Kalamazoo Transportation Center

i spent a few hours here on may 10. a man with a mustache and a large amtrak pin, standing near a table with orange juice, asked about my bass. it’s a precision and he plays a jazz, like most men who ask about my bass. i have never cared at all about the instrument i use. like most men who ask about my bass, he’d never heard of shoegaze.
did you ever cheat on a test? i don’t feel like i ever did but i might be too tired to think of a better example. it obviously feels better when you’ve studied & passed.
maybe i’m learning slower than most people, but i dig this sense of accomplishment. i also dig the beauty in learning lessons at 22 and the ability to cogitate it in a different plane. it’s not like listening to your old pop punk albums now that you have a full-​time job and a car payment. it’s like being too cool for greek yogurt when greek yogurt was popular, but keeping up on the trend and learning its intricacies, then coming back to it in 5 years when they’ve taken it back to its natural roots with no added sugar or wacky mango flavoring, just getting the straight-​up benefits of greek yogurt without feeling like a mom at the grocery store. those tacky commercials that lisa kudrow narrates would be gone at that point, too.
i also really dig finding another person who has learned and is learning and genuinely appreciates your light shining & refracting on the community prism. i am obsessed with the idea of earning details from him & now providing other people an opportunity to earn details from me. i emphasize the word ‘earn.‘
may 10 was national train day. i walked to the kalamazoo train station — i hate that there is no public/​free parking here, you buttholes — and was waiting for my greyhound bus when i stepped on something, the kind of step they teach you at band camp so it’s like you’re squeezing the toothpaste out of the tube, from heel to toe, and it squished underneath my shoe. i looked down, and it was a dead bird. i tried so hard to forget it. i almost pretended it didn’t happen. i casually rubbed the bottom of my shoe against the sidewalk and there was no bird residue. i only touched the feathers, none of the entrails.
i really like kalamazoo. i see a lot of places i knew before, but i see them differently now, sort of like in a dream. the cemetery, for example, with the windows, there were pieces of paper taped to them and i forget what the papers said, but i think i knew a long time ago. i remember reading the shining or listening to kanye west or getting an 18^th birthday present in the parking lots at western, but it was sort of like i’d just watched a movie and not actually experienced any of it.
at work i feel like melting under the weight of what other people say to me, the way their mouths move, but i also feel safe and i feel less pressured than i might if i were an editor at a magazine, like i wanted to be all along. i’m not afraid to be fired.
at home i let the dirty clothes pile up in my closet for months. i have enough clothes to get away with it. i like doing laundry but getting started is difficult.
on the way to the hospital to see my mom give birth to a baby, my grandpa asked each of my sisters and me individually if people still used the word «cool.» i have never stopped using the word «cool.»
i haven’t called my mom in months. not even on mother’s day. i saw her for a few hours on april 4 or so.

Coming back from Chicago and train got delayed in Kalamazoo because there’s only 1 track from here to battle creek and they had to let the other train pass by, which was 55 minutes lates. This totally unacceptable, why couldn’t they let this train go and let the other one wait, because there ASS HOLES. They should give everyone a refund.

The lady at the Amtrak ticket booth needs a refresher in Customer Service. She should also learn to read, she argued with me that my Drivers License wasn’t a government ID, and I had to show ID to get my ticket. So what ID was acceptable for her my Sam’s Club Card.
Umm last I heard Sam’s Club is a store not a government agency.
PS. Be careful walking over to the McDonalds the Taxis will hound you to get in and you will pass a few people looking for handouts.

nice lookin place. old school type feel meets slight modernization. door locations weren’t that smartest when creating the plans as the outside breeze whips through easily. They have clean bathrooms and vending machines and a McDonalds and a bar with in very close walking distance.

A decent transportation hub, but really the most convenient way to get into Kalamazoo if you’re looking to spend a quick weekend here. This is especially true since MegaBus or the other major bus companies don’t traverse through here. There’s a McDonalds across the street as well if you’re interested. If you’re ever so inclined, a couple bars are down the street approximately a half mile from here, something that might not be so convenient if you’re lugging around suitcases. If you’re a Bell’s fan, then it’s worth it. Head East, my friend.

There’s nothing spectacular about the station. There’s nothing wrong with it either. I’ve heard negative comments about Amtrak with respect to this station — however, those comments should be directed elsewhere (often to our elected representatives who need to improve Amtrak’s funding). Lateness of a particular train is not related to the station.
That said, my experience at the Kalamazoo station has been quite positive. The architecture of the building is also quite interesting.

Little known fact: Ozzy Osbourne was sitting at this decrepit, dank, smelly pit of a train station while an Amtrak train was delayed (again) on their way from Chicago to Detroit. It was shortly after dealing with the rude service from the indifferent Amtrak employee behind the steel gate and getting hassled for the 13^th time for money by the endless supply of bums who hang out there that he proclaimed «This train is crazy!!» The rest is history.
True story.