Stupid Mondays.

Lindsey had her psychology class today, where her most recent stalker (this one a slightly neurotic R.M.) would attempt yet another advance. So I went down to campus just before her class was ending and waited outside until class got out. I said "Hey, m'dear" when I saw her and we made sure we were were hugging when the guy turned to get up from his desk. We left the classroom as I asked what we'd do for dinner.

We'd just gotten to the bus stop when we realized "he" was behind us. I took off my headphones and bookbag and suggested that I read something to Lindsey. I had Notes From Underground with me, and she told me I had to read it in a seducing voice. The guy now approached the stop and stood nearby. I opened the book and began to read, in a provocative Barry White voice, "I am a sick man...I am a wicked man. An unattractive man. I think my liver hurts." You'd be surprised how well some of Notes translates. I think the gas station worker taking the trash out must've been annoyed with our giggling, as was anyone else near us.

The bus was just coming down the hill towards us when I got a text from Cameron saying that Ben had just gotten injured. I called him and asked what was going on. He told me, in bits and pieces, that they were playing a game and then Ben slide into a base when he heard a snap, and then someone called the cops, and then someone took away the kids and the trees, and now Matt (Ben's little brother) was here. Make sense? Of course not, and I was trying to explain to Cameron that I couldn't understand what he was saying when the bus arrived, and the guy took advantage of my phone conversation to ask Lindsey what I was reading. "Notes From Underground by Dostoevsky," she answered. He replied that he'd never heard of Dostoevsky and asked if it was written in Russian.

As Lindsey and I got on the bus, the stalker trailing behind, Cameron kept talking to Matt and then me at once, then finally saying he'd call me back in a few minutes. I hung up and knowing he'd never call back, I called Matt to see what the hell was going on since Cameron was making no sense. Apparently, Ben had been playing kickball at our ward's F.H.E. when he'd broken his ankle. They'd called an ambulance and then cops came by to make sure there was a "legitimate reason" for an ambulance, and finally Ben's dad arrived to go to the hospital.

I got off the phone with Matt right when I got off the bus with Lindsey...which is also right when I realized that, during the nonsensical conversation with Cameron, I'd never picked up my headphones. I turned around and rushed with Lindsey to catch the next bus, but by the time we got back down to the campus stop, my headphones were nowhere to be found. I usually try to have faith in humanity, but I had no stock in the integrity of anyone who'd happen to pass by $60 SkullCandy headphones that are barely a month old just lying on the ground by a bus stop. I slumped on the ground, angry and annoyed.

I was angry and annoyed because it seemed like the reason I'd left them behind was because I was so caught up with being worried about Ben and trying to get a straight answer out of Cameron. It wasn't that it was Cameron's fault, but more like in an odd test of when I place priorities in think-on-my-feet situations, I become completely focused on just one thing. And I really don't feel like that's a good thing. I feel like it could lead me to trouble.

This was what was on my mind when a bus finally arrived and right when Lindsey and I were about to get on, the driver held a hand up to me. I was too distracted by my thoughts to realize a woman was coming down. Then as I came on before Lindsey, the driver said, as if to chastize me, "Ladies first!" before I took a seat. When Lindsey sat down next to me, I was mumbling profanities. I realize that the guy was just trying to encourage me to be polite...but I don't pay $30 out of my tuition for a bus pass so that you can teach me manners, buddy. I pay you to drive the damn bus and shut your mouth. I'm sick, I've had a bad day finding a job, my best friend is hurt, and I've lost my headphones. Fuck you.

I got off before Lindsey did. As I stood waiting for her, I heard her say to the bus driver, "So, is that being polite to women, or being polite to white people? Because that's just cruel." And then she stepped off as the driver hollered, "...Well...ladies first!"