Due to certain facts about my life currently, I was stranded without a ride home back from class today. I walked over to the nearest bus stop to wait for my sister as I've been doing the past few times. I texted her. I texted her again. Then I called her. No response. I figured she was asleep (she was) so I just sat around the bus stop trying to figure out what I should do.
An hour passed.
By then I figured maybe I should just walk home. That would take an hour. I'd have about 2 hours at home, then then I'd have to walk to school again for another hour. Not really worth it. So I sat around some more. Every 5 or so minutes a bus would arrive, drop people off and pick up others, and so on and so forth. I had nothing but my phone and my music, so I would text no one in particular, post some shit on Twitter, and doze off for a few minutes here and there. Around 11:30 or so (1.5 hours of sitting at that bus stop) a police van rolled up to the stop, and a cop walked out. Looking at me and a kid who had just sat nearby, he asked "Have either of you seen a man sleeping around here?" Somebody had called the police on me. I stood up and told him I had been here for a little while. He came over to me and laughed. "I was expecting some old hobo sleeping here." After handing him my ID to prove I was a student, he said "Have a nice day" and drove off. I went back to sleep.
David eventually responded to one of my messages, and we had a conversation for a good while. Finally, something to keep me sane. I listened to probably 2 or 3 full albums while I was sitting around. I took my glasses off after a while, as they were getting uncomfortable. Shortly afterwards, a girl walked by me. She turned and waved at me, and I waved back. Shit, who was that? She looked so familiar, but seeing as I was blind I had no clue who it was. A few minutes later, a girl came my way from the direction mystery girl had come from. She looked the same. Same clothes, same hair, etc. Was that her? But who was her? She went across the street and laid down in a patch of grass. Even with my glasses back on, I wasn't close enough to tell if that was her, whoever she was. Well, I turned out to be staring at a stranger for the past 10 minutes because the actual mystery girl had returned. Aw lame, that girl. Just some friend of a friend, a person I'd seen and talked to maybe twice. She didn't acknowledge me this time, as she sat around the bus stop much like I was. Ten or so minutes later, her and her friends walked away.
Boredom.
Oh my god, how long do I have to sit here? Why am I even sitting here in the first place? Because, Grant, you have nowhere else to go right now, nothing to do. If you weren't sitting here like a vagrant all day, you'd be wandering campus aimlessly, like a vagrant. I counted the time left until my next class. Two hours to go until I can sit in my class for a half hour before it starts! One hour! These headphones were really starting to hurt my head, and I smelled awful. I had planned to be home at 10, I wanted to take a shower today! Oh well. Why was I wearing a thick sweater and a heavy knit cardigan, it's t-shirt weather right now! Whatever, even though I had transformed into a hobo today, I was comfortable dammit.
Thirty minutes to go. I was starting to get antsy, ready to get up and go at a moment's notice. The umpteenth bus pulled in. Yet, this wasn't the ordinary quick-stop. The bus driver opened his door and walked towards me. This cool black dude I recognized from when I rode the buses last year, probably in his thirties. "Hey man, I've been driving all day and I've seen you sitting here for a long time. You've got to have been here for at least five hours. Is everything alright man?" I responded, "Yeah it's fine, I'm just hanging out here."
"Alright then. Here, have an apple." My face lit up and I thanked him. As he placed this green apple on the bench next to me, he said "take care", got back in the bus, and drove off. I looked at the apple. It had a few bruises and some weird black marks on the bottom, but I had been starving all day. Besides, this beautiful man gave me a gift for my troubles, and I wasn't about to turn down this offer. It wasn't overly crisp, and it certainly had some nasty mushy spots, but this was food, and I can cut it some slack as I'm sure it had been sitting in that bus all day. I don't think he'll know how much I appreciated that apple.
