Don't Drink and Bus

Ok, yes you should ride the bus if you have been drinking and can't drive... Drinking and driving is bad! What I mean by that title is if you are so drunk you can't remember how to get home maybe a cab is a better option, at least that way you can show them your address and get home . Being super drunk on the bus and stumbling around holding yourself up asking "Madrona, where is Madrona school? Leschi?" isn't maybe the best way to get home.

I was on the bus a few days ago headed home from Ballard and these 2 men got on. One appeared to possibly be homeless and the older of the two actually had nice clothes on but was wasted and wearing his jacket upside down. He kept asking the guy where Madrona was (I thought he originally asked where is "My daughters school" but "my daughter" was really "Madrona" just drug out with a drunk slur.) The possible homeless man ket telling him to head downtown to 3rd and Union and to catch the 3 or 4 bus, although he did say he wasn't sure. The older gentleman was a broken record as he kept saying it over and over again... He would try and stand up and stumble forward to the bus driver - she had no idea. Then when the possible homeless man got off the older gentleman decided I must know - I have no clue where Madrona School is, I don't even know where Madrona is. I know it's a neighborhood but not sure what direction it's in. I told him I didn't know, sorry...

I finally got off the bus (at my stop) as he was getting closer and closer to falling on me. I feel bad for the guy but seriously don't drink so much where you don't now where your home is... You could ride those buses forever...

On a side note before I got on the bus and was waiting for it with these 2 guys a man walked up to me and asked the time, "7:21" I said and he thanked me and asked if I was headed home... "Yes" (please go away) he said have a good night and left to walk into Walgreens. Then about 10 min later he came back out with another guy and they were walking towards a car, I purposely didn't look at him b/c here I am still standing here and he is now done. I hear "excuse me, miss" I ignore it (same guy), "excuse me" Ughh! He comes up to me "I don't mean to bother you but we are headed in that direction if you want a ride..." (My moms voice in my head, don't take rides from strangers! Duh!) I actually laughed and said "um, yeah, no thanks" He said ok and gave me a fist bump... ughhh. I bumped his fist and thankfully he went away. No way was I going to take a ride from 2 random men - HELL NO! Maybe his intentions were good and fine but not going to risk it, no way!

It was an interesting Sunday evening...

Overheard on the bus Today...

"If it's not taken care of it looks like pubic hairs growing out of my back". The conversation was about a girl and her mole...

Come on Lady!

One thing that happened several months ago was this woman got off at the same stop I did on my way to work. She was several feet behind me as we walked. As usual, I had my ipod on but somehow heard this weird noise over my music... I almost just kept walking but for some reason I stopped to turn around. The woman was face down on the pavement... I ran back to help her and ask if she was ok and if I could help her... she didn't answer. She was somewhat holding herself up and gripping her ankle but wouldn't answer me. I asked again... nothing. Then I said should I call 911, she goes "NO!", real bitchy like... I kind of quietly laughed (my way to deal with uncomfortable situations) a bit because her answer was just so harsh and mean when I'm just trying to help her. I then asked her what could I do to help and she pretty much just kept ignoring me. Another guy walked up to try and help and then another who was out walking his dog...

None of us wanted to leave her just laying there as she seemed to have really hurt her ankle. Finally, after awhile, and some coaxing, she decided to try and call someone but then didn't get through or something... We all were trying to see what we could do but she refused to let us help yet NONE of us just wanted to be like "Ok just lay here then..." The first guy said he had to go to work so he left and then the guy with the dog looked at me and said "I'll stay with her". I thanked him and then told her I hope she felt better and I left too. It was so weird...

I actually saw her on the bus a few weeks ago and I was half tempted to ask how her ankle was but then decided not to, maybe she was embarrassed that day, I dunno...

What do you think? What would you have done?

Bussing to Work on a Tuesday

My bus ride to work tends to be pretty uneventful, mainly because it's only about 10 min or so. I listen to my ipod as I go so I tend to have a soundtrack for the day... Sometimes it's kind of humorous how the music just seems to work with what's going on... The soundtrack to my morning.

I was traumatized once when I got on the bus and couldn't find a seat up front and went back to the back of the full bus. As we arrived at my stop I tried to get out but there were so many people and the driver didn't see me he started to drive off from my stop, I had to yell over everyone to let me out... That was embarrassing for me. So now I ALWAYS sit in the front and if there are no seats you can find me standing. I am "scared" of getting trapped in the back again and having to scream. Silly, huh?

Today a man got on at the stop before mine with a small tan pit bull and it knew exactly what to do. He sat right across from me and the little dog went right under the seat, laid down and curled up. He kept popping his little head out to look at me (I'm sure he could smell my dogs). I so wanted to pet him but I was to shy to ask for some reason. And no, I'm scared of pit bulls. He was adorable!

A woman got on at the same stop and she had the cutest leopard print/black patent leather flats on, I thought about telling her I liked them but chickened out. That always makes my day when someone says something like that, maybe I could have made her day... Now I wish I would have said something.

So, like I said, the morning tends to be uneventful... I get on, say hello to the driver, sit down, ride, pull the cord for my stop and then get off and walk the rest of the way to work... Round trip it's all about 15-20 min and I LOVE that!

The Crazy Dance and Possibly Poo...

This afternoon I headed down to meet some friends for lunch and hopped on my favorite bus route. It tends to be a really nice route and it's super easy to get into downtown.

My ride into downtown was normal, nothing wacky happened... However on the ride home I had this odd man who looked about 75 get on and sit next to me. He had a very long ZZ Top style beard except his had been turned into 2 long and very dirty dreads. He also was carrying a plastic shopping bag of sorts which looked like it had been drug through the mud. Now when I see dirty things like that I get weirded out as I have seen one to many people take a dump or pee themselves while downtown waiting for the bus so I got nervous, maybe it was a bag of poo... Thankfully, as we stopped at the next stop, he got up and switched seats so he could sit alone. Who knows, maybe to check out his poo bag... I dunno...

Then once I got back into my neighborhood I decided to get off and grab a drink at a local bar while I waited for a phone call (not that that matters to the story). After about an hour or so I gave up on waiting for that call and headed back to the bus stop. To my delight a semi crazy man in one of the mexican style blankets was doing a little dance for me to Led Zepplin. He kept walking back and forth in front of me, stopping every now and then to do a little air guitar solo for me. Once he even told me that this wasn't on the radio... but I honestly didn't know what he was saying so I just ok and put my ipod earbuds back in. He then decided to jump and kick the tree a few times and then resumed his solo... He even did an interpretive dance which only can be described as drawing a line on the ground and then pretending to wash his hands to then bust into another air guitar solo... It kept me enteratined for the 20 or minutes I waited. I even snapped a picture of him in mid dance. Thanks sir for the show!

It's funny how someone who is coming off crazy can bring folks together. All the people who walked by looked at me and smiled as if to say "Wow, have fun with that" - I was the only one there with him...

Why This Blog?

Today I started thinking (while I was on the bus) about all the weird and wonderful things I see while riding the bus around my city. Plus, I seem to be one of those people who crazy people like to talk to... or even normal people. I have been told I have a friendly face so that is why people approach me. Who knows.

I post things on Twitter and Facebook about the random things I see and experience but why not keep a collection of them here.

Sometimes they are funny, sometime sthey are weird and sometimes they are even gross. Either way, maybe someone will find this interesting but if not then I'll just blog about it anyways...