For some reason, I feel like I come up with some of my favorite art ideas when it rains. There is something about rainy weather that puts me in an ideal state: the melancholy vibes and the strumming of raindrops are perfect for reflection and letting the mind wander.

Recent rainy days made me think of my old job, specifically the near-daily commutes to my former office on the other side of LA County of where I lived. As I trudged home from my bus stop in the dark one night, seeing the headlights of on-coming cars refracted by the raindrops while my socks became completely soaked, I thought that days like these made me grateful I no longer had to make that long trek from the San Gabriel Valley to the Westside.

Each day’s commute was a cumbersome ritual, because I was stubborn and lazy and opted to take public transportation, rather than put in the effort to drive the whole way. My trips would begin with a short drive to the bus station, where I’d hop on an express bus (the Metro J Line), switch to the Metro E Line in Downtown, then board a local bus (Culver CityBus 6) that would swim through Sepulveda Blvd. traffic to bring me to my office’s doorstep. In the best-case scenario, the door-to-door travel time clocked in at about an hour and a half each way. Surprisingly competitive with rush-hour traffic, by my calculations, though definitely far from ideal.

Expo/Sepulveda Station, where I transferred between the E Line and the 6, became an anchor point in those commutes. It served as the last landmark as I left my non-work life behind, and the first checkpoint on my journey home. As I waited for the eastbound train, the skylines of Century City and Downtown in the distance became a familiar view that foreshadowed the long trek ahead.

I don’t remember it raining much during my tenure at my old place, but some of us might recall the big storms and severe flooding of February 2024, which added a layer of complication on top of my commute. I drew this piece to recreate that experience of simultaneously enjoying the hauntingly beautiful LA skyline during inclement weather, yet also standing all alone in the cruel, dark world, as the cars whizz by and the storm howls around you and the splashing of puddles drenches your clothing and your shoes while you wait for a bus or train that may never arrive. I am being overly dramatic, of course. I will concede that taking the train certainly beats driving and trying to battle the storm out on the freeways. Plus, I actually enjoy rain, as long as it is from the safety and comfort of indoors, or at the very least, when I don’t have to go through it to get to work. That said, there were places that I would rather be, like reading manga and sipping hot tea at home and falling asleep to the patter-patter of rain against the window. Or, you know, I could be making more art.

In some ways, my former commute, and the pain points that came with it, allowed me to be more intimately attuned to the transit riding experience, maybe even more so than I am now, despite the fact that I literally currently work for a transit agency. Perhaps I drew this, in part, because I wanted to remind myself of that experience, and because even in the tougher parts of working life, there is beauty that can be found.