=(

I have similar fears...but the bus isn't so bad after riding it a few times. If you were on my way to TI, I would pick you up! (but I think I'm comming from the opposite direction??)

Either way, good luck with the bus, and I'll see you on Monday!

I am totally baffled by the bus system in Canton. I don't understand it at all. It appears to be a bunch of loops that really don't make sense. However, in ABQ, nearly all of the buses run on straight lines, and I find that comforting and much easier to undersand.

I also used to have the fear that I'd fall asleep on the bus and wake up in the middle of nowhere. (And watching it happen to Lisa Simpson only made my fear worse.) That hasn't happened yet, thankfully. I do still have a fear that I'm going to fall down when I leave the bus through the backdoor, though. And from my new house I have to take two buses to get to school, so it took me a couple of days to work all of that out.

If you're like me (which, wow, you really ARE), the first week will probbaly be a bit stressful, but then you'll get used to it and be fine.

Sit as close to the front as possible. It sounds too easy, but it helps in three ways. A) You can watch the street signs, and see how close you are getting to your stop, and you'll start to get used to it. 2) Watching the street signs, and paying attention to the road makes the time go by faster. C) The bus driver is the closest thing to an authority figure on the bus, so staying by them will make you feel more at ease.

Thanks, Mir. :) Yeah, we live at the U of MN right now, so it's not exactly on your way.

Mel--I knew you were going to have a response to this entry. If you can do the bus, so can I. Luckily, everywhere I need to get on my own (ie work, my therapist, and my favorite neighborhood if I were ever crazy enough to want to go somewhere for fun) are all on the same bus line, so I only have to learn one. Transfering scares me to death, so at least I don't have to do that.

Koby--Thanks for the advice. Your ability to use the bus impresses me. My biggest fear (other than the apocolypse/clock thing) is really that I'll pull the cord at the wrong time so that the bus stops and no one gets off or I pull too late for the driver to stop. But I'll try your ideas. I know everyone reads and listens to music on the bus, but I certainly won't be doing that any time soon. Seeing the signs will definitely help.

I totally agree with Koby’s advice. And if you have to sit closer to the back when you first get on but then someone in the front leaves, just go up and take their seat. (I just say this because I remember being scared to do it because I thought people would think I was odd, but no one really cares.) I had to do this a few times recently, since it took me a few rides to figure out which was the best stop get off near my new place.

There are some bus lines in ABQ that I wouldn't feel comfortable on. There are three that I know well, and those are the same ones I've used since I moved here. Even then, I don't take them out of the area of town I know. Luckily, I can still use them all from new place, I just have to transfer from one to another to get to school. I transfer at the stop where I used to catch the bus when I lived in my old house, so it is all very familiar to me. (This neighborhood has a lot of confusing turns and culs-de-sac – wouldn’t Lorelai be impressed? - so just walking around it my first week was more confusing than the bus system.)

**My biggest fear (other than the apocolypse/clock thing) is really that I'll pull the cord at the wrong time so that the bus stops and no one gets off**

This was a fear of mine as well. There are several stops outside the university, and I still remember that the first week I moved here (three years ago!), I pulled the cord too quickly and the bus stopped outside a parking lot instead of the bookstore, which was where I really wanted off. I got off at the parking lot because I was too scared to say anything. It was only a couple of blocks away, so it wasn't a big deal. Now that I ride that bus daily, I notice that a lot of people pull the cord for that stop when they really want to go to the bookstore, and they usually just yell, "Sorry, next stop!" and the driver keeps going. Sometimes the stops are closer together than others and not all of them have benches, so I'm sure the drivers realize that people can't notice them all.

**or I pull too late for the driver to stop.**

This might happen the first week or so, but after that, you'll be fine. Just choose a landmark (Wendy's! A blue house! A brake repair shop!) that is close to the stop, and tell yourself to pull the cord each time you see it. That's what I do.

If it helps, take someone's phone number with you that you know you can call if you get lost. Because being stranded out in the middle of nowhere was one of my biggest fears, when I moved here, I carried my housemate's number (well, I guess it was my number as well...it was just so new I didn't know it by heart yet) and a number for one of the cab companies with me all the time. The second week I was here, I did have to call Donna to rescue me. It was no big deal, and it taught me that on the weekdays, the #5 and #11 stop at the same place, so I need to be careful and check which one I'm getting on.

You're going to be just fine when you get the hang of it. Trust me.

I have a similar feeling about busses, but mainly because I don't know what to expect. (And I never carry cash on me, so I'd probably forget my bus fare!) And I also don't know the routes, so I'm nervous that I will want to go one way and get on the wrong bus and be incredibly late. Silly, no?