Yo quiero a garden

Heirloom beans!

And also, on the bus today was a kid wearing a black trench coat and bowler hat. And he was reading Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. He is the third person I've seen reading on the bus, ever. The other two are regular AM bus riders: an elderly woman who volunteers at the library and reads a lot of children's literature and a guy who reads a German-English dictionary every morning. I stared at the young man rather directly until he looked at me and gave me the finger. I smiled at him and said "right on." I don't know what possessed me to say "right on." I've already integrated "peace out," "rad," and "bogus" into my vocabulary, but today's "right on" was a first. I don't know how I feel about it.

Agressive Optimism in North County

I put my bike on the bus today to get it fixed. I need to take a basic bike mechanics course so I can do these simple repairs myself. Or I need to get a book and a few tools, at least.

A man got on the bus a few stops after me, put his bike on the rack, and entered the bus singing in a dangerously high-spirited manner. I was only on the bus for about ten minutes, but he managed to yell "EVERY DAY IS A HOLIDAY" or "EVERY DAY IS A FUCKING HOLIDAY" three or four times (in between the singing) at everyone who got on or off the bus after him. As I got off the bus I said, "calm down, man, today isn't a holiday."

The manager at Alan's bike shop fixed my bike in less than five minutes, and I was home fifteen minutes after that. A nice day for a ride.

We're going to LA tomorrow for a party

to celebrate Joseph and Rita's recent marriage. I'm excited, it will be a fun party, with many people I know and don't know from a variety of contexts.

I made hamburgers this evening. My interest in red meat always corresponds with chemical shifts in my body. Oh well. Lester had some burger too--it was probably only the second time he'd ever had beef, and he liked it.

I've decided that I don't like riding the bus in the middle of the day. Perhaps it's bad luck, but thus far, the mid-day bus drivers have either been crazy or mean. I'm mentioning this to remind myself to blog about it later. I'm used to encountering crazy passengers, but yesterday the bus driver was crazy, too. A new development.

Grading. All weekend.

But after Monday, I won't be, because the weekend will be over.

Benny on the bus was very upset about the rain this morning, and he yelled at everyone: "Is it raining?! It's raining! It's raining!"

Lester was fussy today. He tried to nest in my hair. He needs his wings clipped, and I think he's feeling amorous. He was born in late November, so his father must have been feeling amorous this time of year.

There is a new kitty in the apartment complex. A small, old, grey kitty that sits in the sun and has a big voice. I made contact this afternoon after a run.

Suprise

The only major advantage to having an office job (other than the obvious advantage of having a regular salary) is access to printers and photocopiers. My Dusie chapbook is going slower than usual. I'm hoping to assemble it next week.

Dan and Mike left this morning. I wish everyone I liked lived down the road from each other and me, too.

I'm getting caught up on email. I have five jobs this week. Three big ones and three small ones.

I'm teaching in the afternoons for the next few weeks, which means I don't have to get out of bed early.

There are more people on the bus during the day than at 6:45 am. Or at least there were today.

Riding the bus in north county San Diego is a suburban California version of drifting. It's slow, you can't move fast, your route is not direct, you come in contact with a public you'd never otherwise see or touch. I passed one of my coworkers on my bike today. He lives a block away, and I passed him on my bike just as he was getting out of the car. It took us the same amount of time to travel the 6.5 miles.

On the bus

Elderly man recently discharged from the hospital--he couldn't remember which one--wearing a white, paper hospital-issued union suit.

Prudence was tired but wouldn't take her nap

Somehow, I managed to get on the 6:50 bus this morning. I'm not sure how I got up, got dressed etc, rode to Oceanside, got my coffee, and made it to the bus stop in time. The bus driver didn't recognize me (because I usually get the 7:05 bus) and yelled at me for having coffee, which I'm not supposed to have on the bus. I said, "the OTHER bus drivers are cool with it," and sat down.

I had only one student in the TOEFL class this afternoon, but that was just as well. I'm glad enough to be teaching this class, but teaching TOEFL is boring. About as boring as preparing to take the TOEFL, I'm sure. Someone stole her clothes out of the dryer this weekend, so I structured most of the speaking exercises around the topics of laundry, style, theft, and crime.

I worked on a few design projects this afternoon. I pretended I understand Bezier curves. I'm trying to make a logo and am totally out of ideas. I didn't actually have any ideas for this particular project in the first place. I want a huge huge flatbed scanner and some paint because right now I'm bored with manipulating letter-objects in Illustrator.

Some possible explanations

The 302 bus goes from Oceanside to Escondido. Oceanside is home to a branch of a fairly prominent community organization called the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) that works with people who have various psychiatric disorders. Escondido is home to several drug rehab centers. Vista (in between both places) is where many people who've made it through rehab or treatment programs from both places resettle--there are several state subsidized condos there.

On the bus today were a very clean cut man in his 40s, wearing new jeans and new white sneakers and a woman about the same age, rather large, wearing bright clashing floral prints. He said he is living in a rehab center in Escondido, she said she'd just graduated from a year long program at NAMI in Oceanside and was now living in Vista. "You just keep taking your meds," said the man, "and you'll be OK. God bless you."

Would-be high school thugs skipping class also ride the 302 bus during the day. A few days ago in the rain (did I blog about this already?) two kids were heading back to school after having been gone, both wearing black hooded sweatshirts. One white kid, one latin-American, both only 15 or 16. The white kid asked his friend, "So, has your mom been with anyone since your parents split up?" "I don't know, asshole! She's been on some dates, but I don't know if she's been with anyone."

Then they played some heavy metal music loudly and the bus driver yelled at them. The white kid got nervous and said, "yeah, listen to her, turn it down, man."

At the high school bus stop, their friends were getting on as they were getting off. They all greeted each other with various handshakes. A short, red haired white kid with freckles and a red bandanna said, "hey man, we're going to my house." "Why?" said the white kid on the bus. "Uh, cuz it's the place to go."