About a month ago I was power walking down at the waterfront near my home when I saw all the corporate types walking from the train station to work in the morning rush hour. I remember thinking how miserable they looked and how I never wanted to look like that.

I thought of that today as I reported to my three-day-a-week gig in the city for the first time. As I walked expressionless with other commuters en masse toward the subway, I suddenly heard this man preaching from a little platform as people streamed by. This was his truth: “They’ve been fixing this subway system for 25 years and it still looks like shit.” I smiled, suppressing an out-and-out chortle. No one else seemed fazed.

Alas, I am not one of them.