Getting Up on the Right Side of the Bed

It was one of those days.

I got out of bed, finished up some homework, printed it off, had a two peanut butter chocolate chip cookies (which I had made on the weekend), finished getting ready, synced my iPod with some Eddie Vedder, set up a playlist consisting of “Hard Sun”, “Lover’s Spit” and “I’m Yours”, and walked out the door to clear sidewalks and bearable weather.

I got to my bus stop with over half of my enormous 3-song playlist still left, shook my head “No” to the 7C, which passes mere seconds before the 7D nowadays, and got onto my favourite bus.

On the bus were 6 people, one of which got off as I was getting on.  Down to 5.  Literally one block after I got on, the remaining 5 people got off.  I had the entire bus to myself, listening to great music and having a good old time.  I was so chipper I even started tapping my feet a little.  I was consumed by the unusualness of an empty bus, and was flabbergasted when I got all the way to the turn on my route (one block until I get off, on University), without a single person getting on.  At the stop, one dude got on and sat near the front (I was somewhere in the middle).  I pulled the string to signal a stop after the bus pulled out of its resting lane and onto the road, got off at my stop to more clear weather and no one cluttering the sidewalks.

It was a truly blissful morning.

I got through the school day fine, without a whole lot of work to do, and that which I did was fun.

THE ENTRY MUST CONTINUE!

I was still having a great day when I got home.  I had a delicious sandwich, and sat down at my computer to work on some video editing stuff and to check on my Doritos Guru advertisement, which is competing to win $25,000 at the moment (link at the bottom).  I did that whole thing for awhile, and then picked up my sketchbook to start an assignment which is due tomorrow (don’t worry, I had an idea already).

I was getting tired of sketching with nothing else going on, so I turned on the radio to listen to some music.  It was about 4:50-something when I flipped it to the local “new hit music station” and heard that it was about time to start the Top 5 at 5 daily contest.  Up for grabs was a $25.00 gift certificate to a nice clothing store, and a Girlicious prize pack including a CD and a DVD.  Free stuff always intrigues me, so I decided to give it a shot.

While sketching, I took down all of the song names and artists, writing them down on Notepad after googling the lyrics.

5:  Flo Rida ft. Kesha -  Right Round
4:  Katy Perry – Thinking of You
3:  Pink – Sober
2:  Lady Gaga – Poker Face
1:  Beyonce – Single Ladies

As Beyonce – Single Ladies began to play (the last song in the top 5), I grabbed the phone and dialed the number.  They were looking for caller #9.  Nothing.  It rang and rang for about 25 seconds.  I figured that they were still waiting for another caller, so quickly I hung up and redialed.  THEY ANSWER!  I listed off the song names and artists, and the guy proclaimed me victorious.

This may not seem like a big deal, but I LOVE winning stuff, and this was the icing on the cake (I love cake) for an already great day.

More to come soon.  My adventures are getting interesting again.

november 28th

There were a lot of suave-looking people on the bus today.  Especially this one guy who got on with his long pea coat with the collar popped to his ears.  I did some shooting today, so I had my tripod with me again.  Incredibly, today I didn’t even see the 7C, the first bus to arrive at my stop was the 7D.  AMAZING!  There were no creeps on the bus, no one was annoying, it was a good day!

There was a man sitting one row behind me on the left side (I was on the right side).  He was reading the paper and all sprawled out comfortably over two seats.  I didn’t check which paper it was, but it was smaller than The Record, our city’s most well known paper.

There was a girl sitting near the front in one of the side-looking rows.  She angled herself towards the front door, not looking at anyone else, or even out the side window which was across from her.  This didn’t bother me, because she had cool, short red hair.

I was listening to Embrace today.  Hadn’t heard them in awhile, they are really good.

A lady sat in front of me about half way through my trip.  When a song ended and faded out, I heard her unwrapping something and it was quite loud.  I wondered what it was, but thought it would be weird to sit up and lean over her shoulder to see.

Some stuff in a list:

• The construction across from my bus stop is coming along nicely.
• The city square looks pretty cool.
• Hardly anyone got on the bus today.

The bus driver (nicest lady bus driver) asked me if I wanted a transfer, and I shook my head, because i only half heard her.  I thought about how rude that was afterward.  If she is driving the bus I get on next week I will turn down my music and be very warm and polite.  She is the best!  However, now that I think about it, she kind of reminds me about a substitute teacher I do not like very much.  She was rude to me during class once this year.  She and the bus driver look quite similar.

november 27th

Today there was a young man standing at my bus stop.  He was walking around, sort of pacing, and when I walked across the street he moved out of the way so that I could enter the shelter.  He was kind of weird.

