Kommute Archives for May, 2000
Archival Kwality Kommute Entries. Read through these to catch up, or waste time, or whatever!

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Wednesday, 05-31-00
<morning> I can't believe it's almost June. Argh! Ended up getting stuck writing checks and licking stamps when I was supposed to be running out the door, so I got on to the later bus. Didn't sacrifice my Latte, however. No freakin' way, man. Muni was really empty, and there was this amazing-looking guy sitting at the front of the bus, really stiff and quasi-robotic looking. I knew I had to photograph this guy, and my window of opportunity was shrinking fast as I proceeded to delete all the old images saved up to make room for some new photos, and I managed to get them all deleted just in time to snap a few pictures of him. I guess I was kind of absorbed in what I was doing because I missed my commute buddy getting on the bus, and she snuck up behind me and poked me when we both got off at HAMSTOP. We spent awhile talking about stuff, our parents, all that kind of weirdness. We talked about our jobs all the way across the bridge, and all the while I was snapping pictures. Not as many as I take when i'm alone and have nothing better to do, but I managed to get 10 reasonable images for today's kommute-o-rama. I tried to take a picture of my kommute buddy but my finger was across the lens. What a dimwit! A guy got on in downtown Sausalito and he kept kissing this rosary he was wearing. So, of course, I took photos.

Tuesday, 05-30-00
<morning> Three day weekends are so cruel in their own way. You think you'll use the day wisely and feel terrific for having done so, but, at least for me, this is rarely the case. The week feels exactly the same, only shorter. Damn you, Memorial Day! And damn my landlord for choosing 8am on a holiday to start sanding the floors upstairs. So, ok. I did manage to get out the door a bit earlier than usual, and so that's cool. I had distressing dreams, however, and that's not very cool. Nothing all that interesting happened on muni, I spilled scorchingly hot coffee all over my hand and sat next to a freak who kept muttering to himself and others about being a "bad boy". On the Sausalito bus, a weird Italian guy was passing out flyers for some film called Moon Shadow (Colpo di Luna) for the Italian film festival in San Rafael. I didn't know there was an Italian Film Festival in San Rafael. So I guess now I do, huh? I'm including some fotokamera from Friday's evening commute, since I took some good ones.

Friday, 05-26-00
<morning> The guy at the cafe knew my order, and he and another cafe guy had a chuckle, calling it my usual and all. He said "Why change if you know what's good?" and I slipped out the door with my Latte in hand, just in time to catch Muni. My camera's batteries crapped out on me just when I saw a really beautiful photo opportunity. I replaced the batteries and made myself very conspicuous in the process, missing my chance. There was a truck delivering coffins to the funeral home near HAMSTOP, just pulled up right in front, with a hearse sitting behind it. Seemed kind of profane somehow. I mean, couldn't the truck pull up to the back, or something? Oh well. I waved down the sausalito bus kind of emphatically, because there was a truck in the way, and when I got on, the driver said "Oh don't you know I stop here every day for you? You don't have to get yourself worked up into a frenzy, waving like that, don't you think I know you?" laughing at me. He's a nice guy. I tried to photograph the cleverly camouflaged Sausalito sewage treatment plant for you, my loyal readers. Another big heap of photos today, the first 4 are from last night. When I got off the bus, the driver asked if I had Monday off, and I told him "Oh yeah you bet I do!" and he wished me a good weekend, what a nice guy. I'm such the commuter. Another Muni-related article for you to read, if you're so inclined.

