Let me preface this by saying that I have previously mastered several different public transportation systems to include: the Washington, DC Metro, the London Underground and the Paris Metro.

Tom and I went down to Boston today to see the new W*arren Miller film. He loves to watch ski and snowboarding movies. We figured it would be a fun adventure to go into the city and catch the flick. We drove on down and decided to catch the T to avoid traffic and parking hassles. We had to wait 20 minutes just to get into the parking lot at the station. Then the attendant has you stalk outgoing passengers for their spots. After 5 more minutes our quarry headed to her car. I was almost in the very tight spot when the attendant motions for us to go somewhere else. I leave the spot and pull around. Apparently he had forgotten we had paid. I flashed our ticket and he apologized but of course by then the spot was gone.

After successfully parking we headed into the station. It doesn't matter what time of year those platforms are always windy. I was so glad I can still fit into my wool coat. We caught the orange line and knew to switch to the green. On the map it looks like you can switch at Government Center. However, we had fallen for that a few months ago and had learned that construction had closed the crossover. Feeling smart we hopped off at the correct stop. The green line itself forks out in four different directions. Each fork is designated by a letter. We were waiting for a "B" train to get to Boston University. After 30 minutes and many trains, no B train arrived. We were also stumped because there are three different BU stops. Meanwhile I was calling everyone I knew who had attended BU or may have walked on campus ever, figuring they would know the correct stop. No luck. We gave up on the B train and took any green that came. (Later we would discover that the B train doesn't go to that stop. Not that there were any signs or indication on the map of this.)

Our next plan was to take the train until it resurfaced and then just grab a taxi. We did so and discovered that our cab driver had no idea of where we wanted to go. We settled for being dropped in the middle of campus. Tom and I struck out to find the performing arts center. After a couple of blocks we had no luck and no entry to any buildings to ask directions. We finally found a campus map and discovered we were going the wrong way. By this time the movie had started 20 minutes beforehand. Sometime in the next block I was struck with searing abdominal pains. I limped along but when attacked from both sides I admitted defeat. We sat in a Burger King for a couple of minutes to warm up and hopefully get the pain to subside. After retracing our steps to exactly where the cab had dropped us we reached the theater. Even though we missed the first 40 minutes the film was excellent. It came with an extensive program so we can atleast read about the parts we missed. It got you all hyped for the upcoming season. Which in my case will be purely as a spectator.

After it was over we went out and found that the correct T stop was directly in front. We waited ten minutes for a train to come our way. It did but after stopping 30 yards ahead at an unofficial stop, it passed us by. The next train did the same thing. We aren't complete morons so we walked up to the unofficial stop and the next train picked us and skipped the people we left behind at the real stop. By this time we had already sworn several times to never go to Boston again, well only for Red Sox games, but otherwise forget it. Now being seasoned pros we switched trains two more times and finally got back to the original station. There we made some guy very happy by letting him stalk us to our parking spot.

So do you think we are cursed for the entire month of November? Or when this week ends do we get a fresh start?