Cramps Aplenty

Between the heat never being on long enough to truly feel toasty, yesterday's awful commute, and my lack of sleep lately, I knew I was in for trouble today. Sure enough, at around 4 AM I was jolted awake by my most dreaded cramp, the one in my left hamstring. I find those at least thrice as painful as the calf cramps, and fortunately I don't get them that often, but this morning's was a doozy. And at work my right hamstring must have felt left out, as it proto-cramped on me at least a half dozen times leading me to jump up in my chair to prevent a full-blown episode. Definitely no more local-to-express-bus trips in the evening! Sure enough, while the morning bus exchange was great (the local was waiting at 72nd as the express pulled up, and I got a seat right away) I knew better than to reverse it. And after a 15-minute walk through the Moynihan Hall and the LIRR level of Penn Station (my hallux didn't thank me), I hit the elevator for the "1" train just as the announcement came that the subway was pulling into the station. Right from the elevator doors opening on the platform level and into the subway car, and got a very well-placed seat the next stop, 45 minutes in total to my Bronx neighborhood and waited maybe 10 minutes for a non-crowded local where I also scored seating! Home at a very reasonable hour whilst I suspect all the express buses were dealing with gridlock-alert traffic. Well worth it. Not having regularly traveled rush hour subways since well before COVID, I noticed they're a lot quieter now, probably because most folks are on their phones. Still pretty crowded, but I can deal with that for 45 minutes if I'm sitting. And I'm getting to know the Hudson Yards neighborhood, although further exploration will wait until the weather warms. So far I'm unimpressed with the food options, although I've now loaded both the Whole Foods and Starbucks apps onto my phone (and I have about 35 bucks on two Starbucks gift cards to use up on breakfast sandwiches that are, frankly, uninspiring but free). Aside from the cramping, work was almost fun, and I've settled into what will be my "permanent" workspace each time I'm there. Naturally it's the space closest to the ladies' room because, well, I'm me. And I've finished drafting my goals, hurrah!