I have so many stories and ideas, little ones and big ones, piled up, so many 'things I need to blog' that it's hard to even start on one of them, because to do so is to use some of the little time I have outside of classes and assignments to write one story, while putting off the others.

Hey, I know that doesn't make sense, but that's brain-stem logic.

I miss the trainblog. When I worked at Yahoo, I'd take the train as often as I could, usually 2-4 times per week, and every day I took the train I'd have more than an hour each way to write. It was just me, my powerbook, and the flying countryside. I was a more prolific writer than I'd ever been, partly because of the constant inspiration flying past Amtrak's huge windows and partly because I was working without a net.

My default state when I run out of things to do on the computer is to surf. I haven't used a bookmark list in a long time, so I recall URLs in my head and type them in. This usually means I sit there for a while each day, thinking 'what else haven't I checked in a while?' Sadly, it's clear that the net is too big, and my memory to perforated, for me to get anything done as long as this modality persists.

There's a folder on my powerbook, ~kfox/Documents/Writings/Trainblog, that has close to 500 posts in it (almost all of them later made it up to this page). Even after I stopped taking the train, I still put my posts in that folder, its real meaning surviving the termination of its original purpose. Late last night I was thinking about the trainblog, and how with wireless access available at home and at school, the net demons don't give me that isolation that breeds my favorite writing,. that, and I never seem to make the time.

I need to make the time.

So I'm trying something new. I've been going to sleep around 3am lately as a matter of course, watching TiVo, working on homework, surfing the net, or talking to my timeshifted leftcoast friends. I think I'll try and recreate the trainblog here in my bedroom, at 11pm every night, until I go to sleep.

I'll take my powerbook to be with me (heck, the weather's finally starting to turn, and I need something to keep me warm!) and write from 11pm until sleep. I'll only use the net to look up URLs for the stories I write.

It's either that, or start going to New York, Boston, Philly, or DC every weekend, just for the train time...

Comments?

The two kids sitting next to me got on the wrong train. They meant to go to, anyone? Anyone? That's right. Bakersfield. Well, Bakersfield to catch the bus to Los Angeles and then the train to San Diego. Now they're screwed because they have to get off at Hayward, take the next train back to Jack London (in an hour) and then catch the next train for Bakersfield, which I think comes late that afternoon. They won't get to San Diego 'till tomorrow.

Overheard:

"We had hundreds of chances to not fuck up today, and we miss the first chance we get."

"This is fucked up though man, 'cause they never said we were going to have ghost trains. Wooo, watch out for the ghost."

...

"Hey, maybe the train we were supposed to take will have a catastrophic accident."

"Yeah. We could definitely count ourselves winners if that happened."

And who says optimism's dead?

It's a shame Conductor Gary didn't give one of his solliliquies today (though he did say it wasn't the Bakersfield train).

We're stopped on the tracks right now. I don't have the heart to tell them that the train that's about to pass us by is the one back to Oakland.

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This morning's Conductor Gary:

Good morning! Just a reminder to our passengers, this is train 523 to San Jose, not the train to Bakersfield.

That's all I'm going to say about that today. I've, umm. Well I've been told that I should ease off Bakersfield a bit. That from one of our fellow passengers, Jennifer, who was born and raise down there, and as she passed the three-tooth minimum, I'm going to respect her wishes.

Have a good ride everyone and for those keeping track, it's Monday morning.

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Conductor Gary this morning:

Good morning! This is the Capitol Corridor train 523 with service to San Jose. This isn't the train to Bakersfield. If you're going to Bakersfield, this isn't the train for you, and now would be a perfect time to disembark.

I can't stress this enough, so I'll say it a different way:

If you know a woman who got her hair caught in the ceiling fan, you could be on the wrong train.

If you've ever taken the riding mower to the liquor store, you could be on the wrong train.

If you know that the toothbrush was invented in Bakersfield because if it was invented anywhere else it would have been called the 'teethbrush,' you could be on the wrong train.

Any questions? You can come on down and see me outside and we'll straighten it all out.

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I love the Capitol Corridor Amtrak train conductor. Southwest flight attendants have nothing on this guy.

This morning's P.A. soliloquy as we're pulling out of Jack London Square:

"So we've got a couple things in the lost and found bin this morning. We have a cellphone, so if you lost yours, come on up to the conductor so you can talk to your friends again. We've also got a... actually we've got two books. The first one has a monthly pass in it and the other is 'Dating for Dummies.' If either one's yours, come on up. (pause) 'Dating for Dummies'? Now I want to ask all of you, say you meet someone and you go home with them, and on their coffee table you see a copy of 'Dating for Dummies.' You should really just bolt.

"Now I'm a big fan of the Dummies books. I have a bunch of them at home: 'Crash Testing for Dummies,' 'Astrophysics for Dummies.' Heck, I even wrote one myself: 'Train Conducting for Dummies.' Actually, you don't have to be a dummy to do this job; you have to be insane. Anyhow, go to Amazon and buy it. Help me out, 'k?"

Wow, he's like a kindred spirit, only he has a captive audience and a hole punch.

The only thing I can think to add to this is that maybe the owner of the book did meet someone on the train, and wanted to ditch the evidence before they brought that person home.

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