Chicago Transit Authority?

Last week I was riding a bus and the driver closed the door before the elderly man exiting had stepped all the way off of the bus. She consequently caught him in the door and began moving the bus. The man ended up being just fine, but the bus driver was quite unahppy and thus the rest of my ride teetered on the jerky end.

Not like riding the train is a guarantee for a better commuting experience, what with all of the unexplained stopping and off schedule trains. Still, I much prefer the pains of public transit to driving in the city.

This week, however, a schedule change at school required me to drive the entire way into the city vs. my usual drive to the commuter train trek. Being as that I'm generally anxious anyway, being in my little car in the midst of Chicago rush hour traffic is quite contrary to my idea of a good time.

First off, I am what some people might refer to as "depth perception challenged." Paired with a series of unfortunate car accidents around my 16th birthday, I am far from what you might call an aggressive driver. "Grandma" really more appropriately fits the bill. Alas, the picture of me driving in the heart of the city is admittedly pretty hilarious. This week I psuedo-successfully parallel parked three times and only got lost twice. In a three day span, mind you. I did not, however, get honked at even one time. It has been a good week.

But despite my animosity, there is this magical feeling each time I pull back into Madison, or really even just out of the thick of the city. I remember the empty electricity building parking lot where I first learned to drive, and the Nebraska highway where my dad painstakingly taught me to handle a stick-shift. And I for a moment allow myself to bask in pride...check out this little girl from the prairie driving in the Windy City. I'll show you how it goes, bus driver lady.