2nd Chapter, 1st draft complete.

Just finished the second chapter. It is 11 pages long. With the first that makes the first two chapters 25 pages in length total. Chapter 3 is already outlined so hopefully it will take a day or two to write when I have the time.

1st Short Story Update

If you go back to the beginning of this blog I attempted to write a short story about CERN and it's Large Hadron Collider. I posted around 3 short chapters and stopped. Currently, I am taking a fiction writing class at Gotham Writer's Workshop. I have restarted the story and will periodically post updates on my progress.

At present I am writing the second chapter-- 5 pages in, with the third chapter already planned out. The first and second chapters constitute around 20 MicroSoft Word pages double-spaced. My goals, when writing, are 5 pages a day with 15-20 page chapters. Looking at my notes there are roughly 20 chapters.

At the end of every first chapter draft I will post a progress update.

MTA East Side River Access LIRR to Grand Central (Sand Hogs at Work)

*Photographs taken from the mta's facebook page https://www.facebook.com/MTA.info

Dialogue with Subtext. Writing Exercise.

Not sure what the subtext is but I tried to create some sort of underlying conflict. 

            “Listen, maybe this isn’t such a great idea,” the man said.

            “I told you about the car, I had a friend rent it form Avis at JFK. Just call your mark. I’ll park the car right by that school on 58^th street coming up here,” the driver said.

            “Some friend you are. Where?” the man said.

            “Right by the scaffolding on the right side of the street,” said the driver.

            “Alright, I’ll text him. Do see any cameras?” The man asked the driver.

            “No.” The driver said. “I can’t really see much with the window tint.”

            “Can you turn the radio down?” the man said.

            “What you don’t like the Notorious B.I.G.? Notorious is a classic”

            “You may be a guini but your no gumba. I don’t wanna hear that shit,” The man said.

            “I was just getting in the mood,” said the driver.

            “There is only one mood you need to be and that’s steady. Are you sure there aren’t any cameras around here. There has to be, it’s a fucking school. These days with all the school shootings they’d probably couldn’t open their doors if they didn’t have some security measures,” said the man. “Couldn’t afford the insurance,” he said to himself.

            “I don’t know its not like I have been here before,” said the driver.

            “You talk too much,” the man said.

            “Did he get back to you yet?” 

            “Yeah, the man said, “He’ll be at the corner of 58^th and 7^th Ave. in 10 minutes.”

            “Can I ask you a question?” said the driver.

            “What like how am I going to do it?” The man said to the driver. “Do I ask you how to do your fucking job?”

            “Hold up. I was gonna ask you where you wanted to go eat afterwards,” said the driver.  

            “Eat?”

            “Yeah, I’m hungry. I was thinking about going to a diner and getting a burger at a diner. And I was going to ask you what part of the city has the best diners?”

            “That’s easy,” the man said.

            “It is? What are you going to say Bay Ridge or Bensonhurst?” replied the driver.

            “For the best diners you have to go where the Greeks are so that would be Astoria. And in Astoria I know a couple of places –Neptune’s on 31^st, Jackson Hole Airport Diner on Astoria Blvd, and Bel Aire on 21^st” said the man.

            “So which one do you want to go to?”
            “I don’t fucking know, why not get McDonalds.”

            “Cause they have cameras” said the driver.  

            “Jackson Hole has the best burgers but Bel Aire puts us north of the Grand Central right by the Triboro or what do they fucking call it now?

            “RFK”

            “Right the RFK Bridge.”

            “Hey, I got eyes on that mook you told me about earlier. That Law School mule who double crossed your friends.”  

            “Hold on I’ll text him again.”

            “Yeah, that’s him.”

            “Hey,” the driver said to the man, “put your fucking hood up before you get out. I don’t want to get caught.”

If the City's Boroughs Were States.

Recent Audit Finds MTA Hiding $90 Million in Unaccounted Funds

In an update to the previous post about the MTA in case you were wondering. The NY POST is reporting that the MTA currently is hiding $90 million in unaccounted funds according to a recent audit conducted by New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. What doesn't the MTA upgrade the MetroCard system to a tap to ride card that can withstand daily use and is more durable, instead of a de facto tax on the poorest subway riders? 

The MTA claims by charging people who buy new Pay-Per-Ride cards a dollar for a new card it will cut down on $10 million dollars in waste. Leaving odd amounts on the card in my opinion is a better way to change people's behavior that is not punitive. Now we learn that the MTA has a $90 slush fund. What's next? 

In case you are wondering is it because have paid former executives 200K to do nothing in the past? Who knows how many former employes at the MTA are drawing Bobby Bonilla money from the system? 

If you google MTA and salary you will find interesting articles that begin like this.

TOP PAY FOR MTA OFFICIALS ADMINISTRATORS SET RECORDS FOR SALARIES.

Top officials of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority have set records for local government salaries with some executives getting low-interest loans, down payments for homes and other lucrative perks. 

MTA's top salaries are far higher than those paid in New York or other big cities, but agency officials and transit experts defend them, saying the private transportation industry pays far more and offers even more benefit packages to recruit the best people. 

Critics suggest the $295,000-a-year salary paid to MTA Chief Executive Officer Roger Snoble is a sign of the agency's desperation.

Fun Fact About the MTA Folks.

New Pay-Per-Ride Metro Cards will cost you a dollar starting March 3rd. However, you can avoid this fee by reusing your old Metro Card simply by adding money to the card. A new card will be issued to you free of charge if your old card is expiring or damaged. I wouldn't mind if the cards could stand up to the abuse but the Metro Cards the MTA uses are disposable and are not meant for repeated use. At the present time I can and do refill my card at most 5 times before I buy a new one (at most around 40 rides per each card). This will affect a lot of people who scrape together the change needed to get in and out of work in the City, and is a de facto tax raised by the MTA on the poor people of New York City (People who use wage works will not be affected.)

In 2003, the year the NYC subway token was phased out and the fare to ride the subway was raised $2.00. In that same year the State and City comptrollers charged the MTA with hiding almost a billion dollars from its books to justify the fare hike.

I would like the MTA to give me the option to buy a subway card that is designed for daily use and not disposable like the one they use today. Why do I have to fork over another dollar when my card doesn't work. How many times have you refilled your card in the Metro Card Vending Machine only to find out that it doesn't work? What happens then is you eat the money. Because the whole process to get your money back is designed to be such a pain in the ass you'll give up.  So when this happens again do I have to convince the booth operator that my card is damaged so I can pay for the rides without the surcharge? Or do I have to mail my card to Albany for my dollar? Welcome to living in NYC and oh yeah when is the subway fare going up again? What exactly is the MTA doing with all this cash?