What everybody does on bus rides

When I was in the beginning stages of this blog entry, I was having a lot of trouble figuring out what to write about. In my writer’s block, I looked around the bus (we were headed to Pullman from Spokane), desperate to find someone to give me a good idea.

From my spot on the left side, third row from the back of the bus, I have Jayne and Jeanette to my right, Mel and Kayla behind me, Hannah immediately in front, and Ros diagonal.

I glance into the front seat and Hannah rocking out to Jack Johnson (or love songs that make her think of me, so she says…), attentively reading “Sustainable Fossil Fuels,” a book for her Earth Systems 101 class. I tap her on the shoulder and pose my question. Her response? “Figure out what each person’s animal spirit is and write about that!” Thanks, Hannah, but I think I’ll leave that one for you.

I look diagonally at Ros. She appears to be napping, but her music is deafening, telling everyone in a 5-foot radius what she is listening to. If you ever forget your headphones, just sit near Ros and hope that she is listening to something you want to listen to. Every once in a while she will peek around, looking for someone to give her attention. I give her a wink and go back to my blog.

Continuing with the trend, I keep looking to the front of the bus for someone to give me an idea. Grace, as always, is on her phone, “listening to music,” so she claims. She could be lip-syncing to some song, or quietly talking on the phone, and you would never know the difference. In case it’s the latter, I keep up with my search.

The next few rows prove futile, as Ashley, Lindy, Nneka, Michelle and Boothe all appear to be either sleeping or deep in thought, gazing at the beautiful foothills of Spokane/Pullman (clearly that was a joke).

The freshmen are being freshmen, skyping with each other as they sit across the row. Every once in a while we get a bus with wireless internet, and thanks to the wonders of built-in video chatting capabilities (didn’t have that when I was their age!), they are having some conversation that they could easily have if they just turn their heads 90 degrees.

The staff and coaches are at the front of the bus (they clearly never got the memo that the cool kids sit in the back!) They are watching video, trying to pick up on any last-minute details they haven’t caught in the previous 27 viewings of the same video. Hand it to them though, we are always very, VERY prepared for each team that we play.

I feel a little nervous asking Amy for a blog topic, as she would probably tell me that I should have written it two weeks in advance, instead of the day it was due. “Better to be 10 minutes early than 1 minute late!"

Devan would probably just suggest something about researching new weight lifting techniques. That man is always reading about the newest anything related to strength and conditioning. It makes it a little tough to challenge him, as he can just show you some paper by the top expert and say, “Do it, ya jackal!”

I suddenly realize that I didn’t even ask the people immediately next to me. Mel and Kayla are either napping or listening to music, or multitasking and doing both, so I look over at Jayne and Jeanette. Both have their headphones in, with Jeanette sprawled out taking a power nap and Jayne on her computer, pink nails rapidly typing on the keyboard.

“Jayne!” I yell at her over the music coming from her iPod. She takes out her ear bud, annoyed, giving me her half-divided attention. More than likely she was listening to The Ting Tings “That’s Not My Name,” because in the song it says her name, and she’ll respond, “that is my name!”. I ask her for her opinion on what to write my blog entry on. “Why don’t you just write about what everybody does on bus rides?” Great idea!

JJ