I'm On Mah Wey

...from misery tuh happiness tuh-dey. That was in Shrek, remember?

In this case, I'm on mah wey from my home in beautiful Maryland to an exciting (if short) adventure in New York City (which, every time I say that, my brain can't help but repeat "New York City?" in shocked cowpoke tones, a la the Pace Picante salsa commercials from the yore days of my childhood). I love love love riding on trains, and I'm very happy to have done so today, but I'm definitely ready to be off the train and in New York, meeting a terrific online friend IRL and fitting in some breathless experiences before heading home tomorrow afternoon.

Pat Sajak, and three very snooty-looking young people who are likely his children, happen to be on the same train. Of course, he's in the first class compartment. But when I saw him walk past our bench while we were sitting on the platform, I murmured "oh my gosh," because I recognized him instantly. (I knew long ago that he lived in the area. He owned a house in the same neighborhood as a boy I dated in high school.) He is my first in-person celebrity sighting (aside from those I knew I would see, like at concerts, etc). Not the most exciting celeb sighting for my first time, perhaps, but hey, you know, still. Not every day you see Pat Sajak not on TV.

The train has paused in the Meadowlands and I can see the construction of the Freedom Tower over this dirt hill to the right. I still haven't decided entirely how I feel about the Freedom Tower; it's not really my issue to take a stand on, I have no significant connection to New York, so I don't feel right arguing about it. If I have the time this weekend I'm going to go and see the memorial.

I worked hard during this train ride on the story I wrote at the beginning of the week. I tweaked it, no significant rewriting. I think I'm going to give it another day or two and then format it and send it off to a contest. I'd give it another month normally, but the contest deadline is the 31st. I'll only be out $10 if it turns out the story needs more work.

Train is 8 minutes from its destination, so I'm going to pack up. Thanks for letting me stop by on mah wey. Uh huh.