Public transportation pet peeves

The CTA (Chicago Transit Authority) is my main source of transportation in the city. Now that I've been car-less for four years and try to use cabs only when absolutely necessary, there is a certain amount of adjusting that happens when you rely on public transport.

For example, you "plan" your trips so you can maximize your time out and about. If I go out for the ATM, I also swing by the store and grab a paper too or only got to the ATM when I'm leaving for dinner. If I want to go somewhere on public transportation, I plan on it taking about 30 minutes because, well most trips anywhere in the city take at least that.

But along with these more minor changes, there are certain other things you have to allow for, like the unusual things you notice on the bus, which inevitably begin to irritate you, such as:

• Cuddlers - If you really cannot stand to be physically separated, I recommend going back to bed. Then you won't tickle my gag reflex

• Loud talkers - This includes personal conversations and people on cell phones. One woman was speaking so loud on her cell phone that I could hear her over my iPod, which was IN my ears. Indoor voices!

• Mistaking the bus for home - It drives me insane when people feel the need to stretch out the morning newspaper on a packed bus. I also enjoy stretching out with the newspaper...at my home. I don't need half of the Times' Business section stretched over me, thanks

• Excessive PDA - Much like cuddling, I don't need to watch you swap spit and feel each other up. I have Cinemax for that :)

• Space hogs - I am guilty of this too, but it's an unspoken rule that when the bus fills up, you move your bag from the seat next to you so others can sit down. Yes, it's not as much fun, but it's necessary. People who don't do that are rude

• Bumper cars - Eek, another thing I'm guilty of, but I really try to avoid this. This includes having people collide into you with their oversize purses or bags. If I had a nickel for every time I was hit in the shoulder or head by a purse, I could pay off my student loan. And one time, after a chick hit me multiple times in the head with her Puma bag, I pulled out a pen and made a mark on the white leather portion of the bag. Burning in hell, I know

• Personal space issue - I don't really have an issue with this, but after having some guy caress my butt on a packed bus once, I get very nervous when I'm packed in. Especially if the person sandwiched next to or behind me hasn't showered or reeks of cigarettes. That is the worst!

Well those are the top things that irritate me. I may complain, but the CTA still provides me with transportation and provides me with lots of fun stories :)

What are your public transportation pet peeves? Or do you have any great CTA/public transportation stories to share?

Oh and feel free to let me know how glad you are that you don't have to take public transportation because you have a car. I miss my car and I love driving when I go home, but my stories are never quite as interesting as in the city.

Boy pet peeves

Everyone has quirks - including me, but I've noticed that the guys in my life (friends and family) have a few quirks/pet peeves that drive me bat sh*t crazy, especially lately.

Now my emotions might be a bit heightened because Chicago had three days of non-stop rain, so let me know if I'm overreacting.

My boy pet peeves (in no particular order):

• Long showers - I have two stepbrothers and I have zero idea what they're actually doing in the bathroom when they go in to take a shower. I hear the water turn on and off but they're in there for like 40 minutes. Come on! Some of the women in the house need to use the bathroom too. I don't know if they're having a religious experience or writing a book but stop hogging the bathroom and let me enjoy some hot water! I once got so frustrated with one of them that I banged on the door and told him to "pinch it off" so I could finish getting ready.

• Tardiness (beyond "fashionably late") - This above everything else irritates me the most. I'm usually on-time or if I'm going to be late, I call to let the people I'm meeting know. Apparently this concept is lost on guys. I can name multiple examples of when I'm supposed to meet a guy friend of mine and he shows up about 15-20 minutes late, without a call or text that he's running behind. To account for this, I've adjusted the time that I actually show up to meet him, but on a day like today, when it's pouring rain and he's 15 minutes late with no call, yeah I'm not so sympathetic.

• Wandering eye - Even if I'm not dating any of the guys in my life, if we're out and having a nice platonic time, please don't fake-listen to me while you're checking out other girls. Thanks. Eyes on me or at least on my chest. Be a team player.

• Lack of listening - This kind of builds off the last point. Maybe it's a "girl thing," that we pay better attention and can fake being interested better than guys, but seriously, I do not want to talk about you all the time. At least pretend to be interested in my contributions to our conversations.

• Not thinking before speaking - Now this one I can be pretty sympathetic on because everyone is different in how they want guys to respond in certain situations. Many of the guys in my life lack the "comforting" gene so I'll settle for just validating how I feel. Usually saying something like, "well what did you expect?" and "calm down," aren't the best things to say when a women is upset. Just a tip. 

Part of me wanted to do the whole "not noticing" pet peeve too, but many of the guys in my life, minus one, just aren't that observant. When I dyed my hair from blonde back to brown, my dad noticed but none of my guy friends did. When I pointed it out to them, it was like they saw it for the first time! I've given up on my guys asking if I've lost weight, if I got a new top or noticing hair color/cut changes. That's too much to ask for in my arena.

Now these are just a list of pet peeves that applies to "my guys," so I'm sure I've missed things. What are your boy pet peeves? We'll add 'em to the list!

Pet Peeve: Chicago's Summer Bummer

I try not to list pet peeves two days in a row, but I've had a disgustingly long day so that rule is out the window for this occasion. 

