e enjte, 26 korrik 2007

TAXI RIDERS! GET READY FOR WORST. TAXI MIGHT GO STRIKE IN SEPTEMBER

Attention all TOURISTS, NEW YORKERS, GET READY TO WALK OR TAKE MASS TRANSIT!
Taxi Drivers are threatening to STRIKE, but not for the MONEY, and it's for GPS, Global Position System which tells passenger where taxi are using. Mayor Bloomberg wants to install GPS to all yellow taxis. Taxi drivers are furious because survillance camera will INVATE privacy.
If Mayor & T&LC continues GPS plan, possible strike would happened.
If not, taxi would not go on strike.
If does, only way to get around the city is rental car or Mass Transit.
Most cheapest parking garage in Manhattan is in theater district located on northside of 42nd St @ Dyre Av (bet. 9th & 10th Avs), according to tour agent from Splash New York. On Sundays, free parking. You do not have to feed meter in any New York City streets.

e martë, 17 korrik 2007

I thought you would enjoy my photos.

See my new photos & videos at http://www.dropshots.com/mtabeelinelover

I look forward to reading your comments!

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

8:00:24 AM
Click the image to view, or visit http://www.dropshots.com/mtabeelinelover


– Keeping relationships connected. Share your photos and videos at http://www.dropshots.com/

e enjte, 5 korrik 2007

MY NY-NJ-PHILY W/ NEW APPROACH

Yuki Endo has forwarded you a link to a post entitled 'MY NY-NJ-PHILY W/ NEW APPROACH' on 'Straphangers.Org Rider Diaries'! The post is below.

You have received a notification about this post from Yuki Endo:

