Before I begin today's post, I aplogize for yesterday's lack of mindless nonsense. I didn't ride the train as I drove my ass into Toronto for a conference. As I type this, the guy across from me is air drumming and tapping out beats on his knapsack, oblivious to the fact that some of us just aren't that much into Reo Speedwagon as him. I suggest he "roll with the changes" ... maybe just roll right off the train.
My train friend finally told me her name but I've already committed myself to the name Charlotte which will now be difficult to break. Charlotte it is.
Also, Charlotte would like you for a**holes at Ajax to let her off the train in the morning. Shocking, I know, that some people actually get off at stops before Union.
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query charlotte. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query charlotte. Sort by date Show all posts
Friday, May 14, 2010
Friday, March 4, 2011
If only I could steal this
Do you recognize the person in the window?
It's Homer Simpson!
Charlotte, my train friend, lives on a corner-lot across from this house. Homer watches her, quite angrily I might add, as she eats breakfast and leaves her home to walk to the GO bus stop each morning.
She doesn't know why her neighbour has a life-size cutout of Homer in his front window but it's obviously a bizarre attempt at Neighbourhood Watch.
I have to kidnap him.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
The semantics of train friendships
**Real names have been changed
Those of you who ride back and forth each day like you've been sentenced to two hours of solitary confinement need not keep reading. I've already heard why many people choose to ignore the people they see each day (I was one of you, remember?). The one point that sticks out is it avoids drama. Yeah, well, epic fail for me.
Ideally, I'm looking to capture the attention of those who do have train friends and to discuss the logistics of circles and the breaking of circles.
Train friends do not just happen. Like every friendship, it takes time to build. It's also a tricky semantic because only four people can sit in a quad and I'm not a fan of cross-quad yelling. A shout of hello, sure. But not an entire discussion.
It's not a secret that I have train friends. I just choose not to write about them. And there are people I know on the train from having had casual one-on-one conversations with, that, if I'm on a late train and I see you, and you're up for talking, I'll come and sit with you (you know who you are). In fact, I'll ask you if you're up to talking. I don't assume you're in the mood.
My morning train has a routine. Four of us do try to sit together. There are two others who like to sleep and read, so they don't feel slighted if they're not in the same quad as myself and two others. It became a routine over time - almost two years. I started talking to Charlotte first and then we got to talking to Mamma D and then Blondie C and over the course of a year, this is just how it went down everyday.
Often we get a random who joins us and forces the fourth to sit somewhere else but it's not a big deal. I tend to get irritated if I'm the one being forced to sit somewhere else because of randoms but hey, the seats aren't assigned and you snooze, you lose.
I've since made new train friends outside of my six, core, train friends. I'm open to talking to anyone. But that doesn't mean that so is everyone else.
I guess where I'm going with this is that I know someone who've I've engaged in conversation on the morning train is feeling slighted that "our group" doesn't go out of our way to accommodate this person, or maybe it's because I haven't made an effort to go out of my way to accommodate this person.
I'm not sure how to deal because I feel responsible for someone's feelings being hurt. I knew something was up because of a BBM this person sent me, it was sent in jest, saying they can't be part of the cool crowd. I felt bad she felt that way so I tried to explain why she probably feels that way. I don't think I handled it the right way and probably made the situation worse because I explained that I like to sit with my friends (I know, oh dear). So I've invited the person out for coffee.
I'm looking to hear how others would have handled it. It really is difficult to have four separate conversations at once.
This is a friendship I would prefer to foster separate from the train and I've pulled that off with Jill, Uncle and Bouncer (the two who don't sit with me all the time and the third who has his own train group).
Oh ... wait ... okay, so the BBM that came back completely ignored the coffee request. I guess the damage is too far done. I'm still hoping it's a yes after the person cools down.
Those of you who ride back and forth each day like you've been sentenced to two hours of solitary confinement need not keep reading. I've already heard why many people choose to ignore the people they see each day (I was one of you, remember?). The one point that sticks out is it avoids drama. Yeah, well, epic fail for me.
Ideally, I'm looking to capture the attention of those who do have train friends and to discuss the logistics of circles and the breaking of circles.
Train friends do not just happen. Like every friendship, it takes time to build. It's also a tricky semantic because only four people can sit in a quad and I'm not a fan of cross-quad yelling. A shout of hello, sure. But not an entire discussion.