Today was by far the nicest day in Chicago that we've had in a very long time. This lovely weather might actually steal attention away from the cougar that was killed in Roscoe Village this week. And it's tough to beat a cougar, it's a wild cougar in Chicago! 

So with the nice weather, there are inevitable things that happen in the city:

• The crosswalks become insufferably crowded
• Tourists - more on that another time
• The summer homeless people come out
• People have very high self esteem about the clothes they wear
• and the biggest summer buzz kill....Cubs games

Now before I'm gunned down for saying that, I'm not saying that I hate the Cubs, I'm saying as a Lakeview resident that I hate evening Cubs games because of the ungodly traffic on LSD. Many of my co-workers and I actually have a Cubs game schedule at our desks so we can check for night games before we leave work. On those days, I usually try to stay late or take my time at the gym but today, I was irresponsible and didn't check the schedule before I left work and was stuck standing on the 145 in atrocious traffic.

One woman standing behind me was so frustrated that she nearly charged off the bus, taking anyone, including me, out at Belmont. But in the midst of exhaustion and a painfully long ride home, I did do my nice deed for the day - letting a woman near me know she dropped her Chicago Card. Good karma for me!

Alrighty, Lulu wants to play some music and I'm going back to watching Juno. Pork swords!

Pet Peeve: Bus tidbits

So after yesterday's more "complicated" topic, I'll keep it light today. Plus, Lulu has picked a very light, happy song from my iTunes library for us to listen to so we'll keep on that trend.

Riding the bus to work every morning, I've noticed two new trends on my morning commute, one of which intrigues me and the other that annoys me (I believe it bothers me because it's just too early in the morning). I'll let you pick which is which.

Cuddlers

This used to be a winter-only trend on my route but now they're out in spring. Cuddlers are the swooning in love people who cannot bear to not have any physical contact with each other on the bus, regardless of how this affects other riders.

I once had cuddlers on the bus who were so attached at the hip that they refused to allow other people past them. When one passenger broke their grasp why trying to get to an open seat, the girl in the couple looked like someone at stolen her purse and lunged for the guy in the couple, calming once they were connected again.

OMG gag me. This might sound "single-girl" biter but seriously, get a room. If cuddlers cannot stand on their own and stand to be apart for a few minutes, they  need to do one of two things: 1) get a room, apparently you're not ready to be out in public yet or 2) get a rope to tie you together so you don't have to worry about being apart. But make room for others on the bus, especially during bad weather and rush hour.

Make-up rush-hour style

I'm not exactly a morning person, but I do put on my make-up with scientist-like focus. I've seen the results when I don't and it's not pretty...at all.

One woman on my morning commute puts her entire "face" on the bus, regardless of bumps, short stops, the whole lot. And of course, rather than reading the paper, I cannot help but stare and watch her reactions during a sudden stop, especially when applying liquid eyeliner.

A different woman this morning had her little compact mirror out and was stretching her eye to apply liner when all of a sudden a guy bumped her arm and she started snipping at him. The guy dismissed her, but I couldn't help but laugh. I understand the value of 10 extra minutes of sleep, but when you choose to get ready on the bus, you have to be prepared for anything. There is no way I could do that so I'm always entertained by who can do their make-up routine successfully in those conditions. Round of applauds for you!

Pet Peeve: Shopping at Victoria's Secret (I hate it)

I hate Victoria's Secret - primarily because of the people I always run into when I'm there.

I'm talking about the tweens and teens swarming the PINK section with their moms, clamoring for the latest piece of cheaply-made cotton capri sweats and short-shorts that say PINK across the butt (it's not Juicy kids).

This unpleasant shopping trip was brought on my one of my favorite pieces of mail, the free Victoria's Secret underwear coupon. I always look forward to getting these - a little freebie - until I walk into the store. Let's forget the store's tacky interior, reminiscent of Frederick's of Hollywood, complete with pink neon lights and the word "sexy" used as an adjective for everything. When did the store become somewhat...tacky?

My real problem with the store is the how little they seem to stock my size anymore. Apparently a size large is considered "plus size" there because it's available in few colors and styles, usually with the word "high leg" or "boy" in front of it. Maybe if I crack my pelvis and remove part of the bone, I'll be able to get into a size medium or small, which is much more attractive to their demographic.

So tonight I dug around like an animal on the floor of a rack, looking for my size in anything that wasn't repulsive. When I finally went to the cashier, a swarm of the PINK girls were monopolizing the register, giggling and talking about how "hot" the bikini one girl chose is. But the style was just so unflattering for her figure. I get it, I hope when I put things on I'll look like Giselle too, but it's just not meant to happen. And I'm trying not to go for the smoldering sausage look.

So fortunately I've stocked up for now and I likely won't be back in there until another free underwear coupon comes in the mail. I know, if I don't like it, I shouldn't shop there, but honestly, they have what I need so I try to get in and out as soon as possible.

More tidbits!

