A minor incident

Some idiot attacked my parents and my sister on the Chicago El. I say 'idiot' for a number of reasons, not least because this person started a fight over her own bad manners, nor that she attacked them with a CTA person in the next car, but mainly because she let my parents get the drop on her, with the result that this crazy woman ended up with her legs pinned to the floor of the car by my mom, and her arms held behind her back by my dad. Anyway. It's funny (although my sister got a hank of hair pulled out, interceding). But, gentle readers, you would not believe how angry it made me. I have not been that angry in a long time. And, as some of you may have figured out, I'm already kind of an angry guy. I've repressed it, most of the time. (Now it comes out as 'pissy'! Woo.) "But," as Carrie from Bad Mama said, "you haven't maimed anyone." Which is a common career path for very angry people from our neck of the woods. I did unconsciously twist an innocent coat-hanger into a small metal ball while brooding about this incident, which freaked the hell out of me. The proximate cause of this post. I believe I've mentioned before that I dislike being angry? There are some bloggers who thrive on it, who go out of their way looking for reasons to be outraged. Apparently their lives are that inane! Junkies. Me, I like other things. The anger is secondary. Also, the troll magnet? It's hereditary.

Comments

[Lorraine]

Geez, I'm glad they ended up all right. And that the wire hanger was the recipient of frustration and not your walls (g). Your parents must be made of pretty stern stuff - a lot of people far younger were probably afraid to respond. Good for your parents.

[Mike R.]

Wow Carlos, sorry to hear about your parents being attacked on the subway but I'm glad they are OK and handeled themselves.

I can really understand how that would make you _extremely_ angry as a similar thing happened to me. My Mom was on on a subway once when this quite lady asked her, "How do you say 'door' in German." and my Mom, who is the sweetest woman int he world, said polietly, "I'm sorry I don't speak German." and went back to reading her book.

About 5 minutes later this lady slashes her book down and slashed an afro comb down into my Mom's eyes.

(Picturing one of these being jammed into someone's face at full force http://www.baacha.com/acatalog/largeafrocomb.jpg)

And then the crazy lady drops to the ground and started rocking in the fetal position. My Mom's screaming, can't see anything, and is clutching her bleeding face asking for somebody to help her. This was in Chicago so nobody was did anything for minutes.

Long story short eventually she gets some help at the next stop. She was lucky and the comb just hit the bone below the eye rather than the squishy part. Her eyes swelled up, but she could see in a day or so. A couple of centemeters up and she would have been blinded for life. The lady who did it had gone off her medication without her doctor's consent.

I didn't find out about this until days after it happened, but when I did I was probably more angry than I've ever been in my life; at the crazy lady, at the people on the subway who took so long to help my Mom, at the doctors who let the crazy lady out, at the world. It was not a good feeling.

Anyways, if you're angry more often than you'd like, have you ever thought about doing any exercises or whatnot to improve that?

Best wishes,
Mike

[Carlos]

I'm sorry to hear about your mom.

(I might take issue with the "this was in Chicago so nobody did anything for minutes." Jesus, nice stereotype, Mike. One I've never heard before, and I grew up in the land where a fib does not refer to a lie.)

As for your last suggestion, um. Mike, you might want to think hard about the phrasing of your question. You know my opinion concerning your age and your conversational gambits.

Anyway, I spend five to ten hours a week in the gym, and a lot of yoga on the side. Been doing it for years.

[la loca]

hey, baby. I just typed out this long thing about well, my god it's just like the time we were on the train and etc, etc and weren't you just talking about it recently and -- then I got to the coy reference about what happened when we got off the el and the realized, haha. oops! wrong out-of-town beau!

haha. oops. I am laughing.

but anyhow. everything sounds, you know, fine and fiesty and fightback. your parents are like their own version of the constanzas, and I mean that in the v v best way! don't forget about those exercises and the whatnot! (wtf?) I love you! xxox

[Mike R.]

OK, sorry if I phrased that bad. Serious question, if I had phrased it, "Are you doing any exercises?" would that have been better? That's about the only other phrasing that's comming to mind, but that could be a personaly failing of mine.

Anyways, the regime you're doing sounds really good and healthy, mentally and physically as I'm a firm believer in the ability of one's body to effect one's mental state.

Five to ten hours is real good. These days's I'm lucky if I can get four hours a week at the gym, just too busy with my job.

I've tried yoga, but just didn't get that much out of it. Oddly enough, I've found pilates to be a lot more soothing and energizing for me. Have you ever tried pilates?

Best wishes,
Mike

[The Editors]

Yikes. Glad everyone's OK.

[Bernard Guerrero]

Glad to hear everybody came out ok, apart from your sister's hair and the hanger. Any other details? Sounds bizarre. Jen got chased off a downtown bus by a transvestite, once, when she giggled at his open-toed shoes....