It's not a secret that I have train friends. I just choose not to write about them. And there are people I know on the train from having had casual one-on-one conversations with, that, if I'm on a late train and I see you, and you're up for talking, I'll come and sit with you (you know who you are). In fact, I'll ask you if you're up to talking. I don't assume you're in the mood.
My morning train has a routine. Four of us do try to sit together. There are two others who like to sleep and read, so they don't feel slighted if they're not in the same quad as myself and two others. It became a routine over time - almost two years. I started talking to Charlotte first and then we got to talking to Mamma D and then Blondie C and over the course of a year, this is just how it went down everyday.
Often we get a random who joins us and forces the fourth to sit somewhere else but it's not a big deal. I tend to get irritated if I'm the one being forced to sit somewhere else because of randoms but hey, the seats aren't assigned and you snooze, you lose.
I've since made new train friends outside of my six, core, train friends. I'm open to talking to anyone. But that doesn't mean that so is everyone else.
I guess where I'm going with this is that I know someone who've I've engaged in conversation on the morning train is feeling slighted that "our group" doesn't go out of our way to accommodate this person, or maybe it's because I haven't made an effort to go out of my way to accommodate this person.
I'm not sure how to deal because I feel responsible for someone's feelings being hurt. I knew something was up because of a BBM this person sent me, it was sent in jest, saying they can't be part of the cool crowd. I felt bad she felt that way so I tried to explain why she probably feels that way. I don't think I handled it the right way and probably made the situation worse because I explained that I like to sit with my friends (I know, oh dear). So I've invited the person out for coffee.
I'm looking to hear how others would have handled it. It really is difficult to have four separate conversations at once.
This is a friendship I would prefer to foster separate from the train and I've pulled that off with Jill, Uncle and Bouncer (the two who don't sit with me all the time and the third who has his own train group).
Oh ... wait ... okay, so the BBM that came back completely ignored the coffee request. I guess the damage is too far done. I'm still hoping it's a yes after the person cools down.
Friday, June 11, 2010
MA-MAH!
It was a train of audio horrors for me this morning.
There's these two women who get on at Whitby who jump around like Arethra Franklin on donuts, so you never know which car they'll wind up in. These two never SHUT UP.
This morning the topic at hand was a $45 bank charge for an RRSP withdrawal or some crap. Usually when I see them coming, I flee, but I was with my train friend Charlotte and I couldn't just leave in mid-conversation.
You know these two ladies have a reputation when you hear the collective sighs and groans from others once they settle their loudmouths into seats.
And if these two ladies happen to stumble onto this website one day and can recall the time there was this 30-minute discussion about f*cking slow cookers and dinner, it was me who asked you both to lower your voices that day.
Then, somewhere outside of Pickering, this woman breaks out her cellphone and begins a conversation in Vietnamese at VOLUME 20 hollering at her mother. She kept screaming "Ma-mah! Ma-mah!" every other sentence.
My ability to understand Vietnamese is limited to what I learned from watching the movie Platoon over one hundred times but I'm positive that's what language everyone in my coach was getting a lesson in. She also hollered, "Cam ming lie!" a few times which I am sure is "Shut up".
Ohhh, now I get it.
There's these two women who get on at Whitby who jump around like Arethra Franklin on donuts, so you never know which car they'll wind up in. These two never SHUT UP.
This morning the topic at hand was a $45 bank charge for an RRSP withdrawal or some crap. Usually when I see them coming, I flee, but I was with my train friend Charlotte and I couldn't just leave in mid-conversation.
You know these two ladies have a reputation when you hear the collective sighs and groans from others once they settle their loudmouths into seats.
And if these two ladies happen to stumble onto this website one day and can recall the time there was this 30-minute discussion about f*cking slow cookers and dinner, it was me who asked you both to lower your voices that day.
Then, somewhere outside of Pickering, this woman breaks out her cellphone and begins a conversation in Vietnamese at VOLUME 20 hollering at her mother. She kept screaming "Ma-mah! Ma-mah!" every other sentence.
My ability to understand Vietnamese is limited to what I learned from watching the movie Platoon over one hundred times but I'm positive that's what language everyone in my coach was getting a lesson in. She also hollered, "Cam ming lie!" a few times which I am sure is "Shut up".
Ohhh, now I get it.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Begging for votes at the Oshawa Go station
I think it's incredibly presumptuous of these electoral candidates for Oshawa to assume every person hauling ass for the train lives in Oshawa.
