It is the Independence day weekend here, usually a long weekend but not for some of us.
Especially those of us who are temps and have to swipe in and out to get paid. That meant I was definitely the last in my team and from the looks of it department and probably on the floor as well to get out. I didn't dare leave for a long lunch for fear of getting locked out. It got really quiet. It turned out to be pretty much a crazy deal to get back home. First the bus didn't come for an hour. Usually I would take the train and a bus back home except the bus doesn't seem to run Fridays (!). I think I've forgotten what bad commutes can be like but even more so I have become used to the bus trackers being accurate, which wasn't the case today - all of them showed the buses as moving regularly and didn't highlight the rerouting on certain routes. Finally the bus came and at least a hundred people were squeezed in it. For whatever reason, Chicago bus drivers don't say things like the bus is full, no space etc etc. This one just crossed his arms and watched as people tried to stuff themselves on to the bus. People yelled for folks to squeeze into the back and then people yelled right back that there was no space. Finally the door closed and we took off. Then stopped every few minutes at bus stops where more people tried to get on and failed. The traffic was pretty slow owing to a large number of cars and rerouting for a big parade. It didn't help that I had a backpack, a hand bag, a bag of some groceries and a large bag of some other stuff. I finally found myself squashed against the glass by the driver (another Chicago bus thing, that I didn't see in Minneapolis - protection for drivers against violence/attacks?). I did get to observe his GPS device, see the lake (because of the alternate route) and saw a sign that said 'you are beautiful' at a construction site. Finally the crowd lessened, I got down at my stop, walked the walk home and indulged in some hot, sweet tea and started Bones in the background. I had hopes of going for a walk because it was somewhat sunny but a lazy Friday beckoned. I'm planning to hibernate the entire weekend except for walks to recharge myself. Mainly because: it is going to be crowded everywhere, public transport is sucking on holidays, apparently violence and crime spikes on this weekend and because I have a healthy dislike for all of these things. Also the Internet is strangely unyielding for recipes to make pasta from a packet. All the recipes I get are for pasta from scratch and you can see my eye rolls from a while away.
Update: I managed to make some nice pasta. The whole wheat in it made it taste like a slightly uncooked puri but nothing that lots of chili, paprika, oregano, pepper and salt couldn't fix.
Especially those of us who are temps and have to swipe in and out to get paid. That meant I was definitely the last in my team and from the looks of it department and probably on the floor as well to get out. I didn't dare leave for a long lunch for fear of getting locked out. It got really quiet. It turned out to be pretty much a crazy deal to get back home. First the bus didn't come for an hour. Usually I would take the train and a bus back home except the bus doesn't seem to run Fridays (!). I think I've forgotten what bad commutes can be like but even more so I have become used to the bus trackers being accurate, which wasn't the case today - all of them showed the buses as moving regularly and didn't highlight the rerouting on certain routes. Finally the bus came and at least a hundred people were squeezed in it. For whatever reason, Chicago bus drivers don't say things like the bus is full, no space etc etc. This one just crossed his arms and watched as people tried to stuff themselves on to the bus. People yelled for folks to squeeze into the back and then people yelled right back that there was no space. Finally the door closed and we took off. Then stopped every few minutes at bus stops where more people tried to get on and failed. The traffic was pretty slow owing to a large number of cars and rerouting for a big parade. It didn't help that I had a backpack, a hand bag, a bag of some groceries and a large bag of some other stuff. I finally found myself squashed against the glass by the driver (another Chicago bus thing, that I didn't see in Minneapolis - protection for drivers against violence/attacks?). I did get to observe his GPS device, see the lake (because of the alternate route) and saw a sign that said 'you are beautiful' at a construction site. Finally the crowd lessened, I got down at my stop, walked the walk home and indulged in some hot, sweet tea and started Bones in the background. I had hopes of going for a walk because it was somewhat sunny but a lazy Friday beckoned. I'm planning to hibernate the entire weekend except for walks to recharge myself. Mainly because: it is going to be crowded everywhere, public transport is sucking on holidays, apparently violence and crime spikes on this weekend and because I have a healthy dislike for all of these things. Also the Internet is strangely unyielding for recipes to make pasta from a packet. All the recipes I get are for pasta from scratch and you can see my eye rolls from a while away.
Update: I managed to make some nice pasta. The whole wheat in it made it taste like a slightly uncooked puri but nothing that lots of chili, paprika, oregano, pepper and salt couldn't fix.
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