Pubic Transportation

Every Friday my client has what they call a "Ho Ho". What marketing genius came up with this name I will never know. Basically a different department sets up a little party with a theme. Personally I think it's just an excuse to serve food and beer. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I've never been to one, but my buddy Seamus stopped by and conned me into going to the one on Friday. He had never been to one either, but his wifey wanted to go so there you have it. It was fine - they had Bass and Guinness on tap so I was a happy girl. Unfortunately they were only serving meat which didn't work for this Catholic girl on a Friday in Lent. They had Irish dancers who were incredibly talented. However, what is up w/ the trend in recent years to wear those horrible wigs w/ the curls? They just look silly. The way they bounce all over the place as they are dancing is very distracting from the footwork. Maybe I view things differently since I have naturally curly hair, but to all Irish dancers out there - LOSE THE WIGS!

We had a few pints and I decided I needed to head home then. Otherwise I was going to stay all night, get rat-arsed and not be able to get home. I headed home, changed from my London Irish RFC jersey into my 'Kiss Me I'm Irish' shirt, grabbed a bottle of Bushmills and headed to my former roomie's housewarming party. I decided to be a responsible citizen and take public (or pubic as we called it in college) transportation.

Party was good. Got to catch up with a lot of folks I hadn't seen in ages. Finally about 1:30am I decide I'm tired and want to go home to bed. Now, the regular bus lines stop running at midnight. Then it switches to the "Owl" service - fewer lines less frequently. I figure out the route and head to a bus stop.
I waited about 15 minutes for the first bus (the 24) and exited at Haight St. Now it was time to wait for the N-Judah. After about 30 minutes it appeared. Wait, why isn't it slowing down? Cue waving frantically - Hey, come on! Stop! I need to get on!

No love from Muni. The bus was full so it didn't even stop. Well, the joyous thing about the Owl service that I learned that evening is they generally only have ONE bus on the route. The N-Judah is a long freaking route. Another 30 minutes goes by and no sign of a bus. Fine, I'll hop a cab. Wait, I only have $10 and no credit card. That isn't going to get me anywhere. So I was forced to wait for a total of about an hour for the bus to come back. This time even though it was still mobbed, it did at least stop. I really don't think me standing in the road and blocking its path had anything to do with it.

Time I left the party: 1:30am
Time I walked in my front door: 3:30am

Now don't you think that the geniuses in city hall could figure out when St. Patrick's Day is on a friday they might just need some additional buses running? No no, apparently that is far too logical a thought. The worst part - I was sober and could have driven home. Never again my friends, never again.

I think MasterCard would have this to say about it:

MUNI fare: $1.50
Taxicab home: $20
Not standing in the cold and waiting for 2 hours to go <10 miles: Priceless

This mastercard moment was brought to you by the letter M and the number 2.