Whenever I am in a foreign place, I act all cool in public, especially if I am on my own. It kills me when someone asks me for directions. This means, I have done a successful job at 'going native' (a term us anthropologists like to throw around casually). I feel right at home on the L train in Brooklyn, the Erasmuslijn in Rotterdam, the RER in Paris and the N Judah line I take everyday, right here in the beautiful city of San Francisco. That said, I am going to be a little more honest with you guys. I may look as calm as ever riding the night bus in the middle of the night, sitting there all squeezed between drunks and bums, trying to read my book. But it freaks me out.
It all started when I rode my bike over to a party, and everyone was all shocked that I rode 45 minutes in heels ánd was planning on making the same trip on the way home. This is completely normal to me, but when they started telling me about the tickets they hand out for biking drunk (BUI's!) it made me think. Maybe I should just take the bus. They go all night anyway, stop in front of my house, and cost a buck fifty.
So, there I was, all waiting for the bus in the Mission, getting on, having a nice conversation with some hobo. We were fine up until then. Then, came the stopover on Market Street. Now Market Street may be downtown but right along Civic Centre, it gets all sketchy. So my conversations became conversations with pimps and beggars (mostly me saying 'no' to every question and ignoring the rest). On the bus, I was the only woman. A guy with no teeth tried flirting with me. I got through two chapters of my new book, before I arrived in my safe, residential and Chinese neighbourhood.
Next time, I decided I wasn't going to be as cheap, and took a cab. The first cab wouldn't drive me to Sunset. The second one did, as long as I didn't pay with a creditcard. While driving, he turned up the fucking house music (international taxidriver vice?) and I realized I had a camera pointing straight at my face. Who the hell films that? They should film the drivers.
I can not wait to get a decent bike and ride my bike home again. BUI shmiyoueye.
By the way, I found some interesting and quite different modes of transportation as well. Check it out:
Slides instead of stairs in the Google office makes working so much more fun and creative! And at the end of the slide you can play some Wii! Sit in the massage chair! Drink some free soda! Fun! Creative! Work!
Sofa's on elevators are just so classy. They made me want to ride this one for hours, but they wouldn't let me.
No comments:
Post a Comment