Thurs. June 21, 2018 

I woke up before the crow! 

Since my car was locked in the parking garage all night I woke up early to handle business. I could barely sleep with the thought of it being towed away. It is one of my three dream cars and I cannot imagine anything happening to it without me being around. 

At 6am, as soon as the garage opened, I gave them a call. After basically taking a 3 hour nap my ability to think was questionable. The first time I called no one answered. I figured calling at the exact moment of opening was not helpful. I waited a few minutes before I called again, that time it went to a ‘busy line’ tone. After waiting about 20 minutes I finally got through to the manager of the place. After telling him who I was we had a friendlier conversation. It went from customer to acquaintance. It pays off to make friends wherever you go.  

After talking for about 10 minutes we came up with a plan. If I could get to the garage before the ticket checkers arrived all I would have to do is pay an overnight fee. Seemed simple. The hard part was making it down that way within 2 hours and having no ride. My parents are down to one car and my father was already at work. My sister was knocked out. Girlfriend still asleep. None of my friends drive. My last and only option was Uber.  

I took a $30 Uber to Hoboken. A 35 minute drive took well over and hour because of construction. I have said it before and will say it once more, why must you work on the roads during rush hour? I even took a nap since I had the time. I cannot believe how patient the driver was when in my head I was panicking from sitting still so long. I even had to lower the widow just to relax my nerves. This driver just started to work for Uber and was already a professional. I could not believe it. 

Made it to town. 

I was dropped off around 9:45am about six blocks away from the parking garage. My plan was to eat and walk at the same time. Sleeping so little left me with no energy so before I scheduled the Uber to get me I researched places that I could have breakfast at ahead of time. I knew what I wanted from a few delicious looking pictures, O‘ Bagel. It was my first time stepping into the little grab and go bagel shop. I say ‘grab and go’ because it was a small shop with about three high table sets and four regular chairs lined against the wall. Not much of hang out. For breakfast I order something called the Boken. The sandwich consisted of grilled chicken, melted provolone, homemade Tuscan spread, topped with a dressed arugula salad in between a hand rolled raisin bagel. For my drink I decided to try out their hot home brew coffee which with a little sugar is really good.  

The walk to the garage was nice. It took me 15 minutes to walk the distance. The town I live in requires a car or public transportation to get around with. With my food in hand I was glad to be out getting fresh air.  

Finally, at the garage I met with my buddy that was on the phone this morning. He really helped me out a lot. I could not have been more appreciative. He even taught me how to leave like his employees just in case I get locked in again. I do not think I will ever use his tips but it is good to know anyway. As I walked to my car I had the happiest smile on my face. It felt good to sit in it even though it had only been a day. It felt even better when I drove it home.  

With 3 hours of sleep I needed a nap.  

Before actually getting home I stopped at Wawa. The house had nothing to snack on so I thought a box of cereal and milk would be perfect. Note to self, Wawa does not sell boxes of cereal. The one by me anyway. When I got home as soon as my head hit the pillow I was in a deep sleep. I knocked out instantly. For 2 hours I slept as if I were under Sandman’s spell. It was well deserved rest.  

By 2:45pm I was out of the house once more. This time on my way to meet the lady I work with before our dinner shift started. We wanted to have a late lunch at Mitsuwa so we meet there. After how my day started I was glad to get a real meal in my stomach. Normally we get ramen but today we tried something different. We went to a shop called Tokyo Hanten. They serve Japanese cuisine as close to authentic as possible. I had shrimp that I believe was tempura with a spicy gravy sauce and a side of rice. For my first time eating there I was not disappointed. The shrimp was perfectly cooked, the sauce was amazing and paired with the white rice it all came together wonderfully. 

How could we possibly work?  

We got to the place we were vending at within 15 minutes of leaving Mitsuwa, 5:15pm. It was hard to get started after stuffing myself. But with less than an hour to set up, we got right to it. Within minutes of opening up we were doing business. I thought we would gradually get into the flow of things but the folks living there were ready to eat.  

Once 9pm hit we were done and picking it up to go. During my drive home I had a late-night snack of two rice balls that were bought at Omusubi Gonbei. In the container were a spicy tuna and mentiko, nicely chilled from the refrigerator, rice balls. They hit the spot!  

Back home I took a shower, had a chat with my girlfriend for a bit and was in bed by 1:20am after working on WordPress.