Bus People

Bus driver: You can't use this pass anymore. It's not a medical pass, it's because you're...you're...you're...
Woman: In transition?
Bus driver: Um, yes, it's for people in transition and it has expired.

The woman needed to pay $1 extra to get a day pass. She pulled out a $10 and $20 bill out of her purse. "Does anyone have change?" she said. No one responded. After about 30 seconds, a guy sitting a few rows behind her, listening to The Moth podcast reached in his backpack, pulled out his wallet and gave her $1. She said thanks, paid the fare, got her bus pass, and all was well.

I don't really know what it means to be "in transition" according to the VTA and how that can "expire", but I gave her the money because she seemed lost, like I apparently look like a lot of the time. So many people who ride the bus seem lost, both in the literal sense of not knowing if this bus will take them where they need to be, but also just not quite being where they need to be life.

I've been a bus rider a lot this summer. I've driven twice to work this summer, taking the bus the other 20-odd times. I've enjoyed it more than I did during the school year, partly because I'm not feeling the stress of having to do a lot of work done on a day-to-day basis, but also because of the scenes I've witnesses and been a part of.

On the same bus with the woman who needed $1 a couple got on, late teens I would guess. She was dressed up nicely, he was wearing a white t-shirt, shorts, and looked like he just woke up (it was 6 PM). He paid her fair from a ziplock bag of coins, then got off the bus. He waived to her in this giddy way of a guy who had an obvious crush on her, thinking the feeling was mutual. As the bus rolled off, she rolled her eyes and started checking her text messages. It's that sense of seeing both sides that I really liked about this. The guy thinking, can't wait to see her again and her thinking just the opposite.

Ethiopian Woman: Na-gli
Me: Na-gli?
Ethiopian Woman: Na-gli
Me: Na-gli???
Ethiopian Woman: Na-gli?!
Me: Na-gli? I'm sorry, I don't know what you're talking about.

She pulls out a bus map and points to it. Sure enough, there is a stop at The Alameda and Naglee, a street that I didn't know existed.

We got on the bus, I told the bus driver she needed to get to The Alameda and Naglee, but I didn't know where that was. He said no problem, and we were on our way.

I got off the bus at my favorite bus stop: Bernardo and El Camino. At 9 AM, the sun is brutal at the stop and sitting there leads to a lot of sweat and discomfort in a matter of minutes. I like this stop for one reason - the people from the shadows.

Right as the bus is on the other side of El Camino, approaching the bus stop, people seem to appear from all over the place, in the shade, to the bus stop. Sometimes as many as 10 people coming out of the shadows, so to speak. The first time, it kind of freaked me out. Now, I'm one of those people, those people from the shadows, one of those bus people.

Ghana

So I was going to blog about Do the Right Thing this week; how it's been 20 years and talk about some of my favorite scenes from the movie.

But being that Obama is in Ghana this weekend, I thought this would be more appropriate (and probably a better read): Our Ghana blog, written in the summer of 2005.

Happy reading.

Working through the Summer - or not

I kind of wish I had gone with teaching two classes this Summer instead of one. In the Winter and Spring Quarters, I taught 2 classes, had anywhere from 60-80 students, and graded quizzes and worksheets everyday (because I gave them everyday). I felt like I never had any time to myself, between grading and answering student emails, I felt like I was a tutorial email service at times.

This Summer I decided to try something different, as a way of giving myself a break; I would teach one class, have no worksheets, and give 7 quizzes over the course of the quarter. This has led to me having a lot of time on my hands. If I don't give a quiz (which will be most days), I don't have much work responsibility after about 1 pm. The thing is, I find that I don't really know what to do with myself for the rest of the day.

I don't really enjoy free time as much as most people do. People have told me to read a good book, or see a movie, but I've never been much of a reader, and don't have the patience to watch movies on a regular basis. I think I just like working, so I do things like clean, cook, and do laundry; all things I really enjoy doing. Maybe I should find part-time janitorial work.

I originally was going to teach 2 classes, but then thought about the last 2 summers and how hectic they were, so I decided to just teach one. The thing I neglected to think about was MBA classes; this is the first summer since 2006 where I am not enrolled in an MBA class while teaching Summer Session, so I have this time to kill.

What am I doing with this time? Stressing out, as much as a person as mellow as I am can. I'm looking into banking solutions for Lauren moving to Oxford in September, looking at housing in Oxford, jobs in Oxford, and trying to figure out what we're going to do with out cat when I leave in January.

I was talking to someone a few weeks ago, saying that I wouldn't know what to do in Oxford. The response I got was "there are lots of museums in the UK". That's not at all what I meant by "what to do"; I was thinking work-wise, not fun.

I almost feel guilty posting this because as I write this Lauren is working harder than she probably ever has, writing up her dissertation. Meanwhile I sit here, writing a blog, watching myself lip sync to Ella Fitzgerald and Eric Clapton on my webcam.

I really should have gone with teaching 2 classes this summer.