Rut 7: My Bus Driver Had a Gold Badge, How About Yours? -Elise Meservy

I have not been a bus for a long time. And thank goodness I had McKenna and Scott with me, or I might have gotten lost (I tend to do that easily).

I went onto the bus wanting to do something crazy. Hence the guitar, which I turned out to not be a cool as I would have wanted it to be (but if you are interested in legit music/bus/iphone skills check out the Atomic Toms).

So after that failed attempt at the guitar, I decided to just be plain creepy and nosy. It started with me creepily leaning over the shoulder of the guy in front of me and ended with me getting a personalized note from the bus driver.

I decided to make friends with the bus driver while we were waiting for it to go. This is because on the way to the mall I did not have adequate change and that bus driver just let me on but seemed pretty upset with me. I was not going to le the same happen with this new bus driver.

As we waited for the precise time for the bus to leave, the driver stood eating an apple and reading his book. So, I did what I had to and I yelled across the bus to him and asked him what he was reading. Best question I could have asked.

Seriously. He was dying to share that book with somewhat. Not only did he explain it, but he read the back of the book to me, and during the middle of our ride back to campus he called me up on his intercom to come get a piece a paper he had written the book title on! I almost stumbled getting the paper from him.

So if anyone is interested, my bus driver (who has a gold badge, a number 500 out of 6,000s (which means he has been around for awhile), and has been driving this exact route for 3 years but other routes much longer than that) recommends reading:

David Gemmell's Hero in the Shadows



I guess I am going to have to read this book, seeing as I told the bus driver I would.

Best $5 I ever spent. I want to go again! I made friends with Yu-Gi-Oh game -playing geeks, a girl who ended up knowing my little brother, and the most fascinating bus driver ever.

I noticed that a lot of people feel awkward on the bus and are too nervous to go out of their way and make friends, but that when someone approaches them in a friendly manner, they usually are excited for the human interaction and even pull out their headphones. ;)