As mentioned in the first ever post on this blog, public transport and I don't have the best relationship in the world.
But recently, I've reached a whole new level of stupidity where I can't even manage to get on the bus in the first place.
It all started when my 30 day rambler expired and I had to buy a new one.
Being Aimee, I waited until the last day, thinking it would be no problem.
I was wrong.
I went into the usual place where I buy them and asked for a 30 day rambler. The guy smiled at me, went away and came back with a small, yellow card.
"€125 please," he said.
"Wait...what? It's meant to be €91.50."
"Oh...you wanted the student one?" he sounded bemused and surprised.
"Em...yes???" I sounded offended and pissed off.
He went away and came back again.
"Sorry, we're all out of student ramblers."
"Oh! Alright. Any idea when you'll have them in again?"
"I don't know...we usually get big shipments of them in on Sunday."
"Today is Tuesday..."
"Yeah...sorry."
I thanked him for his time anyway, left the establishment and entered a different supermarket up the road.
I walked up to the cashier and, within seconds, realized that I was talking to someone who bore a striking resemblance in personality to Karen Smith from "Mean Girls."
"Hi! Do you sell bus ramblers by any chance?"
She tore away from her busy task of gazing open-mouthed at the wall to gaze open-mouthed at me.
"...what?"
"Do you sell ramblers? Student ramblers?"
No reaction.
"For the bus?"
"Bus?"
I could almost see the confused thought circumventing her puzzled mind.
Bus...? But we sell groceries here. Or at least that's what they told me...
Just then, the hamster seemed to plop itself back on the wheel and she remembered something.
"Oh! They sell them in the corner shop outside!"
"Oh OK, thanks!"
"No problem."
She then happily returned to to her staring competition with the wall.
Following Karen Smith's instructions, I entered the corner shop outside.
The woman standing behind the counter smiled at me as I entered and I smiled back.
"Hi, do you sell ramblers for the bus?"
The woman blinked at me as her face succumbed to a frown of confusion.
"Ramblers? I...think so."
She then turned around and seemed genuinely surprised to find a series of shelves behind her. She also seemed surprised that she held the key to one of the lower drawers and even more surprised to realize that she worked in a shop in general.
She opened a drawer, took out a small box and placed it on the counter, looking absolutely shocked and enthralled by its presence.
At that moment, I wondered just what type of people are hired to work in shops these days. Apparently, managers favour people who have no understanding of stock or what the store in question sells.
"What type of rambler are you looking for again?" she asked me breathlessly.
"The 30 day student one?"
She searched the box, flicking through the various little cards.
"Oh, we don't have that particular one, I'm sorry."
"That's alright, thanks anyway."
I then left the shop to let the woman play with her new treasure.
I gave up for the night after that.
The next morning, I bought a return train ticket into the city, hoping that I'd be able to find a 30 day student rambler somewhere.
The first shop I went into were also pleasantly surprised to hear that they sold ramblers and proudly put them on display as I left (they also didn't have a 30 day student rambler. By this point, I began to doubt my sanity and wonder if they really even existed anymore).
Then I went into a corner shop and waited in line for ten minutes behind a man who momentarily forgot how to work his credit card.
But I finally got my rambler in that store.
The cashier just walked away and casually came back with a €91.50 30 day student rambler.
"Is this it?"
"Oh my gosh...YES!!!!!"
Never had that little yellow card looked so beautiful. :)
Each and every human being on this planet is likely to spend 47% of their time daydreaming. That's OK though...because, apparently, spending time lost in the dream land makes us more creative and intelligent.
As well as that, a huge portion of the human brain supposedly spends a lot of time thinking up perfect scenarios for us to imagine ourselves living through.
Is that a good thing though?
I think yes. :)
I mean, yes, there is such a thing as going too far...
And when you're shivering behind your garden shed wearing a tinfoil hat and muttering about the mermaids who are trying to organise a raffle so that you don't die, you might want to lay off the "imagination" stuff for a while.
