I have decided that this town purposely puts as much as it can as far away from where you can possible be living so you HAVE to drive everywhere! Did that make sense? It did for me. Let's take the bank for example.... I use Wachovia and there are like 6 of them in this town..... however, all freakin 6 are in downtown! So you need to drive all the way down to Wilshire to get to any of them! So very stupid I must add..... just in case any wachovia higher-ups end up reading this. So here I am with a recent check.... with no bank in sight AND.... much worse.... no car. I have decided that I don't particularly like taking the bus only because you need to set aside an extra two to three hours to get where you are going but the subway, o the subway..... was the greatest invention by man! Ok, now honestly electricity is needed to run the subway so I guess that was the greatest investion..... or actually since I'm a girl indoor plumbing is probably number one.... but the subway is definitely a close third. How else could you possibly get from Hollywood & Highland all the way downtown in 15 minutes? Plus, you get to avoid the 101 AND you get to people gaze at some of the most interesting characters that God placed on this earth.
I'll give an example.... imagine Cruella Da Vil (or Meryl Streep in "...Prada") wearing a green and purple tweed jacket with a gray fur scarf wrapped around her neck and her nose held high in the air! Lady, you are riding the Metro..... it doesn't put you in a class any higher than those around you. When I see people like that I can't help but smile... which might be why I'm always smiling.... I don't know.
Anyways, back to the bank. I get off at Wilshire and Vermont to start heading down Wilshire in search of a Wachovia. Now, I do remember visiting one on this street and that it was in the higher 3000's..... what I wasn't expecting was to walk 30 minutes down the street(in Koreatown, past protesters and such... it was fun) only to find myself at the bank..... and across the street from.... the subway! Ends up when I got off originally I was just suppose to go down another level and take it down another direction for two stops..... a little frustrating but nonetheless it just encouraged my love of the subway more. Why don't we have more of them? Now, I do understand that Cincinnati does have one..... it's just not completed.... and now filled with water. But should NYC, DC, and LA be the only lucky ones(ok there are probably more but those are the only I know about)? True, LA does not have a large one.... but every 5 to 15 years they add on another section..... the gold line is suppose to be completed sometime in 2009. Good thing I live here now. I'm going to treat myself and buy a monthly pass.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
The City of Angels
Have you ever heard that song "What if she's an angel" by Tommy Shane Steiner? I think it must have been written while driving around Los Angeles. Now given I'm not driving but walking so I see the city on a different level than I did as a tourist in the past. Especially since I tend to do my walking once the sun has gone down.
Let's take tonight for example. I leave to go get food at 8pm and get the urge to walk all the way down to Target. It's not a super long walk but it's not a hop, skip, jump either. It could be like walking from Liberty st. down to Bay st. in Savannah, GA. So not too far. Well, I get to Target to buy more face wash and pillows were on sale! So I got a nice plus one for $5! It was awesome..... and I come out to head to subway on the street and while I'm waiting this very thin homeless woman is going from person to person asking for any change for food.... now it's true I'm a bleeding heart but in this town there are so many homeless that you just have to tell them all no. It sucks but it's necessary. I don't know what comes over me but when the woman makes her way to me she looks absolutely crestfallen and feeling that God gave me that sale for a reason I tell her that I would be happy to give her some change..... to which I got a smile in response. I pull open my very small purse.... I carry it for a reason so I can conceal it under my arm.... I don't want to get mugged walking around this town at night..... and when I reach in to give her the quarters from my wallet- a feeling I can only explain as serene comes over me and I pull out the $5 I have in the change section. I don't know what came over me but when I handed it to her- she actually started to cry..... and the best part is that not only did she say "God bless you" but as she turned towards the Carl Jr. (it's a fast food joint) on that corner I heard her say a prayer of thanks to God as she held the 5 dollar bill to her lips. It almost made me cry.
When I got back and was eating my subway, I couldn't help thinking that God sent me an angel.... one to remind me that my life is full of so many blessings.... close friends, family, a full stomach, shelter. It is amazing and humbling all at the same time. I am here for a reason. I am in the city of angels.
