Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Commuting—and the encounters in-between. It's a working title.

The prettiest of houses - SF - March 2016

Hello friends and/or loved ones. Are you feeling well? I hope smiles have been in abundance upon your faces lately. San Francisco is still San Francisco. The sidewalks are grimy as ever, the foggy mornings have rolled in, and the price of everything seems to go up each day. But also, the sidewalks are filled with music from street performers a block or two away, the foggy mornings have rolled in, and the best times are always spent buying nothing at all.

My plants and new friend Rafi
The ferry is the greatest form of transportation ever invented

I moved recently away from the Haight/Ashbury area and into the Marina area, a whole different crowd of folks I'll tell ya. So here are a couple of vignettes of encounters with some interesting folk from my old commute.

A quote at the bus stop, just in case you forget

The Ladybug and the Potential Financial Planner
My bus comes when I’m a little too far away to casually walk and make it, so I run for it even though another bus will likely come in the next ten minutes. There is one open seat left and it’s next to a kind-looking man who seems a bit off. I sit, I pull out my book as per usual, he waves to me even though we’re sitting right next to each other. I glance up and wave back. He asks what I’m reading.
“A novel,” I reply.
“Oh! I love novels. I’m reading Brave New World and The Jungle,” he responds with more enthusiasm than I thought possible when informing someone you’re casually reading Brave New World and The Jungle.
I respond with oh cool and look down to continue reading. He taps me on the shoulder.
“Wanna hear a joke?”
“Sure.”
“What did the ladybug say to the fly?”
“Uhh... I don’t know. What?”
“Don’t bug me!”
I laugh because what a genuinely great joke. A classic really. He then informs me that he used to work downtown at one of the big finance buildings. I say cool because finance doesn’t interest me but wanted to remain polite. I look down to continue reading, and he waves at me again.
“Do you think if I were to write down my number, you could write down yours, and we could exchange them, and maybe call each other sometime?” He asks with admirable confidence.
“No, I’m sorry,” I reply with the smile and slightly furrowed brow you give when letting someone down.
He says, “Oh okay okay, no problem!” And scoots a little further away.
A couple minutes pass and he taps the girl in front of me, when she turns around he waves at her. She waves back. He asks her if she wants to hear a joke and she says sure.
“What did the ladybug say to the fly?”

Foggy day by the bay
Some friends and some buildings soaking up the sun

The UFC fighter
I was walking to the bus stop with my coworker when we start gaining on a younger man wearing only shorts. No shirt. No shoes. And wielding a lead pipe. The man was also screaming and yelling at something unknown. He was so angry that a block radius had begun to clear surrounding him. So as you might have guessed, it had become pretty damn scary.
He was swinging his pipe at brick walls, trash cans, really any stationary object in sight. A comfort in a sense because maybe that meant if we kept moving, he wouldn’t hit us with it. At this point he’s been steadily walking in front of us in the same direction as us with a block of distance between us. We’re on edge, but still feel relatively okay.
But then he stops. He stops and instead begins walking in wide, surprisingly-perfect circles that take up the whole sidewalk. My coworker and I cross the street through traffic at this point because we’re not crazy enough to walk past him and test out my theory that since we're moving he won't hit us. And we leave the man to his yelling.
The next evening we’re walking to the bus after work and the same man is fast asleep in a sleeping bag next to a restaurant that’s always closed. No lead pipe in sight. Glad to see he found something warm at least.

Fog filled city - SF - March 2016

Commuting can be interesting, but it can also be damn funny. Carry on.

Oh yeah, I cut my hair and I love it