Once he left I started to get paranoid. I didn't want that guy to see me here again, I didn't want him to take further pity on me, or worry more people. I wanted to be gone so the next time he passed through he wouldn't see me, but see that he had helped me. 10 minutes to go. I sat in anticipation for the time to pass so that by the time I left, I would arrive at my class just as the doors opened. I couldn't take it anymore. I left a few hours early. 10AM to 3PM at a bus stop, and at long last, I had my freedom.
I stopped by another building on my way to go to the bathroom and refill my water bottle, which ate up a few minutes. Walked into class and it was nearly empty, as would be expected an hour in advance. I sat down, and now that I had wifi I could actually use my phone to dick around online. Class eventually started, I learned nothing, and left class without incident. My sister had finally woken up, and she came and picked me up and took me home. Been blogging and blah blah-ing since then.
So yeah, that was my day.
Walking for hours is wonderful. You should try it sometime. I used to walk from my house to the town library back when I lived in Kinston. That took maybe an hour/hour and a half. Worst part was this highway intersection, but I never had any problems.
Also, I'll spend hours walking around downtown Asheville, or well I used to. Now I've explored quite a bit and would like some new nooks and crannies to be exposed to.
Quote from: N o t S i d on October 17, 2011, 11:06:54 PM
Walking for hours is wonderful. You should try it sometime. I used to walk from my house to the town library back when I lived in Kinston. That took maybe an hour/hour and a half. Worst part was this highway intersection, but I never had any problems.
Also, I'll spend hours walking around downtown Asheville, or well I used to. Now I've explored quite a bit and would like some new nooks and crannies to be exposed to.
Yeah, I'm thinking this opportunity is going to present itself to me a lot more in the near future, so I think next time I'll just wander around town.
Damn that sounds awful, sorry you had to wait around like that... Hopefully it wasn't too cold?
Quote from: Yip Yipper on October 17, 2011, 11:26:39 PM
Damn that sounds awful, sorry you had to wait around like that... Hopefully it wasn't too cold?
QuoteWhy was I wearing a thick sweater and a heavy knit cardigan, it's t-shirt weather right now!
It was chilly for maybe the first half hour, but after that it was pretty warm.
Yeah you should have walked somewhere interesting. Or at least took a long nap in some nice grass.
Quote from: Molotov Emir 1986 on October 17, 2011, 11:42:54 PM
Yeah you should have walked somewhere interesting. Or at least took a long nap in some nice grass.
I'm allergic to grass, my eyes swell up and get itchy akudood; akudood;
Quote from: Hiro on October 17, 2011, 11:43:44 PM
I'm allergic to grass, my eyes swell up and get itchy akudood; akudood;
Oh no that is terrible. I love to sleep in a soft blanket of grass in a park.
Quote from: Hiro on October 17, 2011, 11:43:44 PM
I'm allergic to grass, my eyes swell up and get itchy akudood; akudood;
I used to be the same way. I took allergy shots to get through this.
A huge shot in my arm once a week
fucking lame.
You should go on walks grant flagstaff is nice giggle;
Quote from: N o t S i d on October 17, 2011, 11:56:34 PM
I used to be the same way. I took allergy shots to get through this.
A huge shot in my arm once a week
fucking lame.
I think I was offered this once in middle school, but it was too much effort. It would have been an hour long drive up to a couple times a week, and it was rather expensive too if I remember correctly.
I wonder if I could try for that again befuddlement
Quote from: eeeeeee on October 18, 2011, 12:01:23 AM
You should go on walks grant flagstaff is nice giggle;
Oh I've walked around Flagstaff before, and it is lovely. Just not usually by myself with nowhere to go and not for distances as long as it could take me. Still, I am going to try that a little more now.
More of hiro's day stories like this
I'm with everyone else in this thiread, as said just walk. Aimlessly walk. It may sound boring at first but maybe carry yourself a drink or something next time if you can't afford to buy your own food.
Also if you get the chance, maybe get a tiny funny looking card and just give the guy a thank you note if you can find him again.
