Agita is a very useful word - I don't really use it, but I'm familiar with it.

I could write volumes on heinous behavior on public transit. The guys - and it is usually a man - who insist on taking up more than one seat. Last weekend I tried to sit next to a man who was aggravated that I was expecting him to content himself with two seats rather than three. The ones who take up two seats and most of the aisle to stretch their legs. The people - all ages, genders, who will occupy the preferential seating and refuse to let elderly people or those with an obvious physical problem sit there. The worst I saw was a woman who insisted on standing right at the front and refused to move, even when she was blocking a man in a wheelchair who wanted to get out. bleah. We also get tourons ... lots and lots of them, many of whom seem to have never: ridden on any kind of public transit; been in a city; used an escalator; crossed a busy street. argh.

Public transit here is pretty stupid.

Yup. It's too bad, though, that it doesn't make sense to have a water taxi ride in your commute. That'd be neat! Well, except in gusty weather.

I use agita, but ISTR Bob asking me what it meant recently. So I guess I don't use it enough.

I hate riding the Red Line past Wrigley if it's before or after a Cubs game. Lots of people who never take public transit, who won't move to the center of the train so others can get on. And they're often drunk. I recall the loud shriek and laughter of the drunk woman who was leaning against the doors when they opened....

I use "agita" all the time. It has sort of replaced "tsurris" in my vocabulary.

When I worked downtown (my first job out of college), I never once drove to work. The first four months, I took Metra from Joliet (and either walked from the LaSalle Street station to the office on Grand and Dearborn, where Spago's is at now, or took the bus), and then the rest of the year I worked there I took the Green Line from River Forest to the Clark/Lake stop.

If I could have, I would have taken public transit from Oak Park/Forest Park up here to Riverwoods, but the one time I had to do that (damn Denver boot), it took me three hours to get the 35 miles.

Mmmm. I'm eating a big free corporate cookie right now. I don't know if they over-ordered for a meeting or were just feeling generous but this is a serious chocolate chip cookie.

The problem with talking to people is that sometimes they talk back.

Darned people.

The problem I have with "agita" is that it lives in my brain halfway between "sounds like something existential that pretentious philosophy students talk about" and House yelling "Attica! Attica! Attica!"

Why, yes, I do need more sleep, thank you so much for noticing.

Courtesy wars with the right to personal space, and too many times girls are told they're rude when they just want to be left alone.

Yes, it’s horrid how many girls put up with unwanted attention because they don’t want to be called a bitch or a dyke.

Except for Vortex who will spork you if you try to take her armrest.

don’t need a spork

Yeah, on public transportation I see a lot of men take up space from the seat next to theirs in addition to their own.

I walk up to these guys and say “excuse me” very loudly, and when they move grudgingly, sit down, taking my full allotment of space. Tip: swing your bag wide as you sit down so that they have to move to avoid it, thus allowing you to get the maximum amount of space.

don’t need a spork

She's so badass she can spork you without a spork. It's a like a zen koan.

How does one spork without spork?
Vortex.

Yeah, on public transportation I see a lot of men take up space from the seat next to theirs in addition to their own.

I gotta say, in San Francisco, while there are plenty of space-taking men, women are far more likely to spread out with their gym bag and other gear taking up two seats.