" There's a man standing on the corner
With a sign sayin 'will work for food'
You know the man
You see him every morning
The one you never give your money to
You can sit there with your window rolled up
Wondering when the lights going to turn green
Never knowing what a couple more bucks
In his pocket might mean
What if he's an angel sent here from Heaven
And he's making certain that you're doing your best
To take the time to help one another
Brother are you going to pass that test
You can go on with your day to day
Trying to forget what you saw in his face
Knowing deep down it could have been his saving grace
What if he's an angel"
Let's take tonight for example. I leave to go get food at 8pm and get the urge to walk all the way down to Target. It's not a super long walk but it's not a hop, skip, jump either. It could be like walking from Liberty st. down to Bay st. in Savannah, GA. So not too far. Well, I get to Target to buy more face wash and pillows were on sale! So I got a nice plus one for $5! It was awesome..... and I come out to head to subway on the street and while I'm waiting this very thin homeless woman is going from person to person asking for any change for food.... now it's true I'm a bleeding heart but in this town there are so many homeless that you just have to tell them all no. It sucks but it's necessary. I don't know what comes over me but when the woman makes her way to me she looks absolutely crestfallen and feeling that God gave me that sale for a reason I tell her that I would be happy to give her some change..... to which I got a smile in response. I pull open my very small purse.... I carry it for a reason so I can conceal it under my arm.... I don't want to get mugged walking around this town at night..... and when I reach in to give her the quarters from my wallet- a feeling I can only explain as serene comes over me and I pull out the $5 I have in the change section. I don't know what came over me but when I handed it to her- she actually started to cry..... and the best part is that not only did she say "God bless you" but as she turned towards the Carl Jr. (it's a fast food joint) on that corner I heard her say a prayer of thanks to God as she held the 5 dollar bill to her lips. It almost made me cry.
When I got back and was eating my subway, I couldn't help thinking that God sent me an angel.... one to remind me that my life is full of so many blessings.... close friends, family, a full stomach, shelter. It is amazing and humbling all at the same time. I am here for a reason. I am in the city of angels.
" There's a man standing on the corner
With a sign sayin 'will work for food'
You know the man
You see him every morning
The one you never give your money to
You can sit there with your window rolled up
Wondering when the lights going to turn green
Never knowing what a couple more bucks
In his pocket might mean
What if he's an angel sent here from Heaven
And he's making certain that you're doing your best
To take the time to help one another
Brother are you going to pass that test
You can go on with your day to day
Trying to forget what you saw in his face
Knowing deep down it could have been his saving grace
What if he's an angel"
The Metro part 3
(Continued from The Metro part 2)
Now this is where the story gets ugly...... I mean really bad.......
I leave the mall with brand new gloves in hand to wait for the next bus. As I saw it turning the corner I did what every normal bus rider does- I went out to the edge of the sign to make sure she saw me. But what does the Bitch do? She freakin passes me by! And no, she didn't just pass me by- she speeds past me! At which point a huge tidal wave of water from the street splashes up on me! I only wish I was joking because as funny as that sounds I wasn't just cold anymore.... I was cold and drenched to the bone. At this point the sun had gone down and the temperature had lowered to the 40s. I grudgingly decide it would be better for me to walk to the link station so off I go. Now would be the time to explain that in order for me to reach the link, I would have to pass over a very steep arched overpass to the freeway..... did you just say "O NO!" Well, I hate to tell you this but yes I did attempt it. I made it half way to the middle when the wind picked up to the point of me not being able to keep my footing. Obviously, I didn't go over the edge because I'm alive and writing about this but it was traumatic. I ended up crouching down on the flooding sidewalk, praying desperately to God until he gave me the strength to crawl (yes, I freakin crawled!) all the way back to the normal street.
With a sigh of relief I went back to the stupid bus stop from earlier and was soon joined by a 40 something year old drunk. I wish I was making all this up because the memory still haunts me. We get on the bus together when he decides that it's time to start making comments about my figure and how I better not get fat or I won't be sexy any more..... now, I don't really think as wet as I was that I looked even a little sexy..... but he was very drunk. You could smell it on him. Once he got off, the only good thing I could say for the encounter was that it was a total ice breaker for the driver and I and gave us a few laughs till we got back to the Link. And guess what? The 183 and the BurbankBus were no longer running for the night! I find a bus that is heading downtown and the nice, old chinese woman sitting across from me offers to walk me to my next stop..... and let me tell you- Thank God! Because it wasn't the best part of town...... it's now close to 9pm and let me refresh your memory that this adventure started at 3pm.
