The Road Less (or Most) Traveled

I just read a tweet quoting Robert Frost's poem, The Road Not Taken.  I like to believe that I have taken many un-traveled roads in my life, but this morning, I decided against it.

I awoke to a very icy-coated landscape outside my bedroom window.  I was a bit worried about the state of the sidewalks, so I chose to wear my Sperry Topsider duck shoes.  Thank goodness!

I slid, literally slid, out the door of the apartment stairwell onto the sidewalk. I knew it would be quite an interesting walk to the pickup stop.  I think I walked approximately 6 feet on the sidewalk before I realized it would be much easier to walk on the road, which had been salted quite well.  I literally walked down the middle of the street because the sidewalk near the stop was extremely slippery.  

It was a little awkward cause I think I may have been in the way of some drivers.  Sorry, I'm not sorry.

Keep living your dream!

Who's Your Daddy?

My poor friend.  She totally missed “The 46” this morning.  Our driver came at 7:22am, and unfortunately, she didn’t quite make it to the stop on time.  I’m sure she got to enjoy quite a nice ride on “The 78” with the fabulous driver who always stops for a snack break.

I hopped onto “The 46” and was greeted by my always-friendly driver (insert sarcasm here).  My membership card worked today – woot woot!  I slid the card and began walking towards an open seat near the front.  As I started walking, he pulled away, and instead of gracefully sitting down, I slid (or should I say I was forced by speed and velocity) right into the seat.  I'm sure my “friends” all got a good chuckle out of that. 

I got settled in and took a quick look around.  Because my driver was early today, many of my “friends” were missing and “The 46” was quite empty.  A few people were hanging out in the back, and one of my “friends” wass sleeping up front, pretty near to me.  I pulled out my phone to read through the emails I received overnight.  I read through a quite witty email from The Skimm about Minnesota beating up on Indiana… Here’s a quick quote from the email:  “Hoosier daddy? Minnesota."  

As I completed my reading, I heard some grunts coming from the front of “The 46”, my sleeping “friend.”  Talk about awkward.  She then followed with a couple of “whats” and “ohs”.  Hmm, guess it must be a pretty good dream if she feels the need to sleep talk and allow all of the other riders into her thoughts.  Thanks for the offer, but I’d really rather ride in silence.  She awoke with the buzz of her cell phone, and preceded to stick the phone in her hood so she wouldn’t have to hold it.  What is wrong with these people?!

Keep living your dream!

A Non-Traditional Morning (Cont.)

Hello readers!

I figured I should continue on with my story from Thursday morning, since I left you with quite a cliffhanger.

So sure enough, I totally missed "The 46".  I was so late that I didn't even see my ride driving down the road ahead.  Oh well.  

If I would have made it to "The 46" I would have missed out on quite a sight. Check out that hair...  I love pink, and I'm also considering a new hair-do.  Should I go for it?

Keep living your dream!

Warning: DO NOT ATTEMPT

It's only 8:03am, and I've had a whirlwind of a morning.  

Woke up at 6:17am, and I knew I would be moving quite slowly today.  I'm not sure why, but man, I couldn't motivate myself to do anything.

I went through my daily morning routine:  my hair, my teeth, my face, my clothes, etc.  I decided to try out a Pinterest recipe... Maybe I should have actually read through the directions.  Instead of having a breakfast fruity-peanut-buttery quesadilla, I ended up with a bag of mush.  Whoops.  Next time, I'll just eat the peanut butter and fruit, no quesadilla.  

Did I mention it was raining?  Well, it was.  I walked outside with my friend, still carrying my bag of gross, and we were hit smack in the face with rain and wind.  Carrying that bag really made my hands super cold, and the real question is, was the taste really worth my freezing hands?  No.

We get to our stop, praying we wouldn't be late.  Luckily, the rain cause a bit of a delay, so for once, we didn't have to run.  "The 46" arrived, and my friend went in first.  I slid my membership card, and got the dreaded "Card not valid" message.  I tried again and again.  And again.  Then the driver tried.  And he tried again. I was pretty much SOL.  He asked me what was wrong with the card... how should I know?  Do I look like a membership card specialist?  No.  He allowed me to take a seat on "The 46" but I was instructed to speak to the people at school about this issue.  Would I even know who to talk to?  Again, no.

