London Tube - A sure way to become claustrophobic

Thank you very much to Nelli and Dan for reading my blog! (To my friends... I EXPECT YOU TO READ THIS. Just kidding. But I read you guys' stuff too, so we're even.)

Anyway, I digress. Back to the topic...

About the Tube.

Actually, I just hate the Tube.

I also hate Green Park station on Piccadilly line, but I'll get to the later.

Anyway! So I was trying to get to work today in Richmond, and for that I usually get onto Jubilee at London Bridge, change at Westminster to District line to Richmond. However, when I got off at Westminster to go up the escalator to get to Platform 4 for District Line...

"Due to engineering work District Line will not go to Acton Town or Richmond today. Please use Piccadilly to get to Turnham Green. A replacement bus service is running from Turnham Green to Richmond."

Erm.

See, if District Line was running (which rarely occurs these days), I'd have gotten there at 1:50, walked from Richmond station to the destination, got there at two on the dot. But alas, the London Underground System, despite being around for... oh, I don't know, 100 years, they STILL DON'T WORK PROPERLY. You know, you'd think they'd give up after trying for 100 years to get the damn thing right, but oh no! They're still trying, causing much people MUCH misery.

Anyway, I got on the District Line, got off at South Ken (or South Kensington for those of you who aren't in London and don't know the lingo), switched to Piccadilly, got to Turnham Green, nearly got my head chopped off when I tried to get on the bus, but got there - 30 minutes late. It was not my fault, though, so my employer let it go.

At work I actually had a coherent text message from The Elusive (aka the current guy I'm after), and my friend. I excused myself and borrowed the toilet while the kid was solving problems, and replied to the text via phone call. I felt like I was in high school again.

The problem was... on the way back.

FIRST of all, it was damn cold, and Turnham Green station happens to be OUTSIDE. And the damn train was late, so I got to freeze my butt off in the cold while I waited outside for the damn Piccadilly line. Then I got on - getting nearly squashed by this HUGE woman in due process - but the problem didn't start till after Gloucester Road. I was thinking "Shall I get off at South Ken and switch to District Line then switch to Jubilee, or get off at Green Park, walk for five minutes Underground to change the line to Jubilee?" when the train screeched to a halt.

In a tunnel.

The Piccadilly line happens to be old. It's 101 years old, to be precise. So, the tunnels are quite small. Actually, I was standing in front of the door so I could see outside, and... the TUNNEL WALL WAS ABOUT SIX INCHES AWAY. I felt quite claustrophobic.

The train started moving. Then it screeched to a halt again, causing everybody to crash into each other. Much cursing ensued. Then it started moving again. Then it screeched to a halt again.

...

Then the announcement came on, saying that due to technical problems the train would be moving at a really slow pace.

It did. Then it stopped.

See, when it stops, it's kind of different from moving at a slow pace. Elementary calculus, everybody! Just because the limit is zero doesn't mean it's ZERO!

Ahem. Anyway, Then it screeched to a halt again. And then it sat there, making odd noises, like it was about to fall apart (mind you, it's the new Tube, not the old rusty one that was in service till about 10 years ago).

And sat there.

And sat there.

And sat there.

Honestly, I probably could have walked to South Ken and back in the time that the stupid train sat there. IT SAT IN THE TUNNEL FOR THIRTY MINUTES. I thought about killing myself, listened to Nine Inch Nails out of sheer frustration. People started to panic. I got angry.

The trouble didn't end there. OH NO. It got even worse.

I decided to get off at Green Park. I switched to Jubilee alright, after walking a faintingly long walk between Piccadilly platform and Jubilee platform. I got to the Jubilee platform after walking for about five minutes (no joke).

AND IT SAID on the stupid time display that the Jubilee Line to Willesden Green was coming in a minute.

"Cool," I thought, and listened to Placebo's "Bitter End".

I finished the track. And listened to "Every You and Every Me". And "English Summer Rain".

So basically, one minute turned into approximately ten. And it still said on the damn display throughout the entire time, "WILLESDEN GREEN 1 MINUTE".

So, I hate the Tube. I also hate District Line and Piccadilly Line, District because it has so many termini (I'm not joking, it has Edgeware Road, Upminster, Ealing Broadway, Richmond, Wimbledon, Kensington... they SHOULD make another line), Piccadilly because there's always bunch of tourists there with bunch of luggage who always run over my feet with their 13 ton suitcases. I happen to like Jubilee Line, because it's usually working AND the stations look cool.

But Tube sucks. Hands down.

Drunk texts

I was stupid enough to leave my phone on "sound" mode last night. Needless to say, it just so happens that I get 3 drunk texts ON THE NIGHT where I'm actually trying to sleep.

My text tone is some retarded, loud, metallic noise that just grates on your nerves. So here's drunk text numero uno:

"idn kno what im doing!!"

That one was from Jeremy and none other. I thought he was using T9?

Number Two:

"I doot tghnj im drrrtnkk"

That was from Jeremy again. I can't translate that into coherent English. Anyone up for the challenge?

Number Three:

"I .m unbelievely fucked!"

From Billy.

... Is Unbelievely even IN predictive text mode?

So I woke up three times last night, thought that the phone was on my desk, turned out it was getting charged, nearly tripped over my shoe that was sitting quietly in the place where it's supposed to be, read the texts, then went back to sleep.

