Trick or Treat

So I haven't been able to find my ipod for a couple of weeks; it isn't stuck between the car seats, tucked away in a corner of my bag, or hidden in the back of my desk drawer. Some people might say it's the "L" word, but I'd just like to call it misplaced. I used it as my travel companion on my round trips from my anomalous buchak circle to the deciduous streets of walnut, chestnut, and spruce, and in a way, even when I wasn't on the SEPTA, I was still running on a track of my own. After a few weeks of exploring routes to campus, I found a hypotenuse of paths--a diagonal, linear cut through Drexel's campus that circumvents the sharp, perpendicular corner of market and 34th. From that point on, I've been traveling on an imaginary rail to and from the nut-bearing streets of Penn. With my ipod in hand, I sped along with non-stop service all the way back home. Now that my ipod is floating in transient limbo, I've been able to meet people from all walks of life. Maybe my ipod was like a silent fence for people, because since it's been turned off, I've been approached by other commuters who have been a mix of the good, the bad, and the just plain weird.

Never-See Tanushri is the first person I met outside of class. She noticed that we take the same train back to Princeton Junction and approached me on a whim. She was premed at Cornell who did the Peace Corps for two years in Nicaragua and got married to her husband this summer. After doing the Peace Corps, she decided that she wants to go into international relations, and now she's taking classes at penn in economics and IR. Even though I've only seen her a couple of times, I feel like I know her. Usually I only see her on the 10 minute ride from Trenton to Princeton Junction, but our conversations have been really smooth and unforced. In our limited conversations, we've been able to bond over our fear of heights and shared travel experiences to Teotihuacan, where we both sited women in their stiletto heels climbing up the pyramid walls. Somehow, we never manage to see each other on the longer trip from Philly to Trenton, but we're getting closer! While I was gathering my stuff to leave the SEPTA train, I glanced up and saw that she was two seats ahead of me. So close, but yet so far.

Soccer Steve is a guy who I met on the subway, when I was still experimenting with routes to the train station. Coincidentally, he's in my genetics class, so we commiserated about the unfairness of the first exam. He went to something-ville college in Pennsylvania where he was on the soccer team, and he's also commuting from home. Over the summer, he worked at a clinic serving the Amish community and did research on their family pedigrees.

Then there's Yogi the Bear. I just met him this past week on my way back to the station. At first, I must have looked like I was creepily stalking him because I was always one step behind him on the walk to the station. After he glanced back a couple of times, giving me that "WTF? Stop following me" look, we got to talking, and I found out that he's an undergrad at penn. He was a yoga instructor for 10 years, and he wants an MD in internal medicine following his name. Ultimately, he wants to be a public speaker for health care issues and is planning on getting an MD just for the fun of it. Right now, he's living in an 18th century house in Chestnut Hill, the site of the first paper mill in America. He and his roommates share a communal car run on biodeisel fuel, and get this, they make the biodeisel in their basement. He also has a scruffy semi-beard (probably because he doesn't own a mirror). He's moving out of his house and offered his room for a tempting $350 a month, but I think that I'll pass on this one...

Crazy Girl: She's in my molecular bio class and commutes from Philly to NYC. That's all I know about her, and that's all I need to know to make the claim that she's indeed crazy.

When I first met Tanushri, I was so excited about the prospect of a new friend. After the second year of college, I felt like people were out-of-stock at Tufts, and I had also become so wrapped up with my existing friendships that I no longer looked for new ones. I was so happy to meet someone new that I over exaggerated our similarities, telling Lauren that Tanushri was like me, but married. Now I'm not so sure I could say the same about my other acquaintances. "He's like me, but a yogi living in Amish town, PA," doesn't quite have the same ring to it, so I think the novelty has worn off. Even though my ipod is gone, I think it's helped me regain an appreciation for the kindness of a friendly face. Usually, I've been the one approached by people, but I think that I might take a shot at it. In a sense, meeting people is like going out on Halloween. There's a 50/50 chance that it's a trick or a treat, but it's worth it when the treats are that sweet. Man, I should work for Hallmark.

Also, this commercial is adorable: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9A2Ap3DyvLg

Happy Halloween!