I had been threatening to do it for weeks. Months I tell you. Perhaps even a year. All of my friends had heard about it ad nauseum. My family, too. I was at the point where I decided to just stop talking about it because I was beginning to sound...

So here I am, sitting again alone on the L train heading east, tucked against the damp, steel railing next to the door. The car is particularly humid on this mid-June monsoonish day, making me want to crawl out of my clothing and skin -- away from the situation. It's...