movement

have you ever taken the bus in Detroit

what is this

like a year ago I wanted to start writing a substack but my friend told me not to because of nazis. if you reading this I am simply asking you not to look at nazi content on substack pls. I just wanna say stuff and maybe people will read it and this is the easiest way to do it. or one day my kid will find this and wonder why I was so weird and wrote so much about trains or the pistons or how to insulate my attic correctly and avoid long term water damage due to improper vapor barriers and air circulation creating ice dams on my roof. idk. at least they will know that I had a brain. my only internet legacy right now is a rap album I made in 2018 and that’s not my ideal footprint. hope you like my rambling

moving around

being warm in detroit is one of my favorite things. I love it being 7pm knowing the sun will be out for another 2 hours and I can still do any and everything. I can walk I can bike I can drive I can run. I can be here and there and everywhere. we can eat we can dance we can watch movies under the stars.

on the contrary, being cold in detroit kinda sucks. but I guess maybe just being cold and alone sucks, because being with people in the snow is kinda swag and beautiful. good company brings warmth to my soul and body. still haven’t decided if being alone and warm is better than being cold and with my people tho.

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two weeks ago (mid November) I was waiting for the q-line to go down to the pistons game when I realized it would be a minute. I was with 3 friends so I convinced them to walk a block to get a slice of pizza at Supinos. cool. 4 boys eating pizza waiting for the streetcar. now fueled I suggested we walk to the next stop. partially due to the q-line being dumb as hell and the nice day, we walked the whole way to Little Caesars arena. made me realize that was the first time I did that, and how much I loved it. helped that I was somewhere between warm and cold and with friends. but walking is awesome. doing it leisurely with plenty of time to spare is also awesome. not worrying about time is awesome.

I was in Nashville for Thanksgiving and my aunts let me know that they are going to be living a 5 minute walk from each other in about a year. that is also awesome. not only will there be 8 cats at my disposal when I visit, but the short notice support and convenience is something I hope for out of my friends and family one day. my family there doesn’t walk anywhere except maybe the Zanies down the street so i’m lit. while I was there they also told me they were building a stupid loop like the one in Vegas for teslas and honestly I could not believe it. in what world is it easier and cool to build a subway for teslas but not a train. Nashville is so stupid

I flew back Thanksgiving morning to go see the parade downtown for the first time in my 20 years of being a Michigander and was pumped for it. they still haven’t connected the train from the airport to Detroit so I was going to take the bus, but I would’ve missed a good chunk of the parade so I hopped in a Lyft. weird ass driver but still a human experience. way better than an autonomous Tesla by myself in a tunnel. we paraded and walked home most of the way but the cold proved to be too much even with my lovely gf so we hit a lime scooter halfway home. honestly we was ripping and was a great decision. if you hate scooters just hit one one time and you’ll get it

finally, a couple of days ago I had another pistons game and had to take the q-line again. just missed it when I pulled up so I walked and got a slice of pizza again. as they handed me the slice, I heard it coming so I popped outside and hopped on. streetcar + pizza = i’m ballin even if I am alone and cold. after the game the q-line had an issue again but at 20 degree temps and snowing and it being 10pm I was not gonna walk home, so I checked bus times. luckily the Woodward express pulled up right as I was looking for it so I hopped on. I’ve never taken the bus before so I asked the driver “can I pay with a credit card?" he laughed and said “nope! got cash?” I did not. “got a transfer card?” nope. “got any gold?” he smiled at me and told me just to hop on. I figured out how the bus worked and bought a pass for the next time, rode two stops, got off, and walked the final 10 minutes home.

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whenever I’m anywhere that isn’t detroit (including the suburbs) people seem to question why I live here. and its hard to describe things like the bus driver I interacted with, or being able to walk to a basketball game, or go on a midnight bike rave, or the largest marble clad building in the world that I live in the shadow of that I get to just walk through whenever I want. its not New York but I don’t want New York. I want Detroit and I don’t want to have to explain why it’s better than a New York. I own a house lol.

when it gets cold its hard to move. but I love moving. I love making and moving and running and jumping. and scootering and q-line riding and walking and talking. I love Detroit and I hope one day I can move through the city a bit easier, but I am ok with how I do it for now.

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