News: Transport Tidbits

• WANT
  
• So true....
  
• Awesome
  

And because kitties need transport to:

News: High-Density Vroom Vroom

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• It's not always like this, I swear. That said, avoid Hollywood buses late on weekends....
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• Studies show that even small increases in public transit ridership can have a visible impact on road congestion.
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News: Cleverness

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• Stray dogs in Russia commute to work by subway
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News: Transit

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Air Journal: Escape to NYC

I had this thing for work in NYC yesterday (that'll teach the recruitment coordinator to use people he's never met before for events!) and since I needed to burn vacation hours and I also needed to get the hell out of town for at least a few days, I flew in on Friday. I won't go into a lot of details, but here's the round-up:

Overheard in New York:

They put us in the corner. Baby ain't put in the corner.
--Woman in Sylvia's Restaurant, Harlem

This was my haul from the Kinokuniya there. You could fit the entire LA Kinokuniya location inside the basement of the one in NYC with room leftover, and then there are 2 whole more floors!


Overheard in New York, Part II:

I love the smell of dead rat in the morning. It smells like... victory!
--MTA worker in the 42nd St Port Authority subway station

And, ZOMG, I thought drivers in LA were bad. Traffic signals, just a vague suggestion to both pedestrians and motorists. Like this primo parking job:


Plus I saw a real live NYC subway rat. It wasn't that big.

Oh, and I was knitting on the subway. Because I'm cool'n'stuff. But even though I went into 2 different Dunkin' Donuts (one of them twice), I didn't manage to find a Chocolate Kreme-filled. :(

News: Bus Person Car

IRL:

see more That Will Buff Out

Bus wins!

• Problem Drivers Are Problem People.
• Amazing Rail Lines That Were Never Built. Love the Transatlantic!
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  see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!
• A stitch in time saves nine applies to road repairs, too.
• High gas prices have more of an effect on public transit ridership than lowering fares. Of course, if your transit options suck ass, like they often do in Los Angeles, you're screwed either way.
• Those jay-walking deer!
  
  see more funny videos, and check out our Yo Dawg lols!
• 5 Myths About Americans and Cars
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  see more funny videos, and check out our Yo Dawg lols!

News: There Will Be Cake!

Transportation stuff:

• A dumbass who (allegedly) killed a man because she just had to update her Facebook page while she was driving (I'd love to see that update) is being sued by the victim's family. The defendant is arguing that she posted the update a few minutes earlier but server lag kept it from getting posted immediately. Seriously, though, the source of truth would be her phone carrier, which knows when the phone is in use. Techno-ignorant lawyers and journalists not asking the right questions once again make me want to smack them.
• Yes, this totally qualifies as transportation. A baby elephant becomes a pedestrian! It's amazing how all the adults are swarming around, helping support the baby.
  
• This one leaves me speechless:
  
  see more funny videos
• I guess there was nothing in the original Oregon Trail game about getting hit by someone (allegedly) updating their Facebook page while driving, so dysentery will have to do!
  
  see more TDW Geeks
• A 2-year-old bus-loving Seattle-area boy got this awesome cake for his birthday:
  

Lolcat break:

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Stupid criminals:

• This dumbass (from Florida, of course), kept calling 911 to check up on local deputies. The 16th of these phone calls, when he got drunk and dialed 911 to tell the police to arrest "the media," got him arrested for making false 911 calls. The very same day, a woman in the same county was also arrested for making false 911 calls after she got into a scuffle with her nail technician and kept calling even after a deputy had arrived.
• This moron in Maryland was stealing jewelry from a home when the owner arrived. The burglar fled, but forgot his phone, which he had left plugged into the wall because his own house had lost power in the severe snow storms a month ago.
• YMD (Young Male Dumbass) burglars in the Chicago area killed 3 goldfish because they "didn't want to leave any witnesses."

