I was up and at ’em early this morning, as I had to make a grocery store run before catching the bus. Normally, I would have parked at the Food Lion and caught the Wolfline bus in from there, but the university buses were not running today, due to the Easter break.
I committed to bring in some whipped cream, but had decided before I got there to get a few more things to make the ice cream social a little more festive. I ended up with a can of lite Cool Whip (with picture on the can showing it over strawberries), a can of regular Cool Whip (with its picture showing it over a scoop of ice cream), a bag of Nestle’s Tollhouse Premier White Morsels, a bag of Reese’s Peanut Butter Chips, a bag of Heath Bits ‘O Brickle Toffee Bits (whose name, for the record, has the apostrophe in the wrong place; it should be after the “O,” as it’s indicating the missing “f”), a package of Oreos, a can of pineapple, and a jar of Maraschino cherries. Sweet! (Literally!)
I got back in time to actually catch the 7:50 bus instead of the 8:20 one that I usually catch.
Today’s buscapade involves ambivalence and ignorance.
Starting with my own stop, I watched today’s driver stop the bus at least six feet before where anyone was standing at any stop. I wondered if it was some kind of power trip for her to make people walk over to the bus.
At about the fourth stop after I got on, she did the same thing and the person getting on just looked over, sort of staring over toward the bus, and eventually started walking very slowly toward it.
He got on the bus and was fumbling with getting his dollar in the slot, about which the bus driver was making a face. As he tried again, I noticed a multi-sectioned, white cane with a rid tip folded up under his arm. The red-tipped part was behind his arm, so the bus driver couldn’t see it.
After a few seconds, she grabbed the bill and put it in for him, as he turned a little and took the first seat by the door—not behind the driver but on the opposite side of her. It was obvious that she was put out by having to put his dollar in for him, and when she finished, she just stuck out her hand, holding the ticket up for him to take. He was looking right at her, but wasn’t moving to take the ticket, which put her out even more.
Finally, she opened her mouth and said, “Sir?” She was still holding the ticket, but he had no idea she was talking to him or offering him the ticket, and she had no idea why he wasn’t responding.
Finally, she huffed and threw the ticket in the trash can.
Our ice cream social wasn’t crowded today, mostly because a good number of people took off for Good Friday and the Easter Weekend, but it accomplished its goal of encouraging the mingling of folks who, though they work in the same building, don’t often see each other.
We had a choice of vanilla or van-choc-straw ice cream, and in addition to the variety of toppings I brought in, there were peanuts, fudge syrup, caramel syrup, strawberry syrup, and fresh strawberries. Side items included a variety of small bags of Doritos, Cheetos, and chips, and some soft drinks. It was all good.
I met Joe at The Borough at 7:00, and we had dinner there and a couple of drinks. It had been a while since I had had their Uberwisconsin, so I had that. Joe had the Vizzini. We ran into Ginny and her beau, Daniel, there and said hello. Such good people.
We caught the R-Line over to Landmark, where we had a couple of drinks before the bartender closed out our tab for us without asking him to do so. Well, I guess we’re done, then.
We got back on the R-Line and took it around to Glenwood South and dropped in at Tobacco Road, where I didn’t see any of the Tweeps, and Joe “wasn’t feeling it,” so we walked over to Flex from there, where we equally weren’t feeling it, but at least the drinks were cheap and the men were gay—well to begin with, at least..
The crowd grew stranger as the evening progressed. It was half the regular crowd, and then various different kinds of people came in, some of them from the 120 Minutes crowd, but many others not.
Charles was there, who I haven’t seen almost a year to the day—April 13, 2008 to be exact—and we caught up a little. A friend of his (an RG) was DJing this evening.
Joe and Phil dropped in for a while, and at one point one of Charles’ friends (another RG) named Jo (short for Josephine) came over and was introduced. We had three “Jo(e)’s” there at once.
Joe (the real Joe) and I left some time after midnight, as we were ’bout saturated with liquor, since we’d be drinking since 7:00.