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.