today's profound commute

we were let out of work two hours earlier today for memorial day weekend. i guess the job figured they'd give us a head start on our big weekends... which is cool i suppose, although we do have staff that comes in on the weekends and monday as well, so it's kinda a half assed acknowledgement.... also letting people get a head start on the weekend, i gotta assume they know what i know, most people are out to go get fucked up this weekend... and the biggest inspiration for wanting to get fucked up in the first place i find is usually our jobs. so way to go job for letting us out early so we can get a head start on drinking away the thoughts of our job (i understand memorial day is much more than that... it's a remembrance for troops but mostly the only time anyone takes it there is on facebook... plus, if you wanna remember the troops, feel free to do that any and every day. much like my own mom, it takes more than one day a year to pay her back for her sacrifice).

anyways, it was nice to get out early and get a head start on things. even if i had no big plans till much later at night anyways. it's just good to be unchained from the desk. i left work and went to go catch the bus. i was there with a couple of coworkers and we waited and waited and waited and it never showed up. eventually a shuttle bus that drives around the office park showed up and we got on that cuz it could take us to a different stop where there were more frequent buses.

so we get on this shuttle and apparently the stop we wanted was the very last stop. it took forever to get there. the whole time the driver kept suggesting we get out at an earlier stop and try to grab something that none of us were familiar with. so we kept insisting the last stop will be fine.

i got out of work at 4:30pm. he dropped us off at our destination about 5:40pm. most of the head start our job gave us was wasted on commuting and driving around the local area and getting a good glimpse of all the stops that came before ours.

but i'm not complaining. that's the thing... i had no where to go. i had a book. i read most of the way or looked out the window at stuff and daydreamed a little. it wasn't a big deal to me. i was grateful to not be in the office. i coulda been anywhere... as long as i had a book and a window to look out of, i'd be fine.

but other people complained. and maybe they have a right to, i'm not sure. maybe they got more important things coming up in their immediate schedules. but maybe they don't. i think you can tell a lot about a person in how they handle a situation like this. and i'm not saying there's a right way or a wrong way... for all i know my method makes other people question the way i go about approaching things.

but for me it turned into an oddly timed chance to get to know myself and think shit out and whatnot... which is why i guess i'm trying to be so profound about a commute that got me home about 7pm, which is 30 minutes after my usual quitting time. i think i've done a good job carving out a lifestyle for myself where when shit like this goes down, i'm cool with it. i roll with it. it doesn't anger me or piss me off or stress me out. book (and/or music) and a window's all i ever need to keep me entertained. i'm in no rush. i don't have many obligations. and maybe to some people that's sad. but today i found myself in an extreme state of gratefulness for it.

and i don't think this makes me a slacker. i'm not a slacker. i work hard. i'm never late. i almost never call out. i run a lot. i read. i'm not some numb to the world couch potato. i'm out and about doing shit. i have a very eventful and entertaining life that's full of late nights, live music, good friends and good laughs. and i'm happy this way... happy enough that when i look out the window and see clouds, i think... well look at that, them clouds up there look awesome.

what do others see when they look into the sky? do they look into the sky at all? i wonder how many people take the chance when they can to catch a glimpse and take in the sky and all it might mean to them.