Bus Readers, K edition

This afternoon's bus ride home was brought to you by the letter K.

• One fellow was reading a book about mountain climbing, the chapter he was reading: K2
• Another gentleman was reading a Phillip K. Dick novel
• The woman next to me was reading her Kindle (lame, I judged her)
• and I was reading my new NME magazine cover story on The Killers

I obviously had the best reading material. At the very least, mine was the most beautiful.

Here's a funny story about the letter K. A few months back, when I was trying to be a little less crazy about The Killers (instead of my current and more comfortable state as full-on Killers historian...stalker) I was hanging out with Carrie, and determined not to bring up the subject of the world's greatest band.  Here's how the conversation went:

C: What'd you do today?

E: I returned some books to the library...I lied, I was returning cds.

C: I love that you lie about it and then tell the truth in the same sentence.

E: Well, returning books sounds more intellectual than returning cds.

C: Were they Killers cds?

E: No.

C: ...

E: THEY WEREN'T!

C: Were they cds of bands that Brandon Flowers likes?

E: ...

C: Those are Killers cds!

E: No, they aren't and besides...(enter some long-ass story about The Killers' musical influences here)...Man! I wasn't going to talk about them tonight! It's your fault.  How did you do that?

C: Me?!? All I have to mention is their name and you've got a new story about their favorite foods, or what happened at some recent show, or what Brandon Flowers said in an interview...hell, all I have to do is say the letter K.

She's right. It's a powerful letter.

This Morning on the Bus

I was riding to work this morning, feeling so very happy about having caught my bus, and the warm coffee in my mug and the Killers music blaring in my headphones, that it took me a minute to realize that the clicking noise behind me was the tell-tale sound of someone clipping their nails. On the bus. Clipping their nails on the bus! I have to admit, that this is not the first time I have seen this. Since when did it become acceptable to clip one's nails in public? Would it be okay to clip your nails in your friend's car? Um, I'm gonna go with no. So why is it okay to do it on the bus? The funny thing is, that when I got up to move because I couldn't get the image of fingernails flying into my hair, I saw that it was a woman cutting her nails, and she had a mask on. One of those masks people wear to protect themselves from swine flue. There's something wrong with that picture. She's afraid of other people's germs, but not aware that her airborne fingernail bits might be equally disturbing to her fellow bus riders. Well played, lady, well played.

Mass Transit Hysteria

I ride the bus because, surprisingly, I enjoy not owning a car. Oh sure, there are those times when I just need to pick up some cat litter and a 30 pound bag of food, and it's raining, and I want to do it in less than 2 hours. But for the most part the joys of not having to worry about insurance, gas, parking and traffic far outweigh the inconveniences of bus travel. Except for days like today...

A man gets on the bus and calls his mother on his cell phone, and proceeds to tell her all about some guy he knows and his medical problems, in the loudest voice possible. And he says "you know" at least 50 times during the conversation, and that tally is after I started counting. Then, as he's getting off the bus, "Okay, I gotta go now, I'm getting off the bus." What!?! Get off your effing phone before you get on the bus. Luckily he was transferring to the same bus as me, and I got to hear all about his friend again, this time as he relayed it to his brother.

This has been happening more and more lately. People talking on phones, carrying on extremely loud and inappropriate conversations, making out in the seat behind me, listening to headphones at a volume at which the entire bus can enjoy. If there's thing I love after a long day, it's riding home to the sounds of 16 year-olds sucking each others' faces off. And Everyone else, in what I'm beginning to discover is true Seattle fashion, just sits there, occasionally glaring in passive aggressive silence.

I think it may be time for that scooter I've been dreaming about. Donations accepted.

Overheard on the Bus

This guy was listening to either a teeny, tiny boom-box, or seriously damaging his ears with his headphones. Either way, he was playing music that was audible to everyone on the bus. And this girl says, "I don't mean to be a bitch but could you turn that down?" And the guy does, and the next minute the girl gets on her phone and talks loud enough for the whole bus to know she's not getting along with her boss at work. So either she wanted him to turn down the music so she could hear her telephone call, or she didn't quite get the irony of the situation.

