Thursday, November 03, 2005
Randsom Observations
Random Observation No. 1
The further away from rush hour, the more surreal the transit experience.
Okay, this may not be true for those of you who live in REAL cities with REAL public transportation. But, in my little midwestern city, it certainly is.
Case in point: Monday night I worked late, and walked to the main downtown transfer point at about 7:30. After 6:45, the buses come every hour at a quarter to the hour, so I had 15 minutes, but no big deal because it was a really lovely evening. Usually, there aren't many people that time of night, so I surprised to see a throng of kids standing under the shelter. I sat down and tried to pretend I wasn't paying attention to the conversation.
They all seemed to know each other and seemed to have come from some sort of rehab program. As I sat down, I heard, "Yeah, I'm gonna go home, kick back, watch some BET ... " (I looked over, the speaker was a skinny white girl)
Then the conversation switched to the new 50-cent movie. (Okay, so I don't know how he really spells his name and don't really care.)
In snippets of conversation, I learned that one young gentleman had nearly been kicked out of his rehab session for repeatedly using the word bitch - as in, "The bitch said if I said bitch one more time she was gonna kick me out. So, I stopped talkin'
"Bitch asked me why I wasn't participating and I said, 'Cause you said if I said a word one more time you was gonna kick me out. I can't talk without sayin', so I'm not gonna talk.'"
Charming.
Then the conversation turned into who was in a gang. One guy said he was, and another girl (this one in a puffy coat she didn't need and a bad bleach job) said, "There ain't no gangs here. You ain't in no gang."
To which he replied in a mush-mouth language that I couldn't quite understand. I picked out the words gang, full-on and gang-banger. I'm not sure what else was in there.
The conversation degenerated even more when the skinny chick declared that she could smell shit, and it was coming from someone in the group.
This went on for awhile, and suddenly out of no where, the bad bleach job pipes up with, "All I know is my momma better have some dishes done when I get home."
Somebody in the crowd asked, "You live wit you momma?"
"Nah," she answered. "She moved in with me. I told her she could stay for a month and then I'm kickin' her ass out 'cause I can't stand the bitch."
"I bought my momma a house when I was dealin'," the skinny chick volunteered.
And with that, blessedly, my bus came - and none of the crowd were heading my way.
Random Observation No. 2
I can't beleive it's November.
As I was waiting for the bus this morning, I watched the kids walk to the elementary school on the corner. Most of them weren't wearing coats. Many of them had short sleeves, and some of them were wearing shorts. SHORTS! IN NOVEMBER! It was 72 degrees today. It's the last gasp of autumn, and it makes me shudder to think how difficult the adjustment will be when it suddenly turns cold again.
Hmm, it seems when I started this I had another one. oh well, happy pseudo spring everyone!
The further away from rush hour, the more surreal the transit experience.
Okay, this may not be true for those of you who live in REAL cities with REAL public transportation. But, in my little midwestern city, it certainly is.
Case in point: Monday night I worked late, and walked to the main downtown transfer point at about 7:30. After 6:45, the buses come every hour at a quarter to the hour, so I had 15 minutes, but no big deal because it was a really lovely evening. Usually, there aren't many people that time of night, so I surprised to see a throng of kids standing under the shelter. I sat down and tried to pretend I wasn't paying attention to the conversation.
They all seemed to know each other and seemed to have come from some sort of rehab program. As I sat down, I heard, "Yeah, I'm gonna go home, kick back, watch some BET ... " (I looked over, the speaker was a skinny white girl)
Then the conversation switched to the new 50-cent movie. (Okay, so I don't know how he really spells his name and don't really care.)
In snippets of conversation, I learned that one young gentleman had nearly been kicked out of his rehab session for repeatedly using the word bitch - as in, "The bitch said if I said bitch one more time she was gonna kick me out. So, I stopped talkin'
"Bitch asked me why I wasn't participating and I said, 'Cause you said if I said a word one more time you was gonna kick me out. I can't talk without sayin', so I'm not gonna talk.'"
Charming.
Then the conversation turned into who was in a gang. One guy said he was, and another girl (this one in a puffy coat she didn't need and a bad bleach job) said, "There ain't no gangs here. You ain't in no gang."
To which he replied in a mush-mouth language that I couldn't quite understand. I picked out the words gang, full-on and gang-banger. I'm not sure what else was in there.
The conversation degenerated even more when the skinny chick declared that she could smell shit, and it was coming from someone in the group.
This went on for awhile, and suddenly out of no where, the bad bleach job pipes up with, "All I know is my momma better have some dishes done when I get home."
Somebody in the crowd asked, "You live wit you momma?"
"Nah," she answered. "She moved in with me. I told her she could stay for a month and then I'm kickin' her ass out 'cause I can't stand the bitch."
"I bought my momma a house when I was dealin'," the skinny chick volunteered.
And with that, blessedly, my bus came - and none of the crowd were heading my way.
Random Observation No. 2
I can't beleive it's November.
As I was waiting for the bus this morning, I watched the kids walk to the elementary school on the corner. Most of them weren't wearing coats. Many of them had short sleeves, and some of them were wearing shorts. SHORTS! IN NOVEMBER! It was 72 degrees today. It's the last gasp of autumn, and it makes me shudder to think how difficult the adjustment will be when it suddenly turns cold again.
Hmm, it seems when I started this I had another one. oh well, happy pseudo spring everyone!
