Efforts in futility. **text wall warning**

[Mr. Moon]

So something weird happened to me today.
Actually, a few weird things.

To celebrate my new-found freedom, I decided to go up to campus, get my bus pass for the next semester, sell my textbooks back to the bookstore, then use the money I got from the textbooks and the money I had already to go Christmas present shopping. After that, I would go hang out at my friend's place and play video games until his parents kicked me out.

Normally, I have to take two buses to get to the campus - one to the bus exchange, and one to the campus. It's a surprisingly lovely day out, so I decide I'm going to walk up to the bus exchange. Also I can't find my bus schedule so I don't feel like taking a crapshot on when the next bus is coming. So I grab my iPod and my stuff and off I go.
As I'm walking up the hill, I get close to a bus stop. Out of habit, I glance behind me and to my joy, I see that there's a bus coming up. So I break out into a run to catch it. Luckily enough, the bus driver knows me, so he stops. As I'm running, my earphones fall out of my ears. No matter, I pay this no attention, this happens all the time. My iPod is surely safe in my pocket. Thanking the bus driver for stopping, I step into the bus and take my seat.
I reach down to get my earphones.
Funny, I think, peering at the lack of earphones, where'd they go? I reach into my pocket, and a cold horror takes me.

My iPod is no longer in my pocket.

It must have fallen out while I was running for the bus, I realize. The next bus-stop is three blocks up, but not too far away. I hammer on the Stop button and sprint back down, praying desperately for my iPod to still be there. Every stranger I pass is a subject of suspicion - I bet that bastard stole my seven year old half broken iPod when he saw it fall out of my pocket. :smallfurious:
But no!
As I approach the bus stop, I see the familiar white gleam, the acidic blue coil of my Pansonic earphones (yes this is a plug, those are the most resilient freaking earphones I have ever had, go buy them). Crying out in victory, I reach down, exhausted from running so far, and pick it up. It hasn't even been damaged from the fall!

But still, as glad as I am to have it back, I achieved nothing. I am tired and sweaty and panicy and exactly where I started. If it wasn't for my buss pass, I'd be sweaty and panicy and exactly where I started and two dollars poorer.


When I finally make it to the campus, I head to the bookstore. I get in line to sell my book, and waited in line for half an hour behind this scaly-necked guy who kept prattling on his cellphone in some thick accent I couldn't pinpoint. Eventually I get to the end of the line. One of my books is only used for Fall courses, and the other one is worth a whole twenty bucks. "Okay", I say, and hand it over. Money is money, beggars can't be choosers.
The lady at the desk asks me for my debt card.
I have no debt card.
I ask if I can be payed in cash.
She says she can't do that.
I ask why not.
She says she "just can't".
I sigh, stick the two heavy textbooks back in my purse, and turn to leave.

Second act of futility. I manage to get my bus pass, but I lugged two massive books all the way up there for nothing. Thanks, MoonSchool.

I also failed to find any food that wasn't horribly over-priced or not really breakfast food at the cafeteria, so I bought my bus pass and caught the bus to the mall. I get my Christmas shopping done - a plushie white blood cell for Mum, a necklace for my best friend, a pack of card protectors for myself, and, this is the important part - Mass Effect II for my brother.

Shopping done, I headed to Friend's place. Friend opens the door, and looks at the somewhat transparent bag I have in my hand, able to make out the outline of a video game.
"What game is that?" He asks.
"Mass Effect II. For my brother." I cheerfully reply.
"... Well. This is awkward."
"Hm? Why's that?"
He and I walk into his den, and he shows me the copy of ME II he got me for Christmas.
"...Oh." I say.
Effort in futility number three! Now I have two copies of ME II. Frack.

The story has a happy ending, though. Friend and I play video games for a while, then decide that we want to see if the Guardians of Gahool game is in stock at EB Games. And while I'm there, I can get my copy of ME II refunded. Which is just what we do, I end up getting a copy of Neir that was on sale for ten dollars. So maybe not futility, but still.
Am a very tired Moon_Called. =c

And now in a ham-handed effort to make this into an actual thread, how about you, Playground? Have you ever worked really hard to do something and have it all be for nought? Do share.