The tiny (yes, shorter than me) old woman leaves me at the next stop at which I wait for 25 minutes before bothering to ask the guy next to me if I was at the right place. Ends up I wasn't. But he wouldn't let me go to the right place because it was a very shady street and he felt it would be safer for me to just take the same bus as them. So I hope onto the Sunset bus.... and by this time I'm so wet and cold that I can't bring myself to talk to any of the characters around me.
I exit at La Brea street and start my descent towards Santa Monica to the sounds of catcalls..... no I'm not joking and geez I can't possibly be attractive looking like a drowned rat..... But, anyways, I make it back to Drew's apartment at 10:15 only to find that my cell phone is dead! And I bang on the door forever but no one answers because his downstairs neighbors are, get this, deaf! It would be my luck you know. Now, a lot more does happen but this story has gone on too long so I'm just going to round it out by saying I took a taxi back downtown and paid freaking $209 for a hotel room for the night..... at like 1:30 in the morning.
The moral to the story is to make sure to check the Metros website and stick to the plan from the beginning.... unless you want to take the Media District route.... in which case I won't blame you.
Now this is where the story gets ugly...... I mean really bad.......
I leave the mall with brand new gloves in hand to wait for the next bus. As I saw it turning the corner I did what every normal bus rider does- I went out to the edge of the sign to make sure she saw me. But what does the Bitch do? She freakin passes me by! And no, she didn't just pass me by- she speeds past me! At which point a huge tidal wave of water from the street splashes up on me! I only wish I was joking because as funny as that sounds I wasn't just cold anymore.... I was cold and drenched to the bone. At this point the sun had gone down and the temperature had lowered to the 40s. I grudgingly decide it would be better for me to walk to the link station so off I go. Now would be the time to explain that in order for me to reach the link, I would have to pass over a very steep arched overpass to the freeway..... did you just say "O NO!" Well, I hate to tell you this but yes I did attempt it. I made it half way to the middle when the wind picked up to the point of me not being able to keep my footing. Obviously, I didn't go over the edge because I'm alive and writing about this but it was traumatic. I ended up crouching down on the flooding sidewalk, praying desperately to God until he gave me the strength to crawl (yes, I freakin crawled!) all the way back to the normal street.
With a sigh of relief I went back to the stupid bus stop from earlier and was soon joined by a 40 something year old drunk. I wish I was making all this up because the memory still haunts me. We get on the bus together when he decides that it's time to start making comments about my figure and how I better not get fat or I won't be sexy any more..... now, I don't really think as wet as I was that I looked even a little sexy..... but he was very drunk. You could smell it on him. Once he got off, the only good thing I could say for the encounter was that it was a total ice breaker for the driver and I and gave us a few laughs till we got back to the Link. And guess what? The 183 and the BurbankBus were no longer running for the night! I find a bus that is heading downtown and the nice, old chinese woman sitting across from me offers to walk me to my next stop..... and let me tell you- Thank God! Because it wasn't the best part of town...... it's now close to 9pm and let me refresh your memory that this adventure started at 3pm.
The tiny (yes, shorter than me) old woman leaves me at the next stop at which I wait for 25 minutes before bothering to ask the guy next to me if I was at the right place. Ends up I wasn't. But he wouldn't let me go to the right place because it was a very shady street and he felt it would be safer for me to just take the same bus as them. So I hope onto the Sunset bus.... and by this time I'm so wet and cold that I can't bring myself to talk to any of the characters around me.
I exit at La Brea street and start my descent towards Santa Monica to the sounds of catcalls..... no I'm not joking and geez I can't possibly be attractive looking like a drowned rat..... But, anyways, I make it back to Drew's apartment at 10:15 only to find that my cell phone is dead! And I bang on the door forever but no one answers because his downstairs neighbors are, get this, deaf! It would be my luck you know. Now, a lot more does happen but this story has gone on too long so I'm just going to round it out by saying I took a taxi back downtown and paid freaking $209 for a hotel room for the night..... at like 1:30 in the morning.
