Day 10: One of THOSE Days

It just had to be one of those days. A day where nothing seems to go right and you realize that you would have been better off, just staying home and hiding under the covers.

It started off okay. I had my oatmeal and fresh strawberries for breakfast. Then I made my first mistake. I left my house. To get to work, I take the bus. The bus stop in Hoboken is about two blocks from my house so it's very convenient. Now considering that my office is literally only 5 miles away from my house you would think that this would be a quick and easy commute. You would be wrong, especially this morning. The first thing I noticed was that the buses arriving at our stop were a lot more packed than usual. As it turns out, there was a fire on the 33rd Street PATH line (the PATH trains are subways that run between New Jersey and New York), and therefore all midtown PATH service was shut down, forcing many people to take the bus across the river instead. I was able to get on the second bus that came and I actually got a seat. The traffic in the Lincoln Tunnel was somewhat backed up so that took a little while to get through. Then as we started to turn onto the ramp up to the Port Authority Bus Terminal (our final destination), there was a loud bang, followed by an evil scraping noise that startled all the headphone wearing, Ipod listening, cell phone chatting commuters on the bus. The Greyhound bus turning into the lane next to us was now connected to us as our bus tried to shave off the front corner of their vehicle.

It was just a minor fender bender and nobody was hurt, but it took a while for the drivers to come up with a plan of action and move the buses to place where others could get by. Then we ended up being let off the bus at the bottom of this busy ramp area, adding an extra three long crosstown blocks to my walk in the already ridiculous heat. By the time, I got to my office I was dripping with sweat and my 5 mile commute had taken an hour and a half.

I had a hard time focusing yesterday. Everything just felt a little off. I ate my apple mid morning and then the Lean Cuisine entree around 1:30. Then my boyfriend called. His sister was in town. We were supposed to get together with her on Sunday, but she never got in touch and now she wanted to have dinner with us before she flew back to San Francisco the next day. So, I met Scott after work and we headed down to the West Village to meet Jill at Trattoria Spaghetto on Bleecker Street. The pasta was tempting, calling my name like a siren's song, but I resisted. I ordered a chicken and mesculun salad with fresh mozzarella and broccoli sauteed with garlic on the side. It was pretty tasty and I ate more than I probably should of as we sat and chatted with Jill.

After dinner, the 33rd Street PATH line was still out of service, so we caught a cab further downtown to the World Trade Center PATH train. Now you would think that almost 7 years later there might be some buildings actually rising in the area where the towers used to be. But since everything having to do with this project seems to have to go through endless committees, Ground Zero is pretty much still a big hole in the ground. But lately they have moved the "temporary" PATH entrance from the east side to the north side of the area and it's all a bit confusing. We waited for a train in the stifling heat of the underground station and were thankful when we didn't have to wait long.

By the time we got back to Hoboken and emerged from the station, there were flickers of lightning in the distance. Thunder and lightning storms scare me. I startle easily so a loud clap of thunder really sets my heart racing and lightning displays often make me cower. Yes, I'm a big old baby. So we set off for home walking at a pretty good clip. The heat was still pretty oppressive and Scott wanted to stop for an Italian Ice. We stopped at the Ice Hut and they had cherry. I love cherry italian ice. I figured it was fat free so damn the sugar, I'd been without for a while, and got a small one. When we left the Ice Hut, the lightning flashes started coming faster. Then the wind kicked up. Within a matter of minutes, the strong breeze turned into extreme gusts and the dark sky went a weird gray/green/orange as the lightning continued to flash. The wind literally started to pick up the garbage cans and garbage bags left out for collection and hurl them around. The street lights flickered and then went out. Scott and I held onto each other and tried to shield our eyes as dust and dirt swirled around.

We made it to a little convenience store at the corner of Washington and Sixth and ducked inside for a few minutes hoping to let it pass. We waited for the lottery terminal to reboot itself and purchased a lottery ticket (Hey, you never know). By the time we went back outside, the wind was still gusting but not as strangely as it was before. We made it the last 3 blocks and held our breath as we turned onto the street because we could see the flashing lights of a fire truck. Not our house, thankfully. When we got inside, we were happy to find the power still on. But it was 9:30 pm and I was exhausted. I checked some email and chatted with my sistah Princess Elaine for a few and then went to bed and fell fast asleep.

So, basically, the whole previous story is my excuse for why I didn't exercise on Day 10. Oops. Mea Culpa. I promise to do better on Day 11.

Here's to a better day.