My Trip

The actual post is below

8:06am, I got on #6 7558 R142A which arrived 86th St at 8:07am.
8:08am, got on last car of Crown Heights-bound (5) #7060 R142 departed, arrived Fulton St at 8:25am.
8:34am, I got on two last cars of PATH #682 and #684 on P-1 departed. Also because when I switch thru platform to 2nd last car, I thought I lost my memo of my trip, so I switch back to last car at Journal Sq. After Harrison station, I saw the wonderful view of NJ, so I completely forgot I was on PATH and took the NJ landscape by accident.
It arrived Newark Penn Station at 8:54pm.
Since I was on early for Trenton Express, I lined up on the ticket vending machine.
Around 9am, I went to Platform 4 and I stand in opposite direction, so I ran toward front and took picture of my train, NEC Trenton Express #3929 departing Newark @ 9:17am.
This time, train was ontime and arrive Trenton @ 10:09am.
When it was arriving, I thought look-alike SEPTA Ticket Vending Machine on the platform, but it wasn't when train passed by yellow box. There was Chinese people looking for ticket and I pointed the sign to him and headed up to NJT Window and bought $7 SEPTA ticket.
I got on 10:39am SEPTA R-7 G1 Electric departed 1 minute late to Amtrak-30th St Station, arrived there at three minute late from schedule arrival time 11:27am was 11:30am.
I was lost finding Token area and nice Amtrak agent direct me directly back and got $2.60 2-Token package.
Next, I rush across Amtrak, onto street and at Walnut & 30th Sts NW corner, I waited for #21 bus.
I asked waiter and they told me it coming.
Two buses, #21 and #41 was to 61st-Pine Sts, and next #21 #5434 New Flyer to 69th St Terminal arrive there at 10:48am, arrived at 69th St Terminal @ 12:14pm. It was so nice digital announcement ever. More details than Long Island Bus. I took landscape view from moving bus again.
Next, I got on Market-Frankford Line train to Frankfod #1205 departed there at 12:15pm and I was about to take picture, SEPTA told me I not allowed to. SEPTA R7 & Bus did not say anything when I took picture. When I saw scenic route, I took only landscape picture from the moving train. I forgot what station it goes underground and arrived 5th St @ 12:34pm.
Nice SEPTA clerk gave me direction to 6th St/Race St and I followed and I DID NOT KNOW PHILLY ALSO HAD DUCK TOURS. I saw double-decker bus, trolley tour buses, and others.
Next, I went to look for NJT bus stop's first stop, 6th/Race Sts but I couldn't find it. I asked nearby, but they did know. I didn't want to miss the bus, so I went to park by there and bought $2.00 Hot Dog and cut across to where NJT bus was laying over and I ask driver where was bus stop and he told me it was on corner.
So, I went to corner and I got on bonus MCI #7558 on NJT #408 departed at 12:59pm. I thought all NJT Bus had farebox, but this one pay-to-driver and bus driver was giving change also. On Market St, little slowdown, it had to wait for SEPTA Bus to move, and it continue and there was no traffic on Benjamin Bridge. It was nice scenery and took it to Walter Rand Transportation Center and got off there at 1:11pm. I was on front car side.
After Aquarium-bound RiverLine pulled over there, I look both way and cross quickly and went direct to ticket vending machine and this time I bought RiverLine ticket with recipt, then validaded my ticket and I got until 3:31pm.
RiverLine #319B I think arrived at WRTC at 1:39pm. This time, NJT Law Enforcement checked our validaded ticket at Palmya, and Burlington South I think.
It arrived at Trenton at 2:27pm. I took picture of scenery of Delaware River from the train.
After lightrail arrived, I took picture of lightrail because my dispersal camera marked TRANSIT got stuck bet. 6 and 5, and so was my camera I marked SIGHTSEEING. I took with sightseeing one then, with magic, it stuck again.
Next, I got on 3:05pm New York Local #3856, which departed ontime, but little overdue, but catch up only by few min from scheduled time and arrived at Newark Penn Station # 4:08pm, and caught PA4 847 front car on WTC PATH departed at 4:14pm, then arrive Exchange Place at 4:32pm.
Nice PANJNY Police show me the map where Sussex St was and I rush to Sussex St. I followed south on Hudson-Bergen Lightrail toward few streets, then bought $6 Ticket to Ferry.
I did not know where Midtown ferry stopped and after she told me it was Slip 4, and it was too late.
So, I ask if there's store sell camera and he directed me to it.
At closed pharmacy, nice people pointed around.
After I bought cheapest camera, which happened to be only FLASH, I retrace my step and waited until one soutbhound, one northbound, followed by another on southbound.
When I cross street, there was another SOUTHBOUND LIGHTRAIL and so, I took picture and rush to ferry pier, Nice folk tood my picture overlooking view of Manahattan skyline, and NJ Waterfront. First ferry arrived was Frank Sinatra, however it was Slip 3.
I got on 5:16pm F.E... something, I took many pictures from NYWY, view of landscape on the ferries operating thru Hudson River, and scenery.
It was small boat, but fast ride and it arrived Pier 79 # 5:24pm, where NYW Shuttle Bus 42nd St Bus #170 was wait overcrowded, with three people standees (that was me included)departed 5:27pm.
At 8th Av, I hold onto right rail as I made room for Drop-Off Requesters.
As it arrived Airport bus stop in JFK Area, I pressed tape and I got off at 42nd St/5th Av @ 5:43pm and made it to my 6:30pm Computer Appointment @ Mid-Manhattan Library.
I'll tell my rest of journey tomorrow from here to home.
Picture will be coming. Please stand by.


View this topic on the web at
http://www.straphangers.org/diaries/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showthreaded&Number=369890

--------------------

e hënë, 2 korrik 2007

Tours on Governors Island

There are two Governors Island tour meets.
Park Ranger provides free walking tour and explains about Governors Island and meet at front of Cannon at Scossion Duck.
Another tour is via Tram or Shuttle Bus (Not drop-off tour), but it points and goes to South Side of Island, where it comes head on with Lady Liberty and tour guide points you at park tour.
Both tour leave after free ferry arrive.
Everything is free.

e mërkurë, 20 qershor 2007

GRAND OPENED 1 NYPL+1 QBPL WIDE OPEN= 2 New Libraries






Are you resident of New York Public Library or Queens Public Library or use both of them?
There's one new library at New York Public Library and and same for Queens Public Library.


1. If you live in SoHo (South of Houston St), you're lucky, because on Monday, May 21st St, New York Public Library opened in 12,000 square feet, once owned by Chocolate Factory at 10 jersey St @ 3:00pm.
Accessible via M15, M103, Bleecker St (6), Broadway-Lafayette (Weekday B/D/F/Weekday V).

Here is story of new library.

Mulberry Street Branch Information
Branch History
The New York Public Library's Mulberry Street Branch Library is located at the site of a former chocolate factory in the SoHo neighborhood of Manhattan, historically known as the Cast Iron District. The Branch entrance is located at ground level, and two other floors are located below ground. A prominent staircase connects the spaces and brings natural light downstairs. Designed with respect to the building's infrastructure, history, and context, new materials of wood and metal provide a dynamic contrast to the existing fabric of brick, cast iron, and heavy timber beams.