The moral to the story is to make sure to check the Metros website and stick to the plan from the beginning.... unless you want to take the Media District route.... in which case I won't blame you.
The Metro part 2
(continued from The Metro)
The only way to describe this next part is to say it was a miracle from God.... because by complete chance we end up on a bus with..... wait I'm getting ahead of myself. Rewind. We boarded the next bus after being promised that it was heading near the mall(actually it was heading to the Metrolink which is a train.... but it was very close to the mall). Upon sitting down what do my ears hear? A man behind me is talking about logo animations? NO WAY! I immediately jump out of my seat and head to the back of the bus with a huge smile plastered upon my face. And what did I do next? O you might have guessed it if you know me well enough.... I planted myself right in front of him with that ridiculous grin and said, "did I just hear you say you did the logo animation for blu-ray?" He laughed and said, "No, I did the blu-ray and HD logo animations for Fox Network." Did your mouth just drop to the floor? Well, if it hasn't yet- just wait. By this point my smile was at the point of Joker status when I informed him that I had indeed gone to school for motion graphics. Yes, I know, I may not have balls in reality but I sure do have guts. At this point, everyone around me starts laughing and the guy across the aisle proclaims that we have enough people on the bus to start our own company..... to this I just gave him a quizzical looks. Well, it ends up I had landed myself on the same bus with 6 people from the studios who do exactly what I went to school for. The route is called the Media District on the bright blue "BurbankBus" if you want to try and duplicate my adventure. I leave the bus with the new advice they had poured upon me only to.... get on the wrong bus!
That's right, I get on a bus heading to the wrong mall! But I'm getting a head of myself...... first, I should mention that upon entering the next bus, a man strikes up conversation while waiting in the warmth for the link to arrive... and once it does do you know what he did? The man gave me his bright red umbrella! No joke! See! People here are really nice! Anyways, the bus leaves to head to the mall and the bus driver and I are both singing along with the 70's and 80's pop that is playing on the radio.... much to the dismay of those who would enter the bus later in the trip.
He drops me off right in front of a Starbucks and I run in to get warm and then I go get food. Now we all know I'm a natural blonde so it shouldn't come as any surprise that it takes me another 30 minutes of walking around to realize I'm in the wrong place. I hope back on another bus giving up my cause since it is now past 5 and my meeting was suppose to be from 3 to 5. When, low and behold, what do I see in front of me when we are almost to the Link? The right mall! I had a gut feeling then that I shouldn't have gotten off but I did anyways.... and once I explained it to the restaurant GM, I still got my interview!
(continued on The Metro part 3)
The only way to describe this next part is to say it was a miracle from God.... because by complete chance we end up on a bus with..... wait I'm getting ahead of myself. Rewind. We boarded the next bus after being promised that it was heading near the mall(actually it was heading to the Metrolink which is a train.... but it was very close to the mall). Upon sitting down what do my ears hear? A man behind me is talking about logo animations? NO WAY! I immediately jump out of my seat and head to the back of the bus with a huge smile plastered upon my face. And what did I do next? O you might have guessed it if you know me well enough.... I planted myself right in front of him with that ridiculous grin and said, "did I just hear you say you did the logo animation for blu-ray?" He laughed and said, "No, I did the blu-ray and HD logo animations for Fox Network." Did your mouth just drop to the floor? Well, if it hasn't yet- just wait. By this point my smile was at the point of Joker status when I informed him that I had indeed gone to school for motion graphics. Yes, I know, I may not have balls in reality but I sure do have guts. At this point, everyone around me starts laughing and the guy across the aisle proclaims that we have enough people on the bus to start our own company..... to this I just gave him a quizzical looks. Well, it ends up I had landed myself on the same bus with 6 people from the studios who do exactly what I went to school for. The route is called the Media District on the bright blue "BurbankBus" if you want to try and duplicate my adventure. I leave the bus with the new advice they had poured upon me only to.... get on the wrong bus!
