When riding public transportation there should be a caveat; try not to travel on really hot days and avoid full moons like the plague. On my trip to the Getty last week I broke both those rules.
Let me remind my readers, new and old, I love riding public transportation. My experiences on LA's train and bus system are, for the most part, easy and rewarding. I've sufficiently moved on from the train wreck to be able to travel again on all systems though the anniversary of the crash is looming. I'll deal with that at a later date.
One observation is so blatant on the bus. Most of the riders either can't afford a car or for some reason are physically/mentally unable to obtain or keep a driver's license. I don't have a problem with that because I truly don't want to eliminate the poor, disabled or chronically unwashed. I want to add more people that own cars and decide it is more efficient to ride a natural gas bus to work/shop or whatever gets them on the street. Everyone knows the traffic in LA is a nightmare. But does everyone know we have a very efficient bus system?
Unfortunately what keeps people from trying the systems are the wackos that ride the bus. Yes, I'm ashamed to call them wackos but everyone riding the bus has a similar story. And, yes, I know they are not going to go away, nor should they. They are part of the Public in public transportation. If we only had a few more semi-normal people to ride it would balance everything.
Take my last ride. Everything was pretty tame until the lady with four stuffed teddy bears got on. She rode quietly until, imagine this, someone started talking loudly on a cell phone. This sent the bear lady over the edge and with fingers stuck in both ears, started ranting and raving. It wasn't until she screamed, "You can't take my baby!" that I noticed all four of the stuffed bears were wearing baby clothes and realized this poor woman needed much more care than the State of California is able to give.
Thank you Ronald Reagan. In the 1980 his policy toward the treatment of mental illness failed to address the issue: the mentally ill. I know it's easy to blame him for the past but what scares me is to think of what will happen with the current budget cuts coming from Sacramento. What legacy will that create?
Showing posts with label odd people. Show all posts
Showing posts with label odd people. Show all posts
Friday, August 14, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Free, not always the best choice
Today started the free-in-the-park-concerts and we tried the Thousand Oaks flavor of the month. The group billed themselves as Manhattan Transfer meets Take 6. This was a bit of an overstatement but it was free. They were real fine with the harmony but white people should never cover James Brown, N-E-V-E-R.
Free concerts mean people drag their kids and food and chairs and blankets and it's a bit odd. Why would people come to the concert only to talk with friends and ignore the performance on stage? On one side of us, a man started talking when the performers came out and never; never shut up. I mean he didn't even take a freakin' breath.
The group on the other side had a million kids with assorted parents and not once did they look at the stage. They too were afflicted with diarrhea of the mouth. These people were not on the periphery but close enough to see the group.
Truly, I have no problem with kids being at these concerts, and if they run around and don't pay attention, hey they're kids, but what's up with their stupid parents? Sit out away from everyone who might not like to hear your conversation or your cell phone and have a nice day in the park.
Up by the stage there were a group of parents dancing with children. The kids were having a ball, the parents, too. This is great, kids need to see live performances and what better place. Their experience was much better than the little ones running amok while their parents all chatted like magpies. Selfish bastards. And to think, the park wouldn't let me bring my dog. Why?
Free concerts mean people drag their kids and food and chairs and blankets and it's a bit odd. Why would people come to the concert only to talk with friends and ignore the performance on stage? On one side of us, a man started talking when the performers came out and never; never shut up. I mean he didn't even take a freakin' breath.
The group on the other side had a million kids with assorted parents and not once did they look at the stage. They too were afflicted with diarrhea of the mouth. These people were not on the periphery but close enough to see the group.
Truly, I have no problem with kids being at these concerts, and if they run around and don't pay attention, hey they're kids, but what's up with their stupid parents? Sit out away from everyone who might not like to hear your conversation or your cell phone and have a nice day in the park.
Up by the stage there were a group of parents dancing with children. The kids were having a ball, the parents, too. This is great, kids need to see live performances and what better place. Their experience was much better than the little ones running amok while their parents all chatted like magpies. Selfish bastards. And to think, the park wouldn't let me bring my dog. Why?
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Trailer life
This is from Fox news but, oh hell, it's too funny not to share.
The 43-year-old woman pulled out her .44-caliber Magnum revolver after she saw the mice scurrying across the floor of her trailer on Highway 20 in Potter Valley, sheriff's officials said.
But she accidentally dropped the gun, which went off as it struck the floor. The bullet went through the woman's kneecap, bounced off the keys sitting on the belt loop of a 42-year-old man in the trailer and grazed the man's groin before ending up in his coin pocket.
The mice escaped.Thursday, May 22, 2008
Oud Babbies
The software I use to track how many visits come to this site is quite interesting. Among many of the statistics are how people find your site and many come from the search engine, Google. Another stat is where the visitor is from and I get visits from all over the world. Last week's had to be the funniest.
The visitor was from Saudi Arabia, Riyadh. Since I don't get many from that part of the world I looked into how they found me. Yep, Google. A few years back I posted about a friend, From the mouths of old babes. When I clicked on what the Saudi had Googled--boy, I was surprised--I'm too old to be shocked. Old Babes is X-rated photos of older women. Ha, bet they didn't expect to get to this blog.
The visitor was from Saudi Arabia, Riyadh. Since I don't get many from that part of the world I looked into how they found me. Yep, Google. A few years back I posted about a friend, From the mouths of old babes. When I clicked on what the Saudi had Googled--boy, I was surprised--I'm too old to be shocked. Old Babes is X-rated photos of older women. Ha, bet they didn't expect to get to this blog.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Bring a book
Traveling by bus I have found some interesting people. Take the last trip. I'm sitting on the bench, minding my own business, reading my book. When you travel this way it's always good to have something to do while you wait. A nicely dressed, somewhere near 40 year-old, walks up and sits beside me and proceeds to tell me her life story. Do I have one of those sympathetic faces?
Her story was too long for this post but the synopsis was she didn't get the job she applied for because they don't hire felons. This got my attention; I closed my book. She went into some long involved situation where she hooked up with a "weirdo", her words, and offered, with the help of a friend, to move is stuff into a storage unit. Flash forward to a storage yard where the moving friend gets drunk, she gets irritated and slams the car into reverse to race out of there, not seeing her helping friend who's bent down behind the car. Yep, backed over her and killed her instantly, she said.
Me: Killing someone with a car isn't felony manslaughter, is it?
Her: It is if you leave the scene of the accident.
She said she didn't drive away but ran down the street to a hospital to get help. So they have a trial and "... now I can't get a stinkin' job!"
Sad situation, yes, but never in this conversation did she mention the friend she'd killed, never. My god, no remorse at all? Nope, just poor me, now my life is ruined. Oh look, here's the bus.
Her story was too long for this post but the synopsis was she didn't get the job she applied for because they don't hire felons. This got my attention; I closed my book. She went into some long involved situation where she hooked up with a "weirdo", her words, and offered, with the help of a friend, to move is stuff into a storage unit. Flash forward to a storage yard where the moving friend gets drunk, she gets irritated and slams the car into reverse to race out of there, not seeing her helping friend who's bent down behind the car. Yep, backed over her and killed her instantly, she said.
Me: Killing someone with a car isn't felony manslaughter, is it?
Her: It is if you leave the scene of the accident.
She said she didn't drive away but ran down the street to a hospital to get help. So they have a trial and "... now I can't get a stinkin' job!"
Sad situation, yes, but never in this conversation did she mention the friend she'd killed, never. My god, no remorse at all? Nope, just poor me, now my life is ruined. Oh look, here's the bus.
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