Chapter 01: The One Where I Explain Myself
ILLUSTRATION BY JASON SCHNEIDER
Editor’s note: In the late 2000s, John Korpics was the creative director at Fortune. He lived with his wife and kids way the hell up in Westchester County. Given his long commute, and being the industrious type, he decided to put that dreadful time to use. This column is the result.
Welcome to the first post on my effing commute.
Every weekday of my life I spend three and a half hours of my day (mostly on a train) going between my job in Manhattan and my house in Westchester County, NY. The life of a long distance commuter (which is an actual term that has a specific definition that I believe I meet) is a soul sucking, Kafkaesque existence that I would wish on no man or woman. But it is my life and I’ve learned to accept it. I’ve also decided to use my time to share my living hell with as many people as are interested.
You’re welcome.
So tonight it’s 8:15 pm and I’m on an “Off Peaker,” which is a train that doesn’t run within the designated peak rush hour times, which is to say I’m on a late train going home, which usually means it’s full of drunks and shopping trophy wives yacking on their cell phones.
Today, though, is Columbus Day, which is kind of a holiday (no mail, no school), but not really (Wall Street and my job: open), which means it’s a light volume day on the rails.
So besides having to pee but not wanting to use the train bathrooms (there’s like ten blogs worth of writing to be done later on train bathrooms), I’m enjoying the ride with my feet up and plenty of “spread out room.”
It's a good ride.
As you can see, I’m wearing a tie today, which means at some point this morning when I was getting dressed, I thought I might need to look like I was in charge today, which I am usually (in charge). But I don’t always want to dress the part.
If this blog was called “My Effing Living Room,” there would never be a picture of me in a tie. There would more likely be a picture of me in some sort of Hanes underwear product and a t-shirt that I got for free and then cut the sleeves off of. That’s just how I roll.
Thanks for reading. See you next time.
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON MONDAY, 12 OCTOBER 2009 © JOHN KORPICS
John Korpics is VP/Executive Creative Director at Harvard Business Review. He has served as the design lead at Entertainment Weekly, Esquire, ESPN, Fortune, InStyle, and many other major newsstand magazines. His current commute is much effing easier.
Jason Schneider is a beloved Toronto-based editorial illustrator.