What A Trip.

I was in my "History of Western Economics" class friday mornig when I decided that, instead of not going to class on wednesday like I had originally planned, I would to Binghamton to visit my mom for her birthday a few days earlier. I had a couple reasons for doing so:

First, even though I could afford to miss class, I never cut class in highschool so why start now?
Second, I know that if I stood here I'd either end up being bored or going out and "doing what college kids do" which I quit recently.
Third, I wanted to take care of some business
and ,Honestly, I just missed my mommy.

So as I got ready to finish the next couple of class one of my buddies from orientation came by my dorm, with perfect timing since I knew that I would need a ride to the train station. He agreed to give me a ride to the closest station after my classes. :(. I stopped to see if the bookstore was open for a little last minute gift shopping but it closes at 4 on fridays and I get out at 4:30. Then, I returned to a verbal message that James could not take me because he had to go meet his girlfriend somewhere. Crushed twice, I plopped on my bed.

Noticing my situation, my suitemate reminded me that there would be a shuttle bus at 8pm that coul take me straight to the bus station in Manhattan. I slapped a wall with excitement and checked online for possible departure times. :-\ 11pm... which meant I would get there at 2:45am. I decided I'd still go. I procrastinated for a while before I packed my stuff and went to eat. I stopped at the campus convenience store to search for anything I could label as a gift. I considered buying a cake but purchased 4 12-can cases of coca~cola(tm) instead.

I searched my room for anything else I would need to survive a weekend away although I knew from past experience I would definitely miss some detail. I exchanged goodbyes with my suitemates, noting that they were obviously distressed(I am a major source of weekend entertainment). I dragged my huge suitcase to the shuttle, and somehow managed to fit it in an adjacent seat. I hoped the bus would not get crowded or else me and the huge bag would have to find another way to get upstate. A group of good looking Trinidadian girls got on the bus, looked at me, giggled, and talked amongst one another in their native language as the found their seats a couple rows behind mine. This produced a smirk across my face and I started to think more optomistically about the trip ahead.

Realizing the crucial element that I had forgotten for my trip was headphones I drifted in and out of a nap. I arrived at the bus station simultaneously as the 9 o' clock bus was leaving (which I hadn't even considered catching seeing as I had no prior knowledge of this scheduled departure). I sat down on those extremely uncomfortable "pidgeon chairs" and stared into infinity as I waited for the 11 o' clock. A mexican man came up to me asking "este coche vas a middletown?" I shrugged and walked away to ask the dispatcher. He comfirmed that it was going to middletown and I relayed the answer to the man, who thanked me and sat back in a regular chair. I considered moving to one of the regular chairs seeing as one of my butt cheeks had went numb, but I realized it would be a violation of the man's personal space, according to man law, and this was my usual spot anyway.

An argument erupted between one of the passengers and the dispatcher over bus schedules. The one line that rang through the floor: "I've been waiting here for 15 fucking minutes and I need to get home -- I don't care if this bus isn't going to [I believe she said spring valley] I'm going on it and it's getting to take me there." I couldn't stop myself from laughing because I had been waiting for an hour and a half already and the ladies voice was high pitched and nasally, which added to the hilarity. The mexican man looked at me and shrugged. I also noticed that people were charging their phones in various outlets around the terminal.

Finally, my bus was ready to go. It was a free ride since my uncle works for the company so I was happy about that. I sat in the back and opened up my laptop thinking about either writing or playing a card game. I played card games and noticed that the girl behind me had her headphones blaring loud enough to be heard from a 4 row radius around her. Since no one complained neither verbally nor with body language i decided to play "The girl from Ipanema" (a song that is commonly heard during cliche elevator scenes in various movies) on a low volume. After the song i played another soothing song -- Donnell Jones' "where I wanna be" then I turned off the laptop.

The bus started moving and the gorgeous girl got more annoying. As if her headphones weren't enough she started talking on her cell phone at the highest volum possible. The bus driver did not address the problem so I figured I'd just deal with it and try to get to sleep. I could feel the dream about to wash over my mind... but the bus had stopped. The driver announced that the bus had broken down and another one was enroute to our location. Great.

The second bus arrived pretty quickly and i didn't even have to carry the huge bag over to it. I sat in a similar seat as the orignal bus but so did that inconsiderate siren. Eventually I drifted into sleep. I awoke when we had reached middletown and the mexican man gave a goodbye nod to me. I took his seat in the back row because I know that theseating arrangement is designed for optimum comfort if you were to lay down ... possibly as a precaution for passengers who may fall ill or unconsious during the ride. I started to try and go back to sleep when i noticed the bus wasn't moving. >:(.

The snow was so deep that we could not make a regular turn to get back onto the road. Instead the bus driver had to back up to an area with a little more friction and hit that accelerator. We made it onto the road and were homeward bound once again. Now I couldn't sleep because the music and cellphone was louder than ever and now we had the possibility of being stuck. We reached a steep hill that I could see would obviously be a problem. The engine's hum and the fact that, even though the driver had the pedal to the floor, we were moving at about 5 miles per hour had me on the edge of my chair. We reached the top of this hill a half hour after we had reached it's base. The snow was THICK to say the least.

We reached what looked like a giant snow covered field and I wondered how the driver even knew there was a road there. I played around with the notion that our bus could stop working in this field which was a high possibility. Also a possibility was that we could lose all telecommunication capability seeing as we were far from major cities and reception was close to impossible to get out here. The idea of being stranded made me reach into my pocket. I got stabbed --it gave me some ideas for anti-pick pocket pants security. I played around with the knife nervously [both possessing the knife and playing with it when im nervous when I travel are habits that i developed a long time ago). I began stretching too, just in case I head to hunt for food or climb a tree. Okay, I'm crazy ... big whoop.

Aside from the terrible driving conditions, this snow covered field was beautiful. Trees bordering us silently. The moon shining down upon us. I felt isolated from the world in this giant beast of vehicle. I could imagine if the bus where just a lone animal. It's wheels grasping at the snow ahead of it all the while letting out its low pitched solemn song. XD.

I woke up when we reached Binghamton and all I could think was "FREE AT LAST. FREE AT LAST. THANK GOD ALMIGHTY. WE ARE FREE AT LAST!" I walked a mile home and when I reached the door I finally looked down at my watch. That bus ride had been 3 hours longer than it was scheduled to be.

All this to surprise my mom for her birthday. And she thought I had forgotten. :)

love ya momz