What's the opposite of "hiatus"?

I can't believe it has almost been a year since my last post. If anyone out there is still reading this (Ahem... Brittney...) you deserve some kind of prize. A fair amount of stuff has happened since last I blogged. People got older, colleagues left work, new friends came along, vacations were enjoyed, etc. Today, however, I am going back to my favorite topic--public transportation. This isn't going to be about how much it sucks (a lot) or how slow it is (very), but rather this little story revolves around the clash between the old and the new, the young and the old, the smarmy and the crotchety. Riding the bus home today, which I do now because the Red Line construction has made riding the El home the most excruciating experience second only to being force-fed bananas by Jennifer Love Hewitt, one of my younger coworkers happened to get on the bus halfway through my journey home. Fine, whatever, head-nods were exchanged, etc. Some time after this happened, an old man whom I can only describe as "crotchety-lookin" joined us on our journey with his little piece of urban luggage, which is basically a briefcase with wheels for people who can't be bothered to use their arms anymore. My young colleague happened to be seated in a seat which CLOM (crotchety-lookin old man) coveted. Mind you, this was a very crowded bus so no seats were available and CLOM was forced to stand. After traveling about a half of a stop, CLOM proceeds to berate YWC (young work colleague) for sitting in a seat that is marked "Priority" (meaning for the elderly and handicapped). It appeared as if CLOM was giving YWC quite an earful and the incident lasted for a good 90 seconds before YWC gave up his seat to CLOM. During this whole time I was listening to my iPod so didn't actually hear any of the conversation, but in my head it went something like this:

CLOM: "You there. Young whipper-snapper. You're in my seat."

YWC: "Step off grandpa. I was here first."

CLOM: "Kids today are so goddamn ungrateful. I was in the war you know, I fought for your right to sit on the goddamned bus!"

YWC: "Suck it old man, you had your chance to sit on the bus. This is MY time."

CLOM: "Young man, I am going to kick your ass back to eighteen sickity-six if you don't move."

YWC: "OK, ok, calm down. I'll move. Jesus."

CLOM: "That's more like it bee-yotch."

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So, I am sure that is a pretty accurate dramatization since I am a rather accomplished lip reader.

Moral of the story: Old people and young people BOTH suck.

Oh yeah, and I am trying really hard to bring "suck it" back, but it is hard to work into everyday work conversation.