And then it hit me.  I volunteered to try out a new membership card program, so I bet the deactivated my card.  Well, gee, that's super awesome considering I don't get my new card until Thursday.  So that's pretty great.  I'll get to face the same problem tomorrow.

Today's lesson:  don't try anything off Pinterest, and choose your volunteer opportunities carefully.  

Keep living your dream!

And happy birthday to my favorite sister!

Lost? Not Really

J.R.R. Tolkien once said, "Not all those who wander are lost."  But sometimes, they actually are.  

My "friends" always amaze me.  Every day, I am greeted with another interesting story on board "The 46."  Although my nice luxury ride is recently new (the extra cash from co-op was certainly helpful), some of my "friends" have been riding in these luxurious vehicles their entire lives, yet they can never remember when to tell our driver when to stop.  How can you not know when you need to get out???

One of my favorite stories from the ride today.  A "friend" needed to get off in between our special drop-off locations.  He started yelling at our driver, and when we had stopped at the next location, my "friend" asked the bus driver how he was supposed to get back to his preferred location.  Our driver looked right at him and said, "You get off here, and walk right on back down to where we came from."  A little sass, I love it!

Keep living your dream!

A Non-Traditional Morning

This morning, I decided coffee was more important than catching “The 46”…

For the first time ever, my alarm did not go off, probably due to the fact that I forgot to set it last night, but that’s still under investigation.  I woke up in a bit of a panic, but thankfully I was able to quickly touch up a few strands of hair and I was good to go with that part of my morning.

With my hair finished, I quickly pulled together an outfit and a lunch. 

I’m not sure what prompted me to make a cup of joe, but it sounded good on a cold morning like today.  Please note, it was 7:14am and I leave my humble abode for “The 48” at 7:17am.  I heated up some water, poured the coffee powder into a to-go cup and sat down at the kitchen table.  I knew I had plenty of time before the water was finished so I packed my work bag and then decided I should write a thank you note.  Reader, I know what you’re thinking “SERIOUSLY?!  Who writes a thank you note at 7:17am?”  It was important, okay (sassy emphasis on “okay”).  Halfway through the note, I checked the time:  7:16am.  Panic set in, but the coffee was not finished, so I carried on (while I tried to keep calm) with my writing. 

As I signed my name on the note, the water finished heating.  7:18am.  Quickly stirred the powder and water, pulled on my coat, grabbed my bag and ran out the door. 

In order to catch “The 46”, I knew I would have to speed walk (running would cause spilled-coffee burns).

To be continued…

Keep living your dream!

Cue the Drama

Let me start by saying that today, my driver decided to arrive early, again.  My riding friend missed "The 46" by a good 7 minutes, so now she has to ride "The 78".  So I was looking forward to a ride of utter silence, just me and my thoughts...

"Gurl... Like omg!  Just so much drama about her boyfriend.  I'm just like... I'm done." - Nurse Rider #1

"Like I said I have to go to work.  People aren't responsible.  I guess the neighbor told..." - Nurse Rider #2

Oh please, friends, avoid the drama!  Gurls seriously keep it to yourselves.  The whole vehicle doesn't want to hear your drama.

Oh for goodness sakes, Nurse rider #2 forgot to tell Nurse Rider #1 that their friend was pregnant... How could she forget that?!?! 

Just got the "Now entering Downtown" message over the intercom on "The 46".  Thank goodness!  I can't take anymore of the drama.  These ladies are worse than women at a garden party in the 1950s. 

Keep living your dream!

Did I Just Agree to Be Your New BFF?

Hello all!

I certainly hope you all enjoyed a day of relaxation yesterday, or your day of work if your chosen corporation did not feel the need to honor our great Presidents.  Sorry to all of you, but let's just say, I personally had quite an eventful, yet relaxing President's Day - thanks for asking!

Back to the corporate grind today - woo???

