Day 9: The total climbs...

My bookend days - Monday and Friday - did not bode well for the grand total. I exceeded my Monday total with a whopping $26 (including tip - as a former waitress as long as you make a reasonable effort I tend to do 20%). Met up with some Law Journal Alumni at a favorite seafood grill - Crab salad was pretty yummy! My alumni friends, Interrogator and Buffer (so named because Interrogator once questioned me to tears, and Buffer is the arbitrator when Interrogator and I cross from collegial friendship into adversarial bickering) just finished the bar exam. Amongst other topics, it was interesting to discuss the "acting" aspect of being a lawyer - I want to reject the idea that I can't be my quirky self AND be a lawyer... but popular opinion in the lawyer community is that a professional image is EVERYTHING. Sigh!

So this week's total was $45. Last week was $20.51. So in theory, to even it all out to my $20 per week, next week needs to be negative five dollars. Someone has to pay me $5 to go out to eat... Oh dear.

An additional fun story is that I missed the bus for the first time. I wanted to catch the 4:39 home, and darn it if those buses weren't running like clockwork Friday afternoon! I was a block away and I saw the bus cross the intersection. I ran full speed; I checked my watch and yes, it was 4:40 so it was definitely my bus. I got caught at the light, but as soon as the traffic subsided I ran across - but the bus now had a green light.

In the past, I have watched people sprint to the bus, and seen the utter look of defeat as the bus drives away. I internally judged and mocked those people. With that in mind, I kept running past the initial bus stop. Part of me thought, maybe I can catch the lights right, run the next two blocks, and catch the bus at the next stop. Most of me thought, I can't let these people see that I missed the bus! So I ran... and ran... and ran until I was at one of the last downtown bus stops.

It was relatively deserted and I felt my pride was safe.