I sat somewhere in the middle, beside a lady in a large black coat.  I think she had earmuffs on, but I can’t be certain.  There was an old lady in front of me who was wearing one of those plastic head covers to keep her hat dry… which I think is completely stupid.  Why wouldn’t she just buy a waterproof hat?

At the first stop after I got on the bus, THREE separate strollers got off the bus.  There were 3 babies.  It was quite a crowded front.  I wondered if they were all going to a club meeting or something.  They didn’t seem friendly to each other, so that theory may be wrong.

Someone I knew from school got on the bus today.  I walked with her when we got off.

A list of facts:

1. Busses make a lot of noise.
2. I was listening to Angels and Airwaves on my bus ride today.
3. One of the strollers on the bus today had TWO places for babies to sit.
4. There were quite a few old people on the bus today.
5. Water is wet.

november 25th/26th

I missed a day.  I was writing an essay for English Lit.

Really busy, so another list.

• Got on the 7C today.
• Walked to the back of the bus.
• There was a guy in a red flannel jacket who was fucking CREEPY AS HELL!
• The red flannel man was sitting beside this guy who looked really scared, and was blocking him into the very back seat.  He sort of had his legs open.  Fucking weird as shit.  At the next stop (less than 15 seconds)… I moved to the middle of the bus so I didn’t get… anything by the creepy flannel man.
• This guy was talking to his friend (a girl) REALLY loudly.  He told a story about how he was talking to another guy on the phone and how this other guy really loved weed.  He laughed after every word he said.  Kind of annoying.
• There was a rather large man wearing sitting at the front of the bus.  He was also kind of annoyed by the loud talking guy.
• I naturally felt befriended to this man, partly because he was also annoyed by these sorts of things, but the main reason being he was wearing a BLUE flannel jacket… much like the creeper in the back, except BLUE (my favourite colour).
• I tied my shoes in the bus stop today.  Often the laces will come undone as I never retie them in the mornings, just slip them on.  Today was a tying day.
• I was listening to Richard Ashcroft again today.  Tomorrow I will switch it up.  I’m getting tired of his voice.  Really good melodies though.  He should release stuff for Rock Band.

I need sleep.  I PROMISE I will have a long entry tomorrow.

november 24th

Today’s bus ride was kind of neat.  A lot of things changed over the weekend.  I passed the new city square, they finally took down the boards covering the construction, so everyone can see what is going on.  It looks really nice.  I was facing the back of the bus today.  Good people on the bus as well.  There was a nice man sitting in the group of four seats (two rows facing each other like on a train) and he minded his own business like a gentleman.  There was a guy in the row behind him who kind of laid his head on the metal bar which was part of the seat the gentleman was sitting on.  That was kind of strange, but maybe he was tired.  I saw an old friend and his girlfriend (who is a buddy of mine from my grade 11 English class… we used to talk about my emo ruler and not do anything in class).  They’re really good people.  It was quite cold outside today, but it was a good day.  No sighting of The Gloveless Wonder.  Today’s music was Richard Ashcroft and Suede.  They are both really good.  I’m going to listen to them again tomorrow.  I have both discographies.  I have essays to write for school and university applications, so I have to cut this one short.  Maybe a longer story on Friday when I have time.

november 21st

HUGE development today!

I got ready for school, I walked out the door with the sounds of City and Colour in my ears, walked through the parking lot where The Gloveless Wonder was absent again, and reached my bus stop.  I stood there in the shelter watching the construction across the street and the random cars pass by until I turned my head around, because out of the corner of my eye I saw someone walking behind the shelter… It was THE GLOVELESS WONDER himself!  His bare hands were in his pockets, he wore his signature jeans and blue jacket, today with a blue hat on.  Apparently now that there is snow, he has changed his daily walking route to a more clear path.  At least I know he is alive.

I got on the 7C again today and, to my surprise, it was quite full.  I walked all the way to the raised seats at the back, and sat in the row second from the rear, facing forwards.  In front of me there was this girl who was facing me; now, I’m never a big fan of sitting in these seats because I don’t like it when people face me directly when I don’t know them, but today was different.  This girl was wearing a brown jacket and had white earphones in her ears.  I am going to start a new bus game which will be kind of similar to the one I already play where I make up life stories for people.  What I do is try to pick the genre of music people are listening to.  This girl was particularly interesting, because she kept smiling, and seemingly laughing in her head.  I concluded that she must be listening to some sort of comedic podcast or a recorded stand-up comedy routine.

It was nice to see some genuine smiles on the bus though when everyone is used to the old glance at someone and fake a smile gesture.

