~Monday~ I wanted to catch the 7:45 bus today and barely did, having only just a second to glance at that muffin continuing to deteriorate on top of that Southern Bell underground cable warning post. It wasn’t an ant-fest today, but as you can see, there was at least one still loitering about.
At a subsequent stop, a woman got on with a handful of coins. While dropping them in, one of them missed the slot and got stuck, and she placed her somewhat large purse between her knees and clamped down on it while she freed the stuck coin, and then emptied the rest of her piggy bank—so-to-speak—into the fare machine.
As we approached the next stop, two fully-clothed people—a man and a woman—jogged along the sidewalk. At least I thought they were jogging. So, imagine my surprise when they ran up to the next stop and got on the bus. I did think it was strange that they’d be jogging fully clothed, but I also find it odd that they didn’t make any indication at all to the driver as we passed them that they were trying to catch the bus.
I had no work meetings today, and it was fairly quiet around the office. At least three of the nine people who sit in the suite of offices in the vicinity of my office were out today.
I spent three or so hours this morning doing what turned out to be quite an affirming exercise, which was enumerating my contributions to our organization from July 1, 2009 through today, as our annual reviews must be completed by the end of the fiscal year, which is June 30, 2010.
Especially being an ESFJ, who is not inclined to do it naturally, it’s nice to be able to see the forest every once in a while. I also spent some time today working on the minutes of last Friday’s Student E-mail Initiative meeting, too.
I caught the 5:30 bus in front of the credit union, and I didn’t understand the bus driver’s question to me when I got on the bus. He’s a driver I’ve never seen before, and as I boarded he said, “Where do you think the bus stops here?”
Backstory: We are still on a “detour” (onto Brooks Avenue) of this particular route as we have been for about a year now, I think. This is due to the multi-year project of redesigning of Hillsborough Street, on which the bus used to run. They have never put up a sign to indicate exactly where the stop is—for neither the outbound bus on this side of the street, nor the inbound bus on the other side of the street. So for a year now, the bus has been arbitrarily stopping somewhere between the light at the intersection and about 150 feet up Brooks Avenue, presumably at the driver’s whim. Often times the exact stopping point comes across as the function of a bus driver power trip, choosing a point where the waiting passenger isn’t—making him or her have to walk to the bus door—rather than trying to stop where they are.
So, back to his question, which I didn’t understand mostly because of the tone, which sounded a little accusatory to me. Since it was slightly drizzling, I’d waited for the bus under a little tree, which is closer to the intersection than the bus stops most of the time, although it’s not like it has never stopped that close to the intersection. So, I don’t know if that’s what he was alluding to, although if it was, I’m surprised he didn’t just stop further back if he thought that would have been a better place to stop.
I supposed my tone was a little defensive, but to his question, “Where do you think the bus stops here?” I answered, “I have no idea where it’s going to stop here, since the stop has never been marked. I just get on wherever it stops.” As if I have any other choice. Just sayin…
I intended to go to the gym tonight, but it never happened. I made the most delicious spaghetti dinner, adding some chourico (spicy Portuguese sausage) and jalapeños to some heart-healthy spaghetti sauce. Way to put the clogged-artery in heart-healthy.
I played some online Scrabble, had a short instant message conversation with Robert and a little bit longer one with Joe, and horrors of horrors, I watched two more episodes of Glee on Hulu.com!!!