public transportation.

My day yesterday was the kind where around every corner, something random would happen leaving me in a very specific state of reaction: big smile, jaw dropped, knee slapped.

And I'm fairly certain it was simply a change in perspective on an ordinary day.
DK and I have been a one car family for quite awhile now and it's been really simple, considering he works so close to home. It was even announced at New Year's as his 2010 resolution: to use public transportation for a year and make the most of what could be considered frustrating circumstances. I love the stories he tells about his experiences on the bus and I gather it's been a great time for him to check out and catch up on podcasts, etc.

To be completely honest, I started to get a little envious of his commuting adventures, so when he tells me for 2 days in a row he needs the car I was ready and armed with my Eastex freeway Metro map and a few pumps of adrenalin. We both advocate public transportation, use it together as often as possible, but know our city has a long way to go with great potential. I would LOVE to take a train out to Humble from downtown everyday but because I could only get as far as the park n' ride stop, it took a little finagling.

DK dropped me at breakfast with Stephanie and Lindsey at Barnaby's around 7 a.m. and we sat for a couple hours talking about EVERYTHING. I love love love these women and to say I treasure my time with them is an understatement. From there, Lindsey dropped me off at my bus stop in downtown and 3 minutes later I saw my #259 barreling down Franklin right towards me. Breaks exhale, door opens and dings, I bounded up the stairs, waved my Q card and found a seat.

As we passed through downtown and out onto 59, I became a little reminiscent and somewhat pensive. It's an interesting experience to watch through this massive window while sitting up so high, looking down at all the streets, places and landmarks you're totally familiar with but now seeing from a completely different perspective. It's as though the memories I made at each scene are now dancing across this window screen and playing out a ghostly montage of my life that happened here. All this and time doesn't stop, people keep walking and I feel completely frozen in the moment.

But I remember feeling this way too as a kid leaving for camp. Loading up on the bus and waving goodbye to my parents, somehow ackowledging I would not be the same person when I returned and then as we drove away, I watched out my window the places so familiar to me and snapped mental images of it all. From way up high.

We arrived to the park n' ride earlier than I'd calculated (newbie) so I had time to spare before my co-worker Lloyd picked me up. And I did what any girl would do when stranded in a parking lot and I hiked it over to Target.

(Sidebar: I'm listening to Sara Bareilles while I blog and she keeps me writing at such a momentous pace because I pretend I'm playing the piano like her to the beat but on my keyboard. You should try it, even tap your right foot like you're pumping the piano pedal too for added musical emphasis.)

It wasn't the most pedestrian friendly route from the parking lot to Target but since I consider myself pretty low-maintenance I could handle it. Self sufficiency is pretty sexy. I wondered what people thought or worried about me as they drove past. I noticed a lot of things on my walk I wouldn't normally and as the sun shined so brilliantly, I felt so free, I started to sing a song out loud... I'm still trying to figure out the weightlessness and carefree feelings that poured out of me on this entire journey. It wasn't even that big of a deal. But I feel really different and more present than I've felt in a looooong time.

Once I got inside Target I skipped around and checked things out. I bought some gum and a funky little sundress that was $5 but as I was leaving I noticed I'd developed a little Houston summer heat stench from my hike. How convenient the beauty section was a stone's throw from where I was! Did you know that Target sells celebrity fragrances? Initially I thought I'd spray a little sample of some fruity body spray but as I perused the selections of perfume bottles labeled with scantilly clad, kinda distressed looking country singers and not so popular anymore actresses, my curiousity was grabbed by the super elusive rapper donning a white jacket and I think he was posing in front of a private jet?

There I was, standing alone in the beauty aisle at Target and in retrospect, I'm pretty sure I was under a spell because there is NO other explanation for why on earth I had to had to had to... I HAD to know what P. Diddy's cologne smelled like.

And I sprayed it on myself.

I don't know if I was more upset about the headache I had the rest of the day or that I didn't feel cool and elitest like him. That's a lesson learned kids, celebrity frangrances can't make you smell or feel cool.

Not too much later my buddy Lloyd showed up. Lloyd is an engineer at KSBJ and is really hilarious. We've had some fun at work together in the past including the time we voluntarily led an all black church in singing some Israel and Donnie McClurkin tunes and had the whole place singing and dancing. Photo proof. You never know what you're going to get with ol' Lloyd but you can't help but appreciate his quirks.

I got in the car and noticed right away some really strange tink tink tink piano music he was listening to. "Lloyd what on earth is this?" He says matter of factly "It's my singing lesson today."

And the rest of the ride to KSBJ we sang in every octave possible "AAAAND the rockets red glAAARE!!" Over and over and over again. By the time we got to the station I was laughing so hard I was choking.

Today when I drove to work, my mind was in a totally different place. I can't figure it out... but I loved who and how I was yesterday. Completely silly, productive, overjoyed and in a new way.

Maybe it's just Houston traffic...