2. If you live in vicinity of Queens's Astoria, Long Island City, and maybe Roosevelt Island, Manhattan? You're lucky. (If Roosevelt Island folks has Queens Library).
There's new library opened, called Long Island City Branch, opened exactly on Friday, June 15th at 12:30pm on location of 37-44 21st Street near the 38th Av.
Accessible from (F) at 21st St-Queensbridge.
From Roosevelt Island, take Q102 ride straight to library.
Q19A and Q66 also serve Long Island City Library. Both buses operate from Queensboro (7/N/W) and Queens (E/sometimes G/R/Weekday V)
Here's the history of new library.

Community Information
Community and Library History
Located in northwestern Queens, Long Island City (LIC) is the largest neighborhood in the borough. It was the earliest part of Queens to be recognized by the Dutch and was the scene of many British troop movements. Created in 1870 from the communities of Astoria, Hunters Point, Blissville, Ravenswood, Dutch Kills, Bowery Bay, Steinway and Sunnyside, locals now use the term LIC only for the area south of Astoria.
In the mid 1800s, Hunters Point, the southern tip of LIC on the East River water front, became linked with the North Fork Line of the LIRR. Ferry service also began between Wall Street and 34th Street. By 1870 when Long Island City was chartered, it had become the center of industry for Queens County. By the end of that century a major building boom had established a number of important factories as well as urban residential areas.
With the opening of the Queensborough Bridge in 1908 and the original Pennsylvania Station on the Queens waterfront in 1910, many factories located here and innumerable industries took advantage of the ample space and low land cost. By 1940 with the completion of The Triborough Bridge and the Queens Midtown Tunnel, Long Island City sitting next to the Sunnyside Rail Yards had become a world class industrial center though more or less a passing through point for commuters between Manhattan, Eastern Queens, and Long Island.
By the mid 1970s, however, due to the migration of businesses out of New York, LIC had become a small sleepy town with many empty factories and warehouse spaces. A new group began to emerge composed of younger artists and musicians who were being priced out of the tight market in Manhattan and who were drawn to the spacious lofts, unhindered light, and the almost rural quality of the neighborhood. Equally attractive was the existence of the studios of two world renowned artists, the late Isamu Noguchi, whose studio is now a museum, and Mark DiSuvero who established the Socrates Sculpture Park, the city's largest outdoor exhibition space. The Urban and Contemporary Arts Institute, better known as P.S. 1, at one time Public School #1, became central to the Long Island City Arts movement.
The 1980s saw greater industrial expansion in Long Island City and a rebirth of the film industry, which had its early roots here. Most notable was the establishment of Silvercup Studios, which converted an old bread factory into what would become the largest independent, full-service film and television production facility in the northeastern United States. The International Design Center of New York was opened on the site where the Sunshine bakery and Adams Chewing Gum plants stood. La Guardia Community College took over the disused factories of the White Motor Company and the Equitable Bag Company. The 48 story Citicorp building was erected in 1989 and is the tallest building in New York City outside Manhattan.




PLEASE CHECK OUT BOTH LIBRARIES! BOTH LIBRARIES ARE WONDERFUL!!

e enjte, 14 qershor 2007

Ama a Nueva York y Nueva York lo ama (Spanish version of NY Times)

Enero 08, 2006

Por MANNY FERNANDEZ

Yuki Endo tenía apenas 10 años cuando la ciudad de Nueva York lo atrapó. Su vida ahí podría haber sido solitaria después de que su madre lo llevó de Japón para allá a principios de 1996. Él nació con un raro trastorno de los cromosomas que lo dejó discapacitado y le dificulta hablar con claridad.

En la década que ha transcurrido, sin embargo, la ciudad lo ha acogido y se ha convertido en su mejor amiga. A través de una extraña combinación de suerte y su propia inagotable curiosidad, ha formado una especie de familia extendida entre bomberos, porteros, guardias de seguridad, maestros, bibliotecarios y tenderos que conoce en sus exploraciones cotidianas.

Está incansablemente absorto en los misterios y las minucias de Nueva York, por lo menos hasta las 7 p.m., cuando su madre lo quiere de vuelta en casa. Escribe poemas acerca de la Autoridad Metropolitana del Transporte, que tiene a su cargo el Metro y los autobuses de la ciudad, y memoriza los anuncios que dan los conductores de los trenes. Para entretener a los bomberos les canta en sus estaciones, sin acompañamiento musical, porque le gusta hacerlo. Su primer hogar es un departamento en el Upper East Side; el segundo es el Museo Metropolitano de Arte. Ha pasado tantas tardes ahí que los guardias de seguridad lo saludan de nombre cuando lo ven. Les dice qué líneas del Metro evitar debido a los cambios de servicio de los fines de semana, que monitorea religiosamente.

