the (L) train keeps me feeling like a real new yorker. i am referring to the long and frustrating commute that many manhattan workers face every day just to get from their apartment or house in the suburbs to their job. since i only live two short blocks from my subway station, and then only ride the train three stops, it would seem that i know nothing of this commuting hell. i mean, how difficult is three stops?

that's where the (L) train helps me out. By the time the train gets to the final stop in brooklyn before going under the east river into manhattan, it can get packed to the gills with people (hipsters). and perhaps since the trains dead-end not long after getting to manhattan, they get backed up like a traffic jam on the interstate. Often this means that even if you manage to get on the train, it hardly goes anywhere... or it moves verrrrrry sloooowly and stops frequently at and between stations. i spend a lot of time under the east river.

Enjoy this a camera-phone picture from this morning. it took me four trains to get on, and that's only because i got onto a train headed the opposite direction and then switched back to a manhattan-bound train. smart, right?