Saturday, January 06, 2007

under pressure...

so, i'm back with time to blog and now i can't get started. i think i'm putting too much pressure on myself to try and write some of the many blog ideas i have had running thru my brain for the past month or so. i can't believe it's been that long since i really put anything down. other than my friday random top ten.

so, i think i'll start easy and talk about my day yesterday and how much i hate bc transit. or whatever they are called now. i got soaking wet and chilled to the bone yesterday because i attempted to follow their advice. never again!

it snowed yesterday morning and i decided to take transit to work. i have been meaning to do this since the start of january but i've been sick so i'd rather drive in my toasty car than sit on a bus.

i put on my snow boots (as opposed to my rain boots. more on my boots later) , bundled up and headed out to my bus stop. i live in a very hilly area, on the edge of a mountain so this can be an ordeal in the snow. it's all uphill and if nobody has broken a trail yet, it can take me more than 1/2 hour to walk the five blocks to the stop. luckily, the snow isn't that bad, and people have been up and about so there is already a trail for me to follow. i'm 1/2 way up my street when i realized i forgot my gloves. and my scarf. but i think no big deal. i'll be ok. it's not that bad. (ha!)

i get to the bus stop and it's still snowing. the bus comes and i'm like a little snowgirl getting on the bus. and everybody on the bus stares at me! and moves away. like i'm some kind of freak. gee, i'm sorry i'm covered in snow. but it's snowing out! and i tried to shake as much off as possible.

other than that, my ride is uneventful. however, even tho i know how to get to work by transit, i checked the website and they give me some other directions. i think, well, they must know best so i take their advice. big mistake! the route is not a direct route and i am supposed to get off the bus and walk up three blocks. but by the time i figure that out, i am way past my stop and have to wait until i can get off in an area i know which becomes five blocks. uphill. in the snow. without my gloves. i am frozen by the time i get to my new bus stop. i go into this shop to pick up some lunch because i figure i'll be too busy to take a break, and the shop clerk totally gives me and her co-worker attitude. i ask what something is, and the girl helping me asks this other girl what it is and she is all like 'it's all listed on the front'. um, no it's not. i am not a moron. and the girl helping me is like, no, it's not. so then she says, oh, well it used to be. yah, that's great honey. but what is it?!

i get to work finally and time flies by. soon, it is time for me to go home. and i think, i am going to give this bus route that bc transit wants me to take another chance. plus now i get to walk downhill and it's not snowing, only raining so maybe it is a good route. i head out and i am a block away from the office when i realize that i forgot to change back into my snowboots. i am sad because i decided i was going to try and incorporate a blog for each of my 42 pairs of shoes. my snowboots were to be the first of them. oh well, i think. no big deal.

i end up having to walk 1/2 mile until i can actually find a bus stop. three buses pass me so i know i'm on the right road. it's dark, bitterly cold, and slushy. my lovely australian boots are now soaked. i am cursing the fact that my gloves are at home and my boots are at work. i finally get to the bus stop. i am soaking wet. the air smells. bad. i am not sure of what. plus the three people at the stop are smoking (but that is not what smells bad). i feel like passing out. the bus finally shows up and the bus driver looks at me funny as i pay. whatever. after i sit down and glance at my ticket, i realize that the reason he has is because i have way overpaid my fare. since it took me 45 minutes to actually get on a bus, i did not notice that peak hours were over. damn!

i manage to dry off a little on the skytrain home. i get on my last bus home, looking like a dried drowned rat and mr. handsome is my bus driver. great. like i don't feel crappy enough as it is. mr. handsome is also very nice. but i am so not even able to think about flirting with him. i reach my stop, exit the bus [of course pausing to thank mr. handsome.. who tells me i'm welcome :) ], and step into a big pile of slush. for some reason, it had slipped my mind that the slush and snow would be even worse in my neighbourhood. i inch my way home thru slush and ice, stopping only to buy an extremely expensive carton of milk (but i had the bonus of picking up tv week with kiefer sutherland on the cover) and a chicken pot pie. my boots finally gave up the fight against water when i stepped in a slush puddle that went up past my ankles. more than two hours after leaving work, i finally arrive home and leave a pile of wet stuff all the way from the front door into the bathroom. i spend the evening, with the heat cranked up, laying on the couch, watching the munsters.

now, most of this could have been avoided had i just went with my initial plan of catching the bus outside of the office. the option never came up in my transit search because this apparently takes 8 minutes longer than their option. whatever. last time i'm making that mistake!

hopefully writing this will kickstart me into writing some better stuff later today.

7 comments:

Toccata said...

I love how you can blog about the everyday things and make it sound so dramatic. I've missed your take on things. I could really visualize the scene in the shop trying to buy lunch asking a simple question and getting the infamous run around!

It's so great to have you back. So sad about your Australian boots getting all soaked and soggy.

668 aka neighbour of the beast said...

i have a friend who always jokes with me, can't you just go to a store and have nothing happen to you? half the time, i end up with a little adventure just going to the bathroom in a strange place. i'm glad that somebody finds them amusing. :)

i'm glad to be back. i haven't had as much time to blog as i wanted to this weekend but i'm getting there. but i still have to catch up with all of the blogs online!

i will be online during the strombo show tonight.

Evelyne said...

the bus route that the city gives you sometimes is the shortest way to get from A to B, but most of the time, it takes a lot more time!

If Kiefer Sutherland was on the cover of the tv guide, I guess that 24 starts soon...

668 aka neighbour of the beast said...

next sunday! i misread the time in the guide and thought it was yesterday but it's next sunday. yay!

668 aka neighbour of the beast said...

next sunday! i misread the time in the guide and thought it was yesterday but it's next sunday. yay!

Evelyne said...

I think I'll tape it, I just finished season 4 on dvd but I have to see season 5 before... and I think that I'm starting to be addicted to 24, I love this tv show so much!

668 aka neighbour of the beast said...

ooohhh last season was so good. i started watching 24 season 4. i ended up buying them all on dvd (except season 5). so far, i have only been able to watch season 1.