TheBus

*Picture courtesy of www.thebus.org

• With the gas prices soaring to almost 5 freakin' dollars a gallon I've been catching the bus to work every now and then. It's not that big of a deal if I don't have any errands to run. Thus bringing me to my story. WARNING: It's a LOOOOOONG one!

• Normally it takes about two hours to get from my house to work if I catch the bus. Just because I have to transfer at Ala Moana. But, today I had to pick up the mail in Kaneohe, so I planned to leave an hour earlier than I usually do. So I wake up at 6am to get ready and be at the bus stop by 7 am, anticipating the bus' arrival at 7:15. Lo and behold 7:15 comes and goes. So I think to myself, oh maybe it's just a few minutes late. Yeah right! Next thing I know it's 8 freakin' o'clock! Grrrr! Oh...did I forget to mention that I was hauling my purse, computer bag, AND a small carry on bag?!

• So the doors pssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhh open, and I haul all my stuff on the bus. Luckily it was pretty empty so I had two seats all to myself. One for me and my bags. As I plop myself down, I let out a sigh of relief thinking, FINALLY....I'm on my way. I figured the driver knew he was running late, so he'd probably pick up the speed to stay on schedule, and I'd still have a chance of getting to work on time. NOOOOPE....I figured WRONG! Homeboy was driving 20 mph! I wanted to deck him and drive the bus myself!

• So 45 minutes later, we get to Kaneohe, my first stop. I get off the bus and proceed to check the mail. What are the odds I have not one, but TWO boxes. And these aren't no small boxes that can fit in my bag...no...these are the same size as my bag. So lucky me gets to haul more on the bus. But before that, I have to wait another HALF HOUR for the next bus. How many of you feel sorry for me by now? But wait it gets better! When the bus finally comes, I'm hauling my bags and boxes towards the bus, and NOBODY helps me! They all just watch and walk on by. To make things worse, the bus was so dang packed, I ended up piling my stuff by some guy in his wheelchair and had to stand up for the next twenty minutes.

• Finally, as we enter Downtown Honolulu, majority of the people on the bus get off, leaving me, again, with my own two seats. By now it's 10:00am and I should've been at work already. I still have another 10-15 minutes to get to Ala Moana and catch the connection. So, we get to Ala Moana, and this lady sitting in the seats by me, bless her heart, helps me carry the boxes off the bus. So I get off and make my way to the other end of Ala Moana to catch the next bus. Again, I waited another HALF hour til the bus came. And AGAIN, no one helps me as I get on.

• So, I give it to them! I push my way, bags, boxes and all, to the front of the line where I insert my one dollar bill, and one dollar in change. Apparently, the money machine on the bus can't handle nickels, so the money got stuck!!!! Hahahahahaha. The poor bus driver, bless his heart, was trying to be nice, but I could tell he wanted to kill me. He was probably thinking, "io, shoots! Break my machine!" Hahahaha. But I wasn't that sympathetic considering he was LATE, and I already had a lot to deal with. Homeboy was whacking that machine like there was no tomorrow. After the last stretch, I finally made it to work and was only ONE HOUR late!!!

• The best part is, as I headed home, with a much lighter load mind you (just one bag), I realized I was on the same bus with the broken money thingy! It had a plastic bag over it, and because of me, everyone that caught that bus today got to ride for free!!! So, that made me feel a little better knowing that others benefited from MY bad Bus day!