Subway Etiquette

Down by the Station

The way one travels can affect their emotional balance. Regardless if you're traveling to work or home, moments of happiness can be lost. I endured countless mornings and afternoons traveling in my fast pace city, New York City. I love it, but traveling around the city that never sleeps can be a happiness kidnapper. I concluded that there should be a class given to all New Yorkers once they are given their state I.D.. Unfortunately I don't know how or have the means to create such a class. However, being a teacher I can provide people (both New Yorkers and non-New Yorkers) with a guideline of traveling, particularity on the train. Sound the bell, Mandy's subway etiquette class is now in session. Hope you have your MetroCard ready...Here are the Do's and Don't's of riding New York City's Iron Horses.

In the teaching professional we are always told to always begin with the positives. Therefore, I will begin with the things you should DO  while riding on a NYC train.

The Do's of riding a NYC's train:

1.    Do give your seat to someone in need ( elderly, pregnant etc.)

2.    Do hold your bag in front of you or tightly on your shoulder ( I have witness and endured numerous times the pain that is received from others' bags smacking you on the face)

3.    Do check if your music can be heard when not placed in your ears (others do not want to hear your playlist)

4.    Do have a good hold of your coffee while the train is in motion (The pain of your hot coffee or tea spilling on someone other than yourself can cost you a lot...like a lawsuit)

5.    Do speak to your friends in a indoor voice (no one wants to hear about your wild teenage life)

6.    Do try your best to sleep with your mouth closed

7.    Do save your American Idol audition practice session for your home

8.    Do pay attention to your surroundings

9.    Do cover your mouth (no one want your germs)

10.  Do control your children (the train is not a playground or yelling arena)

Now onto the negative components of riding the train. It is very important that you never, ever, ever, do the following below. These things kidnap happiness while commuting on the train.

The Don't's of riding a NYC's train:

1.    Don't stand in the doorway when people are trying to enter the train (there's always room in the middle of the train)

2.    Don't stop in the middle of the stairway of the train station

3.    Don't hang on the poles (you are not a monkey!)

4.    Don't stare (it's just weird)

5.    Don't eat smelly foods (for example, fish)

6.    Don't search for gold (the miners in California didn't find gold in that great state back in the day so please do everyone a favor and save your search for the privacy of your home or better yet use a tissue!)

7.    Don't use your hands for sneezing or coughing and then touch the pole (no one wants your germs)

8.    Don't get on an empty cart during rush hour (it's empty for a reason...you're better off not finding out why)

9.    Don't read a large newspaper while on the train...they take up too much space

10. Don't squeeze yourself into a seat in which you mentally measured would not fit your behind (its makes you and those around you comfortable and unhappy)

Please follow my guideline for riding the subway and most importantly "stand clear of the closing doors."

Page Turner

Book Worm?

Reading takes you to the land of the unknown. It opens up the gateway of the imagination you never knew you had before. I have spent countless number of days stuck in the land of the protagonist's life of my "can't put down" novel. I always become so involved  in all the characters' lives that I find my "brain voice" (you know, the voice that speaks but doesn't require your mouth to move) yelling and screaming, "what are you doing!?! Don't speak to him, curse him out instead!"  (Yes, my "brain voice" can be quite brutal). Through my constant adventures in the novel world I have discovered being a book worm is  quite an easy way to instill an inner happiness. Have you ever found yourself smiling while reading? No one is speaking to you, in fact you might be alone, yet you're enjoying your quantity time with yourself on the couch, train, laundry room or toilet by reading and getting wrapped in the world of the novel's main character.  It's one of the best past times to capture your inner happiness.

Sometimes it is best to turned off the television and pick up a book. Need help choosing a great read? Here are some of my favorites:

Barbara Kingsolver, The Poison Wood Bible
Sue Monk Kidd,The Secret Lives of Bees
Kathryn Stockett, The Help
Henry James, Washington Square
Veronica Roth, Divergent (series of three books. Book three debuts, October)
Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
Suzanne Collins, Hunger Games (series of three books)
Lois Lowry, The Giver
S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders
Sara Dessen- Dreamland

Seeing the YOU Within

Mirrors

Stop right in your tracks! Don't move any further! Look directly at the person staring at you! You have known this person all your life, or at least attempted to get to know this person. Stare and stare only at this person. This person is you! Every freckle, every acne spot, the  glasses that are slight crooked because of having one ear larger than the other, the love handles, the spider web veins are all the symbols that represent you. STOP!! Smile. The moment has come to re-introduced "you" to "self" and become yourself.  Stand in front of the mirror, tell yourself how much you love yourself.  It may start off artificial but it will develop into the actual feeling of a strong bond between you and self. There's no stronger bond that can be broken. Before you can love someone else you must first love yourself. It starts now. It starts today! Walk to a mirror, tell yourself out loud, "I love you! This world wouldn't be the same without you!" Guess what!?! Its true. This world wouldn't be the same without you. Step in front of the mirror, say the three words that will change your life for a little better. Hey, after all, no one can love you unless you love yourself first!

