Malena

Since I'm doing a work rotation Downtown, I've been taking the Metro Bus. Yesterday, on the way home, I missed the bus (but not to worry b/c at my location, they run every 5 minutes during the "peak/rush" hours). A lady pulls up and asks any takers for "228" (that's my bus number). Then two people proceeded to enter her vehicle. Since she was stopped at the light I decided to knock on the window and ask, "Did you say 228? Can I come too?" You should know that on the I-10 HOV lane, you have to have a minimum of 3 people between 5-6pm. She already had her quota, so my little mooching self didn't need to hop on, but she was kind enough to say "sure." As the four strangers sat in the car, no one talked to each other. We just sat back. I felt a little uncomfortable.

As I was sitting in the car, I really wanted to sleep. Afterall the guy sitting in the passenger side fell asleep and then I thought, "What if she was some pyscho and took us somewhere. Or what if my bus isn't really 228... how am I going to call my mom and tell her I ended up in Katy?" It was actually a pretty uneventful ride. We got back to the park & ride and all parted ways. The best thing, I saved myself $3.00 for the bus ride.

That leads me to Malena (I don't know how to spell her name). This morning, as I walked to the bus after parking my car, I noticed a little Beamer waiting by the "Downtown line." (This is the line people stand in so they can catch a ride with cars who only have one person but need the coveted second (or third) rider. I looked in and asked if she needed someone to ride with her to Downtown. She was exhuberant in her response of "yes." Well, you need to be on the HOV lane by 6:45AM if you want to take 2 ppl, but it was now 6:50/6:55. I assured her it would be okay b/c my mom and I are familar with the system. Although I really wanted to nap in the car, Melena and talked the whole way to work.

She was born in Moscow, Russia. Her father is Russian and her mother is from Finland (I really wanted to say her mother is a "Fin" or "Finlian" but none of those sound correct. Sort of like Houstonians are from Houston and Floridians are from Florida, but to me "Floridian sounds weird... okay no more tangent). Her family moved to the states about 8 years ago and she just graduated in Decemeber. She works at Shell as an analyst. At the end of the car ride, we finally asked each other's names. She did ask what time I was getting off of work (I think perhaps she wanted me to ride back with her so she didn't have to face traffic on her own)... but I don't think our schedules will work out.

Thanks Melena for the ride and for saving me another $3.00!