Avenue Q and Why I Love My iPod

Jill and I took a bus ride to New York today to see Avenue Q. My commentary on the show is short and to the point. My sides hurt from laughing and my hands are sore from clapping. The thing is that in retrospect, it wasn't the fact that the plot was anything out of the ordinary. If the lines weren't delivered by puppets I wouldn't have invested the price of two movie tickets, but it was well worth the price of an iPod, which is a rather clumsy segue into my next topic.

We took the bus because is normally a very relaxing, stress free, and economical way to go into the city. A round trip senior citizen ticket from Toms River to NYC is $14. You get there faster than you would by car and you are right in the heart of the theater district.

Normally I take a book and/or my iPod to occupy the time, but this time I took neither, because Jill was with me and we don't share the same musical taste and it would be rude to read.

As things turned out I would have MUCH preferred head sets on a Y-splitter listening exclusively to Air Supply and Brenda Lee. Seated three rows behind us on the left were two twenty something girls and two rows behind us were two twenty something guys. All four talked loud enough for the back third of the bus to hear them.

Now, like I don't know like when you last listened to like four twenty something kids like talking, but like it's like and like bomb like exploded in the bus. Like I really missed my iPod. Like ya know what I mean?

I tried closing my eyes and thinking peaceful thoughts. Perhaps meditating would work, but every time the word "like" was like uttered, it was like a bullet like shattering the glass of my concentration.

The thing is that the guys were just talking to each other and the girls were just talking to each other. Thank goodness they didn't intermingle. Aside from the insanity that would have resulted, I'm afraid I would have had to kill all four of them on the spot in order to save humanity from the progeny that might have resulted from their meeting.

Port Authority was a welcomed site. We left, saw the matinée, and were debating whether to eat in the city or back in T.R. If we hurried, we could catch the 4:30 bus an be in T.R. by 5:45, eat and be home by 7:00. If we ate in the city we wouldn't be home before 8:00. We opted to try to make the 4:30 bus.

We made it with only about 5 minutes to spare. However, because the bus was filling up we had to sit across the isle from each other. No sooner were we seated then who should walk in. Like you guessed it. It was like the two girls! But it seemed that luck was with us. Since we couldn't sit together, neither could they and there weren't even single seats across the isle within shouting distance. I breathed a sigh of relief.

Seated directly behind me were two forty something women who started out in silence. It wasn't long before they struck up a conversation and began talking about husbands, children, and grand children. It was then a chill ran down my spine. One of the pair was articulate, but the other like, um, ya know, had honed her grammar to the point of like, um, ya know, not breaking one grammar law, but three at a time. Where are the grammar police when you want them?

I wasn't sure I could like, um, ya know, keep my sanity, but thankfully their conversation was short lived and they spent the rest of the trip in silence. As we neared T.R. I made a vow never to make that trip again without my iPod.

Like, nuff said?