Those morons could all take a lesson from this cat:

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

News: Cats, Cats, Trains, and More Cats

Transit:

• Indonesia, with the world's largest Muslim population, has added women-only train cars so ladies can travel free from unwanted male attention, which apparently gets disgustingly physical on a regular basis, if they so choose. God forbid their male Muslim counterparts be asked to behave like polite gentlemen instead.
• This kitty in Ireland decided to ride the rails, ending up in Dublin miles from home. The DART staff used CCTV to figure out where she got on, then used Twitter to try to find the owner, who was reunited with his cat. Not only did they not cite the cat for not paying her fare, they gave her her own pass!
• 80% of incidents in NYC with cars hitting and thereby injuring or killing pedestrians have male drivers behind the wheel. Screw segregating train cars by gender. Let's put the dumbass male drivers who can't be bothered to pay attention to anyone else on their own infrastructure and let them hit each other.
• The Tokyo subway system has featured some incredible posters over the years. Oddly, they seem to be particularly obsessed with people leaving their umbrellas on the train.

For those who've seen My Neighbor Totoro, doesn't this kitty look like a soot sprite? With ears and a tail?

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Regular WTF Installment:

• Philadelphia now requires any residents who make money from their blog to buy a license for $50/year or a flat $300 for a lifetime license. Even if you only make, say, $5/year. And in addition to income tax you pay.
• There's now a Bible MMORPG. Seriously. "Use your smite spell! Smite those Philistines!" Now, come on, you know you've always wanted to say that.

Want...

• Must have... nuke Canada... t-shirt... (Corollary: Must not... enter Canada.... wearing nuke Canada.... t-shirt)
• I'd considered before getting a Theremin to play with, but this settles it.
  
  The Kitteh and the Theramin - watch more funny videos

News: Cats, Cats, Buses, and More Cats

Infrastructure:

• The Department of Transportation can't even keep pedestrians safe in front of its own building. One employee was recently seriously injured, and in a separate incident, a DOT contractor and her two children were killed. (Yes, the Secretary of Transportation has a blog.)
• Howie Woo illustrates with amigurumi why one should not run after the bus. But not what happens when, to catch your bus, you jayrun across the street, in front of the bus. Maybe he didn't have enough red yarn.
• This website gives you crowdsource-supplied TSA checkpoint wait times! The government actually made a useful web site! Except they made an iPhone app for it but no Android app. Bastards.

Cats and more cats:

• Cat -> Box? Maybe!
• Cat armor, for the next time your brave and loyal feline goes into battle! But probably not your plus-sized, hides-under-the-bed-as-soon-as-you-take-the-vacuum-out-of-the-closet cat.
• This catfish likes to be petted. Seriously. Almost as much as Spoon, even.
• Dammit, I missed this shirt the day it was offered.
  
  
• Super-sweet story about US Marines caring for stray cats in Afghanistan. Click the picture for more!
  
  see more Lolcats and funny pictures
• Finishing off with an enormous visual history of the lolcat. Click the picture for more!
  
  see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Metro Journal: Crosswalk Rage

Apparently I'm not the only pedestrian who experiences road rage at the absolute lack of respectful safety shown to pedestrians by drivers. I posted about it on Ravelry in the "I Knit So I Do Not Kill People" forum and other people have similar feelings. As "road rage" generally refers to excessively aggressive driving, I think we need a pedestrian equivalent: Crosswalk Rage.

NEW AND IMPROVED LOGO IMAGE!!

Metro Journal: Just So There Is No Confusion

After having yet another driver honk at me when I had right of way in a crosswalk, I have looked this up in the California Driver Handbook.
Specifically, concerning right-of-way,

Respect the right-of-way of pedestrians. Always stop for any pedestrian crossing at corners or other crosswalks, even if the crosswalk is in the middle of the block, and at corners with or without traffic lights, whether or not the crosswalks are marked by painted lines.
...
Do not stop in a crosswalk. You will place pedestrians in danger.
...
Remember—if a pedestrian makes eye contact with you, he or she is ready to cross the street. Yield to the pedestrian.^*

And, their bold, not mine:

Pedestrians have the right of way in crosswalks, even if the crosswalk is in the middle of the block.

