Trains and Automobiles Adventure Edition: So today I had an interview for a church internship next year, and it was prefaced by getting nearly lost in downtown Chicago.
It was in the northwestern part of the city, so instead of taking the CTA train, I figured it would be cheaper and more efficient to take the Metra train...which I had never done before.
It's good thing I took the early train because while I was on it I missed my stop and before I knew it everyone was getting off of the train because it was at the end of the line in downtown Chicago....as in WAY past my stop. So I get off the train at a station I'd never been to before, I go to the ticket counter and ask the lady if I can get a ticket back to my stop. She says "Yeah" and gives me a ticket. I ask her what track it's on, and she says "Track 7, leaving at 10:30" And I'm like, "10:30?? As in 10:30 am???" Note: my interview is at 9:45. So the ticket was useless to me.
I'm then like, "Is there some other way I could get to Ravenswood?" And she's like, "I don't know...maybe the CTA." And I'm like, "Where's the nearest stop?" And she says "....Um...maybe State and Randolph, or State and Wabash, or something like that." Note: I don't have a smart phone with any of that fancy GPS stuff, and I'm in a part of the city that I've never been to, so while I recognized those street names, they literally could have been anywhere for all I knew how to get to them.
So I'm like, "Screw this, I'm getting a taxi. I don't care how much it is, heaven and earth will not stop me from getting to this interview. YOU HEAR ME, UNIVERSE?! YOU CANNOT STOP ME!!"
So fast forward, past my SUPER BADDASS CITY SKILLS OF HAILING IMMEDIATE TAXIS, and past the driver's surprise at the slightly long distance I was asking him to drive, and the $25.00 in cab fare, and you see me arrive at the meeting, like a baller in a taxi, ONLY 5 MINUTES LATE.
And guess who pretty much got the internship? ME.