March 8, 2013: Original Mgbeke
March 8, 2013: Original Mgbeke
I’ve gained a reputation as a commuter ranter of sorts. But if you were subject to the foolishness of the Washington Metro Area Transportation Authority (WMATA), you too would find it very hard to “keep calm and board a train”.
But as frustrating as it can be, the commuter experience isn’t all bad. I’ve been commuting for 3.5 years at my current job, and I remember the week before my first day of work…I was talking to my mom and in her eternal optimism about this husband matter she said “hmm, you never know, you might meet your future husband on the train”.
I’ve met a lot of people alright…sans the future husbands. But, still a bunch of really cool people who make the commute worthwhile. Examples:
A Naija guy who if a gun was held to my head, I would assign the title of “male best friend”. I ran into him at a party and it was like “Yo! you’re the dude/girl from train X right?”…and the rest is history.
Another Naija guy who does Nollywood movies on the side and has invited me to come on set and see how things go.
The cool Trinidadian lady who has offered to share some recipes with me whenever I’m ready to throw down.
The gay American dude I struck up convo with one day, and we just gelled. Over the course of time, I learned that he and his husband are HIV positive and keeping things under control.
The list goes on.
So, much as you may see me on Twitter blowing up the @wmata account with a rant of the day, it’s not entirely all terrible. Sure, sometimes I wish I had a helicopter so that I could avoid the daily BS but most of the time I don’t mind it at all.
PS:- One other major perk about commuting? The free cardio and strength training exercises. Half the time, the metro station escalators are out of service so that’s free cardio + I’m always lugging a heavy azz bag filled with a bunch of stuff that I don’t need…so I get my strength training in as well.
#Winning
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Original Mgbeke lives in MD, works in VA, and slides through DC so she has earned her stripes as a tried and true commuter. Apart from ranting about her daily commute, she likes to people watch, overdose on Nigerian music, and blog about a bunch of random stuff at Original Mgbeke You can also catch her on Twitter.