I arrived at the stop a bit early today, because my driver thinks it's fun to arrive ahead of schedule and leave me behind.  I'm also really trying to cut down on my early morning workouts (which is bad since working out more frequently is one of my Lenten goals) so I knew I needed to leave my apartment with plenty of time to spare.  I think I arrived around 7:17am today just to be sure I would catch the bus, so needless to say, I was in the company of me, myself, and I.  While my own personal thoughts are quite entertaining, I was glad to see a couple new "friends" arrive at the stop a few minutes later.  What a friendly woman!  She talked my ear off, and while I couldn't understand half the things she was saying, I smiled, nodded, and hoped that I hadn't agreed to anything, like babysitting her school-aged child. 

Before I forget, I should tell you that the bus arrived at 7:29am, so my new "friend" really chatted away.  Normally, I'm the one dominating a conversation, but today, I gladly shared the role with my "friend" - this may or may not be attributed to my state of still-half-asleep.

Keep living your dream! 

Blinded by the Light

*** Take note:  This blog post was not based on an experience in the 7:19 am to 7:46 am time period. ***

Make new friends, but keep the old.  Some are silver, and the others gold.

The simple lyrics bring back fond memories of my childhood days, but today, they brought about a whole new meaning.  

Today, I went in to work only to find out I could work from home.  I gathered my belongings, but before walking to wait for the luxury vehicle, I bought myself Starbucks.  I purchased a Venti Nonfat Caramel Latte, because I just knew that I would be seeing gold.

Let's just say the 8:45 am luxury vehicle "friends" are quite different than those still half-asleep on the earlier ride.  When I hopped into the vehicle upon it's arrival at the station, I was immediately blinded by a shining light - a "friend" in a hooded, fur, gold coat.  What a sight!  I can't even imagine what he paid for such a lovely and warm coat.  My "friends" certainly do have some interesting tastes in fashion!

Keep living your dream! 

Spring Cleaning

I’ve met many new “friends” on my morning adventures, yet today, one man stood out.  Picture this:  you’ve just entered the luxury vehicle and taken your seat.  You read a couple text messages and emails on your chosen mobile device, and suddenly, you have an urge to look up at your surroundings.  You see all of the “regulars”, and then there is this one man… with a purple vacuum…  Hmm.

Who brings a vacuum on a luxury vehicle?  It’s not clean enough for you???  I mean, I have pretty high standards (and by that, I mean extremely high), but you don’t see me with a vacuum. 

I was in shock, but to each his own, I guess. 

Maybe I was daydreaming, or would that be classified as earlymorningdreaming?

Well, whatever it is, keep living your dream!

Shananigans

It's all fun and games... until someone gets in trouble.  Then I get to chuckle to myself.

This morning's ride was quite entertaining.  It started out in the usual way - quiet and relaxing.  Well, as relaxing as the ride can be with a driver who is constantly slamming on the brakes, but you get the point.  

I make eye contact with two very young "friends" and I know I've started trouble.  They smiled to themselves, and started belting out Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and The ABC's... Oh joyous.  Many "friends" turned their iPods/cell phones on and put their headphones in.  It was almost as if I had my own personal concert of childhood songs!

We pull into the vehicle station, and the girls are still singing.  Their mom (she has had headphones in the entire duration of the ride) hears the younger girl and tells her to control herself.  Lady, where have you been the past 20 minutes?!?!  

While the girls may have been a bit off key, I was happy to have a bit of morning entertainment to brighten my week.  Happy Hump Day!

Keep living your dream!

A Morning Jog? I Think Not Part II

One of my close friends, he also has a personal driver, but he frequently rides to work on "The 78", the luxury vehicle I took Friday after my personal driver on "The 46" left me out in the cold.

So anyways, this morning, while I'm sitting on the bus, I receive a text from my friend about how annoyed he is.  His reason:  "The 78" personal driver stops at his house every morning to pick up food.  I immediately text him back for a bit more clarification about the driver, only to confirm that indeed he is not stopping at the store, but instead his home.  You have got to be kidding me.  How can he have time to run home while he is on the job?!  Nobody's got time for that, especially when I'm being paid by the hour.  Gotta get in and get out.

Here's to hoping my friend clocked in on time!

Keep living your dream! 

The Pregnant Man...

Hmm....  I'm not even sure how to describe this morning's ride into work.  

This week, one of my best friends from school is back riding "The 46" with me.  Today, she was surely welcomed back with open arms.