Observing your Surroundings

There is nothing like seeing life 
with your own eyes!

Stop and Look!

Have you ever taken time out of your day to stop and look? Well, you should! Take your head phones off, place your cellphone in your pocket or handbag and just look at your surroundings. There are so many interesting things happening. Start slow, stop and look on your commute to work or on your way home. I recently stopped and looked on a plane ride to Louisiana, New Orleans. I took my headphones off, listened to the sounds of others around me and ingested the images that laid before my eyes. I saw things only seen in textbooks or google. We have an amazing world that we walk on everyday. It's time that we stop and look at what it has to offer.

The Mississippi River from way up above!

Fifty things I wished I was told before becoming a teacher...

You should have told me this before!

1.    Black becomes your new favorite color

2.    You will develop a extreme distaste for anyone slouching in their seat

3.    You will sometimes find yourself saying, "good job" to adults with your thumb up

4.    The charts you enjoyed making in the beginning of the school year, you will hate to make with a passion by the middle of the school year

5.    You will learn that chocolate takes all the pain away

6.    Starbucks two weeks Happy Hour is the best way to do Happy Hour according to you

7.    The papers you couldn't wait to grade while in college become your "what the hell was I thinking?" moment once you graded fifty

8.    You will question if you truly want children of your own

9.    You will prefer teaching than taking your class on a field trip

10. By January you will be counting down to June

11. Even one day off is good enough

12. The pain  of holding your pee and/ or poop while teaching is as painful as childbirth   

13. You spend more hours with your co-workers than your family

14. It pays to be nice to the custodian and secretary

15. If you didn't love school lunch while you were in elementary school, you will love it once you're teaching two months into the school year!

16. You will find yourself telling your friends, "I can't make it out, it's a school night"

17. The comedian within you will come out...your audience demands to be entertained!

18. Your students won't believe you are a real a person until they see you shopping on a weekend

19. You will need to find alternatives to curse words (my favorite: "Oh Donuts")

20. Your principal can be your greatest ally or biggest enemy

21. You will love Snow Days more than your students

Be careful with how many snow days you wish for! You might have to make those up...over the summer :/

22. The Internet is your best friend (especially Pinterest)

23. No one will understand your madness unless they are a teacher as well

24. You will draw lots of blanks at random moments

25. You will start hearing voices throughout the day

26.  You will start referring to yourself in third person

27. Your weekends will be spent sleeping the day away

28. You will never be done with work

29. The students your thought were adorable the first day of school are not so adorable by April

30. You will always have one parent you cannot stand the sight or voice of with each new year...there's always replacements!

31. Your high school days are not over when you graduate high school, in fact, the teaching profession has even meaner mean girls...which side will you be on?

32. The school building has a greater amount of competition than the Olympics

33. You will often question if you made the right decision to go into the profession of teaching

34. You will discover that your body is older than your actually age. (I'm 24 years old with a 56 years old body)

35. Watching television only happens on holidays and vacations. Invest in a DVR!

36. You will have moments of intense crying without a cause

37. You will never have time to see a doctor

38. You will begin the school year looking skinny and fit to only end the school year feeling like a Humpback Whale (the consequence of chocolate making everything better)

39. Wearing jeans will feel like a privilege

40. You will never think you're good enough (keep pushing yourself to the next level!)

41. You will always be the only one amongst your friends to have a pen, post-its, markers,tissues, and hand sanitizer handy within your purse...unless your friends are teachers themselves

42.   You will start to wonder what your teachers thought about you when you were your students age

43. You will sometimes secretly wish for something to happen to you in order not to go to work

44. You will start to question why people have children

45. You will want to hit everyone on the head that says, "oh, you're so lucky, you get the summers off"

46.  You will begin saving for your retirement after your third month of working because you know you wouldn't be able to last until the age of 65

47. You are always surrounded  by germs

48. There's always one good part to your day, no matter how bad the day ends (this very important to remember)

49. If you think you're at the top of your game, you just barely accomplished the third level!

50. Always begin your day, maintain your day, and end your day with a SMILE! (It hurts at certain points of the day but looking back, it makes everything worth it)