Brown Paper Sack

Today was very, very plain as if it were nothing but a manila folder stuffed in a manilla envelope wrapped in a paper grocery sack addressed to dullsville with a generic forever stamp for postage. Absolutely nothing happened and it was as if everything real was replaced by the generic. And you know what? That's ok. I bet alot of people wish their trip to work was less eventful. My fascinating book did its best to pull the dull from the air, but even it struggled in the mire of Thursday.

About all I remember was a guy's tattoo that said Mike M with something that looked like it was kind of scratched out or tattooed over and the face of a woman. I wondered if it was the artist's mistake or Mike's mistake. It was as neutral an experience as one could possibly have, but one shared by many people which, in and of itself is quite reassuring and calming. To be near others or perfect strangers in similar circumstances tends to lessen one's attention one gives to onesself and helps one to see that they're not alone by any means.

Today I checked work email on the bus and learned of the fate of a deal on which I'd worked the day before. It had been firmly denied. On the ride home from work, I found that the renegotiated deal had been approved; this being a byproduct of working in one time zone and relying on input from another time zone in regard to business decisions. It was quite interesting to know that I was indeed doing business on a bus, whereas if I were to attempt the same thing in a moving vehicle that I was driving, it may have dire consequences.

The longer I'm away from the wheel of my own car, the more I realize I don't miss it in any way. Leave the driving to someone else. Leave the liability and the stress to someone else. Cast all your cares upon someone else. It does make life easy in a way. Where else can you get that kind of peace of mind for 50 cents a trip? And don't forget the insurance savings. If you take the bus to work, you can save a small fortune by having your car classified as a pleasure vehicle only. I'm surprised I didn't seek out public transportation in the days following my trip to Germany where I found that it is so much nicer to spend time doing something other than being something. That something being just another rage-filled, lead-footed individual who brakes and signals at stop signs or lights and turns and screams at someone else for their obvious lack of sense or ability to drive. If there's one thing people respect on the road, it's a 3 ton bus.