Title Andronicus

I started riding a bike to work (and back). I think there should be a new word for riding, since when you ride roller coasters and buses and trains, you get to just sit there. This particular 4-mile journey breaks down into three distinct sections, the way I see it.

I start in Queens, which is a pretty good warm-up: not too many cars or pedestrians, wide roads, casual pace, etc. Next is the bridge, which is the purely physical part of the journey: there is a clearly marked, uninterrupted, relatively straight, uphill path that just requires the unthinking use of muscle. Finally, Manhattan - a gauntlet of terror and lessons in calculated risk. This is the brain-intensive portion, where reflexes, decision making, prediction, and again, sheer terror all come into play. I think I sweat more from nerves here than I do going across the bridge.

My first ride into work was my second time on a bike in over a decade, so pretty much every ride since then has seemed like a cake-walk, however close the calls I get myself into may be. I once misjudged a light and rode right out in front of oncoming traffic, haha.

Anyway, lest anyone get the wrong impression that I now lead a healthy lifestyle, my breakfast the other day was a dented can of Budweiser and some peanut butter cookies (thanks Bonnie!).

Also, I predict that as humidity increases, my likelihood of riding will decrease.

I on the E...except it's a C

My assumption was that, since I saw a C train leaving as I entered the station, the train that immediately followed it was an E.

Since I'm not familiar with the stops on either train, and it was too crowded to push through with my giant luggage-poorly-disguised-as-a-backpack and look at the map, I didn't discover I was on the wrong train until I heard "last stop."
One hour later, I was back at the station I'd started at, wondering whether I should've given myself more than two and a half hours to get to my flight. (Nah, but I should have checked which train I was boarding.)

In all, it took me four hours and $10 to go from work to the airport and back home again, with a piece of paper that guarantees me standby status (which guarantees me nothing) on the next available flight - 24 hours later.

Actually, I don't consider it much of a loss; I finished the book I was reading and got my daily exercise. Best of all, there's not a single reason for me to get out of bed until at least 2 tomorrow!

Quick Note

Before I leave for a weekend trip to Sacramento (for a friend's zoo wedding and to see some family), I thought I should mention two things:

1) To all who have asked for my new address. I'm not ignoring you, I just keep forgetting to send an email when I'm home and can copy it off an envelope. Paciencia y fe!

2) By the time I get back, my credit card debt should be completely paid off. It's funny, I taped a fortune cookie "fortune" to the back of my phone that says "Vacation can wait. Stick to the project till the end." It was supposed to remind and encourage me to persevere while I sacrificed nearly every cent to get this thing off my back. But it turns out I never look at/read the back of my phone, so it was pretty pointless. Which in turn makes the last few sentences pointless, I guess. Except that it turned out in the end that I did stick with the project and am now going on vacation.

2a) Debt paid...now what??