I am so totally going to print out a couple copies of that page, take a highlighter to it, and shove it in the face of the next person who pulls that "honking at the pedestrian in the crosswalk" crap on me.

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^* And rude hand gestures are even more compelling proof than eye contact. Oh, but you weren't paying attention, were you, Asshole Driver Person?

Metro Journal: Dec 15 Don't I Feel Safe

In the morning, two other people and I were standing at a corner waiting for the Walk light. When it changed, the moron in the right turn lane right in front of us was still inching forward into the crosswalk, watching for traffic coming from his left, never bothering to, oh, look around every once in a while. Note that he was looking straight in the direction of the white Walk signal, too, clearly a particularly observant dumbass, in addition to the really considerate part. I yelled, "HEY!" and the other two people yelled at him too. So, the asshole honked his horn at us. I should have let myself get nudged so I could make his life miserable with the police and insurance company. And have a good excuse to be late for work. And I would have had two witnesses who would probably have loved to help me make this guy's life miserable.

Let me explain a subtlety of Bus Person Car. While Bus Always Wins, Person vs. Car displays a slight paradox. Clearly, the Person who ends up under Car loses. However, so does the Person in Car, especially after dealing with the police, getting their insurance rates jacked up, and possibly getting sued by Person under Car or their, um, surviving relatives.

It was the second day of really heavy, practically non-stop rain. Buses were running slow, and of course there had been an accident on Los Feliz. An SUV was turned almost 180 degrees, just enough off so they were blocking one whole lane and change.


I got out around 6:45. I didn't even pretend to wait for a bus, but just started walking to Western. In addition to all the accumulated vehicle fluids that have leaked onto the road, the rain also washes away all the annoying loiterers. About half a block into it, I was really wishing I had remembered my gloves. About a block into it, I was wishing they had some kind of nose warmer.

There was a U-lock holding a bicycle wheel to a sign post at the corner of Melrose and Ridgewood. It was clearly a very effective lock, because the wheel was there. Of course, there was no bicycle attached to the wheel...

While I was waiting at the corner of Melrose and Western (a ways back from the curb, as water drainage is hideous and the cars zooming by would knock up a lot of water), a man staggered through the crosswalk. Of course, traffic at the time was coming in perpendicular to the crosswalk, so it's a small miracle he didn't get runover. He got to the side I was on in one piece, but instead of stepping onto the curb, he started walking in the street next to it. Right through one of the Marianas puddles. He managed to fall onto the curb. A couple women walked by and he was yelling something at them in Spanish. They yelled something back and kept walking. My bus came and I didn't really want to deal with a really drunk man.

I felt a little guilty, though. He was really likely to hurt himself and maybe cause a pile-up in the process. I decided as soon as I got off at Hollywood, which was just a couple minutes away, I would call 911.

Meanwhile, a woman had left her scarf behind and another lady was trying to catch her attention, except she was barely audible. She got up and was trying to pick it up when the bus started moving. She almost fell down and a bunch of us reached out to grab her. Yeesh.

After I got off the bus, I dialed 911 from my cell phone.¹ And got a busy signal. I hung up and dialed again.² It rang that time, but it got answered by a machine telling me all operators were busy and to stay on the line. Yeah, I was feeling pretty safe and secure right about then. The 780 came about 5 minutes later, and I was still waiting for the operator. I got on the bus. I stayed on the line about 5 more minutes, then gave up. Even if I had finally managed to talk to a real person at that point, the guy was either long gone or someone else would have called already. Of course, they also would have gotten a busy signal.

I realized afterward I should probably have used the pay phones on that corner. 911 calls are almost certainly handled differently from a land line, although whether or not it would have been more effective, I don't know.

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¹I think for the first time ever.
²I think for the second time ever.

Metro Journal: Nov 26 Stop Whatever You're Doing!

Because it's probably annoying the hell out of me.