"Quiero asegurarme de que no lleguen tarde al museo", explicó Yuki, ahora de 20 años.

En el Nueva York de Yuki, todas las filas uniformadas de bomberos, guardias de seguridad y porteros saben su nombre.

"Un alma buena de paso", dijo el portero Tom Flynn acerca de Yuki. Flynn, de 43 años, trabaja en un edificio elegante en Park Avenue y conoce a Yuki desde hace años. Lo conoció igual que los bomberos y otras personas, cuando Yuki simplemente se detuvo para presentarse y saludar.
Muchos de los trabajadores de quienes Yuki se ha hecho amigo lo consideran un hermano menor adoptivo. Aunque algunos batallan para entender todo lo que dice, le dan algo que le ofrecen a pocas personas en medio de sus días laborales: su tiempo.

Flynn y otros porteros del Upper East Side han revisado la tarea escolar de Yuki dentro de los vestíbulos de sus edificios. Unos bomberos lo invitaron a su fiesta decembrina anual. Una noche hace varios años, tres chicos persiguieron a Yuki por una calle con la intención de robarle su dinero. Él corrió hacia un guardia de seguridad que conocía en un edificio de departamentos y se ocultó detrás de él. El fornido guardia volteó hacia los chicos que lo perseguían y dijo sin rodeos, "él está conmigo".

Yuki tiene cabello negro despeinado y mide alrededor de 1.50 metros. Pese a que tiene 20 años, es más un chico que un hombre. Lee libros para niños y ve películas infantiles y escribe sus propios cuentos extravagantes.

Para Yuki es más fácil escribir sus pensamientos que decirlos. Tiene una anormalidad genética. En su caso, carece de una pequeña porción del cromosoma 18. Una anormalidad así puede llevar a una variedad de discapacidades físicas y mentales, algunas más severas que otras.

Yuki no se considera discapacitado. Su madre, Yoko Endo, dijo que los doctores en Japón le dijeron que Yuki nunca aprendería inglés si lo llevaba a Estados Unidos. Está orgullosa de él por haber demostrado que estaban equivocados. "Sé que no será completamente como nosotros, en cosas como estatura o mentalidad", comentó Endo, de 44 años. "Pero para mi, esto es todo, afortunadamente. Podría estar peor, pero esto es todo".

Endo vive con Yuki en un departamento de dos recámaras que comparten con dos amigos. Ella está en proceso de escribir un libro acerca de su vida en Estados Unidos y comentó que mantiene a Yuki con su trabajo como diseñadora independiente de sitios de internet. Con el paso de los años, ha extendido los límites del área que su hijo podía explorar, cuadra por cuadra, de manera independiente y sin supervisión.

"No puedes evitar que un niño crezca", dijo, "y por eso simplemente lo dejo ir".

Muchos de aquellos a quienes Yuki ha conocido en sus viajes no conocen los detalles de su condición. La actitud de Yuki -que se niega felizmente a reconocer diferencia alguna entre él y los demás- es contagiosa. Cuando iba a la preparatoria de Estudios Ambientales, era conocido porque hacía que maestros y estudiantes firmaran peticiones para diversas causas y porque para saludar a la gente no daba un apretón de manos, sino los tocaba delicadamente en el hombro con su cabeza en una especie de abrazo de cabeza. Aunque se graduó en junio, regresa todos los miércoles para ayudar a que los estudiantes reciclen su basura.

He Loves New York, and It Loves Him Right Back

This is all about me.
MANNY FERNANDEZ
Published: December 25, 2005
Among New York City's many powers is its capacity to tolerate and nurture those obsessed with it.

Yuki Endo was just 10 years old when the city first took hold of him. His life in New York might have been a lonely one after his mother moved him here from Japan in early 1996. He was born with a rare chromosome disorder that left him disabled and makes it hard for him to speak clearly.



But in the decade since, the city has nurtured Yuki in small, graceful ways and become his best friend. Through a quirky combination of luck and his own bottomless curiosity, he has formed a kind of extended family out of the firefighters, doormen, security guards, teachers, librarians and shopkeepers he meets on his daily explorations.


