I decided to drive down to Wellington and take the Orange line to the Green line, upon the advice of Boyfriend. Driving to Wellington during rush hour was stressful enough on it's own - after that I had the train to contend with. I made it into the parking garage at Wellington, bought my Charlie ticket and got on the platform for the train. I felt like such an adult. I rode the train to Haymarket and made the switch to the Green line and got off at Hynes. I used my phone and Google maps to get me to the restaurant. EASY. I was so impressed with myself. I headed into the room where the blogger meet up was feeling like a million bucks. I got a name tag and a list of all the other bloggers that would be attending and that's when it hit me.
I am crap at networking or socializing with people I don't know. I kind of stood there, alone, trying to look engrossed in this list of bloggers. I was contemplating getting a drink for some liquid courage. Then someone made it easy and said hi to me (Hi Clair!)! My first blogger interaction! From there I tried to make my way around the room, butting into conversations and saying hello to people. It was easy, because everyone was so freakin' nice.
I was worried I would feel like I was intruding on some secret club, but it wasn't like that at all. I had so much fun chatting with everyone and met some awesome people. I can't wait to hang out with them again! If you're from the Boston area, you can find out more about blogger meet ups here. If you're not from the Boston area, I encourage you to look up other bloggers in your area and see if they ever have meet ups. It was a blast.
[photo taken from The Glitterati - that's me second from left]
So after all that fun and excitement, I had to get home. "This will be simple!" I thought. "I'll just get on the train and follow my path backwards!"
Well. It turns out I have no idea what INBOUND and OUTBOUND mean, since I get them wrong every time. So I stood on the wrong train platform for awhile. Luckily I figured it out and headed over to the right platform. I waited forever for the train, and then the one that showed up said Government Center was its last stop. I needed to go to Haymarket, the one right after that. But everyone else was getting on this train, so I did too. I figured worse comes to worse I'll walk from Gov't Center to Haymarket and pay the damn fare again. Luckily, when I got off at Gov't Center, the next train that came along was going past Haymarket, so I was all set.
[I was making pasta with sausage & kale, hence the prior text. I feel like you need to explain half sentences involving the word "sausage"]
By now I am exhausted, high off of the excitement of the night, and ready to go to bed. I get to Wellington and I'm greeted by this looooong and cold tunnel back to the garage.
[it's a never ending tunnel of doom]
So I finally make it to the garage lobby and planned on paying at the little machine with my credit card. Only a guy had the machine open and was doing something to it. So I went to the guy in the booth and asked if I could pay with a card. He said no. The guy fiddling with the machine told me I could pay with my card downstairs. After some back and forth, it turned out the fee was only $4, which I had in cash. So I paid the guy in the booth and went on my merry way. I heard Booth Guy shouting, but figured he was just talking to Machine Guy and thought nothing of it. Then, suddenly he was out of the booth yelling "SEESTAH!" so I turned around (apparently I answer to SEESTAH!).
He handed me back my ticket to get out of the garage, which I had left on the counter like a dummy. "Oh I need this to get out, huh?! Hehehehe!" The guy looked at me like I was a moron. He was not incorrect. Finally, FINALLY I made it home. It was a long and tiring day, but I had so much fun! Also, now I'm totally a pro at getting to Newbury Street on the T. Booyah.
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