How I Spent My Tuesday

My alarm goes off at 4:30am (like it does most workdays) and I get ready for work. At 5:15, mom arrives (Mama G if you've read my story Joker, is totally my mom) and she takes me to the train station, so I don't have to leave my car there for $25 a day, thank-you-very-much.

After jostling my suitcase (thanks, bro, for the loan; you'll get it back this weekend), my backpack-cum-camera-bag-cum-purse, and my Bon Jovi laptop bag onto the train, we set off for Boston.

I arrived at my desk at 6:15, which is wa-hay-hay-hay-HAY to freaking early to be thinking about ANYTHING work related, so I went to the kitchen for a little liquid pick-me-up.  (Sorry, Catte, I haven't given up the sweet stuff lol).

Three of those later, and I'm ready to deal with work.  I've had today circled in dark purple ink for MONTHS now, and all day, I had to keep snapping a rubber band on my wrist to remind myself that if I get fired from my job for being over-Jovi'd I won't have any moolah with which to feed my  habit.

That would suck.

So, I turned OFF my iPod (because hearing the boys sing was NOT conducive to a productive work morning) and got to work.  A couple hours later, I was off to the WTC down by the waterfront for a series of strategy meetings with folks from all around the firm.  Sounds like it should be pretty impressive, but it wasn't. It's one of those things I got thrown into by my management (thanks a lot) but I got to go down by the water on a wicked hot Bahstin day, so it wasn't all bad.

The conference room was air conditioned, and they have their own supply of Diet Coke, so I was a happy camper.  I got back to my office just in time for a status update meeting with the VPs in my division (again, sounds impressive, but is just my boss' way of making sure I do what he tells me to do, the jerk.  Like I haven't.... but I digress) and before I knew it, it was 1:00!  That meant T-minus-30 minutes until the bus leaves to take me to New Jersey!!!!

So I head over to the bus station (which is about 300 yards from my office; tres convenient), and wait in line with the ONLY paper ticket in the place.  Everyone else was showing their blackberries to the ticket-taker.  One of these days I'll catch on to the paperless community.  For me, having the piece of paper in hand meant I didn't have to scroll through 1872 emails to find the Bolt Bus receipt.

Yeah,. Bolt Bus.

Pretty cool.  Round-trip bus from Boston to Jersey and back for $50.  Can't really beat that. You do have to switch busses in NYC (at Tick Tock at 34th and 8th) but you go from your bus to the bus in front of you, and the transfer takes all of 4 minutes.

But I skipped the oh so best parts (can you see my eyes rolling)?

On the first leg, the guy in the seat in front of me thought it would be fun if he slammed his seat into my knees three or four times.  He also thought it would be nice to lie to everyone who was coming on the bus that he was "waiting for someone" which is apparently code for "I want to take a nap, sprawl over two seats, put my feet in the face of the girl in front of me, and slam the lady behind me with my seat".  Ass.

The lovely Korean girl next to me was watching The Sound of Music on her laptop, complete with subtitles (in English and Korean) so I surreptitiously watched that with her for a while.  So did the girl on the other side of the aisle and one row back :)

By the time we got to NYC,  I was SO ready to get off the damned bus.  We switched to the other bus, which was FAR more comfortable, and set off.

And immediately hit traffic.

In a tunnel.

Did you know I was claustrophobic?

No?

Well tunnels are my like LEAST favorite thing to pass through, and getting stuck in one is one of my Big Fears.  (The biggest of the Big Fears is getting stuck in the Ted Williams in Boston, which goes under the Hahbah, and could flood at any time.  I drive wicked fast through the TW)

ANYWAY, we finally, FINALLY  make it to New Jersey.  How do I know?  We had to pay to get out of New York.  That cracks me up every single time :)

A short while later, I get dropped off in Cherry Hill, in the middle of the highway.  I thought Willow was kidding when she told me that.

Nope.

We schlepped my stuff to her 'Stang, had a great dinner at the California Pizza Kitchen (Pea soup and a wedge salad for Willow ~ good girl ~ and pepperoni pizza for me.  Hey, I needed comfort food after the tunnel thing.  Don't judge me lol)

We drove home from CPK with the top down (her convertible, not our own couture thank-you-very-much) and came to meet an exuberant Jersey, her adorable puppy.

Now you're caught up.  We chatted with Catte for a while,  I watched Willow pack for the rest of the week, and we're gonna hang out and catch up for a while.

Tomorrow, we're off to the Hilton, after manicures, and will meet up with Summer, Tresca, and TaraLeigh at some point (they have to sign the boxers, and Tresca, you HAVE to toss them up to Jon lol) then we're off to Cheeseburger in Paradise.

Then what?

Oh yeah, I almost forgot --NOT --

The Meadowlands.  Giants' Stadium.  Jon's new home. BON JOVI!!!!

*sigh*

I can't wait.

AND, someone's spreading rumors on Twitter of Dry County for tomorrow night.  Can you say GAH!  I can :)

GAH!!!

~ Hath