By the way, I love yogurt.

Love calculator

Someone REALLY needs to make one of those. In a very close future.

I'm kind of a person who likes rules, and things that work under the rules. For example, machines. You press a button, it does one thing. If you press eject, it doesn't play, or stop, or rewind. It just ejects the tape.

Not so with relationships. You say one thing to ten different people, and you get ten different reactions. And there are certain rules, specific to each person; however, the rules are written NOWHERE, and you can't see the exact equation. Sure, you might see the gist of it, but most likely you're missing that one last z variable that would be crucial to getting the correct answer (and that was such an INTJ analogy right there).

As an INTJ, a lot of people think that my problem is not approaching people. Oh no. It's not that. Then I would have very few friends, and I actually do have a handful. Actually, I don't know what's wrong with me, apart from the fact that... I can't read male species. Actually, I suck at reading people period. When they're specimen (as in, I'm examining them objectively from a scientific approach), bring it on! But when it comes to the stance as "friends", or something along that line, I suck, hands down.

And why am I feeding you this long piece of Hamlet-esque angsty soliloquy, while you'd rather be reading about more antics by Dr. Payne? Ahh, hold it right there. I'm getting to it.

Hypothetical situation: A post-teen male (but not too post... I'm talking about "I just got out of teen" here) to an 18-year old female:

"No, I do want to meet you! You're clever and pretty and we obviously click." (okay, not verbatim, but up t "we obviously click" is.)

Let me give you the stats. This male has not been around too many females (think family here), and while his classmates were chasing around girls he was chasing... oh right, a new version of Playstation (or something along that line). He isn't Mr. Slick, obviously.

The keyword that is bothering the said female is "pretty". Remember all those romantic coding crap that rather belongs in some pseudo-supermarket-fiction version of the mix of Danielle Steel and the Da Vinci Code? Yeah, well, pretty means "we're going to be really good friends". Gorgeous means "you're so beautiful you're kinda far away". Cute means "girl next door, yeah I'm interested". Beautiful means "I hope I can get you, you look damn good."

Additionally, he does not initiate conversation with the said female online. Now, answer the following questions:

1. What is he thinking?
a. I'm really socially immature and I don't know those romance-Da Vinci codes. I really mean what I say.
b. I'm interested in a relationship, but it doesn't have to be you.
c. I'm just humouring you.
d. I'm just looking for a female friend.

See, if it was an equation, I'd solve it in about thirty seconds and give you a definite answer, but considering that relationships aren't just "plug and chug", I don't even know where to start. Because, quite frankly, I don't really care to like a person who definitely won't like me back. That would waste my energy, my brain cells (or what few amount I have left after cramming all those polymerase junk), my money (which is super super limited), and gnomes (and to get this joke, you need to look up "Physics isn't real, it's all gnomes" group on Facebook).

"How about you just enjoy being single?" You might say to the said female. Alas, that is kind of like asking Britney Spears to stop crashing her cars and flashing the entire world on a daily basis.

No, I'm not asking for Gackt-ish relationships where it's "I'll protect you and love you and be there for you forever and ever" (although any male who would like to do that for me is welcome to do so), because that's really unrealistic. And thinking that saying that kind of thing takes hell of a courage for the male (either that or the male is an extreme romantic) and I am definitely a closeted romantic who can write about that stuff, think about that stuff but when it actually comes to acting it out is more screwed than Ivory Merchant's bank account, the likelihood of that happening is about the same as me taking permanent residence in Versailles. But if you are such a male who would like to make such a gracious offer to me, considering that I'm practically blind when it comes to reading signs like that and there is no Braille for this, you pretty much need to shout it out at me .

That reminds me... why the hell is Gackt still single? Because he is not Vincent Valentine and he will get old, and then he'd die... alone. Why isn't he interested in females? And why does he keep kissing males? Is he gay? Is he an alien? (I'm guessing that this is REALLY close to hitting the mark.) And if he's not interested why is he writing all those sticky honey-syrupy songs about holding hands and love? Is he waiting for Miss. Right (and if you are, you are going to be waiting for a LONG time... it doesn't matter if you're celebrity or not).

So... yes. That would be my current evaluation of my life. And I don't think I'll get much chance starting next year, because I really need to graduate with Distinction and to do that... I'd be sitting in my room cramming stuff into my head and I will definitely not be going out on a hunt, because I'd be too tired and too busy. You can't really get to know someone when all you're thinking is "sigmoidal colon and DNA helicase and tetracyclin A". And currently, I have little time left in my day. Next year? Unless it is programmed into my weekly cycle, there will be no time for me to cram something new. And then after med school it'll be my graduate degree, then my residency, then my fellowship, and by the time I'm finished I'll be 34 and Cuddy Version 2.0 (although I am NOT going to get a fertility treatment like she is... hell no).

That reminds me: my lecture notes for Membranes was 24 pages, 8 point font. Now that's nuts.

INTJ5w6. And you?

That looks like some kind of MI6 code. It's not. It's a personality type, meaning that I am an INTJ and a 5w6 on Enneagram.

Bottom line? I'm an isolated intellectual who doesn't like to be in the spotlight aaaand.... surprise surprise, romantic relationships are my Achilles Heel.

I am also type 3 (meaning that I'm domineering) and type 1 (seeking improvement).

Simply put: I'm under one hell of a stress.