4:30. Left home. Walked to the Howard Station. Got to the northbound purple line platform to find train sitting/all doors closed. Waited around for the conductor to arrive with both familiar faces and unfamiliar faces.
4:45 A.M. Conductor gets to platform. Follow him to the second car from the front. Enter after he uses his door key to open the one door. Make my way back to the end of the train, as the last car usually opens by the stairs on my stop.
4:49 A.M. There’s a man impatiently trying to pry the doors of my car open. Another guy in my car motions toward the front of the train, where we know the doors are open. The doors open about a foot and slam closed before the train moves up about thirty feet. The conductor opens the doors (all the way this time) for a minute. The impatient man does not board the train. Where did he go?
5:01 A.M. I arrive at Davis. I spend 15 minutes mulling over whether or not I want coffee and something to eat from Dunkin’ Donuts.
5:16 A.M. The substitute bus driver pulls the bus around the corner and makes my decision for me (no DD). I get on the bus. I fall asleep immediately.
Several times between 5:20 and 6:25 I get jolted awake, check my surroundings, go back to sleep. Once I skip a track on my iPod that is trying to teach me intermediate Spanish because I’m not there yet.
6:28 A.M. I wake up around the former Pappadeaux (now a hollow shell of what used to be) and one of the regular commuters (a guy who always grabs a stack of Red Eyes and sometimes bring delicious snacks his wife has made for him to share) motions for me to come to the front of the bus. I do. The bus driver needs directions for a little section of the drive and he’s getting off the bus before she gets there. I help her with the assistance of a woman who is a semi-regular commuter.
6:42 A.M. In case the bus driver doesn’t know to take Plaza Drive, I go ahead and get off the bus slightly early, which is actually faster anyway. I just have to walk a block farther. I start singing loudly in order to wake myself up. It doesn’t work. I’m drowsy all day.
6:58 A.M. I clock into work.
2:38 P.M. I clock out, grab my bag from my locker, and start walking to the bus.
2:55 P.M. I catch the bus I was trying for! The ride in uneventful. I fall asleep again. I wake up while we’re creeping on the tollway. The last mile of travel takes 15 minutes. I miss the train that would get me to my bus on time.
3:49 P.M. Surprise! A train arrives just in time to possibly get me to the bus on time, if I run and there are no unforeseen problems.
3:51 P.M. I am stuck behind slow-moving people, so I bypass the escalators and run up the stairs. I look out the window. There are buses sitting there! I run toward the stairs down. No my bus. I must have missed it. :( I head down the escalator and lo-and-behold! Is that my bus rounding the corner? It is! I catch the bus I would have missed had it not arrived late.
3:53 P.M. I am on the bus. The bus driver and a lady with a kid seem to know each other from way back. The kid wants his actions figures and the bus driver apparently left for awhile because he “just couldn’t stay anymore,” but now he’s back because he apparently couldn’t stay away either. The kid tries to sit away from the woman several times, and she yells at him to get his butt back to the seat beside her. I see her as being protective. The kids just seems like he’s scared to cross her (but not scared enough that he doesn’t try to move again a few times). I play Dragon Quest IX and listen to This American Life until we hit Lincolnwood, at which point I change to an iPod shuffle and save my game. I try not to fall asleep for the rest of the ride.
4:50 P.M. I say farewell to the bus driver (“Thanks. Have a good weekend.”) grab a small “lunch” from a generic hot dog/gyro/Italian beef/rib tips place and walk across the park, avoiding soccer-playing children and mud.
5:04 P.M. Home.
All in all, today was not the most eventful commute, though it was more entertaining than some.
I’ll have to post about some commutes in the past sometime.
To work: Purple line CTA El north to Davis Street, Pace 208 Westbound to Schaumburg
From work: Pace 606 to Rosemont CTA, Blue line CTA El to Cumberland, Pace 290 to Howard Station
