Get on Sir!!

Auggh so much involved with moving in and getting furninture and learning the new area, sorry again for delayed posts.

But alas, I have started taking the bus to work, and while this may be old hat to some, this is brand new living to me, and by brand new I mean totally foreign and slightly exciting. So the job will pay $120 a month towards my monthly commute, after some leg work I have figured the cheapest route is bus travel. Though it should be noted my leg work was initially driving to work every day and paying $10 dollars to park in a garage. Also I assumed I could beat the system by parking in surrounding neighborhoods in the free 2 hour spots moving my car every few hours, that was a smashing failure, to the tune of a $45 dollar ticket the first day I tried. So bus it is my friends.

Yesterday was my first day, and you would have thought I was a third grader getting ready for the first day of school. I went online figured my route and marched on the bus stop, home made lunch in hand, turkey sandwich and pepperoni to be exact. Standing, ever so valiantly, on the wrong side of the road, at the wrong stop, fortunately I noticed my error in time, jogged across the street and stood patiently. Now the bus shows up there's a guy talking to bus driver and I make the foolish assumption that he is getting off the bus...no no no he's just up there talking for talking sake. So while I wait at the door trying to be patient, I must look like some out of town bumpkin to the bus driver, a freshly bald shaved black woman with HUMUNGOUS star earrings who so kindly shouts to me, GET ON THE BUS SIR. I practically leap the three steps to get on and forget to pay, then I get all nervous that I'm going to get kicked off. So while I sit there I'm trying to figure a way to put my money in the meter, but I'm so nervous as to not step across the 'do not step across"  yellow line. So I just sit there on the edge of my seat in my own little world of paranoia, between the need to pay, the ever so mean bus driver and old guy still talking to her, the moving my car every few hours option isn't looking so bad.

I finally get the courage to leap forward jam my $1.35 into the receiver and sit back down, practically out of breath and kind of proud of myself. Then it dawns on me that, this is not the same way I drive to work, now I'm bugging, I keep looking for familiar signs, stores etc, nothing, and by the way, I have the strong feeling that I may be the only one on the bus who speaks only English. After another 7 agonizing minutes the bus gets back on ground I'm used to, see apparently buses have to pick up other people and this requires going through neighborhoods and stopping at apt complexes, ahhh wise ploy, in my haste to use public transport I forgot about the other 2.4 million people in the area who might need to get around as well.  Finally I get to the "drop spot" aka bus stop but admit it drop spot does make it sound cooler, so there I am at the drop spot which is only a mere 6 blocks away from the office, after a brisk walk I arrive to work, sweaty, baffled, and only 45 minutes late...tomorrow I decide to take an earlier bus.