Today there was also this lady who was sitting one seat ahead of me, but on the left side, facing forward.  I could only see the back of her head, and I only glanced at it once.  She was wearing a hat that had a lot of frizz on it.  It looked like someone had taken tight fabric and rubbed a balloon all over it.

Another thing I noticed on the bus today was that hardly anyone got on.  I wasn’t keeping track, but at most 3 people got on the bus while I was riding it.  The weird thing was, that 4 people from the back (myself included), got off at my stop.  That has never happened before.  What a strange day.

I haven’t given the penny away yet.

november 20th

Another boring day.

One quick story.  I got on the 7C at 10:00AM, as I was going to shoot a PSA this morning, and I stood at the front with my tripod in hand, and this girl gets on the bus, and stands RIGHT in front of me.  It was really annoying, because she stepped on my foot, said sorry, and then kept standing literally 3 inches from my face.  Luckily I got off the bus three stops later.  To add to the mess, she never even moved out of the way when I TRIED to get off the bus.  What a noob.  She wore a purple coat.

My theory is that I’m bitter because of the cold.

Also, I didn’t see The Gloveless Wonder today.  Maybe he died?

BUS RIDE OVER!

november 19th

Nothing really happened today.  For real.  So boring.  So boring that the post comes in list form.

• No Gloveless Wonder.
• Cold again, obviously winter has arrived.
• There was a big crane at the construction site across from my bus stop.  Like a bigass crane.
• I got on the 7C today (not a liar anymore).  The 7D was nowhere to be seen.
• The crane was fucking huge and was half truck.
• There was an old creepy man sitting perpendicular to me today (not the same creepy old man as yesterday).
• This creepy old man kept rearranging the positioning of his legs.
• The creepy old man also kept smacking his lips together.
• Today’s music was more Coldplay.  Tomorrow it will be something new.
• A lady got on the bus as a middle-aged-looking-woman (probably younger, but stressed out today) pulled her baby + stroller off the bus.  The lady getting on was somewhat in the way, and the lady with the baby stared her down with a death glare.
• The bus driver didn’t lower the bus to let the lady with the baby off.  He was an ass.  The lady with the baby must have aged a couple years on that bus ride.
• I put my PSP in my INSIDE jacket pocket today.  It was cool there.  I learned that trick from the day I was locked out and had it there so it was easier to sit down.
• I applied to University last night!

This was quite a short entry, but they can’t all be 1000 words long.  I will be back tomorrow with hopefully a more exciting adventure.

BUS RIDE OVER!

november 18th

It was the coldest it’s been this year.

Again, walking in across the parkinglot I didn’t see the guy who is usually there.  My needs-gloves theory seems to be holding up.  Maybe I should track him down and give him some.  I did see two homeless men though.  I felt bad for them, it was really cold out.

It’s starting to seem like I’m a liar, as today there were, at one point, THREE other people at my bus stop.  When I got there, there was only the one lady.  She was standing in the shelter, smoking, when I was on the other side of the street, and then when I crossed the street, she walked out.  I thought to myself “hag, I saw you smoking in there”.  It smelled so terribly when I walked into the shelter.  I made a point of looking at all three “no smoking” signs.

I also got on the 7D again (it was right behind the 7C).

The bus driver was wearing majorly pimping sun glasses.  I had never seen this man before, but he’s cool, so I would like him to be the driver of my bus from now on.  He waved to the other buses with this very suave-like hand gesture, holding up 4 fingers and waving them around softly.  He’s a cool dude.

There were several other people on the bus this morning.  I’m going to shake things up a bit and make character lists for each person of interest.

Subway Wrap Guy:

• Ate a wrap from Subway which smelled so good!
• Had a red coat.
• His beard was short stubble.

Bandanaman:

• Wore a bandana.
• Had a brownish coat.
• Had dreadlocks.

Creepy Old Man:

• Wore a dark blue coat.
• Had a light blue hat.
• Had a patchy white beard/mustache thing going on.
• Got off halfway through my bus trip, and when he slid out from the window seat to get up, he brushed my knee.  And then he did it again (not sure if this was by mistake, but I still moved my knee).

About 3.5/4 of the way through my trip we stopped at the bus stop one half-block from a big sign.  I saw these two people chatting away, one Asian man, and one white woman (the significance of their ethnic backgrounds has just been shared because my friend Conrad sent me a youtube video about how Asian guys never get white girls).  Anyway, I figured that they were dating, because at the stop they were all over each other; they were laughing, playing around, gazing longingly into each other’s eyes.  The thing is, when they got onto the bus (they sat right in front of me where the creepy old man had once sat), they didn’t say a word to each other and for the duration of time that I was on the bus with them, the guy sort of looked off to the right, and the girl looked off into the window.  It was very strange.  I had a laugh in my mind though.

