[Cadaverous Pallor]

Your bus problems always make me appreciate my car.

There's nothing so good as being alone in the car, parked in the right spot so the sun doesn't hit your black polyester slacks. You know, when NPR has such an interesting report on Day to Day and you'd rather listen to it than sit in air-conditioning? You're eating an In-n-Out burger extra carefully, making sure to not splatter your new pinstripe shirt, glancing idly at the lap mat they gave you as you listen to the radio. The seat's pushed back, wheel tilted up, seat belt unbuckled, all windows open so you don't suffocate. Alex Chadwick's pleasant voice guides you through lunch, and you watch people walking in and out of the stores in the strip mall, hear a bird sing in a parking lot tree near your window, catch the odd breeze. When you're done you clean your hands with the water drops clinging to your soft drink cup. You put the car back together and drive to work because damn, did it get hot in here quickly without the air on...

Conversely, there is nothing so bad as sitting in traffic when you're late again and there's nothing you can do but wait it out and oh the FRUSTRATION as the time ticks by but there really isn't any other way that would be any quicker, you just have to get out of bed earlier, but who wants to do that, of course at this moment you'd give anything to have gotten up 5 or 10 minutes earlier...

Tag.