The less you change, the less things stay the same.

Here's a song
About living in the past
If it was so good then
How come it didn't last?
(The Human League. "These Are the Days." Octopus. EastWest Records, 1995)

On Wednesday at about 11:00 a rumor started floating around that we could leave at noon if we weren't in the middle of anything.  Confirming this to be true, I finished up the testing of all the equipment I was working on and bolted for the bus stop.

This used to be a regular trip for me before I moved.  Hike to the bus stop, hop the bus to the transit station, hop the MAX down town, hang out for a while, grab a couple pints then back on the MAX home.  Owing to present circumstances, I don't do it much any more so I do it when I can.

It is starting to get cold and the zipper on my coat is broken.  Despite my personally imposed moratorium on spending a lot of money on myself until after Christmas (else I would have the Retrorocker Pro already), I definitely need a new coat.  And jeans.  Fortunately I make it to the bus stop right as the bus arrives.  And the driver has the heat cranked.  Excellent!  I was able to warm up on the way to the transit center.  Once there, the reader board shows the Westbound car should be arriving in 4 minutes.  This, of course, is a lie.

25 minutes latter, when I can no longer feel my feet or my nose, the train arrives.  As it is coming from the airport and tomorrow is Thanks Giving, the car is only half full.  That is to say, half full of people.  The other half is full of their luggage.  And screw you if you expect them to clear a seat for you.  I was able to find a seat.  Well, half a seat, as the jerk in the seat nest to it decided that he needed to sit diagonally and take up a seat and a half.  (Seriously, I've seen people twice his size take up less space!)

Fortunately a seat opens up after a couple stops.  The seat that I like.  One seat, by itself, next to the engineer's compartment.  Eventually, we reach downtown.  I hop out of the car head up the block to to Borders.  When I think about it, I try to remember to sit in the front car by the door that opens up right in front of the store's side entrance.  I can then jump off the train and into the store.  this is something I will probably never do again as, when I reached the entrance, there was a sign on the door: "STORE CLOSING.  EVERYTHING 30 to 40% OFF!".

Crap.

LIMITER OVERRIDE!

Well, I want a book of guitar chords, a new notebook and, with luck, that violin lessons book.  With luck, there was a table of various guitar instructional books.  I found  one.  Nothing for violin, tho.  I then found a stand of Piccadilly Essential Notebooks, or, as we call them, Fauxskines.  These things are just like Moleskines with the following exceptions: The cover doesn't quite feel the same, the quality seems better, and they're significantly less expensive.  I like less expensive.  There are about 15 of the medium sized ones left.  I text my room mate to see if he wants any.  Definitely, as many as I can grab!  Now there are six left.  I snag them, plus some pocket sized ones.  All of them grid, but that is my preference.  I think it's a geek thing.

I also picked up one of the new Dungeon and Dragons Essentials books.  Because I'm a geek.  Don't judge me.

Even with deep discounts, I spent more than I intended, but I shouldn't need notebooks for a while.

On to Pioneer Place a couple blocks up.  I usually stop at the McDonalds for a fish sandwich (the only thing they have that I trust to not cause gastrointestinal distress) to find where it was is boarded up.  WTF?  Screw it.  I had some really crappy Chinese instead.  Wow.  Something worse than McDonalds!

I then spend more than I intended for a coat, but it's warm and has lots of pockets.

I look for the Starbucks.  Not because I want a cup of coffee.  Lord no.  If I did, I'd go to Moonstruck (they give away free chocolates!).  No, there's a corner with a Starbucks by the entrance, then another 2 floors up (Seriously, this place is like 3 city blocks and 4 floors and they put them that close together!).  Next to that is a restroom.  I wonder around like an idiot and can't find it until I go to the ground floor and then take the escalator up.  I then find out why I couldn't find the one I was looking for.  It's been closed!

Both a McDonalds AND a Starbucks closed?  These truly are the end of days!  Oh, and the restroom has also closed.  BUGGER!  The sign refers me to the next tower over.  The place barely constitutes a rest room: 1 urinal, 1 stall and 15 guys in queue.  Right.  I decide to go back to the food court restroom.

Eventually I remove the tags from the new coat and transfer everything from my old coat into it.  I head out from the mall to my favorite pub down the street.  Unfortunately, I'd taken up so much time i only have 45 min until the last bus leaves.  A quick pint and run. 

As if to continue today's theme, I find that I don't recognize the bartender or any of the servers.

At least the still have Guinness.