I thought nothing could top the day I missed my connecting commuter train, took the local train instead, which got caught behind another train that was in an accident, took a bus to get around it, and arrived at work an hour and a half late instead of 30 minutes early. Or the time I got off the train to try to catch a bus in El Monte, only to wander around for half an hour looking for the bus then find out later that there are two El Monte Stations--one for trains and one for buses. Or the time I decided to try to take a certain bus home, but arrived at the bus stop only to learn that the line had been discontinued by deciphering a cryptic, handwritten sign in Spanish taped to the bus stop sign.
But today beat them all. Having figured out two-station mystery in El Monte, I decided to try again. When I reached the El Monte bus station, I followed the sign for buses. I waited, and waited, and wandered around a little, finally realizing that I should have followed the signs to the parking lot, which is apparently where I was supposed to catch my bus. "Oh well," thought I, "I'll catch the next bus an hour from now. It's not the end of the world." Then a bus miraculously appeared after only a few minutes with the number of the bus line I was waiting for. I got on, only to realize after one stop that it was going the wrong direction. I asked the bus driver where to catch the bus going the other direction and got off. She had told me to wait on the southwest corner of the intersection we were at. I went to the southwest corner, there was a sign for the bus line I wanted (going in the correct direction this time), and I waited. As I waited, I saw my bus go by on the northwest corner of the intersection. I decided the bus driver had told me to wait in the wrong place, or that they'd switched the bus stops or something. So I got on another bus that would take me back to the El Monte bus station, hoping I'd figure out something from there, like getting back on the train. As I rode back toward the station, I saw my bus coming back in the direction of the stop where I'd been waiting. I guess the bus made a loop or something. So, I had to wait another hour for the next bus. Of course, that bus came, and the sign on it indicated it was going the wrong direction. Good thing I double checked with the driver, or I would have been waiting out in the cold for three hours. Eventually I got to work. I got there so late, I needed to stay late and couldn't take my normal train route home. I decided to try another bus route. "Bad idea! Danger! Danger!" you must be thinking. Too true. I arrived at the bus stop nice and early. As I approached, I saw a bus with my route's number on it, but, again, saying it was going the wrong direction, and 5 minutes earlier than my bus was scheduled to go by. So I didn't try to flag it down. Turns out it was my bus. I had to wait for the next one (an hour later, again). At least this time I was near where I could get some dinner. I finally got on a bus and arrived at the train station. At this point, I was expecting to get home around 9 pm. Until I saw the sign saying the trains were running 60-90 minutes late. I'll just leave the story there.
I keep telling people LA secretly has a great public transit system. Really, you can pretty much get anywhere you want using trains and buses. If you're psychic and know the train and bus maps and schedules by heart and have all the time in the world to wait if they're not on schedule.
We're away from home for awhile (right now in KY visiting our nephew. Oh, and Josh's brother and his wife, too), but I thought I'd post some photos I took at our apartment complex showing why winter is my favorite time of year in southern CA. It's beautiful, and we even get a few fall colors.
I have never really liked the idea of making New Year's resolutions, mostly because I've felt like I ought to be making resolutions about myself year round instead of just at the new year. But I'm beginning to wonder whether constant resolutions are really a good way for me to go about things, especially since I am not good at keeping them. I set my sights on too many goals, put my finger in too many pots, resolve at different times to do well or stick to different things that may even conflict with one another. The last 6 weeks of the year tend to be extremely stressful for me as a rule, since Josh gets crazy amounts of work to do at school and usually isn't around much, while my department at work is frantically trying to finish our main yearly task that takes about 9 months and inevitably isn't as close to being done as we want it to be in November, plus all of the usual holiday stuff. This year, I managed to add to that my ESL practicum that took up about as much time as a part-time job plus a wine tasting class which, while enjoyable, required driving to Westwood once a week after work and not getting home until after 11. My skin broke out, I gained weight, I freaked out a couple of times, and I took most of it out on my hapless husband. "Remember November of aught-seven!" will be my battle cry in this fight against my own tendency to want to be and do too many things at once. I hereby resolve that 2008 will be different. I will have a set of goals and will stick to them. When I want to do something that seems good, I will weigh it with those goals in view and will discard it if it does not fit those goals. No more chasing seemingly worthwhile things only to lose sight of what is really important.
1. Discipline. There are a wide variety of areas in my life that could use more discipline. Getting up on time, taking vitamins, and eating healthy foods as a habit are among them. I could make resolutions about all of those specific things, but I think I would rather choose a few things that I think will help me cultivate an overall habit of discipline. I will read my Bible daily (I actually did a better job of this in 2007 than in previous years, but could do better still). I will participate in a triathlon (assuming I am actually able to acquire decent swimming skills in the lessons I'll be starting this month. Notice I did not even say I would complete the triathlon. I just at least want to get to the point where I can be in one, which I would consider a major accomplishment considering my athletic abilities.) I will follow a regular schedule for riding the train and stick to it. All three of these go together-- for example, a regular commute schedule helps me stick to my devotional time and it's necessary for triathlon training, especially if I'm going to stick to twice weekly swimming lessons in El Monte.
2. Leisure. Again, there are a lot of things I'd like to improve in my life that require more "free" time--keeping in better touch with friends, being available more often to discuss interesting topics with my husband, reading more good books--I could make individual resolutions about all of these, but I would probably fail if I didn't get at the root of the problem, which is trying to do too much. If it's not one of the three items in resolution #1 and is not essential to survival (sleep or eating) or to my role as a Christian, a wife, and an employee (in that order), I need to seriously consider not doing it at all or I shouldn't sweat it if it doesn't get done. To wit, I will not see free time as a void that needs to be filled by projects.