[THAC0]

If you got MEII for your brother, why was it a problem if your friend got it for you? :smallconfused:

[Moff Chumley]

Presumably, she got it for him so she could play it. It's what I would do. :smalltongue:

[CynicalAvocado]

sounds like my usual day... minus the playing games at a friend's house

[MoelVermillion]

If you got MEII for your brother, why was it a problem if your friend got it for you? :smallconfused:

Well if you're playing it on a home console high bets are you share that console with the rest of your family anyway. Having two copies is wasteful if you only have the one console :smalltongue:. Even outside of that though it could still be shared pretty easily if you were on PC I imagine and seeing as its a single player game you wouldn't need two copies to get multiplayer working.

I had a similar day to the one you described earlier this year Moon_Called. A very stressful situation for my entire family that lasted about a year had just been resolved a few days earlier and I was still trying to find a way to relax even after it had been resolved. So anyway my friends invited me to "Adventure World" basically a fairly small theme park that's located in my home city and I decided that spending a day with my friends would be a good way to de-stress.

So anyway my friend tells me we're going to catch two busses there because it is too far to walk from our houses, we both only have our learner's drivers licenses and not our full ones, my parents are leaving to travel over seas in a few hours and don't have time to drive us and his parents are working. We catch the first bus no problems and it takes us to this weird bus station we've never been to before where we bored the second bus. Everything is fine at this point I grab my bus ticket from my wallet and present it to the driver who of course lets me onto the bus. We travel along for another half hour or so through a semi rural area of the city I didn't even know existed until we finally arrive at our destination. We get off the bus and it drives off, we get to the front counter and I reach into my pocket to grab my wallet and... its gone :smalleek:. I run over to where we got off the bus to make sure it hadn't fallen out on the ground there and... no go :smallfrown:.

I quickly call my parents and let them know whats going on, they fly off the handle at me for doing this to them while they're trying to get ready to be at the airport but ultimately they decided to help me out. We ring the bus company and get them to check for a lost wallet and they tell us that the driver will check the bus for it when he reaches the end of the line. My mum comes to pick me up from the theme park and we get a call from the bus company telling us that the driver "found a wallet that kind of matched the description but hes not going to give it a proper check until he's finished his shift" .

So I get home and I call up the bank to cancel my cards just in case. My parents are angry and stressing out over everything now and we're waiting for the bus company to ring us back. Roughly one hour from when my parents need to be at the airport the bus company finally calls to confirm that they found my wallet and that we need to come pick it up. We jump in the car and race to the lost and found pick up, we wait ten minutes before the receptionist gets off the phone and then another five for her to retrieve my wallet. My mum is now running too late to finish packing and has to leave for the airport with half packed luggage.

So basically... I set out trying to get rid of my stress and ended up just creating more and on top of that made my parents stressed, late and not fully prepared before their over seas holiday :smallfrown:. I suggest that everyone makes sure to just check their pockets when getting up on a bus or train because you never know if your wallet might have managed to slide out.

[THAC0]

Well if you're playing it on a home console high bets are you share that console with the rest of your family anyway.

I just assumed from the campus part of the post that the OP was at college and not living with family. Or soon to be not living with family. :)

Also, my brother and I never shared very well :smallbiggrin:

[Mr. Moon]

Presumably, she got it for him so she could play it. It's what I would do. :smalltongue:

Well if you're playing it on a home console high bets are you share that console with the rest of your family anyway. Having two copies is wasteful if you only have the one console :smalltongue:.

This, mostly. Which he will likely guess as soon as he opens it - I am as transparent as a window when it comes to motives. :smalltongue: Although he has been looking forward to it as much as I have.
As a sidenote, we have managed to somehow acquire two copies of Modern Warfare II, despite the fact that I hate that game, and he rarely plays it these days. :smallconfused:


I just assumed from the campus part of the post that the OP was at college and not living with family. Or soon to be not living with family. :)

Also, my brother and I never shared very well :smallbiggrin:

Ah, I should have clarified. No, I live at home, it's much cheaper this way. I'm in college, but I commute there. Three hundred dollars a year on bus passes is much cheaper than three hundred dollars a month on rent. The fact that I generally get along well with my family helps. ^^


I had a similar day to the one you described earlier this year Moon_Called. A very stressful situation for my entire family that lasted about a year had just been resolved a few days earlier and I was still trying to find a way to relax even after it had been resolved. So anyway my friends invited me to "Adventure World" basically a fairly small theme park that's located in my home city and I decided that spending a day with my friends would be a good way to de-stress.