I never caught the name of the female who was on the platform this morning. But let's call her "Candy".
I politely told "Candy", who accosted me, that I live in Clarington (which is 100% true, so save a friggen tree and keep your propaganda to yourself) and she sputtered back in anger as she tried to thrust her purple paper into my hand, "Well maybe you know someone in Oshawa you can give this to."
Is it that bad? This desperation? I don't deserve this crap in the morning.
On the train, many of you felt like I did: Annoyed.
In fact, one train buddy, Charlotte, had a great design idea for an election sign and materials should she ever run for public office. Her idea is hilarious because she's a true fashionista. I'll whip up what she described and share it with you all sometime this week. UPDATE --> It's done!
I never caught the name of the female who was on the platform this morning. But let's call her "Candy".
I politely told "Candy", who accosted me, that I live in Clarington (which is 100% true, so save a friggen tree and keep your propaganda to yourself) and she sputtered back in anger as she tried to thrust her purple paper into my hand, "Well maybe you know someone in Oshawa you can give this to."
Is it that bad? This desperation? I don't deserve this crap in the morning.
On the train, many of you felt like I did: Annoyed.
In fact, one train buddy, Charlotte, had a great design idea for an election sign and materials should she ever run for public office. Her idea is hilarious because she's a true fashionista. I'll whip up what she described and share it with you all sometime this week. UPDATE --> It's done!
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Cruelty to animals
Charlotte, a morning train buddy of mine, is deeply bothered by events from Wednesday night when a person purposely stepped on a field mouse that was on the Oshawa platform and killed it.
The corpse is actually still there. I saw it myself tonight. I'm not a lover of mice but I also think there are humane ways to rid the world of pests and stomping on a helpless mouse isn't one.
The corpse is actually still there. I saw it myself tonight. I'm not a lover of mice but I also think there are humane ways to rid the world of pests and stomping on a helpless mouse isn't one.
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
It unlocks secrets
What does it mean? Who left this here? So many questions. #gotrain pic.twitter.com/cWMk3bzkXc
— charlotte (@sarakquins) February 16, 2015Thursday, September 8, 2011
I've got friends in GO places
I must put to rest any impressions given by me to those who are just joining the rest of us on this crazy train ride of commuter hell that I don't socialize on the train.
I have train friends. I have train friends who check this site every goddamn day hoping I've written about them so they can brag about their Z-list celebrity status in the online commuting world. The only problem is if I blog about them too much, I give too much away about us and that just won't do.
I know many of the hardcore followers of this site (again, thank you) have mentioned many times you like the isolation of commuting in a bubble where no one knows your name. I'm not here to say it's right or wrong. I rode for nearly two and half years not knowing the name of any of the people I saw daily.
The very first train friend I made was a woman who unfortunately, and sadly, passed away from breast cancer. I saw her almost every day and then suddenly, I just didn't. It drove me crazy for months wondering what happened to her until one evening I happened to sit beside a woman I knew from having previous conversations with both her and my train friend. I knew she rode the GO bus with her and that they often went to the movies together. It never crossed my mind that my train friend had died and I was stunned when her GO bus friend told me. I only knew her as a breast cancer survivor... Argh, I can't talk about it without choking up and tears blurring my eyes, but she was a wonderful woman who really made my mornings. I think of her often.
Well over a year ago, I made a new train friend. I call her Charlotte or Char L'Hottie as she's sometimes referenced < I've linked her name if you want to read all my posts about her. Be sure to check out the campaign poster I made for her. Then slowly, I began to get to know most of the people on my regular train. We do our best to sit together but it doesn't always work out. I spend a lot of time with Jill (one of the first TCT readers to figure me out) and Bouncer. Then there's Uncle, Blondie C. and Momma D. See, I have a heart ... and people to hold my bag while I get up and straighten my underwear. Train friends make for a great set of extra hands.
So this is a shout-out to the women on the 4:30 pm Union-Oshawa train, who texted me to to tell me they share alcohol on Fridays (Gin o'clock!) and bring each other baked goods. Train friends aren't for everyone but for those of us who have them at least we're not drinking alone!
I have train friends. I have train friends who check this site every goddamn day hoping I've written about them so they can brag about their Z-list celebrity status in the online commuting world. The only problem is if I blog about them too much, I give too much away about us and that just won't do.
