wowza

for someone who rides the trax enough to consider herself an "experienced rider," i sure had fiasco with it yesterday...

it all started with a call from my grandma:
grandma: can you do lunch at chuck-a-rama by fashion place at 2:00?
me: yeah, sure! i'll have dad pick me up... see you then! [or something like that]

[sidenote: it's important to note that chuck-a-rama has always intrigued me... i have been known to longingly stare at it as i am driven past the establishment on fouth south, but that is a story for another day... needless to say i probably won't be going back... and we can leave it at this: it's a good thing there was a restroom within ten feet of our table, but not a good thing that the toliet was broken. oops i did it again.]

so my dad picks me up and we meet up with the fam at the restaurant. i'm not going to go into detail on this because i feel like what was mentioned above is adequate... lets get to the point: my dad decides to go to the b.basketball game thus leaving me sans ride home. grandma offers to take me, but only after they decide to go bowling. i'm not a bowler. and also, i had plans in which i had to get ready for so i knew this would just totally throw me off schedule... so i decide to take the trax...

my aunt drops me off at the stop and as i'm looking in my wallet i discover i only have a ten dollar bill... said aunt asks if i need cash... "no, it's cool. it's saturday! they never check anyway" ... my aunt looks at me suspiciously [being the good 10%-giving-church-goer that she is], tells me she loves me, and yak yak yak...

so i get on the train, sit down and start playing on my wireless telephone device... i hear the words "tickets please" and see a u.t.a. policeman standing about five feet from me... fear ensues...

he starts hassling some guy who is thumbing through various pockets and whatnot, leaving me to an interal freak-out session... you see, the ticket/citation for not having proper fare is $133.00... $133.00!! that's money that i'd have to dip into my computer fund for IF i would've gotten caught... and for such a stupid reason...

the wanna-be-real-cop gets to me and i tell him, "i switched-out my wallet earlier and i dont have my pass... i'll get off at the next stop and buy a ticket" ... "OK," he says and proceeds down the aisle [that is not true at all, by the way - i was totally going off the sheet on that - good thing i'm a quick thinker!]. so i jump off [not literally, i dont want to hurt my non-cankles] and insert the $10 bill... while i'm waiting for my change, sackagewea dollars, the trax leaves... UGH! it was cold outside! but whatever, i'll deal with $8.00 in dollar-coins to not have to pay $133.00 - and let's be honest, i was really lucky... of course that was the only trax cop i saw, and the ride to the gallivan center plaza was quite uneventful... as i'm waiting to make the transfer, i decide to walk across the street and get a cup of coffee... wouldn't you know it?! the university train is running early... so i totally miss it... i'm kinda ok with that, as i did wash my hair earlier that day so my "getting ready time" won't be nearly as long, but at the same time i'm quite irritated - early?! come on u.t.a.! it's called a schedule for a reason!

so i purchase a back-issue of the believer and wait, in the cold, for fifteen minutes... the train comes, i get on, but being so consumed in the article i was reading, i realize that i've missed my stop when i get to the stadium... SONUVA!!! ...more waiting...

i eventually made it home, but the lesson here is this: pay attention. pay your fare. and just go bowling with the fam... grandma's van is way more warm that the train.