What happens when Miss Positivity is challenged with crappy days.

I hadn’t had a bad CTA experience in several months so I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised when Friday I had a terrible one.  I left my apartment the same time as usual, maybe even a little earlier.  I make my way to the bus stop for the #136 and am waiting and waiting….and waiting.  Finally, one comes but it drives right by.  So I wait some more and some more, and finally, another one comes.  And it ALSO DRIVES RIGHT BY.  At this point, I know for a fact that I will be late.   My stomach is in knots and I am extremely anxious.  If there is one thing that really really gets to me, it’s being late for work or class.  So, I’m standing there realizing I have to do SOMETHING.  The red line will take too long.  So will any bus, but I just hop on one—I choose the 144 instead of the 146, the one good choice I made this day since it goes express sooner.  Before I get on, I drop my water bottle on the ground.  (This becomes important in a second).  So I sit down on the 144 and realize my seat is getting all wet.  My water bottle was leaking.  So I move seats, becoming more and more anxious realizing this is not my day at all.  This whole time I’m thinking I have two choices.  I can get off at Michigan and try to hail a cab and maybe still make it, or I can stay on the bus and just jog the remainder to school. 

I choose wrong.  I get off and realize pretty quick every stinking cab is full.  I hop back on a 140something and take it to Michigan and South Water.  I get off and am still 16 minutes away.  It is 5 til 9 at this point.  So I hope on a 140something or other and take it to State and Lake.  I am now around 12 minutes away.  I jog half of the distance to school and make it 12 minutes late.  One more thing about this choose your own adventure (every thing I chose was wrong) day.  I had put my water bottle with the ice remaining in my lunch bag not realizing the reason it had been leaking was because it had cracked (I thought nalgenes couldn’t crack).  So my sandwich was soaked and I had to throw it out.  I was in a funk through lunch.

Fast forward to the next day—Friday night.  I am on the way to Union Station.  I leave super early and take the red line not wanting to deal with the bus.  The red line of course has a delay of 5-10 minutes on the way (This rarely happens—delays are usually 1-2 minutes).  So I get off at Jackson finally and try to find the bus to Union Station.  Now I have a pretty good sense of direction in Chicago by day but when it’s night time it pretty much all goes out the window.  Add night to anxiety at being late and you have me totally and completely clueless.  So I wonder around in the rain looking for the bus and finally decide to walk to Union Station. Somehow I find it and I arrive bedraggled and pretty stinkin’ wet.  Of course my luggage is soaked too. 

TWO horrible transit/getting lost etc experiences in two days.  It goes to show you have to take the bad along with the good in life.  This seriously has tested my positivity.  It’s easy to be positive when things go great in life.  The real challenge comes when you’re faced with stress.  Let’s hope things look up soon.