I know many of the hardcore followers of this site (again, thank you) have mentioned many times you like the isolation of commuting in a bubble where no one knows your name. I'm not here to say it's right or wrong. I rode for nearly two and half years not knowing the name of any of the people I saw daily.
The very first train friend I made was a woman who unfortunately, and sadly, passed away from breast cancer. I saw her almost every day and then suddenly, I just didn't. It drove me crazy for months wondering what happened to her until one evening I happened to sit beside a woman I knew from having previous conversations with both her and my train friend. I knew she rode the GO bus with her and that they often went to the movies together. It never crossed my mind that my train friend had died and I was stunned when her GO bus friend told me. I only knew her as a breast cancer survivor... Argh, I can't talk about it without choking up and tears blurring my eyes, but she was a wonderful woman who really made my mornings. I think of her often.
Well over a year ago, I made a new train friend. I call her Charlotte or Char L'Hottie as she's sometimes referenced < I've linked her name if you want to read all my posts about her. Be sure to check out the campaign poster I made for her. Then slowly, I began to get to know most of the people on my regular train. We do our best to sit together but it doesn't always work out. I spend a lot of time with Jill (one of the first TCT readers to figure me out) and Bouncer. Then there's Uncle, Blondie C. and Momma D. See, I have a heart ... and people to hold my bag while I get up and straighten my underwear. Train friends make for a great set of extra hands.
So this is a shout-out to the women on the 4:30 pm Union-Oshawa train, who texted me to to tell me they share alcohol on Fridays (Gin o'clock!) and bring each other baked goods. Train friends aren't for everyone but for those of us who have them at least we're not drinking alone!
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Train Buddy Dilemma
Dear CJ
I recently started reading your website and actually worked my way back from the first post to your most recent posts and I noticed along the way that you've made "train friends" where it appears Charlotte is the first person you hooked up with.
Like you, I also have train friends and only one of the three people I sit with is someone I socialize with on an "off the train" level as we get along well, but the other two women I sit with don't like her. I feel sometimes they sit with us because they enjoy my company and don't want to be rude. I also feel they wouldn't move just to be petty and I'll get to that in a bit.
I think I need to give these women names so that I can identify who is who.
The woman I socialize with is Kate. The other women are Anne and Debbie. These aren't real names and the situation I'm about to describe is not the real situation but is parallel to it.
We've all been train buddies for two years.
In September Kate got engaged. Last week she handed me, on the train, in front of Anne and Debbie, an invitation to her wedding in May and asked all 3 of us to email her our mailing addresses so her maid of honour has a complete shower list.
She then went on to tell Anne and Debbie she'd invite them to the wedding but the guest list is at the max and that she really wanted me there because we're more than train friends. This was news to me. I like her but we hook up for lunch occasionally and nothing really more. I don't even have her home phone number, just work and cell.
What I don't understand is why she invited me in the first place. I don't want to go to her shower or wedding only because I am a single mom and money is always tight. She knows this and so has put me in a position to decline both.
Second, I thought it was insensitive of her to explain to Debbie and Anne why they weren't invited to her wedding and I don't feel she should include them in the shower. She's made this very personal, don't you agree?
Although I like Kate very much and we get together for lunch, for me, train friendships are like work friendships. These are casual acquaintances with boundaries.
You seem to have quite the following and I'm interested in what other women think of my situation.
Recently, Kate also disclosed that she doesn't like sitting with Anne and Debbie as she only wants to talk to me and has asked me to consider riding in a different car. She says she feels like Debbie and Anne are always judging her, where those two have disclosed to me they feel that Kate doesn't care about their lives and talks over them on purpose.
I like everyone equally and don't want to choose. I also think it's mean to just stop talking to people because of another person's shortcomings.
As you can read, this is a situation concerning several situations. It was much easier to be train friends when it wasn't so personal and I somewhat feel Kate should have kept her wedding/shower plans "off the train".
Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network from Mrs. Y.
I recently started reading your website and actually worked my way back from the first post to your most recent posts and I noticed along the way that you've made "train friends" where it appears Charlotte is the first person you hooked up with.
Like you, I also have train friends and only one of the three people I sit with is someone I socialize with on an "off the train" level as we get along well, but the other two women I sit with don't like her. I feel sometimes they sit with us because they enjoy my company and don't want to be rude. I also feel they wouldn't move just to be petty and I'll get to that in a bit.
I think I need to give these women names so that I can identify who is who.
The woman I socialize with is Kate. The other women are Anne and Debbie. These aren't real names and the situation I'm about to describe is not the real situation but is parallel to it.
