Booyah

It's as if the commuting gods were welcoming me back to the train. Having missed the past two days of good material because of the blizzard, I returned to Jersey Ave, braced for a parking clusterfrick. But what I got was the best parking spot EVER. A coup of the highest order! This spot is generally the domain of of the most accomplished and experienced commuters. It calls for a celebration on the scale of a Manalapan bar mitzvah. For the uninitiated, this means I can pull right out of the spot onto the station egress. Nothing beats a fast get away from the station, particularly on a Friday. Awesome start to a commuting day which ended equally well...leaving the office at five and it was still light out. And even though the conductor just scolded us like children for causing a bottleneck between cars, nothing is going to ruin my high over what I anticipate will be the fastest departure from the lot ever.

Update: Speedy exit as predicted. However, not speedily enough to get ahead of traffic on Route 27. Home at my usual time. But wait? Was the carpet vacuumed by the 17 year old who stayed home all day? Er...no it wasn't. Oh, was the dishwasher emptied. Er...that would also be a no. And yes, I had a meltdown. So the momentary thrill of getting out of the parking lot fast was dashed effectively by the reality of life as a commuter. Those four hours spent chugging along cost. Gone are those extra hours (and the energy) to clean the floors and fold the laundry and get my nails done on my regular, semi-regular basis. Gone are the days when I could come home from work and make a comprehensive dinner that met most -- if not all -- of the dinner plate recommended food groups - meat, veggie, starch and salad. It takes tremendous effort to just get the meat and a baked potato onto a plate. Damn. I'm tired.