Is this thing on?

Sunday, 5:23 pm. The train is hurtling its way from Baltimore to Wilmington, and from there to Philly, a handful of stops in New Jersey, and then to New York Penn Station. After I leap off with my stuffed-full bags, it will continue on to Boston, while I will spend my first night in my new (tiny!) apartment in New York.

Today is the first day that I'll be truly bi-urban.

Bi-whatsis? No, not that. We'll get to that later. No, after living in New York for the last fifteen years, I'm now making my home base in Baltimore and commuting up to New York for my teaching (and also my writing career, such as it is.) Why would someone do such a thing?

Love, of course. (We'll get that that later also.)

When you get on the train, the first thing you have to do is sign your ticket (if you've bought it online as I always do.) I pulled the cap off the disposable fountain-type pen I keep in the briefcase and instantly covered my hands in dripping ink. Luckily, I didn't get my pants or my shirt ... but nowhere was there a napkin or piece of paper that I could wipe my hands. I had my sweatjacket on the seat so I furtively wiped my hands on the lining ... should come out, and if it doesn't, well, you can barely tell its there. I'm hoping that this sudden explosion of ink was an omen - not a bad omen presaging more chaos and mess in my life, but instead a good omen signalling a rush of creativity, an outpouring of words and music, a flood of humorous and pithy thoughts going into this blog ...

Let's pull for option two.