Extremes

For a recovering control freak, I've been dealing pretty well with all the newness in my life. I'm new to the city, I'm in a new apartment, I'm new to my job, and I'm new to the subject matter that I'm writing about at my job. Not only that, but I work downtown (easy-peasy)...but will have to navigate my way down to our campus by bus, car, train, cab, you name it. It's all a lot of... new.

Which has been really great, actually, except the time that I got on a south-bound bus when I was already on the south side. And the time that I held up a line of people getting on to the northbound bus I should have been on in the first place by trying to put my CTA card in the cash slot. There have been a dozen humbling experiences like this over the past week, but also some pretty awesome wins. Aside from the bus mishap, I managed to navigate my way down to campus on my first try and make all my meetings on time. Things are starting to come together in terms of, oh, knowing how the heck to even get into work, which is basically Fort Knox with all its locked doors and maze-like cubicles. And Henley, knock on wood, is happy and secure at home, behaves for her dog walker, and hasn't touched a thing in the apartment in my absence. Highs and lows, wins and near-misses.

Which brings me to my public transportation experiences today. I spent about 4 hours of my day in transit to and from work and meetings. In those four hours I witnessed:

• a drunk man who sat behind me on the bus, grunting and occasionally touching the ends of my hair (No, I could not get up and move, trustmetrustmetrustme, that bus was packed; and yes, I took a hot shower the moment I got home)
• an elderly woman whispering sweetly to her husband, a Korean war vet, who clearly had dementia and was agitated, assuring him that their stop was coming up soon....for 12 stops straight
• a sorority-girl (Phi Beta something) in her mid-20s who clicked her retainer in and out of her mouth while making disturbing faces at her self in the train window...for 12 stops straight
• a group of 12-ish-year-old girls who were gawking and giggling at a 40-ish-year-old woman on a subway platform whose skirt was stuck up in the back of her jacket...and one 12-ish-year-old girl who kindly tapped her on the shoulder and told her
• a woman with orange dreads and a studded leather jacket screaming at J.Crew customer service reps for 35 minutes
• a 7-ish-year-old boy bashfully give up his seat for a 10-ish-year-old girl (do these kids not have school?!)

Chicago, something tells me you make the good great and the weird even weirder.