"L" experiences

Today marks my first experience with (though "experience with" is too strong a phrase; "observation of" is more accurate) a mentally unbalanced person in the "L" subway.* He had four bags, two of which at least were full of newspapers, and he spread copies of the same Best Buy ads on the ground as we waited for the train. I might have thought he simply had a yen for recycling if he didn't repeat "Clinton got killed, they should all get the money" over and over. He reminded me of the crazy numbers guy from Lost** who, as with most of the bit characters on the show, simply brought up more questions than answers.

Anyway, I had a brief moment where I thought, "Wow! I'm in an episode of Lost!" and then felt spiffy as I tried to figure out what "Clinton got killed, they should all get the money" meant. Was it code? Was it some sort of reference to ex-president Clinton, who was in fact still alive? Maybe some sort of freaky weird prediction about the imminent assassination of ex-president Clinton? After all, TV, movies, and books have taught me that the mentally unbalanced see more than the rest of us--

Then I thought, oh yeah. TV. He probably picked the line up from some show.

Real life is so normal.

*Note for those unfamiliar with Chicago: " 'L' subway" is somewhat a contradiction in terms, as the "L" stands for "Elevated train," which is the Chicago Transit Authority's, um, train type. For the most part. In the downtown loop area, many stations are subway stations, so I guess those portions should be called the "S," but then that would just be confusing. CTA has its logic.

**Incidentally, a very good show, even if at times one does get the sense that the writers didn't have any idea how things were going to turn out but didn't worry about it as they were banking on its cancellation midway through the season. They when they discovered people were actually watching it, they panicked and just threw a bunch of stuff together. If I can ever through a bunch of stuff together with such panache, my writing life will be set.