Friday, April 1, 2011

Actin' a Fool Monthly

I live foolishness month to month. For me, April 1 is the day on which I can celebrate my years many, many moments of actin' a fool.

In honor of April 1, 2011, I'll share with you the highlight Actin' a Fool moment of March:

So, as you know, last week my good friend, Andrea, came to visit me in Minneapolis.  She was supposed to have arrived at 2:30p.m., but instead showed at 5:30p.m. because she had missed her bus. Andrea had been late; the bus had left and consequently she had to buy a whole new bus ticket. Luckily, she was able to get onto another bus, and was still able to make it out by us. Happy enough ending. Lesson learned.

Or was it? DUN DUN DUN

Of course it wasn't. You have one doe-eyed, Andrea and one blondie (in dyed disguise), Jacqueline.

You see, Andrea was scheduled to go home at 5:00p.m. on Sunday. We spent our afternoon touring the amazing James Hill Mansion in St. Paul, then lollygagged on over to Sophie Joe's Emporium because I absolutely love that shop, and it was only 3:45p.m. As we wandered out of the shop, we decided we should grab a quick bite to eat, but when we couldn't find an agreed fast food restaurant it quickly became the longest awaited bite to eat of my life. We waisted so much time trying to eat somewhere, that we realized we no longer had time to eat. We needed to get Andrea to the station ASAP.

Perfectly on time, we pulled up to the Greyhound Station. Whenever I travel by bus I go through the Greyhound Station, and when Andrea arrived, she arrived at the Greyhound Station. One would only assume she'd LEAVE at the Greyhound Station. But, no.  That would be too simple for a doe and a blondie. That would have just made too much sense.

Instead, as I smiled at Andrea, ready to say our friendly and loving goodbyes... she began to un-crumple and question the address of the station on her reservation slip. At 4:50p.m., mind you.


"I was suppose to come on MegaBus, but when I had to get a new ticket, I bought Greyhound. My ticket home is MegaBus, so is this where I'm supposed to be?"

No. Nuh-uh.Of course not.

To top things off, there was no real address on this reservation/ticket slip; just two intersecting road names. There wasn't even a phone number! Later, after driving the busy downtown streets of Minneapolis for 10 min, we found the vacant parking-lot that the "address" belongs to. It was exactly 5:00p.m.The lot was empty. Her bus was gone.

At that very moment, a MegaBus reading Milwaukee drove past; that's her bus! Except it wasn't stopping, it either already had, or didn't see anyone and was on its way. So we did what any 20-something-year-olds would do:
We followed that bus.


Cause at times like this you need think, what would Bond do?



So, Johnathan starts talking like a city boy, yelling at other cars and pedestrians to get out of his way, as if they can hear, care, or even understand that we are on the chase; Andrea's on the phone talking with friends, having them look up phone numbers, help, possible ticket options-- if all else fails; while I just alternated between frustration, nagging safety concerns and laughter, before finally settling on snapping some pictures.

Andrea's phone calls determined that if we're following this bus, we're following it to Milwaukee. It would not be stopping. What kind of bus doesn't stop? It should stop in St. Paul, that's only normal. But, once again, why would things make sense? Besides, her MegaBus "help" line informed her, "Even if it did stop you'd have to purchase a new ticket. Why? She bought a ticket already for this very bus!

How to react? Frown and Laugh!
We contemplated throwing Andrea out the sunroof, luggage and all, with the hopes that she would land safely atop her bus, get on the bus, and then resolve the issue at hand, but it seemed a little risky...she's not very Bond-like.

Instead, we got tacos.

                          
 Bond probably wouldn't eat here, but his tactics failed us, so meh.
While dining, Andrea purchased a new Greyhound ticket that would leave at 9:15p.m. and arrive in Milwaukee at 3:30 a.m. (ick, but ok).

Yuh, in all, this crazy girl bought FOUR tickets! Two here and two back. Two pointless tickets.

When I travel I ubber plan ahead, and I'm normally 30 min early in case I have to deal with unexpected problems; Andrea didn't convince me to ever do otherwise, but she sure was entertaining. ;)

I'd just like to add, that if this chase had been in ANY movie, this girl would have gotten on that bus. Everyone would have been smiling, even the bus driver, and Johanathan would have been a hero and Andrea would have been home, safe and happy at a reasonable hour.

But this isn't a movie. This is just real-life Minneapolis... and two foolish girls with a Johnathan, not a James. ;)

 I wouldn't have it any other way!
Miss ya already, Andrea!
                &
Happy April Fools' Day, Everybody!


6 comments:

  1. I love April Fools Day as a kooky kitsch lover. Your adventures with Adrea reminds me of how insane things get when I mix with my friend Marianne. Absolutely insane. I need to draw a comic series about it... ;)

    Fun post! Happy Friday and Happy April Fools!

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  2. Insane times with friends are always my favorite memories.A comic thrift adventure series with you & your friends would sooo be Thrift Core's style! I'll be watching and waiting for some thrift drawings...I know they will be there, in whatever form, one of these days! :)

    Happy April Fools' Day, Van! Thanks!

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  3. ah, good times! this will be a good memory, way to capture it. i love the photo of you guys chasing the bus! hahaha...

    happy april fools!

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  4. I love this post!! That was soo crazy, but it's a good memory :) I need to learn to plan ahead a little bit better I guess...maybe that'll happen...I don't know...probably not :P Love u! :)

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  5. Sounds like the two extra tickets were worth the cost - at least, your readers all enjoyed it!

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  6. They definitely were worth the extra cost, we had a fun time! :)

    And Andrea, I loves you too!

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