It has finally started raining in Southern California, two weeks too late to prevent or temper several bad wildfires, and just in time to create mudslides in those burn areas denuded of stabilizing plant growth! It also wreaks havoc with traffic, because people in Southern California can't drive in rain. They do the same stupid things they do on dry streets, which are even dumber when you have no traction and longer stopping times. Morons.

I got off at Hollywood and Western, because with the crap traffic we hit it late, at the same time the DASH would already be leaving at Vine. Waiting at the corner for the next southbound bus, some questionably groomed man starts walking down the street in the right lane and stops under the bus sign, still in the street. I don't know if he had a sidewalk phobia or what. Finally, the 207 came (12-minute stop my ass) and the guy stepped further out into the street, perpendicular to the bus sign, with his arms spread. Ok, this is the first stop for the line, and there were more than a dozen people waiting and they didn't look like they were there for an impromptu family reunion. I'm pretty sure the driver realized that we were, in fact, all waiting for him, and he would have stopped even without the whackjob standing in the middle of the street. I'm sure the driver was especially thrilled when the guy got on and then proceeded to ask a lot of questions. Drivers must always love when total whackjobs get on the bus and then start asking lots of questions, standing near the driver instead of sitting down, preferably all the way in the back.

A stop or two later, some guy got on and sat behind me and then proceeded to act as his own vocal rhythm section. Duh-DUNH! Duh-DUNH! Duh-DUNH! Duh-DUNH! Duh-duh-duh duh-duh-duh. Headphones might have tuned that out, but they wouldn't have been able to do anything about the smell.


We got out early for Thanksgiving. There's this health food store/vegetarian restaurant on Los Feliz in Atwater Village that has a "B" health rating from the county. (I've mentioned the ratings before. See this site for details.) I'm wondering if they're really allowed to still call their restaurant "vegetarian" on the chance that cockroaches may be, um, commingling with the food.

I decided to get off at Brand and maybe find a bakery. I ended going down to catch the Glendale Beeline on Colorado. At the stop after I got on, a mother was chasing her son around to try to corral him onto the bus. They have leashes for that, you know. They sat along the back row, and the kid, about 6, started kicking the metal wall. After a dozen times, the mother made a totally ineffectual "Stop that." They make nanny reprogramming shows for that, you know. He kept chanting "We Will Rock You," except somehow it always ended up with someone's nose getting picked. He also kept threatening to pull the stop request cord. They make straight jackets for that, you know.

Metro Journal: Nov 7 How Can You Not See a Bus?

Bus Driver Wiegel (possibly not her real name -- see this post) was driving the 780 again this morning. I was sitting about halfway back and reading when she slammed on the brakes for a really long time. I looked up. We were about halfway down Los Feliz. Once I figured we probably weren't going to hit anything after all, I went back to my book. Then, I'm not sure how long later, I heard the bus driver start yelling. "How can you not see a bus?" We were stopped at a light and she was yelling out her open window at the minivan sitting in the left turn lane. I'm guessing that the driver, not understanding the rules of Bus Person Car (Bus Always Wins), had probably swerved right in front of the bus to get from the right lane into the left-hand turn lane. Seriously, it's a big-ass red bus. What a dumbass.


Going home, while I was waiting for the 780 in front of the Vine Red Line Station, a police car pulled over a driver. The driver stopped in the bus lane, though. Um, excuse me! Then the policeperson used his loudspeaker to tell the car to take a right onto the side street (Argyle), which it did. Well, obviously, there was someone driving the car, but anyway. And I'm pretty sure they weren't too happy.

I waited more than 15 minutes for the 780, and then, of course, two showed up literally at the same time. I decided to get on the second one, gambling that it was less full. It was way less full. Score!

Metro Journal: August 25 We Have A Winner

...For Biggest Total Dumbass.

So, I had to go to the post office this morning to mail my zombie assassin. I had only figured out where the main branch in Glendale was a few months ago, after literally having passed by on a regular basis for years. I went to my regular stop and saw both a 180 or 181 and a 780 stop and then leave before I could cross the street. Crap. Oh, well. Another local came about 5-10 minutes later, and a local was actually better because it would stop closer to the post office.