As a side note, I'm surprised the bus driver didn't say anything to the boom-box guy. She's usually a real hard ass and won't take any shit. She's so tough that I panic if I can't get my bus pass out of my wallet quick enough, I'm always afraid she's gonna drive off without me.

My Favorite Bus Driver

When riding the bus home from work on Monday nights, there used to be a lovely, lovely bus driver. He's an older gentleman who always wears a powder blue baseball cap. He was always very nice, and then one day I left my phone on the bus. After much worrying, and guessing it was gone forever and phone calling and trekking to the Metro lost and found, I got my phone back. The next Monday while riding the bus home, we were waiting at the Northgate Transit center, and the bus driver got up and walked back to me. For a split second, for some silly reason, I thought he was going to tell me to get off, but he was only asking if I had my phone back. He had found it the week before, and turned it in for me, and best of all he remembered me. I thanked him over and over. Even when I got off the bus I said, "Thank you again for my phone."
He was delighted.

After that we had a special bus driver/rider bond, that spilled over to my coworker Chris who also rides that bus. He was always so happy to see us, and would never let us swipe our bus passes, he would just wave us on like old friends. And when I would get off the bus he would always say, "There you go." It's silly, but it made me smile.

One night, the bakery at work had extra pastries, so I took one to give to the bus driver. He was so happy and he told me how nice I was and that he loved me and and when I got off the bus that night he clasped my hand and said thank you in such a heartfelt way.

And then he was gone.

I was heartbroken. It's silly to be so attached, but there was something so lovely about a little personal connection on a normally impersonal transaction. I find the bus a wonderful conveniece, but a little sad. Here are these drivers who take me to work and home again every day, and I don't know them, they don't know me. It just seems so strange. Think about it in terms of your neighborhood bar or restaurant. After going there long enough you establish a repoire with the staff, "You want the usual?", I just want the same thing with my bus drivers.

It had been months since the last time I saw my bus driver, and then last week, I climbed on a bus that I normally don't ride, to meet Carrie and some friends for dinner. And there he was! I didn't even realize it was him until I had already paid and walked past. But when I sat down, he was looking at me in his mirror and waving. When I was getting off he was asked me where I had been, and told me when he drives that route he is always looking for me. I told him I ride the same times and he was the one that was missing. Oh, I was so happy to see him again! When I finally met up with Carrie that night she asked me how my bus ride had been and she was a little taken aback by my exclamation of, "Wonderful!"

I had to work tonight, a night I don't normally, and there he was again. My lovely, (to use Christy's phrase) dear, bus driver. I don't say much to him, I just sit on the bus and read, but still when I got off tonight, he squeezed my hand and told me how nice it was to see me.

On the Bus Home

I was riding the bus home from work with Adam tonight and he was telling me how his friend is mad at him. I said, "Maybe she's projecting." And he said, "What does that mean...she's on her period?"

What People Like to Read

Alright, this is for Jon...

Overheard last night on the bus...

Girl #1: Well, every time I like try to recommend books, nobody reads them, they're all like, 'I can't believe you read this!' And I dunno, I just like, like the classics. You know?

Girl #2: I bet I would totally like what you like. Like, what books do you like?

Girl #1: I dunno, like, the classics.

Girl #2: Yeah, me too.

Girl #1: I know, right?

Girl #2: Like, I just cant read like, modern stuff. You know, like, obvious fiction.

Girl #1: I know like, I just could not get into Harry Potter. Seriously!


I wanted so badly to know what kinds of things they read, but they never actually mentioned books titles, only Fitzgerald. I was so entranced by their conversation that I couldn't continue reading my own book. Thankfully I was reading nonfiction, not "obvious" fiction or I would have simply died of embarrassment, seriously!