Taking the bus

I cried this morning. No really, like a baby, or more like a two year old. When the watch alarm laughed me out of bed around 4:30am (John had tried to snuggle me out of bed at 4am, with zero success), I wailed. I can't do this! NO NO NO

John, just changed his class schedule to have a 7:30am class, which, when we do the calculations means he had to catch the 5:39am bus and NO later. I had enjoyed Monday and Tuesday catching the later 6:41 and 6:21 buses with John, but this was too much. 5:30 is usually when I get up, not catch a bus. NO NO NO

Aside from that, I still didn't have my class supplies in order. Somewhere in the house, there was paint thinner and gesso, my receipts, and a coupon for 30% off a regular priced art supply. How was I to get that all together...it was now 4:39am, John was in the shower and I was only tittering onto the wood floor. "Why John, do you have to retake Calculus I? Is this necessary, I whined, I don't want to be in school for another 3 years. Our school debt is compounding and I'm getting worried. Maybe if you are going to play this game, you can get a job and go to school too.? I whined and whined. I mean really...would you retake Calculus I if you got an A the first time. I told him the other classes would just build off of it and he would remember the stuff, but he's certain that he's got to have a very strong foundation and understand this stuff inside out. I told him it reminded me of learning Spanish. I don't understand it inside out, talk like a 4th grader, but still got employment as Spanish interpreter because I knew more then 90% of the people at work. I'm still whining (now at 4:24pm) and feel exhausted from that chipper chirping watch. I think John's been feeling the stress too and threathened? to quit school and go back to work...what? as a bus driver?

Let me tell you about buses. So I had to catch the bus all by myself. Not so pathetic, but I've been toting around my carrying on luggage to transport art supplies and the seats and overheads simply don't accommodate. I got to the bus stop and realized I had forgotten my gloves and the base I was going to use for my sculpture this morning. It was 2 minutes to bus time. I dashed back and forth with success! Really overall a good experience. But yesterday was harder. I had my carry on suitcase, two large portfolios and a lunch bag. Fortunately, I had John to drag my luggage. And fortunately, I only had one large portfolio to take back home. But unfortunately, as I got off of TRAX from my return commute from the University of Utah, the 451 Tooele Express bus pulled up to the bus stop right across the street from where I was at! What was I to do? This was downtown Salt Lake lots of traffic after work rush hour and I didn't have the light to cross the street. I screamed, but to no avail. Well, maybe all I said to about 10 construction workers waiting to cross the street to the park-n-ride was, HEY! THATS MY BUS. OH SHOOT. THATS MY BUS. ANOTHER ONE DOESNT COME FOR 40 minutes! So not a horror story exactly... But inconvenient enough to make me cry this morning to have to do it all again. Run, run, run. Wait wait wait. Fortunately, I sat on my luggage and used my large portfolio as my back to the chair. Not so bad, but 40, okay it was only 30, minutes in the cold caused me to get excited at the first bus I saw that I thought went to Tooele. The bus driver just looked at me with my bags and somehow knew I was headed the wrong direction. "Where are you going?" Tooele. "I just came from Tooele. If you want to catch the Tooele bus, its across the street". And I got off. Should I cross the street and just take the bus? Why had I subjected myself to sitting in the cold for the Express Bus? Well, it actually all ended well.

But today I had to catch the bus to buy more art supplies. Oh yeah, I had to print out the routes this morning before John left (yet another thing to do). Had to figure out bus stops when I got to school. So this is the flow. 11:30 get out of class. 11:36 bus comes. Takes me 15 minutes to get to bus stop so I didn't try that one. Next bus comes at 11:51. I think I'm on the right side of the street, but again, watch the bus drive away without me. I waited for another 10 minutes and started to get out my ID to take the bus. What! I didn't have my ID. I had left it in my locker. The 12:06 drives away without me. 11 minutes back to my locker. Get my ID. Try to get back but I know I won't be able to: the 12: 21 leaves without me. I wait another 15 minutes. Yeah, the 12:36 picks me up. I grab a schedule and give myself a scare when I read it wrong. My return bus wasn't going to come back until 1:53 and 3:31, but my next class was at 2! Panic, quick contingency planning, panic, about to make a fool of myself....and I saw it....the other schedule. Ok. Phew! I would be able to take the bus back at 1:20. That means, I calculated in my head, I've got 20 minutes to shop, check out, and catch a bus. Panic. But I'm amazed, kick me hard enough and this mule runs. I am going to be in shape this semester.

So far all is well. I'm in the library waiting for John to get out of class at 5:30 and then we will catch TRAX and the bus together. I imagine it'll be another adventure since its another route and time John nor I have tried before.

...
It was an adventure. I ended up waiting again for 1 hour in the cold before catching the slow bus which took over 80 minutes to get back to Tooele. But the next day was worse. John decided to try yet another route. We sprinted, I mean sprinted hard for one block from the Trax to the bus stop. We were yet again on the other side of a busy street when the 451 got stopped at the light. I started running across the street, but John yelled in a panic to "Stop" the light was almost green and cars were moving. I swear they weren't but he swears I was going to get hit. So we tried flagging the bus from across the busy street. He/She didn't she us. We waited another half hour. I hate hurry up and wait. And besides, it was a pollution red day and the air just made me sick. North DAkota air pleease.