When we got to the Glendale Blvd stop, over a dozen people were waiting. And, of course, one of the first to get on was this numbskull who had no idea how much the fare was and didn't have his wallet out and must have put every dollar bill he owned through the dryer 90 times. Usually if you have a pass, you can flash it at the driver and get around the machine hog, but the guy behind this machine hog also apparently needed to pay cash. And was about as clueful and prepared as the guy in front of him, and was buying a day pass, which required trying to tease even more bills into the machine.

We were there forever.

The post office was a couple of stops later. It's one of those huge, old fashioned stone buildings with metal grillwork everywhere. It also opens at 8:30, earlier than the one at my bus stop. I got there about 8:35, and.... there was no line at the window! Yay!

I like this post office.

After I left, I walked the three blocks or so to the 780 stop at Brand and Broadway. I sat down to wait. A 181 was there, and a number of people were getting on, so it was stopped for a couple of minutes. Some dumbass therefore decides to make a right turn right in front of it into a parking garage. Except that was the moment the bus put the left signal on to merge into traffic.

You may recall my earlier introduction of Bus Person Car. The only rule is that Bus Always Wins. So, just don't be a dumbass and try to make a right hand turn in front of a stopped bus, because buses generally don't stay stopped long, Bus Always Wins, and even if you don't actually get hit, I tell all my blog readers (all 3 of them) that you're a dumbass. If you do get hit, I tell the police officer who shows up to take statements from witnesses that you're a Total Dumbass, and then I tell my blog readers.

Well, this dumbass didn't get hit. But he really would have deserved it.

I had to wait a bit for the next 780. When it came, Deputy Wiegel was driving! If you've ever watched Reno 911, you too would recognize her, if not just from the face, the first time she started hollering instructions at people. This was maybe the 3rd or 4th time I'd been on her bus.

Walking down the aisle, I found myself... stepping over a golden retriever sitting only halfway under a seat. This scene seemed familiar... After I sat down, I saw the woman over the golden retriever speaking sign language into the hand of the man next to her, who also had a white walking stick in his hand. Then a woman across the aisle got closer and began speaking sign language, although why she had to get closer, I'm not sure. Anyway, long-time readers may remember this dog.

The rest of the trip was not very exciting, although, even though the stop between Central and San Fernando on Los Feliz has been moved to the corner of Central and Los Feliz because of roadwork, and even though they actually posted a sign when the roadwork started noting the stop change, all this over a week ago, there were still confused-looking people standing at the regular, closed stop as we went by. Um, the bus is supposed to, what, drive over the open trench? Stop in the middle of the only open lane while a bunch of people file over the aforementioned open trench?

In spite of all this, a relatively productive weekend and a pleasant post office experience had left me in a reasonably good mood, at least for a Monday morning. Then I got to work, and my relative cheeriness was made asunder by two co-irkers-from-hell. Ugh.


I got out of work later in the evening than usual. I was 90% sure that I had either missed the last DASH, since I got out there the time last DASH was supposed to (but never) came, which does not mean that I missed the last DASH on the schedule; just the last one that generally bothers to stop. So I walked to Western, and just as I got to Western... the northbound DASH appears in the turn lane. Oh, well.

The last stop for the northbound 207 is at the northwest corner of Western and Hollywood, which means that, to get to both the Red Line station and the stop for the eastbound buses (like mine), you have to cross both Hollywood Blvd and Western. This is, quite simply, the Intersection from Hell. It's like a nexus for dumbass drivers. They get drawn there from the far corners of the globe. Well, seriously, it's Hollywood. There are a lot of tourists. That said, I'm pretty sure most of the worst dumbasses are home-grown.