He is a landlocked Huckleberry Finn, restlessly caught up with the mystery and minutiae of New York, at least until 7 p.m., when his mother wants him home. He writes poetry about the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and memorizes train conductors' announcements. He entertains firefighters by singing to them in their firehouses, unaccompanied by music, because he likes to. His first home is an Upper East Side apartment; his second is the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He has spent so many afternoons inside the Met that the security guards call out his name when they see him. He tells them what subway lines to avoid because of weekend service changes, which he monitors religiously.



"I want to make sure they won't be late to the museum," explained Yuki, now 20.


It is easier during the holidays to see the city as children see it, not as a faulty municipality, not as a city of strangers, but as a snowy dream world where the uniformed ranks of firefighters, security guards and doormen all know your name. Yuki's New York is such a place.



"A good soul, passing through," one doorman, Tom Flynn, said of Yuki.



Mr. Flynn, 43, works at 1105 Park Avenue and has known Yuki for years, first meeting him as the firefighters and others did, when Yuki simply stopped by to introduce himself and say hello. Many of the workers Yuki has befriended think of him as an adopted little brother, and though some have a hard time understanding everything he says, they give him something they offer few others in the middle of their workdays: their time.


Mr. Flynn and other doormen on the Upper East Side have stood inside their lobbies looking over Yuki's schoolwork. Last Sunday, firefighters with Engine 22, Ladder 13 on East 85th Street invited him to their annual holiday party. One evening several years ago, three boys chased Yuki down a street. They wanted his money. He ran to an apartment-building security guard he knew and hid behind him. The burly guard turned to the boys giving chase and minced no words, telling them, "He's with me."


Unofficial Tour Guide



One recent morning, Yuki stood at a computer in a lush, darkened corner of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He typed in a long number: 62.233.14. It is the collection number for one of 19 objects in the museum's American Wing that makes up a glass and bronze Tiffany desk set, including a letter opener and other items.


Yuki memorized the number. He has lived on the Upper East Side, within walking distance of the museum, since arriving in New York. He went to the museum once when he was a seventh grader at Simon Baruch Middle School on East 21st Street. He liked it so much that he turned it into a personal after-school program for much of his adolescence, stopping by so often - sometimes two or three times a week, sometimes more - that he has become a kind of permanent visitor.


Yuki knows his way around the museum as well as any tour guide. He has no problem getting a security guard to sign a special pass allowing him to use a computer in a library usually reserved for researchers. Staff members let him into the museum free. "He's like family," one security guard said.


The guards wear blue jackets, ties and stern expressions, taking seriously their jobs to secure one of the world's largest art museums. Yet when Yuki steps around the corner of a hallway many of them will inevitably make the not-so-serious gesture of extending their right hand, palm out. Yuki throws them a quick high-five.


Spellbound by more than two million works of art, playfully adrift amid a collection that spans 5,000 years of world culture, he speed-walks among tourists in his blue-and-white Nike sneakers and backpack, holding one of the museum's walkie-talkie-style audio guides at his chest like a metal detector in a hunt for buried treasure. He does not horse around inside, walking quietly beneath the gaze of Rembrandts and Vermeers.


With every step, the world passes him by, framed, encased, rendered pristine. Over here is one of his favorite pieces of Iranian art. Over there is another favorite "The Ameya" by Robert Blum, a painting of a Japanese street vendor that dates to the late 1800's. "It reminds me of my country," Yuki explained.


Yuki has black, unkempt hair and wears a necklace with a clip that holds keys, a Tokyo Disneyland pendant and his Velcro wallet. He stands about 5 feet, not much taller than some of the children he walks past in the museum.


Though 20 years old, he is more of a boy than a man. When he gets a Slurpee at 7-Eleven, he combines two flavors in one cup, because it seems like a fun thing to do. When he gets a microwave pizza pocket, he pours cheese sauce on top, because he can. He reads children's books and watches children's movies and writes his own fanciful short stories, including one about a remote-control toy fire truck that ran a red light at Third Avenue and caused an accident.


It is easier for Yuki to write his thoughts than to speak them. Yuki has trouble communicating with people, the words and sentences at times tumbling slowly from his lips and at other times leaping out all at once in an inarticulate jumble. Security guards, doormen and others have to listen carefully, with patience, to make sense of what he says.
Yuki has a genetic abnormality. In Yuki's case, a tiny part of Chromosome 18 is missing. Such abnormalities can lead to a variety of physical and mental disabilities, some more severe than others. Chromosome 18 deletions affect an estimated 1 in 40,000 births, said Jannine Cody, founder and president of the nonprofit Chromosome 18 Registry and Research Society.


