have good reason to do that if this guy had a valid ticket (it's not like they could give him a DUI). Anyway, he was conversing across the aisle (loudly) with the passenger sitting next to me, raving about how we're all here just trying to make it in this world. He was slurring most of his words, but I was able to catch a few things here and there, mainly because he kept repeating them. He talked about his life and how hard it's been on him growing up, living in the streets and doing all sorts of 'bad' things. He talked about his brother who's done good for himself, but he's a 'cheat' and that's all he is, a 'cheat'. He talked about how he used to do a lot of 'stuff' and got shot right below the heart. He even pulled up his shirt to show everyone the bullet wound. The passenger next to me was actually very engaged and seemed interested in this guy's rantings. Another guy asked, "So after you got shot, did you quit doing all that bad stuff?", he blurted "Hell No!", and they started laughing. I had to get up to get off at the next stop, so I didn't get to hear the rest of the convo, but I can say that that was definitely one of the highlights of my day. :)