Damn Swede

4:28 AM Awake from a dream.  In my dream, the power went out and my alarm
did not wake me up.

5:50 AM Alarm does go off.  It’s really early.

6:44 AM Dad drives me to the train station.  It is my parent’s way of “easing me
into” the commute.  I am told this will not happen every day.

7:12 AM Dad drops me off at the train station and gives me $10.

7:18 AM They don’t take plastic.  I write a check as the train whistle
sounds in the distance.

7:24 AM Board the train just before it pulls away from the station.  I
wonder to myself, “Is this the correct train?  Do trains go outbound in the
morning?  What if I end up in Harvard?”

7:25 AM Fears subside when the train starts moving towards Chicago.

7:50 AM Decide sleeping on the train is really not a bad idea.

8:10 AM Get off the train at the Olgivie Transportation Center.  Follow the
mad rush of people downstairs to the buses.  Feel like I am in a movie.

8:12 AM Ask a woman selling newspapers where I can buy a CTA pass for the
bus.  She sends me to currency exchange to get change for my $5.

8:14 AM Return from Currency Exchange, where I left my money on the counter.
Got strange looks from the woman who alerted me.

8:15 AM Realize I have no idea where to catch my bus.  I ask the
conductor-looking guy who points me in the right direction and calls me
“sweetie.”  Watch as my bus pulls away.

8:16 AM Board my bus and learn it’s only $1, as opposed to $1.75, which
means I had no need for the Currency Exchange in the first place.  Bus
driver keeps looking at me.  I wonder if “First-time commuter” is tattooed
to my forehead.

8:22 AM Exit bus at Orleans & Grand and start walking towards the office.
Ask the guy walking next to me if he takes the same bus in the evening and
where he picks it up from.  Good thing I ask because it’s no where near
where I got off.

8:25 AM Arrive at work with five minutes to spare!

8:35 AM Call my mom to ask her to mail bills for me.  She picks up the
phone, “Oh thank goodness you called!  I was so worried about you, I did not
want you to know how worried I was about you!”