collegethoughts

Today I was used by The Chimes as part of a transportation experiment. I suppose I should blame Kyle, the Features editor and not The Chimes as a whole, but nobody shot his idea down during our 8:30 am story meeting, so I blame them all.

Basically we’re doing a car issue which we decided should include alternatives to cars; bike, metro, and bus. I got the bus. ( and no, not “Party bus whoo”…more like “random people shoved together for a few hours bus whoo”).

After discussing whether I was up to the task of doing it alone we decided that

a) I am a girl, but my skilled RADS knowledge compensates for this

b) Though slightly retarded gerbils have a better sense of direction than I do (thanks dad), I should still be able navigate two buses. (to ensure this, Kyle printed three pages of maps and directions for me, with the most important parts circled and underlined, arrows of the bus route, and little dotted lines of where I would walk to the library.)

The beginning was unnerving. Kyle walked me to the bus stop across the street (I really have a bad sense of direction), and we witnessed a three way accident where one car got lifted up by the other two.

This turned out to my advantage (everyone was fine btw) because it served me well as conversation fodder when I told the bus driver (who pulled up 20 seconds later) that I had witnessed it. The passengers quizzed me and I suavely answered their questions.

After that the ride wasn’t terribly eventful. Some of my notes:

3:04 tons of high schoolers get on. 15 (?) year old sits next to me.

3:06 tons of middle schoolers get on.

3:08 more kids. 10 people standing (in aisle)

3:19 old white guy who smells like alcohol sits next to me. (I spent a while trying to figure out what type of alcohol it was–figured I didn’t want to find out if he was a friendly drunk by asking–closest I could tell was some sort of cheap vodka.)

3:20? man I thought seemed creepy helps carry baby carriage for father of two

4:00 two teen guys start shoving eachother. driver yells at them to cut it out. (this had something to do with an ipod)

4:00 lady brings on giant slab of raw meat which I can smell

4:05 loud black guy in military hat gets on. talks to me about my celtic shirt (not sure what he said). friendly. mental?

4:18 getting cold.

4:30 get off at grand (the street with the library).

I wandered over to the library without the help of the little dotted lines on the map. (Turns out it was right across from the bus stop). I circled it for a while trying to find an entrance. When I got in, I fell in love and signed up for a library card. Turns out I needed a proof of address so I have a temporary one. But the library (LA public library) is grand and beautiful and has an intriguing mix of academics, nerds, and homeless people, and I know I would be happy for hours wandering and reading.

So that’s what’s happened so far. I’m writing this in the library, about to explore it some more and then bus home. In all likelihood I’ll meet some debonaire young gentleman who is reading Wilde or Tolstoy and we’ll strike up a literary conversation and exchange numbers. I will lose his number in a gust of wind, and he’ll lose mine in a freak accident and we’ll spend our lives wondering.

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