~Tuesday~ The bus was running late this morning—almost five minutes past the time when it usually is the latest that it arrives. I put on my patience hat, which never has fit very well.
Entering the bus, I was greeted by an ear-piercingly loud noise that continued the entire trip. I don’t know how the bus driver tolerated it for an entire round trip f the route. It had to have been doing damage to her ears.
A white girl sat to my right in black Adidas running pants with a white double-stripe down the leg and a matching black jacket, and a red sweatshirt on underneath. For no fathomable reason, she had on dark sunglasses—the kind that have little side panels on them, too, like those usually worn by older people. She was in her 20s, I’d say. She held two CAT bus maps in her lap, one of them being the Method map (the bus we’re on) and the other being the Falls of Neuse map, which presumably she was connecting to.
At a subsequent stop, a very tall, very dark-complected African American guy with a very white goatee got on the bus with a very loud “Good morning!” to the bus driver and then talking all the way to the back of the bus, presumably to himself, and I thought, “Oh, we’re going to hear from him shortly.”
Seconds later from the back, “DANG! THE BURGLAR ALARM GOING OFF OR SOMETHING???”
I was truly happy to get off at my stop and relieve my ears from said “burglar alarm.”
I’ve meant to capture these affirmations from the last few days.
The first is from Alison, who was the hostess of that party I slept through on Friday night. She sent me this gracious e-mail in response to my apology for being a “Yes” RSVP, but in the end being a “no-show”:
| Hey John,
Thanks for your note. I definitely missed you… partly because you would have been the “life of the party” but mostly because my narcissistic self was looking forward to my one-inch of fame in your blog post! 🙂 Seriously though, I hope you are on the mend, and that the drugs have kicked ass on your cough. I’m hoping to make it to some of the new Sig-Doc activities next semester and hang out on the graduate side of things. Have a wonderful holiday season, Alison |
The second one from my friend Patti, who I met in Key West in April and saw again around my birthday when I was in Seattle:
| John – it’s been a tough week since the murder of my fellow officers—you, my friend are a breath of fresh air! Kirk and I were both thrilled that you shared a piece of your valuable vacation time with us! |
The third one was from my friend Hugh, whose Love Wins Ministry I nominated as one of our work organization’s holiday giving projects. I had asked him a question about the packaging of items in the Freshpacs they need, and with his clarifying response, he added:
| Thanks for nominating us. You are the best.
Grace and Peace, HH |
And today from my friend Steve down in Georgia, as a comment to yesterday’s posting:
|
Intact Boney Thorax
That sounds far more suggestive than it should. However, it could be the result of a dirty mind.
Glad to hear you’ll make it and that your x-rays came out clear. It’s not just Vivian that needs you around – we all do! — Steve |
Since my officemate and teammate, Rhonda, was out sick today, my manager and I went next door to Coffee Haven for our weekly department meeting instead of to a conference room. She treated me to coffee and a slice of pumpkin bread. Sweet.
Today, I worked on the new Accessibility website, a page for the new Google Apps @ NC State splash page, and learning a little bit about WordPress.
I had to force myself to go to the gym once I got home, as I so was not in the mood. Once there, I did 40 minutes on the treadmill, burning off 410 calories, all while listening to a Car Talk podcast.
I’m now in the midst of three online Scrabble games—one with Robert, one with Will & Kim, and another one on the side with just Will. I’m not complaining at all. Love playing with words.
I dusted the hell out of my living room tonight. Tomorrow night, it’s the guest bedroom and cleaning the guest bathroom. That should be good enough. 🙂
I ran to the grocery store at about 10:30 as I’m out of coffee again. I hate it when that happens.