it’s not about you

Judah was playing by herself today and I heard her say, for one of her toys, “Oh my gosh!”

I snickered. Sometimes she says “Dangit!” I think it’s funny. Of all the words my kid COULD be saying, I’m thinking I’m pretty dang lucky, oh my gosh.

We went to Japantown on Saturday to (a) get some bento boxes and (2) because I’ve never been. Saturday was gorgeous and we had a good time. We even got some sushi to-go and we ate it next to the fountain at Peace Plaza. I’ve decided I’m not a fan of sushi. It makes me kind of sad that I don’t like sushi. I like saying it - sushi … sushi - it’s fun to say sushi.

On the way home from Japantown, we took the 22-Fillmore to 16th Street and Joshua walked home with the kids while I caught the 14-Mission. I was one of the first of many people to get on the bus and it was full - there were no seats left and a few people are already standing, but it wasn’t yet a sardine can. I weaved (wove?) my way through the front of the bus and found a pole to stand next to and turned around to face the middle of the bus with my back to the pole. On the side of the bus were forward-facing one-seaters, and I was standing in between two of these.

Apparently, I brushed the person sitting in the seat directly to the front of me, because she recoiled from me, turned around in her seat with this nasty look on her face and said “DO YOU MIND??” I turned to her and said, “Do I mind what?” And she glanced at my skirt and said, “Your …,” letting her voice trail off. At this point in our short conversation, I REALLY wanted to know what she was going to say next, so I said, “My what?” And she looked at my skirt again and said, “Your …derriere,” as if she had to FORCE the word out of her mouth. Now, “ass” I was expecting, or “butt” or maybe even “bum,” but “derriere?” Now that’s funny. I said to her, “Lady, it’s a crowded bus.” She got all huffy and offered me the seat, which I declined, and the she offered it to the girl standing next to me, who also declined, so she offered it to some other lady getting on the bus, who took it, not knowing (or caring) that my derriere was within a foot of her.

I mean, come on, it’s a freaking BUS. If you want personal space, hire a taxi. This ain’t the Ritz-Carlton, people. So this woman, ended up standing RIGHT next to me on the bus, because by this point, the bus was really packed. As the 14 wove (weaved?) its way down Mission, everyone was getting jostled and people were bumping into each other - that’s just the nature of the beast. So by that point, my derriere was REALLY touching her. I think she made it two stops before she took her muttering self to a point further back on the bus. I think she thought I was bumping into her ON PURPOSE. I really do. I wasn’t. I mean, if I was, I would have grabbed her ass or something.

So today, we all got on the 49-Mission/Van Ness to go to the dentist. Our bus driver today was the shit - he was the compliance KING. There are a few rules for MUNI that practically everyone disregards - fold up your stroller (I ALWAYS do, now), board at the front, no food or drinks, pay the fare, let people off before you get on. This guy was making sure everyone got on at the front. If anyone boarded at one of the back doors, he wouldn’t go anywhere til they got off - and he MEANT it. One guy got on at a back door and the driver wouldn’t move. The guy got off and boarded at the front.

One other guy got on at the back and the driver made him board at the front. When he boarded at the front, he tried to get on with a cup of orange liquid (HE said it was juice - I’m sure some of it was) and the driver told him he couldn’t bring it on board. He made drunk dude get rid of the cup. So drunk dude did, and then he tried to get on without paying the fare or showing a transfer. The driver kept telling drunk dude to show a transfer or pay and drunk dude just kept walking to the back. The driver kept telling him to come back up and we all sat at the stop until drunk dude came back up front. I mean, our driver meant Biz-Ness. Drunk dude didn’t have a transfer, a pass, or the fare, so the driver told him to get off the bus. This whole process actually took three to four minutes. That may not seem like long, but we’re at a BUS STOP.

Stops usually take fifteen to twenty seconds - all you gotta do is get people on the bus. Drunk dude kept arguing with the driver and people starting yelling, “Man, get off the the bus!” Drunk dude kept trying to convince the driver it wasn’t really a big deal to let him on (I can’t tell you how many times he used the very-stoned phrase, “come on, man…”), but he FINALLY got off. So did a lot of other people who left to catch other buses and were tired of waiting for drunk dude to get off. Every stop the driver would use the intercom to say “Do not board at the back door, board at the front!” and at one point, an older lady was trying to get off at the front and people almost started shoving past her to get on, and the driver made them all step back. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve tried getting off at a back door, with Killian, the stroller and Judah and people are SHOVING past me, practically knocking Judah over to get on the bus. It really pisses me off.

I told Joshua it’s nice to finally see a driver making people follow the rules. I mean they’re not THAT hard. But he wasn’t a stickler either. I got on just after 8 a.m. and my transfer is STILL good, and it’s dinnertime (they’re supposed to be 90-minute transfers) - I guess I was rewarded for good behavior. A lot of people were complaining that his enforcement held us up, but really. If people would just do what they’re supposed to, it wouldn’t be a problem in the first place. We were slightly late to our appointment, but at least my sense of justice was satisfied (oh, and Jill, when I told Dr. Katz I was from Texas, he told me I didn’t have an accent). I think I’m going to have to add a MUNI category for all the things that happen on our bus travels. Sound good?

So tomorrow is Ash Wednesday and we’re having a morning service at our house. Unfortunately, the palm branches that Julie sent from LGBC didn’t make it in time (dang President’s Day holding up the mail!), so I’m going to have to substitute something. Perhaps artist’s charcoal? I think I’m going to add the prayer from Brent’s blog post from today as a benediction, along with how Mark recently signed off on an e-mail (which I’m SO stealing) which is this:

“Peace in Christ if nowhere else.”

And on that note, it’s time to go fix dinner.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 20th, 2007 at 6:30 pm and is filed under Body & Soul, Blogworthy, Moral Values, Community, Parenthood. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.