*snip*

So basically... I set out trying to get rid of my stress and ended up just creating more and on top of that made my parents stressed, late and not fully prepared before their over seas holiday :smallfrown:. I suggest that everyone makes sure to just check their pockets when getting up on a bus or train because you never know if your wallet might have managed to slide out.
D= That must have been terrible! This is one of the reasons I really hate buses. =c

[Brother Oni]

Had a similar experience when I was attending a job interview.

Got off at the train station, had no idea where to go, so I took a taxi. Got dropped off at the gate and about to walk into the guard post when I realised I've dropped the application form and appointment form back at the train station.

Since walking into a guard post with armed soldiers without proof of a valid invite or appointment is a bad idea, I had to run back to the train station, then back to the post as I didn't have enough cash for a second taxi fare.

Luckily I made it with 5 minutes to spare, although the guard gave me a funny look as he had seen me suddenly run off earlier (luckily they were on a relative low alert state).

Went through the interview ok, passed the aptitude test with flying colours and scraped through the fitness test.
I then failed the medical on unaided eyesight. :smallsigh:

[Partof1]

What kind of bloody job were you applying for?!

[Marnath]

I also failed to find any food that wasn't horribly over-priced or not really breakfast food at the cafeteria, so I bought my bus pass and caught the bus to the mall. I get my Christmas shopping done - a plushie white blood cell for Mum, a necklace for my best friend, a pack of card protectors for myself, and, this is the important part - Mass Effect II for my brother.


Is it possible to see pictures of this? Either from you or a product website? Because it sounds awesome.


*snip* I suggest that everyone makes sure to just check their pockets when getting up on a bus or train because you never know if your wallet might have managed to slide out.

I hear you man, I spent half the day in a blind panic looking for my wallet this summer. I had bought a present earlier in the day for my mother, and I was heading out to vote when I realized my wallet was gone. I tore the house apart, and retraced my steps all the way to the mall which cost me a lot in gas money. Waited there(in increasing panic I may add, as it contained both my voter registration card and something on the order of $230) until it was confirmed not found, and drove home in tears. Upon reaching home to beg my family to help me search the house for the umpteenth time, I discovered my wallet wedged behind the door, which had been propped open all this time because of the nice weather. Apparently I set it down to tie my shoe and it was swept away by the weather strip under the door when I went out.

All in all, not a pleasant situation. The important thing is you got it back. That goes double for you and your ipod Mooncalled. Be careful not to take your good fortune for granted. :smallwink: You accomplished nothing, but you also lost nothing but your time. More or less.:smallsmile:

[Brother Oni]

What kind of bloody job were you applying for?!

Army officer. I suppose the word 'job' is a bit misleading, but 'vocation interview' just sounds odd.


Is it possible to see pictures of this? Either from you or a product website? Because it sounds awesome.

Apologies for stealing Moon_Called's thunder, but I believe this is what she means. (http://www.giantmicrobes.com/us/products/whitebloodcell.html)

I've got a workmate that has a plushie Epstein Barr (http://www.giantmicrobes.com/us/products/kissingdisease.html) (kissing disease) on her desk at work. It's especially cute as it has little eye lashes on it. :smallbiggrin:

[THAC0]

I spent half the day in a blind panic looking for my wallet this summer.

Hahah... A few winters ago we were out at the resort skiing. Husband came into the bar to buy something, couldn't find his wallet. Started freaking out. I recalled having seen it on the dryer at home, so calmed him down. When we got home he still couldn't find it. Tore the house apart looking. Called ski resort. Nothing. Finally came to me asking me to help him. I went back to the clothes he was wearing skiing - it was in his other pocket all along.

[mucat]

Moon_Called, I feel happy for you if this kind of day stands out as unusual. I can't count how often I work hard all day, dealing with random setbacks, causing other setbacks in the process and dealing in turn with those, and finish up fourteen hours later with a tentative sense of victory...only to look back and realize that all I've accomplished is to undo most of my own screwups, and end the day not all that much worse off than if I'd just stayed home.

So you're saying it's not like that for everyone? :smalleek:

[KuReshtin]

Is it possible to see pictures of this? Either from you or a product website? Because it sounds awesome.


White blood cell:
http://www.giantmicrobes.com/us/files/images/productdetails/white-blood-cell.jpg

Here's a link. (http://www.giantmicrobes.com/us/main/giantmicrobes-originals/)

It sounds really weird, but these giant microbes will give you the opportunity to be able to tell people that you gave your brother/sister/mother/grandmother syphilis. Or chlamydia. Or ebola.