Quote from: Ruka Urushibara on October 18, 2011, 08:42:45 AM
I'm with everyone else in this thiread, as said just walk. Aimlessly walk. It may sound boring at first but maybe carry yourself a drink or something next time if you can't afford to buy your own food.
Also if you get the chance, maybe get a tiny funny looking card and just give the guy a thank you note if you can find him again.
I don't use the bus system anymore, so I don't think I'll ever be seeing him again anytime soon.
Still, enough about the walking thing. I've walked before. Why I sat there that whole time, I'm unsure.
Quote from: Cookie on October 18, 2011, 08:16:58 AM
More of hiro's day stories like this
Thanks man, I'll be sure to share if anything worth telling happens. Most of my days are pretty mundane: go to school, come home, internet, sleep, rinse, repeat.
I wept when I read your story!
Quote from: bluebirdofhappiness on October 18, 2011, 10:32:47 AM
I wept when I read your story!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NMph943tsw[/youtube]
Bring your laptop and chill on campus. It's what I do.
this what most days in my childhood were afterschool
thanks dad <3333333333333
Quote from: CM Wrench on October 18, 2011, 10:50:02 AM
Bring your laptop and chill on campus. It's what I do.
I normally do, but I had expected to go back home right after my first class that day. I even decided against grabbing my gba sp that was sitting in the car as I was dropped off in the morning.
Quote from: Clucky on October 18, 2011, 10:52:00 AM
this what most days in my childhood were afterschool
thanks dad <3333333333333
for five hours? I've done hour waits many many times.
Hiro, you should always keep a few books on you!
If you wanted, you could write a little screenplay about a guy stuck at a bus stop for five hours, just watchng and waiting and then someone would sit next to him and he'd launch into one of these fantastic stories about him as a kid growing up. Then he'd offer them chocolates or something, I dont know...
Quote from: Boognish-Redux- on October 18, 2011, 11:22:09 AM
Hiro, you should always keep a few books on you! Bim!
If you wanted, you could write a little screenplay about a guy stuck at a bus stop for five hours, just watchng and waiting and then someone would sit next to him and he'd launch into one of these fantastic stories about him as a kid growing up. Then he'd offer them chocolates or something, I dont know...
That took me a second. Clever girl...
I should keep books on me. All I really carry is school supplies and a couple moleskines of varying sizes that I don't write in as much as I should. I got a book recently and carried it around for a while, but I never read more than the first page. I'm told it's a pretty challenging read, and as someone who doesn't read books a whole lot I've become intimidated.
I should get a short book or something, maybe I'll look around at Bookman's today.
Quote from: Hiro on October 18, 2011, 11:44:40 AM
That took me a second. Clever girl...
I should keep books on me. All I really carry is school supplies and a couple moleskines of varying sizes that I don't write in as much as I should. I got a book recently and carried it around for a while, but I never read more than the first page. I'm told it's a pretty challenging read, and as someone who doesn't read books a whole lot I've become intimidated.
I should get a short book or something, maybe I'll look around at Bookman's today.
If you want an honest suggestion, read some Vonnegut if you haven't. His stories are comprised of little bite sized snippets that flow and flow and flow. Perfect for bite sized reading.
Quote from: Boognish-Redux- on October 18, 2011, 01:45:01 PM
If you want an honest suggestion, read some Vonnegut if you haven't. His stories are comprised of little bite sized snippets that flow and flow and flow. Perfect for bite sized reading.
i second this and propose starting with
Cat's Cradle
Quote from: Boognish-Redux- on October 18, 2011, 01:45:01 PM
If you want an honest suggestion, read some Vonnegut if you haven't. His stories are comprised of little bite sized snippets that flow and flow and flow. Perfect for bite sized reading.
Quote from: Reisen on October 18, 2011, 01:52:32 PM
i second this and propose starting with Cat's Cradle
I've been meaning to do that for a while actually, I have a friend who just loves that book. I suppose that's what I'll go with then. Thanks.