Pet Peeve #402
Another drawback to living in an apartment in the city is restaurant flyers shoved under your door. I don't know who does it, but please stop! Since I moved to Lakeview, my current and previous apartment in the neighborhood have been unwilling victims of the Duck Walk menu attack. The culprit strikes very infrequently, but he/she always hits my apartment at the wrong time. Case in point, when I came home at 10 p.m. from an exhausting trip to Miami this week. I open the door to find a menu innocently put under my door again and it set me off. I kicked it into the hallway and refused to pick it up in protest. I know this is childish - but I refused to waste the energy to pick it up and recycle it. Today, when Ryan and I got back from errands and I told him the Duck Walk menu story, he thought I was totally insane and promptly kicked it from the hallway into my apartment before I could stop him (see photo below).

As of 5:40 p.m. tonight, it's still in my hallway and I have no plans to pick it up. If I pick up that menu, Duck Walk wins. I'm tempted to post a sign on my door telling whomever is putting this under my door to not waste their time, because regardless of how many they give me, I will not eat there...ever. Don't force your cheap restaurant on me, play hard to get!

Dreaming of a Macbook
Now that my tax return is in, I'm dreaming and drooling over a new Mac laptop to replace the POS one I'm typing on now. Because I've used "hand me down" laptops for the last five years, I had no idea how expensive they are! Now I really need that stimulus check. Come to me!

Recommending today....
Hit the Coach store today to check out scarves for my Carryall and the new signature lip gloss. Highly recommend the Hibiscus color, super cute. And cute packaging, which is always a plus!

Tidbit Friday: Celeb sightings, pet peeves, Miami follow up

Okay now that I've gotten some sleep and "perked" up a bit, time to give you the lowdown on Miami, and all the noteable, adventure-some points from my trip.

Celebrity Sightings
In the Miami airport yesterday, Emily and I saw Laura Prepon, from the TV shows October Road and that 70s Show, waiting for a flight to Aruba. Yes, she's very tall and I'm sure she's much cuter when she is all made up. But it was exciting.

Pet Peeve #401
Along with inattentive parenting and visibly stained clothing, mispronounced words is another huge pet peeve for me. I won't lie, I have trouble pronouncing the word "ambulance" properly (speech impediment as a child), but it drives me insane when other people do it.

Examples are below:

-- Library - pronounced "lie-barry" by a guy back in Wisconsin. It took every ounce of my strength not to correct him, or ask him to stop using it.

-- Computer - pronounced "computie" by a tech guy in Miami. The first time he said it, it caught my attention and I thought it was a joke, but nope, apparently, he "don't know nothing about computies."

Conceirge quirks
On Wednesday night, I had some additional work to do back in my Miami hotel room late at night in preparation for Thursday. This required the use of a scissors, which I did not have, so I called down to the conceirge at the hotel to see if they could run a pair up. Here is how the conversation went:

Me: "Hi I'm wondering if you have a pair of scissors that I could borrow tonight for some work I'm doing?"

Conceirge: "What? What you need?"

Me: "Scissors, a pair of scissors please"

Conceirge: "What's that?"

Me: "You don't know what scissors are?" (shocked)

Concerige: "No" (laughs)

Me: "Should I call the front desk and see if they know what scissors are?"

Conceirge: "Yes, good idea"

The front desk fortunately did know what scissors are and a pair of them did arrive in my room. However, the front desk did pass me back to the conceirge, who magically knew what I was talking about. Awesome.

View from my hotel room

Rant: CTA funding - are we saved?

Well the big news 'round here today is that the Illinois legislature approved the CTA mass transit bill, which means I won't be meeting Ryan at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday to pack on the Red line like sardines to get to work. Inevitably he'll be crabby and so will I, and that never is a good combination. That's right, I get to keep my 135, 145 and 146 routes home and I don't have to worry too much about a packed ride into work (or more packed than usual), so why am I still so pissed?

Two words: our governor. It makes me more than upset that the transit bill went down to the wire like this because of his BS-last minute addendum that seniors got to ride free to work. I know this will make me seem much meaner than usual - denying grandma and grandpas a free ride while they live on a fixed income, but let me explain. I don't agree with rides being free but I do agree that they should have heavily discounted rides. I have a set of grandparents living on a very fixed income, I get it, but I do not agree with the Governor doing this one thing at the last minute and not even because he's that concerned about seniors. He's doing this because he already looks like an ass for raising taxes, after he was elected heavily-based on his statement that taxes wouldn't be raised. I'm not nuts about paying 9.25 percent sales tax down here, but if it solve the crisis, okay. The Governor all but forced the legislature to approve this bill because if they didn't, then they're the jerks who are cutting the 80-some bus routes and forcing 2,400 CTA workers to be laid off. I wouldn't want that on my conscience.

As much as I believe in the good of people, "elderly" people will abuse this once it's enforced. I know because I watch people abuse the senior citizen seating on the bus all the time and that makes me upset because I will be paying more (when I don't make a lot already) to cover this. I fully plan on telling my dad, who will be 60 this year, that once this is enforced we should ride the bus downtown, because technically he's a "senior" so he should ride for free.

Okay, blood pressure is going down and I feel much more relaxed. But with the Nevada primary coming up this weekend, I could go "batty" again. Time to hit the gym again ASAP to keep me off the clock tower.