And we stand. And we wait. The announcer comes on to say “This is your last call for boarding the 6:45 Pacific Surfliner in route to Los Angeles.” I giggle a little at this since it is kind of hard to board a train that is not there, right? 6:45 comes and goes, 6:50 comes and goes. I laugh again, more because I have just noticed that the running LCD board says 4:55 PM March 2, 2002 then the fact that everyone looks distraught. So I break the silence and say “Well hey it is 5PM now I guess we can all go home. That was a great day huh?” A few people giggle and the 35-40 year old handsome man behind me says “Yeah 5 o’clock 6 years ago.” This then spurs another conversation with 40 something guy on my right side and 50 something guy on my left side. We decide to discuss how immensely difficult it must be for the challenged people who work at the station to change the LCD board to actually have the right time and day. Then we start talking about the date and time significance and what possibly could have happened that day for the station to want to remember that date. Did I mention it is now 7 AM and I am now going to be 30 minutes late for my FIRST day at work? But who cares the adventures have just started. So around 7am the announcer says “We are sorry for the delay but a passenger on the train has pulled the emergency break. Of course! Well the train arrive at 7:05…Finally!
I found the first seat I could by myself. A few people walked by, I smiled but no takers. Do you think it might because I had no make up on? Oh well. This one cute guy walk by and smile at me too…but kept on walking. About 5 minutes and one coffee later the same guy came and sat with me. It was the 35-40 year old handsome guy I previously mentioned. We talked about all his traveling and of course he made sure he mentioned he had a WIFE. Yeah me. They were planning to spend the next few years traveling around the world a few weeks here and a few weeks there. Then a day before their trip to Panama the wife came out and said ahh I am pregnant. They now have a 6-month-old little girl and want more. His Wife – teaches preschool, piano and English. He just got new job and he was on the train to Irvine to pick up his new company truck. Since he travels a lot he recommended some books for me to read. He had recently traveled to Panama, Hawaii, and goes to Japan a lot. He was very nice to talk to we had no political or religious conversations. Wow I like commuting
PM Commute- I left work at 4:45pm and had to head up hill to metrolink. Hop the purple line for one stop and get the union station at 5pm. At this point I should let you know that my train home leaves at 5:10 pm. I check out the station list and see that my train leaves from platform 9 3/4…haha I am just kidding it was further down the station on platform 12. Then I hear “This is the last boarding call for train 728 bound to San Diego and all stops in between. SHIT!!!!! I started to run through the station with my 700 bags of crap and my mug of coffee and water bottle in my hands. In work shoes with my new PURSE around my neck!!!!! Reaching my train and hop on to a full train, shirt buttons popped around my boobs of course (had a tank top on thank God) and sweating like a pig!!!! I found the seat where I sat earlier today and met up with the wonderful ladies.
The first was a 30 something Girl from Toronto Canada. She is an independent IT recruiter. She took a month off of work to travel North America. She had a rail pass that she could ride everywhere.
The other lady was a older lady from Kenya. She too was a recruiter, but for colleges for African students. She told us about herself, her job and her trip to California and then fell asleep. Oh yeah she laughed at me for my career change from Advertising to Teaching. So the other girl and I continued to talk. Seems that we had a lot on common. She just lost her grandma and grandpa this year too. She had also made a big career change from restaurants to IT recruiting. At one point this hot guy walked by and she was looking at him and then on his way back I got a good look too. We both just giggled. We talked about so much in our two hours I never even touched my book, except to hand my ticket to the conductor and put it back. Turns out she is staying in PB…that is where I live. We had a great time talking. So as I approached my station I said, “Oh by the way…my name is Terri.” She said “No way, so is mine! With an I or a y?” I said “I of course.” TOO funny huh! Then the hot guy walked by again to get his luggage. She said he is getting off with you, you better go talk to him. I said I’d try. Then I asked her if she had facebook or myspace and she did. So I gave her my email. At my stop I grabbed my backpack and a computer bag. Shoved my book in the bag grabbed the rest of my things and said good-bye to my new friends. As I got about 10 steps off the train, the lady from Kenya yells “wait you have my computer!” I run back and she hands me my computer and walk away. I get another 15 steps away and then…SHIT wait my book! I run back to the train (remember I have 700 bags) and the train takes off.
Casualty of day one commute: Book given to me from Erika a few years ago for Christmas, signed by her and by the author. Along with the announcement from my grandpa’s funeral.
wah wah waaa
Day one complete.
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