plans get complex

4:47 PM: Hello faithful readers. First and foremost- for those of you in the DC area, some of my bus musings have made it off the internet and published in this week's Onion (DC only) so peep it! I forgot to include a plug about the blog, an inexcusable oversight that can never be corrected. This was our chance for regional fame!
Back to business: Arriving at the bus stop, a large queue leads hopeful passengers half way down the block. The 3 PM was quite late so I take this as an opportunity to get a sandwich. After refusing to pay 7.50 for a hummus sandwich at Cosi (perhaps this was made from gold plated chick peas?) I take a chance on Potbelly, a franchise I have narrowly avoided since moving to DC. Their "vegetarian" is a mushroom sandwich but was loaded with enough hot peppers to make it worth my time. I return to a much shorter line and inquire around regarding our status. Turns out the 4 PM is on its way. The girl in front of me frowns at this development, complaining aloud that her friend is stuck in an elevator with their tickets. She moans and hopes this bus is as late as the last. Your predicament is surely tragic, but should we all be late to our evening's events because your friend didn't take the stairs? I think not.
This same passenger takes this dilemma as an opportunity to hit on the brooks brother type standing in front of her. His tortoise shell glasses made me wish I was a lawyer. "That's all there are in this town, politicians and lawyers" he coyly remarks, dusting off a script he breaks out nightly. This girl is interested, he is not. She talks about her hotel in Times Square that awaits her and begins lamenting the night that is slowly getting away. They exchange cards which she justifies for "networking" purposes. He boards the bus while she shirks to the sidelines and begins to wait on the elevator operators.

5:02PM: One of my professors sent out an email that our final papers are outside her office and grades have been posted online. This email was sent at 3:44. It is now 5:05 and my browser shows nothing. I have been refreshing like a crazy person but still...nothing. Can't something be done?!?! I can't be that guy who emails the teacher asking for his individual grade. Can I? Only time will tell and bus time is akin to dog years...it stretches far beyond how humans normally perceived it.

5:21PM: I emailed my professor.

5:29PM: Got my grade via email! A-! Now I can watch Julien Donkey Boy in peace.

8:21PM: Just finished Julien Donkey Boy, as we continue to crawl on the crowded rainy turnpike. I just might beat l's record of longest trip...fingers crossed?