That's right, I get on a bus heading to the wrong mall! But I'm getting a head of myself...... first, I should mention that upon entering the next bus, a man strikes up conversation while waiting in the warmth for the link to arrive... and once it does do you know what he did? The man gave me his bright red umbrella! No joke! See! People here are really nice! Anyways, the bus leaves to head to the mall and the bus driver and I are both singing along with the 70's and 80's pop that is playing on the radio.... much to the dismay of those who would enter the bus later in the trip.
He drops me off right in front of a Starbucks and I run in to get warm and then I go get food. Now we all know I'm a natural blonde so it shouldn't come as any surprise that it takes me another 30 minutes of walking around to realize I'm in the wrong place. I hope back on another bus giving up my cause since it is now past 5 and my meeting was suppose to be from 3 to 5. When, low and behold, what do I see in front of me when we are almost to the Link? The right mall! I had a gut feeling then that I shouldn't have gotten off but I did anyways.... and once I explained it to the restaurant GM, I still got my interview!
(continued on The Metro part 3)
Saturday, January 5, 2008
The Metro
Friday may have been the craziest day of my life. I felt like I was in some weird sitcom. You know the ones- kinda like The Office- where somethings you laugh at because they are awkward, others you laugh at because they are such disasters that you can't help yourself, and some just because it's that funny. That was my day.
I'm going to skip all of the morning even though some of it was amusing and just get right to the Los Angeles Metro. For those who don't know, and I'm guessing it'll be most of you reading this, the Metro consists of a subway system(yes- LA has one), a train, and the buses. Pretty much public transportation. I arrived at the subway at 3 that friday to head to a waitressing interview. I should also take this opportunity to mention that it had started raining so that you all have a picture painted in your head of a gray, ugly day. A totally random guy helped me buy my day pass- without me even asking, then while waiting for the subway a guy offered to walk me to the bus stop to make sure I found the right one. You see why I think people here are nice? Anyways, he gets me to the bus stop for 183..... and I meet two more very nice gentlemen (smoking weed no less- don't judge just yet!). After waiting a good 15 minutes in the ugly, cold weather, my newly stoned friend decided to run and ask another bus if it was, by chance, going near the mall. It wasn't. However, he promised to drop us at a bus that did in the same time we'd wait for the 183 so we all hopped on........ (continued in The Metro part 2)
I'm going to skip all of the morning even though some of it was amusing and just get right to the Los Angeles Metro. For those who don't know, and I'm guessing it'll be most of you reading this, the Metro consists of a subway system(yes- LA has one), a train, and the buses. Pretty much public transportation. I arrived at the subway at 3 that friday to head to a waitressing interview. I should also take this opportunity to mention that it had started raining so that you all have a picture painted in your head of a gray, ugly day. A totally random guy helped me buy my day pass- without me even asking, then while waiting for the subway a guy offered to walk me to the bus stop to make sure I found the right one. You see why I think people here are nice? Anyways, he gets me to the bus stop for 183..... and I meet two more very nice gentlemen (smoking weed no less- don't judge just yet!). After waiting a good 15 minutes in the ugly, cold weather, my newly stoned friend decided to run and ask another bus if it was, by chance, going near the mall. It wasn't. However, he promised to drop us at a bus that did in the same time we'd wait for the 183 so we all hopped on........ (continued in The Metro part 2)
The people
It has officially been a week since I moved to the beautiful LA area and I've learned one very shocking but important thing.... people here are.... NICE! Can you believe it? Everyone paints it to be full of jerks but that is not what I've experienced. True, if you don't bother to seem like a warm, open, and inviting person- people might not be nice to you. I, on the other hand, am finding everyone to be sweet and helpful. You'll have to read my next post about yesterday to understand. I'll just be smiling about the fact that I'm even here and someone will say hi to me or even go as far to ask me how I'm doing... I know.... it's weird. I even have found that if you ask for help with a smile on your face (though it may just be that I have a cute smile) everyone is more than happy to help. And don't under any circumstances be afraid to start talking to total strangers! That would be my secret I think.... I don't care if they look like a thug or a bum.... people here love to talk and maybe it's because I'm so nice to them but I've even had a homeless guy give me directions. I know you are all thinking over in the east coast that I am being stupid but I would disagree. If you take a chance on people, they just might surprise you.
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