Just another ordinary day.

I ride the bus home from work. Some days, this works out well; other days, not so well. Today was not so well. The first bus that I catch was late, by about five or six minutes. What's so horrible about that, you ask? That's pretty good by bus standards, right? You see, the second bus that I take departs just about when the first bus gets into the city, so my timing crucial. It's not a huge deal if I miss the second bus, because another one will be come along in fifteen minutes, but when you're already looking at an hour long commute, another fifteen minutes makes a heck of a difference.

So where was I...oh yeah, the first bus. We didn't have the usual bus driver today. This one didn't even say "Hello," back to me, which is actually pretty common among bus drivers. I don't think that they have very high job satisfaction. The ride was pretty uneventful. I read my trashy vampire novel the whole way. I had little hope of catching the early version of the next bus, but nonetheless, when I got off the bus, I started walking briskly towards the next bus stop in hopes that I just might catch it.

As I was trotting away, I realized that the bus driver didn't give me the transfer slip that I had paid for. The usual driver always hands it to me - I never have to ask.

I forgot to ask Mr. Sunshine and Rainbows. Therefore, he didn't give me one.

Damn it.

So I arrive across the street just in time to see the early bus pulling away from the stop.

This happens about half of the time. It's very annoying.

Again, I start walking briskly down the street in the hope that the red lights would shine in my favor and I would eventually catch up to the bus and hop on. However, it was not to be. After passing four stops, I resigned myself to the fact that I wasn't going to catch it and I'd have to wait for the next bus.

I did get the last seat on the next bus. If I had to stand, I may have cut someone.

(That's a joke.)

I debated on telling the bus driver my sob story about how the last guy gypped me out of my transfer, but since I didn't recognize him as a regular driver, I decided to suck it up and pay for whole fare again.

It cost me $5.70 to get home today. To make myself feel better, I rationalized that this made up for the days when the money taking machine was broken and I got to ride for the bus for free.

As I walked down our street, I figured that Mark and Lauren would be playing outside because the weather was nice. As our yard came in sight, I could see Lauren. I waited until she saw me.

She did. Let the rock star treatment begin. She starts running through the yard happily yelling "Mommy! Mommy!"

I stand there and savor it. I always make sure I savor this because the I know that my days of receiving the rock star treatment are numbered. The day will come soon enough when I will barely get a "Oh Hi, Mom."

But wait - instead or running towards me, she stops and runs in the other direction. Ah, she's going to get me an offering. You can't come empty handed when you meet a rock star.

Sure enough, once I get to the edge the yard, she comes barreling back with my prize - a daffodil.

I lavishly thank her and go inside to put it in some water, all the while promising that I'll come back outside. In my mind, I'm actually wondering what the heck I'm going to make for dinner. I remember that I had left some hamburger meat in the refrigerator.

I open the refrigerator door to find a bag from Panera Bread filled with sandwiches and salad that Mark picked up on the way home.

Maybe it wasn't such an ordinary day after all.



***Begin American Idol blabbering***

Motown marks another decent week for Season 8. This is such an odd group - very few standouts, but the performances are pretty solid across the board.

I've been resisting, but this week sealed the deal for me on Adam. He has proved himself to be not only talented, versatile, good-looking, and charming, but also, smart. I really want him to win.

My second fav is Kris Allen. I loved his verison of "How Sweet It Is." He needs to be given more credit for putting his own spin on the songs he performs, especially among the likes of this pack.

Speaking of which, I purchased both Kris and Adam's singles from iTunes. Normally, I would highly recommend the studio recordings because they give another take on the performance and the quality is usually outstanding. However, having the contestants sing along with the original Motown tracks was a lame idea. Don't get me wrong - Adam and Kris both sound great, but I much rather would have had full length versions of the interpretations that they presented on the show. Oh well, I'll just go to one of the AI fan sites and download the performance versions too.

I missed Allison, but I heard she had another awesome week. It was very odd that the judges had been talking about her like she stunk up the joint last week. Although she did land in the bottom three, she received positive comments from all four judges. In any event, she is by far the best girl in the competition.

Another thing I don't get is why they continue to push Matt. He's not bad, but he really leaves me cold. Given that he was in the bottom two, I guess I'm not the only one that feels that way.

Lastly, I've been noticing a interesting trend in the way the show has been subtly presenting Gokey in a bad light. Last week, they showed him screwing up his lyrics in front of Randy Travis. This week, they showed him ignoring Smokey Robinson's advice about singing the call backs himself rather than leaving it to the back up singers. Then, on American Idol Extra, when they asked the contestants about their guilty pleasures, Danny responded that his was...pedicures. Then they proceeded to show him getting one. (All together now...ewww.). None of this mattered to Lauren. She enjoyed Danny's performance of "Get Ready," the most out of everyone. I downloaded the original Temptations version for her. She loves to dance and sing to it (Hmm...I sense of video recording in the near future...).

***End American Idol blabbering***