i used to go to this art university downtown in toronto called "ocad".
since i lived off campus, i commuted by bus and subway, which usually took about an hour and 30 minutes to get there and vice versa.
being a lazy person that i am, i scheduled all my courses into 3 days so i wouldn't have to go to school the whole week.
so basically, i only had school on mondays, tuesdays and wednesdays.

my parents always told me to be careful when going home.
"always stay with someone or with a crowd. never go anywhere by yourself," they would both tell me.
especially on wednesdays when i'd end school at 9:30pm.
but it was hard finding someone to go home with on wednesdays because not many people i knew were going my way.

one wednesday, i was on my way home when this guy in his late 20s comes in the subway.
now, the subway isn't usually full on wednesday nights so there were seats.
but this guy just stood near the doors.
after a few stops, he finally sat next to this blonde woman and started talking to her.
2 stops later, she got off.
after a while, he remained sitting on the same spot and then he sat a seat away from me.
i tried to ignore him but then he started talking to me.
"excuse me," he asked, "but do you have a cigarette?"
i scoffed quietly to myself and thought, "okay, do i look like a smoker?"
"no, sorry," i said.
"are you sure?" he responded.
"yes," i told him.
after a few minutes, we both just sat there and then he looked at me.
"can you do me a favour?" he asked, "can you smile for me?"
this was when i started panicking.
"i'm on a subway with a lunatic!" i thought to myself.
i laughed politely, "no, thank you."
this was when he really got on my nerves because he kept on insisting that i smile.
after a while, i finally did so he would stop talking to me.
but then he said "come on, bigger than that. show some teeth."
i laughed again, "no, it's okay..."
this is when it got scary.
he went around the whole subway trying to ask everyone to smile and when they wouldn't, he'd tell them, "i'm so sick of people being so serious on the f***ing subway! i'm going to make you people smile!"
i got really scared so i started praying.
"please god. if i live through this, i promise to be a better person," i thought.
i think i almost peed my pants because i was so freaked out.
i really thought i was going to die that night because i thought he had a gun inside his jacket or something.
in the end, he finally got kicked out.

see kids?
pot is bad!

i hate subways.