Not much else to talk about.  It was a slow day.  Hopefully I will see The Gloveless Wonder in the parking lot tomorrow morning.

november 17th

It’s a Monday!

Fact:  This morning was really cold.   Other Fact:  My adventure story deserves two parts today.  Part one is the bus ride as usual, part two is the story of arriving at home.

PART 1:  Bus Ride

This morning was colder than nipples in a freezer, and with snow on the ground my walk to the bus stop was not a very happy one.  I must explain why:  I was running late (even though I have 3 hours off in the morning) and didn’t have enough time to walk 30 feet to the back door to grab my winter boots, so instead I put on my normal sneaks at the front door and booked it.  This was NOT a smart decision, as the snow was really slushy on the sidewalks and half way to my bus stop, I plunged the tip of my right shoe into a puddle (which was supposed to be fixed, but the noob city workers didn’t throw a level down after they repaired the huge sink in the trail which collects water).  I have quick reflexes and was able to stop myself before totally walking into the puddle.

By the way, this morning’s music was a collection of Christmas toons and Keane… I love Keane.

So anyway, I didn’t see the walking man in the parking lot (another feature of his is that he always keeps his hands in his pockets… maybe I should get him some gloves?) because I was running late enough not too (but luckily not late enough to miss my bus).  I passed the construction on the right side of the parking lot, which is really making progress, and in a jiffy I was standing at the lights to cross the street, which would put me at my stop.  I stood there thinking how late I was, and wondered if I would get on the bus, thinking about darting across the street if I could.

I didn’t see the bus anywhere (the 7C) so I decided to wait for the light to change.  I did, however, manage to hit the button about 16 times, which made the beeping sound for deaf people crossing (I can’t believe I said that, I mean blind people), the street.

I stepped with grace into the small bus shelter (no one else is EVER there at this time of day) and waited for the bus to arrive.  I even had time to check my collar in the reflection of the pane covering the advertisement (new advertisement and new spray-paint covering it… black this time).

As the 7C pulled up, directly behind it was the 7D (as stated, this bus is the better choice for me).  The light going North was red, so both busses were stopped, and I had meant to let the 7C pass, but the driver opened the door about 10 feet in front of me (AWKWARD); I always feel so rude not getting on when they open the doors, even though I was standing far back fromt the street (not 10 feet East, I meant 10 feet South of me).

ANYWAY

Even though I can’t hear what the bus drivers say, they always seem to mouth “good morning” to me as I get on.   It’s a nice gesture, so I always smile and/or return the greeting.

Nothing really happened on the bus today.  EVERYONE seemed to be in a bad mood, especially this one guy who was sitting alone at the front.  He had his arms crossed and a frown on his face.  He was a 20-something who looked like a University student.

The only two things that made me aware of my surroundings today was the lady with the baby (not the same lady with the baby as on the 14th) got off at a stop and walked away, and this girl who was talking extremely loudly on her cellphone somewhere behind me.  What I picked up on from her conversation was the fact that she loved breakfast and something about pancakes and a restaurant.

Anyway, I got off of my bus and went to school.  Nothing crazy.

PART TWO:  Arrival Home (I’ll keep it short)

I always walk home.  Good exercise, time to clear my head, it’s all good!

Anyway, I get home and find out that I had forgotten my key.  Don’t worry, I’m back inside now.  My neighbours that have an extra key weren’t home, so I couldn’t go a’knockin’ there either.  I hopped the 6ft fence and waited for my sister to arrive home from school on my back porch.  The double fault was when she arrived home, and had also forgotten HER key.  We ended up waiting until 5:00PM for our mom to arrive home and save us from the cold.

This is how I survived:

• I sat and listened to music and Q:  The Podcast on my PSP.  The music part was made up of more Keane, more Christmas toons, and some Coldplay.
• I went into back shed and got a small heater, plugged it into the exterior outlet, and warmed up a bit.
• I shoveled the steps.
• I repeatedly tried to break a thin layer of ice which was on the railing.
• I threw snow into the air with a shovel and hit it, trying to get it farther each time.
• I plugged in the Christmas lights.
• I did a creazy freakout dance to Coldplay’s Politik to warm up.
• I pretended to play the guitar with a small broom.
• I hit my sister’s clementine peelings with the broom and made them go all over the porch, only to sweep them back into a nice pile.
• I added to that pile with the empty chip bag she had lying around.
• I said hello to my dog, who was inside, and made her sit, down, stay, etc.
• I cheered when my mom arrived!

Anyway, it was a weird day.

BUS RIDE/HOME ARRIVAL OVER!