We've all been train buddies for two years.
In September Kate got engaged. Last week she handed me, on the train, in front of Anne and Debbie, an invitation to her wedding in May and asked all 3 of us to email her our mailing addresses so her maid of honour has a complete shower list.
She then went on to tell Anne and Debbie she'd invite them to the wedding but the guest list is at the max and that she really wanted me there because we're more than train friends. This was news to me. I like her but we hook up for lunch occasionally and nothing really more. I don't even have her home phone number, just work and cell.
What I don't understand is why she invited me in the first place. I don't want to go to her shower or wedding only because I am a single mom and money is always tight. She knows this and so has put me in a position to decline both.
Second, I thought it was insensitive of her to explain to Debbie and Anne why they weren't invited to her wedding and I don't feel she should include them in the shower. She's made this very personal, don't you agree?
Although I like Kate very much and we get together for lunch, for me, train friendships are like work friendships. These are casual acquaintances with boundaries.
You seem to have quite the following and I'm interested in what other women think of my situation.
Recently, Kate also disclosed that she doesn't like sitting with Anne and Debbie as she only wants to talk to me and has asked me to consider riding in a different car. She says she feels like Debbie and Anne are always judging her, where those two have disclosed to me they feel that Kate doesn't care about their lives and talks over them on purpose.
I like everyone equally and don't want to choose. I also think it's mean to just stop talking to people because of another person's shortcomings.
As you can read, this is a situation concerning several situations. It was much easier to be train friends when it wasn't so personal and I somewhat feel Kate should have kept her wedding/shower plans "off the train".
Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network from Mrs. Y.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Confession
I told my new train friend, whose name I realize I've never asked, so I'll call her Charlotte because I like that name, about this website and admitted I blog about y'all.
On a side note, the guy opposite of me needs to turn down his motivational recording on his iPod which I can hear is about learning to love yourself.
On a side note, the guy opposite of me needs to turn down his motivational recording on his iPod which I can hear is about learning to love yourself.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Fridge
Okay folks, listen up.
I can appreciate that many of you commute with several bags and that's not the problem. The problem is how you carry them.
When walking between the aisle seats, carrying several bags over the shoulder is not only dangerous, it's rude. This morning, my train buddy Charlotte was nearly decapitated by a moron who decided to hoof a bag the size of a small bar fridge onto his back.
Carry them down in front of you.
Help save a head.
Help save a life.
I can appreciate that many of you commute with several bags and that's not the problem. The problem is how you carry them.
When walking between the aisle seats, carrying several bags over the shoulder is not only dangerous, it's rude. This morning, my train buddy Charlotte was nearly decapitated by a moron who decided to hoof a bag the size of a small bar fridge onto his back.
Carry them down in front of you.
Help save a head.
Help save a life.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Please don't feed the rhinos
I'm looking to take the 5:20 today so I can avoid the wet rhino from yesterday.
I've outed myself to three people on that train. Jill (not her real name), Charlotte (not her real name) and Gary, who *wants* me to use his real name. He was so excited when he emailed me telling me he had "figured me out". Thing is, I don't know who Gary is so I don't know what to expect. Is he going to jump me? Tackle me? Buy me flowers?
Jill was equally clever.
This tells me I need to keep my mouth shut.
I expect you all to come sit with me.
No I don't.
I've outed myself to three people on that train. Jill (not her real name), Charlotte (not her real name) and Gary, who *wants* me to use his real name. He was so excited when he emailed me telling me he had "figured me out". Thing is, I don't know who Gary is so I don't know what to expect. Is he going to jump me? Tackle me? Buy me flowers?
Jill was equally clever.
This tells me I need to keep my mouth shut.
I expect you all to come sit with me.
No I don't.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Day Parole
Oshawa-Union. This morning. 7:53am
Who could ever imagine that a dude, who looked like he was out on day parole, complete with tear drop tattoo on one cheek and a set of initials on the other (probably of the guy he knifed) would know that the name of the movie I was struggling to describe to Charlotte (my train buddy) was Clueless?
There must be a limited DVD collection in jail.
Who could ever imagine that a dude, who looked like he was out on day parole, complete with tear drop tattoo on one cheek and a set of initials on the other (probably of the guy he knifed) would know that the name of the movie I was struggling to describe to Charlotte (my train buddy) was Clueless?
There must be a limited DVD collection in jail.
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