[Marnath]

White blood cell:
http://www.giantmicrobes.com/us/files/images/productdetails/white-blood-cell.jpg

Here's a link. (http://www.giantmicrobes.com/us/main/giantmicrobes-originals/)

It sounds really weird, but these giant microbes will give you the opportunity to be able to tell people that you gave your brother/sister/mother/grandmother syphilis. Or chlamydia. Or ebola.

I can't decide if that thing is cute, or really creepy. :smallamused:

[Lady Moreta]

*snip*

Ouch... :smalleek: bit rude of the bus driver not to bother checking right away though... how hard would it be?

Although I admit I got a little sidetracked when you said you bussed to Adventure World. I didn't even realise buses went out there...


Hahah... A few winters ago we were out at the resort skiing. Husband came into the bar to buy something, couldn't find his wallet. Started freaking out. I recalled having seen it on the dryer at home, so calmed him down. When we got home he still couldn't find it. Tore the house apart looking. Called ski resort. Nothing. Finally came to me asking me to help him. I went back to the clothes he was wearing skiing - it was in his other pocket all along.

I probably shouldn't find that as funny as I do, but I can't help myself heeehee

No exercises in futility at the moment, just in frustration. Stupid frigging sales database keeps crashing... took 10mins to get the darn-blasted thing working last time... hate it hate it hate it so much...

[Sipex]

I have never lost my wallet, thank god, but I am very adept at losing my buspass. It's almost a sport for me.

[unosarta]

A friend of mine lost her wallet, and then found it later that week. Nothing had been taken (and I think she had some cash in there too, :smallconfused:), but her bus pass, and I think her birth control. Needless to say, she was freaked out about both, especially since she needed that bus pass to get around, and it cost quite a bit of money. So, she ended up buying a new bus pass, and promptly losing it.

She ended up finding it a few days later. In her bag, where she had put it last. I almost face-palmed.

[Lex-Kat]

I have a similar story. It takes place during last years Indianapolis GenCon.

Saturday evening, I stop at a booth selling TheMountain T-Shirts which are really soft and have awesome fantasy pictures on them. My closet is full of them. See them here (http://www.ndncrk.com/).

So, I paid with my credit card, thanked the seller, and went on my merry way. :smallsmile:

On the way back to my hotel, I found a booth selling massages. I love massages, so I decide to stop and get one. I remember clearly almost getting out my credit card to pay, but seeing a sign saying cash or event tickets only, so didn't. Luckily, I had cash.

After a very relaxing massage, I went to my hotel to put down my now heavy bags of swag. But also, to dig out the spare change and extra dollars I'm constantly stuffing into the bags along with my new toys and shirts.

I dump out my stuff, then reach into my pocket where I keep my credit card. :smalleek: Except it's not there. I desperately search through everything, praying that I just placed it in one of those bags. But nothing. Noooo!!!

I run out of my room, through the hotel lobby, and through the semi-busy streets of Indianapolis. Luckily, the hotel we were staying in was only about three or four blocks away. Not too far to walk, but not fun to run, if you're not in the greatest of shape.

So, I get back to the massage kiosk. After some catching of breathe, and some searching, they come up with nothing. :smallfrown:

Now for the hard part. Where did I buy something before coming here? Think Lexi, think!! Well, I almost bought some DVDs. I checked out the artist alley. I bought some t-shirts!

I head back into the market area (not what it's called, but close enough). I head straight for the place where I bought my favorite t-shirts. Before I say anything, the man at the kiosk smiles and reaches for where he's keeping my card safe for me.

I thank him profusely, even buying a couple more shirts in thanks.

But what makes this story fit into the theme of futility was this:

As I was about to run out of the hotel room, I heard my cell phone ring. I quickly looked at it, and saw it was my mom calling me. No time for distractions, I have to go, now!

Earlier, when I had bought the shirts, he had asked that I write my phone number on the bill. Shrugging, I wrote the number I'm used to writing, my home phone.

Apparently after I walked away, but not soon enough to catch my quick escape, he noticed the card laying on the shirts. being one of the coolest people on the planet, he called the number on the bill. And my mom answered. After getting my number from her, they both called me multiple times to let me know that my card was safe in the hands of a kindly vendor.

If I'd answered the phone, or at least checked my messages, I wouldn't have run myself to death with fear of losing a stupid piece of plastic. :smallannoyed: :smalltongue: