Love is a Gamble

According to the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) advertisement here, one has a 2 to 1 odds of running into six tall, dark, handsome men on the subway. I don't know if that is a good thing or not. If you were a single girl (or a single gay man), I guess the subway is as good a place to meet men as any other place.

So where and how did you first meet your current spouse/girlfriend/boyfriend/partner? Was it love at first sight?

Mid-Month Photo Theme: Subway Train

Per Strömsjö of Stockholm by Pixels and I decided to create an impromtu mid-month theme of subway train photos. So here is my contribution to the effort -- the New York City subway train.

To see the subway photo from Stockholm by Pixel taken by Peter Fristedk, click here.

Empty Subway Train

I was on the N train going home from visiting a friend in Astoria and was pleasantly surprised to find myself alone in the subway car. So I whipped out my camera, which accompanies me everywhere I go, and took this photo. The N train runs on the elevated track in Queens (you can see the blue sky in the windows) and then goes underground when it crosses the East River into Manhattan.

The orange and yellow seats may not be my choice of colors but I do like the overall look of it. Notice some of the glass windows have graffitis written on them. Graffiti is a huge problem in NYC, especially in public places like the subway stations and trains.

So what is the color of your car or the subway train you ride on? What is your favorite color?

Vandalism on the Subway Train

Vandalism has always been and still is a problem in New York City. Recently, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), which runs the city's subway system, posted notices of $500 rewards for information leading to the arrest and conviction of people who are responsible for the taggings and graffitis on the subway trains.

Vandals used to spray paint the glass and plastic surfaces inside the trains. This led the MTA to install plastic coated glasses on windows and metallic surfaces on the walls to enable easy and inexpensive cleanups. The vandals are now using acids to burn through the plastic coatings and scorch the surfaces beneath them. That is why a lot of the new graffitis have drip marks on them.

I took this photo on my way home from work last Friday. You can see the signature/symbol of the vandal etched in acid on the train's window. I hope the MTA is successful in prosecuting these dumb**ses for defaceing public properties.

Ming the Merciless Unveiled

I did a google search of "Ming the Merciless" and found there are more than one blogger/internet surfer using the name. Aside from me, there is a guy in California and another in Switzerland who call ourselves, Ming the Merciless.

But who is Ming the Merciless? The name came from a fictional character in a scifi comic strip called, Flash Gordon, which was first published in 1935. Ming the Merciless was an extraterrestrial villain from the planet, Mongo and the main nemesis of the hero, Flash Gordon. Ming the Merciless has an underground ice palace, Ice Station Earth, set deep beneath Antarctica. With his arsenal of laser weapons (that was so 1930s, before WMD became the word of choice) and an army of drone robots, Ming the Merciless set out to conquer Earth but his plan was foiled by Flash Gordon.

This photo, a semi coming out party for me, was taken inside a relatively empty subway train -- nobody was sitting within view of my camera. The reason my face is not totally visible in the photo is because I was told (and have read) that blogging can be a career suicide, especially if too much information is revealed. Besides, I fancy myself as the International Man of Mystery. Yeah baby!!

If you have an alter ego, who would you be?

Subway Mural

The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), which operates the public transportation system, regularly supports artists and musicians in the city. One of its most visible projects sponsored by the organization is the Arts for Transit Program. Started in 1986, the program was established to incorporate public art into the renovation and preservation of the 100-year old plus subway system.

The mosaic mural in this photo, located under 5th Avenue and 42nd Street in Manhattan, is a permanent installation by Los Angeles-born, Brooklyn-based artist, Samm Kunce. The mural entitled, Under Bryant Park" won the 2002 Best Public Art Project by the New York Municipal Art Society.