Last Friday, I had crossed Western first, and a lot of us were waiting to cross Hollywood. So, six billion people (yes, almost everyone on the planet) were waiting to cross. The light changes and there were go. Except total dumbass decides to start her left turn. And, of course, impeded by curb-to-curb pedestrians, she had to sit there blocking traffic. Dumbass. And then she parked, yes, parked her car in the bus lane. Asshole. So she could go run into the bank at that corner. Which wasn't going to close for about another two hours. Where is the goddamned tow truck when you need it? I seriously think they should allow cow-catchers on buses so they can butt assholes who stopped their cars in the bus lane. Seriously.

The northbound direction of Western has a protected left-turn lane at Hollywood. I'm not sure about southbound, but there generally isn't nearly as much traffic coming from that direction. At any rate, as we were all getting off the 207 and getting to the intersection, both directions were red for pedestrians. A 757 (those double-long accordion buses) was making a left turn, although I think the light was already mostly changed when it started. Which didn't stop the woman behind it from also turning. And, um, when a double-long bus is in front of you, you don't really have the excuse that you were already in the intersection. The light and walk sign had already changed by this point, so we start walking across Hollywood Blvd. Except, even though the southbound cars on Western have also already started entering the intersection, a major dumbass starts a left turn. He could not have even started moving when the light had turned yellow. So, he blocks the left southbound lane, because cars in the right lane were already in the intersection. And even if they had stopped to let the asshole through, um, hello, people in the intersection here! He couldn't even finish the turn and finally stop blocking traffic until the light had turned.

What a fucking asshole. He therefore wins Biggest Total Dumbass on the Planet!

Except the trip didn't get much better. The 780, when it finally came, was full-to-bursting, even once people had gotten off, and a dozen others were still waiting to get on. I couldn't deal, so I deemed it less painful to wait 15 minutes for the next one that try to get on. Almost as soon as I sat down, a 180 or 181 came. Normally, I might have waited the 15 minutes for the next 780, but I was in a "bird in the hand" mood, and this bus was well under half full. I sat down, stuck my enormous backpack in the seat next to me, and started to work on my squares blanket. (I'm almost done with the squares!) I just couldn't deal with people. I did keep an eye open to make sure the bus wasn't filling up so much that it would require a seat, but that didn't happen until we got well into Glendale. So I stuck the backpack on my lap... and a man carrying a toddler sat down. And apparently the only word the girl could say was, "Daddy!" But she made sure to say it at every pitch and volume at her command. It seems he had gotten on with his wife and slightly older daughter, so when people sitting near them at the front got off, he moved. And then at the next stop, Animal Print Woman got on. I've seen her often on the bus. She is probably nearing 50, her hair is frosted, and she is prone to wearing, yes, animal prints. And she sat next to me. But she also got off at the following stop.

After I got off the bus, I went into the post office to check my box for zombie assassins. Instead, there was only the September issue of Scientific American, which means I am now 3.5 issues behind. As I was walking toward the door, an older man standing in front of the usually-broken stamp machines called out to me, so I walked over. His English wasn't very good; most likely he was Armenian. He held out a $10 bill and pointed to one of the selection samples, I guessed to ask me if that was enough. The stamps he wanted, Liberty Forever Stamps, were $8.40 for the pack, so I nodded. He motioned for me to stay while he fed in the bill. Apparently he needed me to press the buttons - C4. Armenian does actually use a totally different alphabet, you know, and the buttons were so old it was hard for me to make them out. So I pressed the buttons, the machine spit out some stamps and some change, and the man thanked me in at least two languages. I smiled, told him he was welcome, and left. However, his wife was standing outside, and she thanked me, too.

Well, whaddya know.

Metro Journal: May 13 Uh, could you back up a half-mile? Please?

