Train Face

Funny, it took me quite a while to realize what took away my tendency to smile; public transportation.

Public transportation probably seems like an odd barrier to optimism, at least to people who don't have to use it every day.

Still, the fact is that over a decade or so I have noticed that I have Train Face. Train Face is a comparative blankness of affect that can be of benefit when riding public transportation.

A blank, relatively expressionless face doesn't attract attention.

Hapless tourists don't ask you where the Hollwood sign is and the homeless are (somewhat) less likely to ask you for money.

Train Face has becomes an almost physical malady yet it's something I've gotten used to. For the last few weeks I have made an effort to reform my Train Face into something more akin to a smile or at least to less of a frown. Sure, it means some of my fellow passengers are more likely to smile back at me (horrors) and may make me slightly more likely to be approached by someone asking for fifty cents.

Seems worth it...