small wonders

it snowed tuesday. it didnt stick and it only snowed up here on the mountainside where the labs are. i almost missed it...i caught maybe 3 minutes of it, and 20 minutes later when i went back for more it had already stopped. everyone else kept complaining about how cold it was and how great it was that the snow had stopped, but that little snowfall made my afternoon.

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thursdays are great `not sick, just dont feel like going to work, so i called out` days. the night before these days are even better. one of my favorite coworkers was also `sick` yesterday. the only ones out. looks like we had some middle of the week affair. that couldve been fun. except he really did/does have a cold. i shouldve tried looking bummy today or atleast put some hair all over my head. im not very good at this; ive never called out sick before.

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today bus driver from hell-did i mention that i take the same bus at the same times everyday, and every day, every morning and every night there`s a new driver? did i also mention that the route has a lot of hard turns including climbing up a mountain side?-bus driver from hell stole my bus pass. took it out of the cover of my wallet and wouldnt give it back even when i asked to show it to my boss; was it evidence to give to the bus police? like everything in japan it has your name and birthday on it. maybe he`s trying to blacklist me.

no one else noticed including me and i flashed it with a smile every day, but apparently it expired on 12/31/04. he seemed very annoyed as if i had gone out of my way to steal bus rides (the pass only gets me to the company and back) with crazy drivers and as if it meant a pay cut for him and went on talking about last year`s bus pass and $300 worth and it`s already february and yadeeyadeeya and made me pay the fare, $2. i was already off the bus when he called me back. i couldve told him i didnt understand japanese and just went inside to work but that wouldve been wrong-i already lied once this week-and it probably wouldve been hard to convince him i also couldnt read. i`m surprised i kept a straight face though; i found it somewhat amusing that none-and there were many-of the other bus drivers paid much attention to the foreigner`s bus pass with the big black date on it. i never look at it, just flip it open at them like i do with my train pass, but i think it`s their job to check these things. my coworkers found it funny too. i already have my new bus pass and my $2 back.

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