Dearest light rail of mine: Today, I hate you.

Remember how I said that I was completely cool with the light rail and not having a vehicle? Well, that just changed. Here's why:

Yesterday morning I was running late. I woke up an hour after my alarm sounded and had to be out of my apartment and headed for the light rail stop with only 20 minutes to get my shit together. I did it! and then half speed walked/half jogged to the closest light rail station (about 5 blocks away). Upon my arrival at the stop an old man holding a gargantuan sandwich which was dripping mayo and mustard (some of which happened to burrow it's way into his abnormally shaped mustache) proceeded to inform me that the light rail was not operating between the Fort Snelling stop and another stop farther north... as if the yellow caution tape blocking the entrance to the station wasn't evidence enough.

My first thought: FML. HOW am I supposed to make it to work on time?! I was TICKED. How did I not know of this? WHYYYY wasn't I informed? How come Minneapolis Public Transit was so unorganized?! (Truth be told... I put my headphones in and listen to my iPod the second I leave my apartment, so there were probably announcements over the course of the past week, but I just didn't hear them.)

Thankfully, the man with the mustard globbed mustache informed me that there was a bus running the light rail route and I could hop that to the Fort Snelling station at which point I could board the light rail and make my way to the mall.

Needless to say, I was most definitely going to be late to work. So, I walked 5 more blocks to the bus stop, only to JUST miss the bus I needed to catch. (of course!) Whatever, so I made it to work, only 15 minutes late.

And actually, I was pretty impressed with how organized it all was, so I'm not actually THAT angry with Public Transit. All of the bus drivers were very nice and very patient, so kudos to them.

This isn't the end of my relentless tale though... it gets worse. So I get to work, and we have the "Red Hot Sale" going on... which is basically just code for "let's mark all the crap that hasn't sold with bright red FINAL SALE stickers so we can get it out of the store and out of our lives forever." I have absolutely no problem with the sale itself, except for the fact that all of The Limited employees were forced to wear the MOST HIDEOUS MATCHING SHIRTS ON THE PLANET. One would think that "Red Hot Sale" would indicate some cheesy t-shirt design consisting of chili peppers or something, right? Oh no. Our shirts were black. with a giant tiger face on the front...(and the placement of the eyes of the tiger were?...I think you can guess) and it gets better: the words "Killer Sale" were written across the neckline in bright red drippy lettering. Ummm???? Ya, I know. It doesn't make any sense. AT ALL.

I rush into the store and hurry to change into the shirt of death so I can get on the floor and clock in. After about 3 seconds of trying to collect myself, it gets somewhat busy (it is a Saturday after all). I'm posted at the wrap desk as cashier, so naturally I'm smiling my face off and bagging about as much clothing as I can handle when a woman comes up and tells me she would like to do a return. I smile and nod and ask if anything is wrong with the item bla bla bla.

**(Something everyone needs to know about our return policy: When you return an item(s) you have to have a state-issued ID on you so we can swipe it through a machine that keeps track of your returns. You can only return items 5 times in a given period before this machine spits out a warning slip that notifies you that you return things too often and will not be able to return anything for another given period of time.)**

This woman whips out the shirt she's returning and then begins to thumb through a stack of receipts about an inch thick. She can't find the receipt with this particular shirt on it for, I'm not kidding, 15 minutes. She finds the receipt, I run it through the register, and ask for her ID to then process it through this magical return tracking machine. After seeing that mountainous stack of receipts, I silently predicted that she would get the ominous warning slip. And sure enough...the machine spat out the slip. I tore it off the machine and slowly turned around to give it to the customer and explain that she had received a warning. While I had been turned to the machine, she whipped out another item to return with a separate receipt. OH GOODY. Her face instantly turned the shade of red our "Red Hot" shirts should have been not out of embarrassment, but in ANGER. I processed the next return of hers and the machine let it slide with another warning slip informing her that she was dangerously close to the maximum limit of returns. She just yelled at me and said that she would be staying away from The Limited for a very long time.

:/

And during this transaction, there was quite a line building up behind her so everyone witnessed this confrontation. GLORIOUS.

Anyhoo... all because of the light rail. :P Not really, it was just a not-so-hot day. Today was pretty good though! Work went by fast and it was SUNNY. (For those of you not in the Minneapolis area...it has been crazy storming to the point of flooding!)

Alright, well it's late and I should be getting some sleep now.

For the obnoxious woman who doesn't read her sales slips... maybe she can hang out with our genius ex-president and learn a thing or two:

"There's an old saying in Tennessee -- I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee -- that says, fool me once, shame on --shame on you. Fool me -- you can't get fooled again." Pres. George W. Bush --Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2002

Greetings

This is my first blog ever and I realize that the people who may (or may not!) be tracking my blogspot are people who know me. But, for the sake of the few strangers that happen to stumble across it and become intrigued, here are a few important facts that you need to know:

1. My name is Hallie.
2. I'll be turning 20 on Aug. 8. :)
3. I love the city of Minneapolis.
4. I attend the University of Minnesota and intend to graduate with a BA degree in the fall of 2011. I am a Global Studies major (governance, peace, and justice branch with my region of focus being Africa) and a French minor.
5. Food is fabulous.
6. So is music.
7. I love my family very much.
8. Laughter is the light of life.
9. Even though I love the city, I miss being able to see the stars at night and the smell of the pine trees in my hometown of Pine River, MN.
10. I'm still figuring out who I am, so bear with me.

So, as many of my friends and family members are aware, I am re-locating to Senegal as of August 29th at 7AM. I was thinking about how I could quite possibly loose my mind if I completely disconnect from the people I love here at home, so what better way to adjust in Senegal than to keep a blog?

I realize that it is only June 21st, but time sure does fly, and to be completely honest, my mind has been plenty busy preparing for this new journey. I wake up every morning and focus on the daily tasks at hand. (Usually consisting of an hour trek to the Mall of America to work at The Limited... I have no vehicle and the light rail serves me just fine.)
For those of you who are not familiar with The Limited: The Limited is a clothing store geared toward the hardworking yet fashionable and social business woman. A.K.A we sell suits and other work attire with the occasional semi-formal dress thrown in.
I do enjoy working there, but it's frustrating to see how much people focus their monetary energies on buying bags upon bags (usually plastic) of endless crap that they don't need. Now don't get me wrong...I'm definitely guilty of spending money on worthless crap too, but sometimes I get tired of seeing it occurring on a day to day basis. (Perhaps I should get out of the merchandising industry, eh?)

Anyhoo... I'm starting a rolling list of things that NEED to get done before I leave including: purchasing some sort of backpacking backpack for my 8 month venture to Senegal, acquiring my student visa, copying my passport to send to the travel agency, creating a packing list, filling my prescriptions for malaria meds and travelers diarrhea (oh joy!.. :/), and saying goodbye to all of my friends and family.

Wow, after I write it down, it doesn't exactly seem all that complicated. It's amazing how we build things up in our minds to be these great obsticals, when in reality, they're no more than just a small bump in the road.

I suppose that's it for now. There will be updates throughout the next few months as my grand departure quickly approaches and thereafter as my journey begins!

I've just decided that I'm going to end each blog with a quote. This one has been quite the motto for me and I think it's more than fitting to conclude this first blog with it:

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." -Mahatma Gandhi