Feel Good Lost

So I woke up today and I spent the first few hours lounging around in my room being bored. I laid in bed covered in my sheets with my computer pulled next to me. I sent emails, edited my story and played online checkers while I listened to a playlist of songs that were four minutes and forty four seconds long. Then I decided at about 2 to go on an adventure. I originally planned to just be totally unoriginal and copy Mr. Chris Moody and jump onto the metro, go to Cleveland to Uptown and sit on a bench, nap and read.

But as soon as I stepped outside, I decided on a much more impulsive adventure. I’ve actually wanted to do it for a while now. As you all know, if you ride the bus, transfers are free so long as they are within two hours. So I decided to just hop one bus after another all day until I was hopelessly lost in the city.

I started by hopping the D6 bus outside my house. The D6 goes to Sibley Hospital and passes through Georgetown, so I planned on going to Georgetown and starting there. But I got mixed up and took the D6 to Dupont Circle. I didn’t realize I was in Dupont Circle at first, though. I saw a Starbucks so I went there to use the restroom. I used the restroom and then I read. While I was there, I established the rule that I had to read two pages at every place I visited before I could leave. Two pages. No more, no less. So I read two pages in my book at Starbucks. Then I left, wandered around, found Dupont Circle, realized I wasn’t as lost as I thought I was because Dupont Circle is like two blocks from where I work, muttered a few words under my breath concerning how I felt about it, and proceeded to wander around some more. Then I stumbled across a statue of Ghandi, read two pages with Ghandi towering in front of me, and found another bus stop. It was the N22. I read a few more pages and waited for about fifteen minutes. The overall transaction took about an hour.

I caught the N22 and took it until I was pretty satisfactorily lost. I got off and started walking around when I came across this Russian Orthodox church that was doing some garage sale thing. They were selling all these books. They had the Grapes of Wrath there and it was hardcover and a really nice edition, so I bought it for two dollars. I was in a neighborhood area so I didn’t know where any other buses would be, so I went to catch the same bus, cause I didn’t know where else to go. When I got there, I found, to my disappointment, that it wasn’t coming in like thirty minutes. Then I saw this enormous church across from me a few blocks away. It was traditional, gothic and beautiful, so I decided to walk over to it. I had thirty minutes to blow anyway. I came to the church and it was like the National Washington Gothic Church or something. It was at 35^th and Massachusetts NW I believe. It was gorgeous. I walked inside and searched out a drinking fountain. Then I walked outside, sat on a bench in front of it, and read two pages. Then I left and ended up on a different street. I didn’t really know where I was, but a bus came and I hopped it. It was like the 32 bus or something. This took up about another hour’s time.

That bus ended up taking me to Georgetown. I got off at an intersection that had a Starbucks and an Einstein Bagels across the street. So I went to Einstein Bagels and got some lunch. I got a bacon and cheddar omelet on a honey wheat bagel and water. I drank a lot of water and ate the omelet slowly, savoring it, when one of the guys rushed me by telling me I had to hurry up because they closed in 5 minutes. I didn’t get to read two pages. Oh well. So I left and went to Starbucks. I bought an M&M cookie and a coffee. The Starbucks was cool because you could go up on the roof and sit at the tables arranged up there. I went up there, sat down, and ate the cookie while I sipped the coffee. It was really mellow and chill. There was some dude across from me that kept throwing scraps of his food to these really small birds. They were vicious and fought each other for the scraps. It was really funny. Then I read four pages to make up for the two I hadn’t read in Einstein’s. Then I left. As soon as I stepped outside, a bus drove past me, and I had to run to catch it.

I barely caught it. Then I took it up one block where I got off.

I wandered around Georgetown for about another hour, and explored the mall for a while. I went into a record shop at 5:51. Why I know that I don’t know. Then I left and bought some dry skin lotion at a CVS. Then I wasn’t sure how to get back home. All the Georgetown buses cost 1.50, 25 cents extra than normal bus fare. I didn’t want to have to pay more than 1.25 for my transportation, so I tried to figure out another route to get back home. It started to get really dark. Eventually I stumbled across the G2 bus line. The sign said it was coming in fifteen minutes, so I waited for it, sitting on the curb with my feet out in the street. I didn’t really know where the bus would take me, but that was most of the fun of it.

I hopped on the bus and it took me to the end of the line, which was Georgetown University. We hung tight a bit there, and then it began its trip back. I wasn’t sure where to get off and I decided I would get off at Rhode Island Ave. But then I saw a used bookstore at one of the stops, so I got off there. I went inside to check it out, but all the books were overpriced and the organization was god-awful. You had to literally sift through the letter of the author you were looking for. Let’s say, hypothetically, you were looking for Philip K. Dick…hypothetically. You had to sift through all the Ds in the fiction section because the arrangement was like Delilo right next to Dostoevsky right next to Dougals Adams right next to…you get the idea. Hunter S. Thompson right next to Toole next to Tolstoy next to Thomson next to Tolkien (they had a ton of Tolkien there) and so on and so forth.

By this time, the “two pages” rule was pretty much void. It was about 7 p.m. and pretty dark. I left the bookstore and wandered around when I stumbled across Dupont Circle. It was kind of one of those full end circle ordeals. Then I saw a D6 drive by and I chased it for two blocks. Much to my surprise, I caught up with it. It took me home.

So that was my day. Transportation cost 1.25 for the whole day.

Comments

[Moody]

I'm dissapointed in you Jake. I was hoping for a clever hyperlink on my name.

[Jessica]

nice! that sounds like quite the adventure. :)

[kob]

Excellent adventure

[Dee]

I like doing stuff like that...getting "lost" and exploring new neighborhoods. Too bad I have a decent sense of direction. Kinda ruins the getting "lost" feel.