tonight I sit by the computer watching georgia election returns come in. one race seems to be decided while the other still hangs in the balance. with 97% of the vote counted, it should be resolved in an hour or two. not sure i'll make it that long.

i jumped on my first freight train in georgia; it was going through the city of atlanta. i was trying to get home from work at the airport and my home was very tenuous, but in a different part of the city. the freight slowed down at the airport; i jumped on, and it went slowly through east point, a suburb near the city. this was in the middle of the night, and it was in january. it was quite pleasant outside. hard to hitchhike maybe, it being about five in the morning, but the train was good. it wasn't going too fast.

i jumped off it at some god-forsaken part of town where, by walking, i'd saved a few miles if nothing else. i didn't really know where i was, but it was about five in the morning, so i didn't especially feel uncomfortable. i jumped when the train was going its slowest, but even then i kind of landed in some weeds and had to brush myself off when i stood up.

i'm not sure people are still doing that, jumping on trains. it's one of those things like skinny dipping in a rock quarry, that if the owners find out they're not too happy for insurance reasons. mostly they just don't want you to die when they are responsible. you can understand their concern. but a depression's on. maybe it'll come back, as people get tired of spending actual money going places.

east point, a pretty little place. mighty quiet, at five in the morning. i felt like i was the only one awake, but i wasn't.