Public Transportation

So for my Human Diversity class, one of the assignments was to go on a bus trip to Union Station in L.A. Transfer to two other buses and go to different cities in L.A. and then head home. I tried to accomplish this assignment this past weekend. The key word here is 'tried'.

Things I learned from this trip (the good and bad):

1. Don't go by yourself when people freak you out about how scary its going to be. Find someone to go with so that you can experience missing the stop together.

2. Don't space out when riding the silver streak. You need to pull the cord or they won't stop and you will therefore miss your stop.

3. Eavesdropping is not necessarily a bad thing. I heard the coolest thing: Two strangers were talking about how the woman's son was in the hospital and the guy asked if he could pray for him. It was so cool to hear this.

4. When its the end of the line, they want you to get off. Even if the same exact bus ends up being the one you get back on at the stop across the street fifteen minutes later.

5. Bus drivers have hearts. The guy recognized me and must have seen the utter mortification of realizing my whole trip that I had been planning with the greatest detail to visit two specific cities in L.A. was shot when I missed the stop and let me ride the eastbound for free. He probably thinks I am an idiot but better to be an idiot than, well, I actually don't think it is that great to be an idiot, but you know what I mean.

6. Foothill Transit 281 always runs late. Doesn't matter if its 7:20 in the morning or 11:06 in the afternoonish.

7. We all have somewhere to get to. We all have own agendas. But we are all the same when we are on the bus waiting to get to our stop.

8. That creepy guy who sings along to his walkman extremely loud and offkey just wants to talk to someone. He is actually not trying to make advances on you, no matter how fine you think you're looking. Passengers just want to make friends with other passengers.

9. Panera's Cinnamon Crunch bagel, toasted, served with cream cheese and bought with the money saved from not having to pay for the Eastbound trip is the perfect comfort food and really does make you forget how much of an idiot you are, even if its only for a second.

10. The look bus riders have when they look off into the expected direction the bus will come is one of extreme longing and hope, kind of like the longing and hope one feels for the perfect guy or the longing and hope one feels for the double layer chocolate cake to be done baking. Everyone who waits for the bus has this look. We just want the bus to be on time so that we can go home, crawl into bed, and go back to sleep, hoping to relive the day and maybe, just maybe, the second time around, we won't make a colossal mistake.

Anyway, that was basically my trip. It was seriously the coolest thing, like even though I messed it up I realized a lot of things about myself and about inner city and I am kind of glad that things happened the way they did. That said, I think that I have to redo it because I did not complete the assignment as it was said to be completed. I have till next Thursday to retry this thing. Anybody want to come with? I usually only make the same mistake once. Promise....