not on my watch...

When one rides public transit every day one is bound to encounter some odd individuals. I mean, *I* am one of those odd individuals to someone. I know this, I admit this, I am "OK" with this. I usually see the same people every day on the bus. Regulars. But there are times when people will hop on the bus b/c it is the first one that arrives and pretty much takes the same route, etc… I usually sit in the back row, right corner seat and doze in and out of consciousness in the 40-50 minute commute. I don't pay a *lot* of attention to the people around me, mostly b/c they're regulars and mostly b/c they are as uninteresting as I am sitting there tuning out the world. But this one particular day in December I noticed this man sitting in front of me grabbing his left arm, massaging it and wincing. He would periodically reach into his coat's sleeve and rub his arm, wince again and then relax a bit, closing his eyes. I became concerned when this pattern didn't cease. Not to mention, he was a red-headed gentleman and was turning absolutely beet-red. I watch, not sure whether to briefly review CPR in my head as I hadn't been in a CPR class in ages. I kept thinking… "Not on my watch!!" I don't know if I could really handle it. Well, he hops off the bus a few stops before mine. Now, I hadn't seen him again… at least until the other day! (Phew!!) There he was, sitting on the other side of the bus. Not grabbing his arm. Not wincing. Not massaging or rubbing in pain. Nope. He sat there for 50 minutes chewing his gum. And when I say chewing, I mean DESTROYING! This man kept a rapid gum-chewing-pace I could only look upon with awe. Every time I glanced over at him he was chewing like he was trying out for the Bubbalicious Olympic decathalon. He chewed it sideways; he chewed it frontways; he chewed from the back of his mouth; he chewed with his head tilted forward; with his head backwards and mouth wide open; with his eye closed; with his eyes wide open; he chewed it on the bus; he chewed it off the bus... you name it, he chewed it. I was relieved to see he had not suffered a massive coronary, that he lived to chew another day. I have NEVER seen anyone chew gum so enthusiastically!! I was right impressed by it to be perfectly honest. Yah yah, I know. Not exactly a terribly interesting thing to blog about, but you have to understand the SHEER MAGNITUDE this man was chewing his gum and you will understand why I needed to tell you all about it. To borrow an entirely OVERUSED expression, he was the "energizer bunny" of gum chewing! *waggles eyebrows* And, did I mention he was a red head? (moreover, I have a weakness for red-heads)…