5 Fun Ways To Pass The Time On Your Daily Commute

1. Read a book

Your commute is a great way to get back into reading. Remember how much you enjoyed books before college? There’s probably new books to read now. Get settled in and open the first page. Stare. Realize you’ve been re-reading the same sentence over and over again for thirty seconds and tell yourself that the reason you’re having a hard time focusing is probably because you haven’t had your morning coffee. Get frustrated. You used to be good at books. Books were your jam. Trudge through a chapter and tell yourself that this is just like riding a bike. Remember that you were never good at riding bikes, as evident by the lumpy white scars on your knees. When you take hot showers you look at those knees and wonder if there’s still some asphalt from Chelterham Terrace lodged in you, raising your skin high. Blame the book for not being captivating enough. Look around. Look back to the page. Rub your temples. Maybe you need glasses. You could totally pull off glasses. Look at your reflection in the window. Debate taking a SnapChat of your face and drawing glasses frames around your eyes. Do it. Draw cool sunglasses instead of glasses. It’s funny because the sun isn’t out and you’re in a tunnel. Send the snap to your sisters, your college roommates, a former co-worker, and your cat. Slap on a geofilter. So hip. Ahoy from Oakland, nerds. #bayarea #blessed #startupculture. Refresh compulsively to see if anyone opens it. No one does, because it’s 8:00AM and literally everyone has something better to do. Like drink strong coffee and walk cute dogs and stare at scarred knees in the shower. Look back at the page. Look up. Look down. Close the book.

2. Listen to music

With the internet, new music is always at your finger tips! Tune into your music streaming service. Relish in your new headphones. Skip around stations before settling on something called “Coffee Shop Indie”. Fuck, you need a coffee. Hear the coo of New Slang and remember being sophomore in high school. Cringe. Think about going back in time to kick 16-year-old you’s ass. Not in a mean way. In a training montage way with an original score by The Killers. Teach her how to walk straight and tall, and how to say no and mean it. You’d help her write papers and go on long walks at 11:00PM through misty cul-du-sacs and talk about all the things that keep her up at night. Maybe you’d get matching tattoos and the rift you created going back in time would summon an evil warlock that you’d fight off together. This is where the montage gets good. Think about what a badass time traveler you’d be, and flirt with the idea of buying an eye patch. Cringe. Skip to the next song.

3. Catch up on current events

Twitter is a great source for getting caught up on everything happening around the world. Scroll through a few articles on the 2016 election. Think about whether or not it bothers Ted Cruz that the Internet thinks he’s the Zodiac Killer. It totally bothers him. Like, when he wakes up in the morning and is eating his breakfast of whole wheat toast and tomato juice while reviewing his Google Alerts, do you think every mention of the Zodiac Killer next to his name makes his upper lip twitch with petulant disgust? Do a precursory search on “Zodiac Killer” and dig deep into that Wikipedia article. Click. Really dig your heels in. Oh shit, this guy killed people within an hour of where you live now. Click on “Zodiac Killer in popular culture”. Scroll. Scroll. Scroll. You’re in too deep. Boomerang out and check what’s trending. A butt joke, some names you’ve never heard of, astronauts and the state of Minnesota. Click. What do you mean I’ve hit my allotted free articles for the week? Impulsively scroll through Facebook. None of your friends do status updates anymore. Click. Sigh deep.

4. People watch

Taking BART to work means that people from all walks of life are around you, which makes for great people watching! Take a look around. Soak it in. Notice a young couple with bright eyes and a map. Get bizarrely envious of their freedom. They’re certainly not on their way to an office. Maybe to a park or to see some friends. Maybe even they don’t know where it is they’re heading. Remember that you are on an SFO bound train. Vainly fantasize about not getting off the train and taking it all the way to the airport and getting on the next plane out of town. Realize Phoenix and Burbank are not especially compelling locations for an adventure.

5. Plan your future

Take our your notebook and write down “5 Year Plan” at the top of the page. Circle it. Underline it like you really mean it. Tap your pen on the page and look around. Doodle a face. Give it some legs and make it dance. Tear out the page. Start over. Debate making a Five Beer Plan instead, with your first stop being the BevMo four blocks from your apartment. Focus. Hear the conductor call out the stop before yours. Decide to just fuck around on your phone for a few minutes instead. There’s always tomorrow.