IN: Self-help parenting books
OUT: Shaking babies

On Friday I helped a friend move some furniture out of his house. We rode the B38 MTA bus from Brooklyn Heights towards Clinton Hill. A baby was crying incessantly. My friend (who rides this bus daily) predicted that the next milestone would be when the mother gave the baby a big smack. Within five minutes of that statement, I heard a thundering ~thwap!~ that made me jump out of my seat. Of course, this didn't make the baby stop crying. I used to mock the ads instructing parents not to shake their babies...I am now thinking that I owe that ad agency a big donation.

Also on Friday, a 22-year-old man refused to give up his seat to the elderly, and the bus driver tried to rip him a new one.

Fast forward to this morning on the B61 bus. I watched as the bus driver twisted himself into a road rage so volatile that he began repeatedly thrusting his left hand into the window.

I think it's finally time to buy a Vespa. But will that mean I have to start listening to ska again?

Helium - Baby Vampire Made Me [mp3] Courtesy of Swan Fungus

Labels: baby shake, NYMTA scares me sometimes, vespa