But a little bit of casual musing and visualising seems alright in my books.
In fact, it seems downright awesome.
I'm a serial daydreamer.
I'll be the first to admit that I'm constantly away in my own world...mulling things over, trying to come up with ideas, reliving past memories and envisioning new ones.
It sounds weird to say but I enjoy thinking. My brain is the place I'm most familiar with after all! If I have any type of dilemma or problem in my life, I'll wait until the bus ride to or from college, switch on my iPod, switch myself off and just think about it.
Sometimes I can't even go to sleep because I'm thinking so hard about something or another.
But I don't really believe that that's a bad thing.
It mellows me out, it relaxes me and it keeps me feeling calm.
I can't even count the amount of times I've pondered myself out of a panic attack just by focusing on something else.
And when it comes to any type of sadness or upset, it's super nice to be able to escape into your own head. It's a lot more peaceful in there than out in the screaming battlefield everyday life can sometimes feel like. ;)
In regards to all this, I'd like to quote one of my favourite movies of all time, "Sucker Punch," which is an epic extravaganza of rebellion against corrupt authority, bad ass teamwork, clever plot twists, steampunk warfare, escape from a mental asylum and just pure incredibleness mixed with amazingness in a blender.
Anyway, the film has a brilliant line regarding imagination...
"It's like we talked about, you control this world. Let the pain go, let the hurt go, let the guilt go. What you are imagining right now, that world that you control? That place can be as real as any type of pain."
And I think that's true. :)
A few minutes of retreating into the dream world can be incredibly beneficial to your own well-being.
There's been lots of times when I've felt down and then just by getting inside my own mind and chillin' there for a little while, I've ended up feeling a lot better.
I've always considered it to be pretty nourishing...slipping into a place where no you can get to you or bother you or take anything away from you. It's a world that's completely yours and no one else's. A world where you're the boss.
I think we all need that sometimes.
Plus, it can help with real life desires and yearnings as well.
I remember talking to a friend of mine once who said that he noticed a girl in his lecture hall at university one day who was (in his own words) "the definition of breath-taking." He told me all about how she was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen and how amazing her smile was.
"So when are you going to talk to her?" I remember asking him.
"Never," he answered straightaway in a noticeably confident tone of voice.
Seeing the confused look on my face, he elaborated.
"Aimee, I have an idea of this girl in my head that I don't want to ruin," he told me. "Today I acted like a big creep inside my brain and imagined speaking to her for the first time, our first date, how it would go, what she would say, how her laugh would sound. And in my head, that's all awesome and fantastic. It made me feel really, really cheerful for a little while. So why wreck it by talking to her in real life? There'll be other girls. But I want to keep this one the way it is.
And yes, before you say it, I know this all makes me sound like a stalker!"
"Not at all," I assured him.
Because it didn't (to me at least). In fact, it made perfect sense.
And the more I reflected on it ('cos that's what I do), the more of a beautiful idea it seemed.
I mean, no one is perfect, right? Right.
But it's nice to believe that some people out there are just these awesome, flawless angels who are sweet and caring, gorgeous and striking, smart and funny. The whole deal with no faults.
That type of person doesn't exist of course...but it's kind of cool to think that they do.
So if you build up someone in your head to be perfect, why do anything to destroy that image?
It's sweet to think that we could live in a world inhabited by a number of creatures who are just plain astounding and brilliant. :)
It's the same with what if scenarios, possible situations and potential outcomes.
Or even the results of a past decision if we'd chosen a different path.
It can be nice to just unwind by yourself, hang out and consider all those different things sometimes.
All in all, it comes down to one thing (this is my own idea, feel free to quote me on it so that I can become an instant celebrity, recognised for my blogging genius, and retire to a mansion bought with pretend internet money)...
It's always good to go out and accomplish.
But sometimes it's good to just sit back and dream.
:)
