[TCK rule}As I say in the video, my only train ride happened after I mouthed off to a bunch (like ten) of these American Front (Neo-Nazi Skinheads) guys on Haight Street in SF. They had called my friend a ******...and I may have thrown a napkin holder at one of them in the McDonalds. In any event...I told my friends to run because I did not think these thugs would kill me, but my friends would have been in greater danger. When I regained consciousness in Golden Gate Park, I got on a train that I knew went right past a hospital that was near my home. Called my parents, told them where I was, and was attended to. Funny, I think my friends were pretty ashamed of running...and it took 25 years for me to be given the chance to say it was worth it and I did not blame them.
While I wanted to die in that train car (I think many of the other passengers thought I might), I do not share the same perspective as our protagonist here. I have always loved trains, train songs...train lore, and I have ridden one exactly once. I think if I was given the opportunity and didn't hate being cold so much, I might live a life similar to Bill's. The whole thing has so much allure for me. Ah- to be crazy and 16 again. [/TCK rule]