When we boarded "The 46" it was around 7:25 am.  It was a beautiful spring like morning outside, so we didn't even mind the wait, although our hair was quite messy.  We took our seats, after swiping our cards (they even have our pictures on them, so cool, I know) and hoped for a peaceful ride on this Monday morning.

The ride was anything but that.  One of my “friends” was having quite a loud conversation this morning.  He started preaching to this couple, but honestly, I’m pretty sure he wanted us all to hear because he was practically screaming at the top of his lungs.  We got to learn about my “friend’s” preacher, his beliefs, death, and how he thought he was a pregnant woman.  Well, alrighty then.

“The 46” came to a screeching halt, and the man was called to the front to see our driver.  Since he refused to move from his seat, our driver had to come back to him to ask him to get off the vehicle.  Let me quickly interject that our driver is foreign, and has a bit of an accent.  My pregnant man “friend” decided to start talking in Spanish, acting as though he couldn't hear the driver telling him he needed to exit.  My pregnant man “friend” also told us that he would not exit the vehicle until we got him a translator to translate the driver’s faint accent.  My “friends” were getting antsy and started yelling about being late to class and work.  It was quite a scene.

So in my head I’m thinking, “OMG NOW I’M ANNOYED BECAUSE WE HAVE BEEN SITTING HERE FOR FIVE WHOLE MINUTES!!!”  Finally, I think it was because all other riders were annoyed and yelling, the man got off (insert rude, harsh, derogatory comments here).

After he exited, we were all trying to stifle our laughs, but that didn’t last long.  Chuckles grew louder when my “friend” who had been sitting directly across from the pregnant man told us she didn’t even realize he had been talking directly at her.  I’m amazed that she had the ability to tune him out!

To end this morning’s post, here’s a quote from my “friend”:  “Everyone dies, but not everyone lives.”

By the way, I was so frazzled from this incident that I totally forgot summer class registration went up inline this morning, so BIG thanks to my roommate for the reminder! 

Keep living your dream!

A Morning Jog? I Think Not

Are you one of those dedicated people who wake up early to get in a workout?  Well, I'm not.  But every morning at 7:23 am, I can be seen sprinting down Calhoun Street with my giant bag bashing into my side. Sometimes, I underestimate my "power walk" at 7:19 am.  

Well, today, I was not late, my personal driver was just early.  Umm... rude?  Not going to wait for your customer?  I can barely arrive at 7:25 am, which he knows quite well.  He just left without me.  

Luckily,  I have arranged for "The 78" to pick me up, in case these horrendous situations occur.  So my new driver, he was a maniac, until he completely stopped the vehicle and got out.  After sitting on the side of the road for five minutes, he returned to "The 78" with a bag of snacks and drinks for himself.  Really, it's 7:34 am, how could you be hungry or thirsty?  Plus, I'm supposed to be at work.  Not cool, Mr. Chauffeur, not cool.

Thankfully, he got me to work on time, but no tip for him!

Keep living your dream! 

YOLA

YOLO - you only live once.  What an annoying saying.  

YOLA - you only live awkwardly.  The story of my life.

Waiting for my chauffeur to bring "The 46" to me is always an interesting time with my "friends."  Today, while I was still half asleep, I ran into one of my "friends" and she mumbled something.  I was taken aback when I heard her say, "Good morning."  For some reason, I was in a good mood, and I said hello back.  That was when I saw it... her phone tucked secretly into her hood so she could talk hands-free......  Yeah.  

And this my friends, is why I don't talk before I have my coffee.  

Keep living your dream!

Imagine

The legend, John Lennon, once said, "You may say I'm a dreamer."  But really, who isn't?

Each morning, in that short period of time after I wake up but before I have my Tall Iced Coffee with Milk, Sweetened, I take a ride in my luxury vehicle.  It's so special, it has a name:  "The 46".  You may be wondering how I, a twenty-year-old college student, could afford a to have a named vehicle, but guess what, it gets even better.  I have a personal driver - I know, how lucky am I?!?  I also have a multitude of "friends" who ride with me, but since I'm still half-asleep during the ride to work, I choose not to socialize.  

So welcome to Collegiate and Chauffeured, a blog detailing my daily awkward social encounters with "friends", stories of my personal driver, and my life from 7:19 am to 7:46 am.  

Keep living your dream!