Momma Told Me There'd Be Days Like This

Today I was late for work for the first time in my two-year tenure. I'm led to believe that being twenty minutes late is a relatively serious offense in my company, but I probably won't face any major consequences on this occasion, based on circumstances. That's not to say it wasn't my fault; it was so my fault. I'd been assigned to substitute-teach in Aobadai, where I had never taught before, so I checked Yahoo Japan's transit guide to find out what trains to take.

I can read and type enough Japanese to use the transit guide on a weekly basis, but this time I managed to transpose the numbers "25 minutes" and "six stations." It also didn't help that there actually is another district called Aobadai near Shibuya, and this was the only Aobadai I knew prior to this experience. At any rate, I left the house at a leisurely 2:20 PM, thinking it would only take six minutes to get from Shibuya to Aobadai. On top of that the inconvenient nature of the Tokyu Den-en Toshi Line, which needs a lot more express trains, made things worse.

I never want to work in Aobadai again.