Taking the 51 at 8:30 am
I have been going to De Anza 4-5 times a week over the past few weeks. I primarily go to work out at the gym, and (slowly) clean my office.
I take the bus to get to work. I scored a bus pass from SJSU for $73.50, and have been using it since March (I actually just plopped down another $73.50 for a new bus pass than I can use until February). I take the 51 bus, which takes me from downtown Mountain View to De Anza.
A few times I take the 8:30 am bus, when I can be up and out by that time.
When I get to the bus stop, there are usually some teenagers waiting with me, because the bus has a stop at Mountain View High. They sit there, not speaking to each other, each with their own peculiar look; the guy who wears pink, the scrawny little guy, the girl who seems so focused, she never seems to turn her head. They get on, and I get on, and there are other kids on the bus. No one talks to each other. These kids probably see each other at school, in addition to being on the same bus, but no one talks. They play with their phones, their ipods, their video games, whatever. I read business textbooks.
We get to the high school, about 1/3 of the way through my trip, and they get off. For the next 1/3 of the trip, there are very few people on the bus. Sometimes, it's just me. The bus then stops at a retirement community, and a bunch of Chinese retirees get on (I rarely see a retiree who's not Chinese get on - I wonder why). It's never clear to me where they're going, because I get off before they do, but the only stops after mine are a random intersection and a shopping center dominated by Target.
I love it when the retirees get on. The bus comes to life. There is a buzz of activity as they talk amongst themselves. The last time I was on, a guy initially sat toward the back of the bus and wanted to get into a discussion going on in the front, so he made his way to the front, as the bus was moving (I was scared he was going to fall, because he looked like such a frail little old guy).
This country has an obsession with youth. Younger people, supposedly, are more energetic, and more lively. If all you saw of the U.S. was this bus I ride on, you would think the opposite. The last 1/3 of the ride, like the last 1/3 of life, is filled with far more energy than the first 1/3.
I take the bus to get to work. I scored a bus pass from SJSU for $73.50, and have been using it since March (I actually just plopped down another $73.50 for a new bus pass than I can use until February). I take the 51 bus, which takes me from downtown Mountain View to De Anza.
A few times I take the 8:30 am bus, when I can be up and out by that time.
When I get to the bus stop, there are usually some teenagers waiting with me, because the bus has a stop at Mountain View High. They sit there, not speaking to each other, each with their own peculiar look; the guy who wears pink, the scrawny little guy, the girl who seems so focused, she never seems to turn her head. They get on, and I get on, and there are other kids on the bus. No one talks to each other. These kids probably see each other at school, in addition to being on the same bus, but no one talks. They play with their phones, their ipods, their video games, whatever. I read business textbooks.
We get to the high school, about 1/3 of the way through my trip, and they get off. For the next 1/3 of the trip, there are very few people on the bus. Sometimes, it's just me. The bus then stops at a retirement community, and a bunch of Chinese retirees get on (I rarely see a retiree who's not Chinese get on - I wonder why). It's never clear to me where they're going, because I get off before they do, but the only stops after mine are a random intersection and a shopping center dominated by Target.
I love it when the retirees get on. The bus comes to life. There is a buzz of activity as they talk amongst themselves. The last time I was on, a guy initially sat toward the back of the bus and wanted to get into a discussion going on in the front, so he made his way to the front, as the bus was moving (I was scared he was going to fall, because he looked like such a frail little old guy).
This country has an obsession with youth. Younger people, supposedly, are more energetic, and more lively. If all you saw of the U.S. was this bus I ride on, you would think the opposite. The last 1/3 of the ride, like the last 1/3 of life, is filled with far more energy than the first 1/3.
posted by Jefferson at 12:46 PM
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