The Friday Flee
The Commuter
By Cynna Woo
Sometimes when working a 9-5 job, you can’t seem to get out the door fast enough on a Friday. It may start around noon or 1 pm usually. You start to get that itchy feeling that the weekend is here. You see others start to slip out the back door of the office, and it only makes you want to hit the road yourself.
Your start to get an influx of emails from friends and family about their weekend plans and it is enough to drive any worker crazy. You start to mentally imagine yourself all ready in the car and looking back on the activities of a busy week in your mind.
Fridays Always Take Longer
The drive home on Friday evening usually takes the longest time, sometimes two hours or more. Last week was a busy week for academic advising. The spring schedule came out and the students are flocking to my office for guidance on their choice of classes. The best part is meeting freshman who are eager to choose classes for their second semester. It is so much more refreshing than hearing, “I just want to get outa here.” For every student with a sluggish nature there must be ten more confident ones with their eye on the horizon – graduation. It’s the highs and lows, the motivated and the needy, the impressive and lackadaisical, which keeps me challenged.
Exit Strategy
The long week and back-to-back appointments makes me long to be “outa here” myself. The later in the day, the more frantic the students become because that elusive perfect schedule has not materialized. Last words of the day, “did you know that course is cross-listed and there are more seats under a related major?” “Oh my god, you made my day”, exclaims the ecstatic student, and with that, like Elvis, I have left the building.
The Back Roads
Last Friday I didn’t leave until 5:30 and it still took an 1 hour and 30 minutes to get home, despite taking the back roads. I drive the back roads when I’m feeling especially cheap and want to save that $3 Egg Harbor City toll. I like driving past the farms. Today I took a crossover road that I have never taken before. I like looking at the quaint old houses, some split-levels from the sixties, and assorted dilapidated ranch houses with three junk cars and a hot water heater in the yard. However, on this street … I saw a turkey buzzard, just sitting there on the ground eating a dead something. Before I could see what he killed, I hurried to the expressway entrance.
The Good Kind Of Funk
Hitting cruise control at 70 while listening to the funk at 5 on XPN radio. Every week from 5 to 7 p.m WXPN 88.5 in Philadelphia offers Funky Friday. Listening to James Brown and Earth Wind and Fire, at 70 miles per hour feels like I’m flying. All the traffic on the AC expressway however, passes me by like there’s no tomorrow. I really believe that there is a speed limit; even if no one else seems to think so. I just heard Jungle Boogie by Kool & the Gang, who couldn’t dance to that, even if it is in the car. I’ll be home in no time to see my man.
The Commuter is a weekly column by Cynna Woo. She has been commuting between South Jersey and the Philadelphia suburbs for the last four years. When she first landed her great job as an academic advisor in N.J. she did not mind the drive. But, driving 65 miles one way grew old very fast. She shortened the drive time by buying a condo in Smithville, NJ. She now lives like a single person during the week and commutes to her “big house” and husband of 35 years, on the weekends. She would like to share her commuter musings, while driving. She will actually write them down when she gets home, because she hasn’t perfected writing while driving quite yet. Cynna enjoys reviewing movies, show tunes, listening to Howard Stern, speaking in french, collecting mermaids, hiking, and spending quality time with her amazing family.