I had one of those mornings where I got to wave at a couple buses from across the street while waiting for the cross walk. (See yesterday's post concerning Bus Car Person rules.) I finally get on the southbound 207 and then promptly space out. Two people behind me are talking loudly about electric foot massagers, so I don't hear the announcement for the Melrose stop. Next thing I know I look out the window, don't recognize anything, and the voice announces the next stop is Beverly. Crap. I get off, watching for the Hollywood/Wilshire DASH which comes this way going north, and start walking back to Melrose. Crap. I'm tired and cranky and already running late. Someone tries to hand me a copy of the Watchtower. Double crap. I should also mention that this walk is up a slight incline. My shins are the first to notice. I get to Western and Melrose, and enough people are waiting for the westbound 10 that I decide I'm waiting for it, too. And it comes in a couple minutes.


I don't leave work until 6:30, but which time the DASH has "officially" stopped running. The last stop in front of work is supposedly 6:26, but, um, this is the DASH we're talking about here. I see the eastbound 10 I thought I got out just in time for drive by, so I start walking. My head is apparently still in low Earth orbit, so it actually goes quickly. The 207 comes a couple minutes later.

While I'm waiting at Hollywood and Western for the 780, I start to try to apply Einstein's General Relativity to buses. The 780 is technically supposed to come every 15 minutes at that time of day, but it can not only seem longer, but according to my watch be longer. It's like, the farther they get from their starting point, the more time stretches and the distance between the buses expands until... ok, that's just not working. And to deliver the death blow to my theory, the 780 shows and then two cars behind it, another one. I get on the first one, because the second one gets stopped at the light and a bird in the hand... I've seen them leapfrog stops sometimes when they're in tandem, and this bus still has a couple seats open anyway.

Oddly, this bus opens its doors at random places when it's stopped at a light, nowhere near a regular stop. Someone actually gets out at one. And I'm not even talking about what would be stops for a 180 Local on this route. Just... odd.

Metro Journal: May 12 Once Burned

I heard 5 distinct languages on the 780 this morning: Armenian, Spanish, some form of Chinese, Japanese, and English. Although I think the only English I heard was the automating voice announcing, "Next stop, blah," and, "Stop Requested. Please use rear exit."

Now, about that rear exit thing. I can sort of understand the elderly people who sit near the front using it, but I've seen perfectly able-bodied people walk from behind the rear door up to the front door. Then you have people waiting to get on, and if they're really obnoxious and short-sighted, they won't even get out of the way of the people trying to get off. You get gridlock. Morons.

Anyway, a man with a gig bag for an electric guitar strapped to his back got on at my stop. He also got off at Hollywood and Vine. *Every* person I've seen on the bus with a guitar strapped to their back gets off at Hollywood and Vine. The difference is that, while these people are usually dressed like heavy metal wannabes and in their early 20s, this man was probably late 30s and wearing a tweed-y suit. And instead of long, unkempt, black hair, he had a receding hairline.

There's a woman who stands at the corner of Hollywood and Vine passing out leaflets for a tour bus. She is there almost every morning. I have been getting off at that corner for most mornings for almost a year, and she still asks me if I'm a tourist and would I like to take a tour.


In the evening, I'm standing at the DASH stop when another employee comes out. I tell her about my DASH disaster Friday night. We decide not to waste time waiting and start walking down to Western together, on the lookout for the bus. Once bitten, twice shy. We get to Van Ness and see an eastbound 10 coming, so we cross. At the crosswalk with the light.

Now, I've seen more than one idiot jaywalk in front of a city bus. I've come up with my own variation of Rock Paper Scissors. I call it Bus Car Person. Only rule: Bus Always Wins. Plus, if you get hit by a bus when you're running across the street to catch your bus, you're probably going to miss your bus. And probably many, many buses after that, unless you're referring to the slang term for an ambulance.

The 10 is really, really crowded, so we're forced to stand near the front and still have to fight our way out to get off at Western. We don't have to wait too long for the 207. We talk about the, um, excitement of being a bus-rider, and I mention that I'm blogging my experiences this month. She asks if she can read it, so I give her the URL. So, if you're reading this, hi, Shirley!

She gets on the Red Line at Western and I wait for the 780. I think the rest of the evening must have been uneventful, because I can't remember a thing and had forgotten my notebook at home.