My commuting time is sacred to me. I like to be alone when I commute; I usually read. I don’t feel like having conversations.

I was really tired this morning, and I had to go to a meeting, so I planned to doze on the PATH on the way to work. When I got onto the train, however, I saw one of my coworkers. On the rare occasion that I see one of my coworkers when I get on the train, I usually go sit at the opposite end of the car and pretend I don’t see him or her — not out of malice but out of introversion. But this time it was too late; he spotted me. So I smiled and sat down across from him. He lowered his book and smiled back, but after saying hi I mentioned that I was exhausted and needed to take a nap before getting to work. He had no problem with that, so he returned to his book, and I closed my eyes.

But I couldn’t fall asleep, and after a few minutes I wished that I’d decided to read instead. But of course I couldn’t read, because then my coworker might think I just didn’t want to talk to him. So I sat there for 15 minutes with my eyes closed.

And of course I really did start to fall asleep, but the train was pulling into Newark so I had to get up.

Life is cruel.