Forever Chasing the Bus
Hello out there!
My apologies for taking so long to start writing. Instead, I spent time telling myself:
"I'll get it done tonight"
"Tomorrow I'll have time"
"As soon as I am done with this paper"
"Friday's the day, for sure!!!"
"Let me just get through September"
You get the point.
I always seem to be rushing but never getting where I want to go. This applies not only to academics, but other areas of my life as well. Take this week, for instance. I quite literally kept missing the bus.
It started out Monday afternoon. I was bussing from South to Southwest Minneapolis to meet my family for dinner. My Magical Bus App told me to wait four minutes and then take the next bus at the station I was at. Seemed easy enough.
This is where mistake number one happened: I didn't read the fine print. I was supposed to wait at gate A at that station which was on the upper level. I was downstairs at gate D. By the time I figured that out, I had missed my bus.
So, I rerouted. Now I was supposed to wait at gate D. I went back downstairs, a bit flustered. Along came a bus with the right number so I hopped right on without thinking and headed in the completely wrong direction.
Mistake number two: I didn't establish which direction I was going in.
At this point, I was in Richfield. I decided to give it one last shot and found a route leaving in ten minutes from the stop I was at. I turned on some music and waved away the bus that had hovered at the stop to see if I was waiting for it. Only as it turned the next corner did I realize that that was actually my bus.
Mistake number three: I didn't pay attention to the number of the bus and just relied on time.
At that point I was so worked up I just started walking, only hopping on a bus for the last leg of the journey.
Fast-forward to Thursday, Redeemed Bus App told me to take the 12 and then the green line to the U. I gathered up my gear and headed out the door with a full three minutes to walk down the block to the bus station.
Mistake number four: three minutes?! I should have learned from Monday to give myself a few extra minutes.
And mistake number five only made mistake number four worse: I decided as I left my house to get out some music, thereby delaying my walk to the bus station.
So I missed that one and had to reroute. I planted myself at the bus stop, determined not to miss the next one. After a few minutes of waiting, I checked my app again and realized I was at the wrong bus station and had again missed my bus.
Back to mistake number one: READ THE FINE PRINT!
The third route did work out for me and I even managed to catch the green line headed in the right direction. But given my bad record with learning from prior mistakes, I attribute that success to the universe's "third times the charm" rule.
Friday morning was basically a repeat of Thursday morning, but Friday afternoon was better. After grabbing lunch with friends, I was in a really good mood. As I settled into my bus seat home, I started to reflect on the week and realized I had only stressed myself out more that last week by refusing to take breaks. I got distracted more easily and ended up doing dumb things like getting on a bus to Richfield. So instead of rushing to get some extra studying or reading done, I sat back to admire the autumn leaves and statuesque downtown skyline rushing by.
Hope you enjoyed reading about my bus adventures this week!
Cheers,
Riley
My apologies for taking so long to start writing. Instead, I spent time telling myself:
"I'll get it done tonight"
"Tomorrow I'll have time"
"As soon as I am done with this paper"
"Friday's the day, for sure!!!"
"Let me just get through September"
You get the point.
I always seem to be rushing but never getting where I want to go. This applies not only to academics, but other areas of my life as well. Take this week, for instance. I quite literally kept missing the bus.
It started out Monday afternoon. I was bussing from South to Southwest Minneapolis to meet my family for dinner. My Magical Bus App told me to wait four minutes and then take the next bus at the station I was at. Seemed easy enough.
This is where mistake number one happened: I didn't read the fine print. I was supposed to wait at gate A at that station which was on the upper level. I was downstairs at gate D. By the time I figured that out, I had missed my bus.
So, I rerouted. Now I was supposed to wait at gate D. I went back downstairs, a bit flustered. Along came a bus with the right number so I hopped right on without thinking and headed in the completely wrong direction.
Mistake number two: I didn't establish which direction I was going in.
At this point, I was in Richfield. I decided to give it one last shot and found a route leaving in ten minutes from the stop I was at. I turned on some music and waved away the bus that had hovered at the stop to see if I was waiting for it. Only as it turned the next corner did I realize that that was actually my bus.
Mistake number three: I didn't pay attention to the number of the bus and just relied on time.
At that point I was so worked up I just started walking, only hopping on a bus for the last leg of the journey.
Fast-forward to Thursday, Redeemed Bus App told me to take the 12 and then the green line to the U. I gathered up my gear and headed out the door with a full three minutes to walk down the block to the bus station.
Mistake number four: three minutes?! I should have learned from Monday to give myself a few extra minutes.
And mistake number five only made mistake number four worse: I decided as I left my house to get out some music, thereby delaying my walk to the bus station.
So I missed that one and had to reroute. I planted myself at the bus stop, determined not to miss the next one. After a few minutes of waiting, I checked my app again and realized I was at the wrong bus station and had again missed my bus.
Back to mistake number one: READ THE FINE PRINT!
The third route did work out for me and I even managed to catch the green line headed in the right direction. But given my bad record with learning from prior mistakes, I attribute that success to the universe's "third times the charm" rule.
Friday morning was basically a repeat of Thursday morning, but Friday afternoon was better. After grabbing lunch with friends, I was in a really good mood. As I settled into my bus seat home, I started to reflect on the week and realized I had only stressed myself out more that last week by refusing to take breaks. I got distracted more easily and ended up doing dumb things like getting on a bus to Richfield. So instead of rushing to get some extra studying or reading done, I sat back to admire the autumn leaves and statuesque downtown skyline rushing by.
Hope you enjoyed reading about my bus adventures this week!
Cheers,
Riley
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