A Younger Woman's Clothes

My mom posted this photo of me from some years ago. When? I'm not sure. I guessed around 2004-2008, but I don't really know for sure. I just have other photos of me wearing that shirt and hoodie from 2005. 

Taking the Bus to EWR

For a few years, I've been having Lyft drivers drop me at P4 AirTrain stop at Newark Airport. Up until about a year ago, I was still calling taxis when I had to leave before dawn, and then I'd have them take me directly to the terminal, because traffic is never that bad at the crack of dawn.

But today, leaving my house at 4:45 pm for a 7:30 flight to Dulles, I couldn't get a Lyft. The app claimed to be finding me a driver, then looking for another driver, and so on for about 20 minutes! It finally gave up. Uber was a little better...for more money, Uber thought maybe it could find me a driver in about ten minutes. Maybe.

But the taxi company number was out of service last time I tried, and so were a lot of other taxi companies. I guess that's what happens when app-based rides take over.

Anyway, the benefit of going to P4 is I don't have to sit in a car waiting endlessly for the driver to edge past others in the infernal loop. It's not as bad as the U at LAX, but it's still annoying during peak times, so I go to P4 and the AirTrain whisks me over to Terminal C. All good.

To hell with it, I thought. I walked a block to the bus stop and boarded the #1 bus to Newark.

"Do you go to Newark Penn," I asked the driver. She nodded. "How many zones is that?" She held up three fingers. I used my NJ Transit app to buy a three-zone bus ticket. $3.15.

The bus ride went quickly until we hit Newark, and then it was excruciating watching the minutes pass by. The trains I might have caught the one stop to the airport were out of the question one by one as the minutes went by.

Finally, everyone on the bus disembarked, including me. That's it, Newark Penn Station! I looked at the times--I'd just missed the 5:32 and the next train was at...ugh, 6:13. But there was a bus in five minutes, leaving from the other side of the station.

I walked through en route to the other side...and noticed the 5:32 was late! And boarding. I hurried to the escalator. Which of course was broken, so I hauled my bag up the stairs to the platform. Just in time. The train was packed, but I wedged in.

$11.25 later, I was at Terminal C without having gotten into a car at any point, and without even using the PATH train.

I would feel more clever if I hadn't been so annoyed to be sitting in traffic in Newark all that time. And if it were a few dollars altogether instead of just a little less than a Lyft.

But I'll say one thing for the bus...it showed up. So...I can't wholeheartedly recommend the very long trip. It only took about an hour in the end, but it was an annoying hour. Still, I'm at the airport instead of staring at a phone while cursing rideshare apps. That counts for something.

Long Ago Christmas

This is indeed a long time ago! My mother has been scanning in photos, and posted this of me and my sister with my aunt and uncle. Can you tell what year this is?

The Tyranny of Xocolata Choice

I went to the corner deli--which is owned by twins (which was confusing for a while when I didn't know that)—in search of the excellent Puerto Rican hot chocolate bars I bought last year.

But I was taken aback to find not just the Puerto Rican hot chocolate, but also Dominican hot chocolate and Mexican hot chocolate.

I went with the Puerto Rican, but maybe I should have bought one of each. Just not sure how much hot chocolate one can drink in the one week I had to spend on the East Coast.

Lost Souvenir

Today I got a new crown at the dentist’s office. I have no complaints. It fits snugly, is the right color, and nothing hurts.

Nothing hurt before, but the dentist had pointed out the old porcelain inlay was cracking, and the end of the year insurance reset was imminent, so I went ahead with the crown.

Why does this matter? It doesn’t really. But…

The porcelain inlay was from 2001.

I got it in Cape Town after 16 days on the DAL Kalahari freighter ship from Germany to Cape Town. I was on the first MariesWorldTour, month number 9, and the shipping agent had a dentist they recommended. My old amalgam filling was aching slightly, and the Cape Town dentist pointed out that given I was headed north for a four-month trek on buses and share taxis all the way to Cairo, he figured I was better off dealing with it there in Cape Town rather than having an emergency out in the bush or in the Sahara.

I always liked having a little piece of Africa with me all the time. A tiny porcelain reminder of what my life once was and may be again one day. And now I’ve traded it for a tiny piece of Burbank, which really isn’t the same.

One of 4,000 Beagles

Here's a follow-up on Charlie's cousins and siblings. Charlie lives with my mom. We don't like to think about his life before he moved in with Mom.

Burbank Holidays

Craft fair weekend, y'all.

(I don't sell pottery, but I might buy some.)

Opossum Cam in the Yard

Piggyback possum!

Cat House, Not Opossum House

I turned the game cam at the cat house before I went to my mother's for Thanksgiving. I returned to find out the opossum regularly investigates it! Petunia never stays long, and the cats don't seem fazed by it.

Thanksgiving Treat

I brought my mom's dog Charlie a puppacchino.

He got the zoomies.