"People don't even know these sorts of things exist," said Dr. Cody, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. "Everyone knows about Down syndrome, but there's all these other chromosome abnormalities that are much more rare."


Yuki does not think of himself as disabled. His mother, Yoko Endo, said doctors in Japan told her Yuki would never learn English if she brought him to the United States. She is proud of him for proving them wrong. "I know he's not going to be completely like us, like height or mentality," said Ms. Endo, 44. "But to me, this is it, fortunately. He could be more bad, but this is it."


Ms. Endo lives with Yuki in a two-bedroom apartment on East 95th Street that they share with two friends. She is writing a book about her life in America and said she supports Yuki by working as a freelance Web designer. Over the years, she has expanded the boundaries of the area her son could explore, block by block, giving him unsupervised independence.


"You can't hold a child to grow up," she said, "so that's why I just let him go."


Many of those Yuki has met on his travels do not know the specifics of his condition. Yuki's attitude - blissfully refusing to acknowledge any difference between himself and others - becomes contagious. While a student at the High School for Environmental Studies on West 56th Street, he was known for getting teachers and students to sign petitions for various causes and for greeting people not with a handshake, but by gently touching his head to their shoulders in a kind of head-hug. Though he graduated in June, he goes back every Wednesday to help students recycle their garbage.


"He seems like he doesn't even notice his disability," said James Hansen, a wildlife conservation teacher. "He just plows right through that, like it's not even there."


At the graduation ceremony in a Lincoln Center concert hall, when Yuki's name was called he was greeted with loud applause and cheers. Fellow students gave him a standing ovation.


A Stickler for the Rules


On a cold December afternoon, Yuki sat on a Manhattan-bound A train. He was returning from a long trip to Queens. He had the urge to eat pancakes at a diner he had become interested in, the Rockaway Sunset Diner, not far from the boardwalk at Rockaway Beach. Taking a trip to the beach in snowy, chilly weather did not strike him as unusual. It was a big day for Yuki: new subway rules had taken effect that week.


Yuki is fascinated with the tiniest of the city's intricacies: the toll-free number (#3333) dialed at subway pay phones to hear automated service information and changes; the elevator at the Met that people often confuse for a gallery room when the doors are open because of its wood paneling and display case; the long-forgotten news that earlier this month southbound F trains were operating on the D line from West Fourth Street to Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue, an announcement of which Yuki carried in his backpack.


He often stands in subway cars carefully reading the public service messages displayed above the seats, singing the words out loud as if they were lyrics to a romantic ballad.


He also sings for neighborhood firefighters. At the Engine 22 firehouse on East 85th Street and Engine 44 on East 75th Street, he gives performances in the kitchen, belting out Frank Sinatra's "Summer Wind."


Engine 22 used to keep a copy of his report card on the refrigerator. "He's a good kid," said Lt. Dennis Stanford of Engine 44. "He's surprising, the things that he comes up with."


Yuki knows what he wants to do for a living: He wants to be a firefighter, bus driver, train conductor and tour guide. There is some uncertainty about his future in New York. Ms. Endo said she is considering leaving the country within a year or two. She said she would like to see her son go to college someday, but because of the possible move she said those plans would wait.
Yuki thinks of college as a far-off, out-of-reach place. Asked if he ever thought about going to college, he said, "Only in my dreams." Then he said that he had never been to summer camp and that he wanted to go there, too.


On the train, Yuki pulled out a brochure from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority detailing the new rules. He read the rules aloud for the benefit of his fellow riders, some of whom tried their best to ignore him. One new rule in particular he repeated over and over, stating in a conductor's tone that as of Dec. 5 it was a violation to place one's foot or bags on an empty seat. A woman seated across from him had her legs up on the empty seat next to her.


"Am I violating by having my feet up here?" she asked Yuki. Yuki said yes.


She did not take offense. Instead, she put her white sneakers back on the floor and started chatting with him. "They say in the future," the woman told Yuki, "our world is going to be somewhat Communist."


Yuki handed her the small white brochure he had been reading from and sat down next to her. Moments ago, they were strangers on a train, but no more. She confided in him her many theories about the state of the world. Yuki listened, and talked about the transportation authority. She asked him his name. Then she stood up as the train pulled into her stop.


As she stepped out the doors, she turned around and called out, as if to an old friend, "Bye-bye, Yuki."