Thursday, 05-25-00
<morning> I've been consistently waking up before my alarm, but only about 5 minutes early. It's just enough time to get up, turn off the alarm and feel superior. It helps me to remember my dreams if I wake up peacefully, of my own accord. But I only remember them for a little while. The ability to recall my dreams has definitely fallen prey to my new life. My shiny new employed life. I spent a long while screwing around, playing video games and spacing out, and got dressed about 5 minutes before I had to be out the door and on a bus. I'm such a daredevil! When I went to the cafe, there were 5 people in line ahead of me, but Christian caught my eye and mouthed the words "You want your usual?" and made some odd coffee-related gestures, and had my Latte ready in about a minute, licketysplit. He handed it to me and said "I know time is money and money is time..." and I said "Aw heck, time is just me slacking and showing up late to work, as usual. Ain't no thang." It was funny. When I left, my bus was pulling up, it was perfect timing, for a change. My commute buddy showed up after a little while at HAMSTOP and she said she'd looked at the kommute and she was all complimentary. Whenever someone likes something I've done, I totally don't know what the hell to say, I stammer and blush and generally dork out. We talked about all kinds of stuff, like Wisconsin and Angel Island and parents and solitude. It's kind of awkward to try to wrap up a conversation before she gets off the bus, like, "Uh, well, have a nice day, uh, seeya!" It's a nice day, not too hot or cold. Pleasant. I'd also like to add, uh, eek.

Wednesday, 05-24-00
<morning> The weather is still being completely indecisive, and that's cool with me and everything, I mean, hooray for weather, but I hate not knowing whether or not to wear a jacket when I take off in the morning. That's all. When I went to the cafe, I got "caught" playing with my camera, and the guy behind the counter said "Oh, today you're the Photographer Extraordinaire, huh?" and I actually got embarrassed and mumbled something and he laughed, "Oh, not really, like whatever!!" and I missed my chance to take some candid cafe photos since everyone was sort of aware of me. I hate when that happens! I have decided once and for all not to censor myself in this journal deal. When I got to HAMSTOP, my commute buddy, the book keeper was there and she smiled at me and we struck up a conversation. She's really cool, and so I ended up mentioning the commute journal to her, and that she was in it, and I thought she might freak out or something, but instead she seemed curious and even enthusiastic about it. I gave her milkycat's url, but I immediately felt this wave of insecurity, like "Wow, she's going to think i'm such a total freak" or that she'd feel slighted by my brief mentions of her, or whatever. But then I decided to quit being so neurotic. Hardly anyone reads this garbage anyhow, so what does it matter if I exploit a few kodak moments? Yeah. So anyhow, we ended up talking about all sorts of stuff in this jumbled kind of chaotic roundabout way (I think my caffeination was showing yay Latte), and it's just cool to have someone interesting to talk to on the way to work.

Tuesday, 05-23-00
<morning> Another hot muggy day, but I went ahead and got my "usual" at the cafe, the owner guy there is always really smarmy and charming about it. Some girls there got my attention and asked if a crumpled $5 bill laying on the floor belonged to me, and I smiled too obviously, hesitated a moment too long, and said "No, is it yours?" and laughed, tossing it in to the "take a penny, leave a penny" cup, rather than in the tip jar, which they suggested. As I waited for my Latte, a goofy guy came up and commented on my Mighty Mouse shirt, and we both broke out in to the theme song from the cartoon. He asked where I got it, and I directed him to hot topic online, and he started talking about Andy Kaufman, movies, he was really in to talking to me. As I dashed out the door, he said "See you later, take it easy, take care of that shirt!" and as it turns out, I didn't really have to rush off, I was about 3 minutes late for my bus, or like 20 minutes early for the next one, and I ended up standing around in the heat for another half hour. D'oh! This woman I see all the time at MEATSTOP came up and said "Hey there. Drinkin' hot coffee? Sheesh, guess you gotta have it, huh?" and then an old man came up and started talking to me about how late the bus was. Everybody was talking to me! I was so late that I ended up going in to the HAM STORE. It's weird in there. Took a photo. There were German tourists sitting in front of me on the Sausalito bus. Wow, a whopping 16 pictures today!

Monday, 05-22-00
<morning> Hot! Damn hot! LA Hot, Summer in San Diego hot. Yech! At least I had the foresight not to wear my leather jacket today, opting instead for a thick coat of sunscreen. SPF 45, baby. I got an iced double nonfat latte today, which I guzzled and gulped with alarming speed. CHUG! CHUG! Chalupa! er. So, while I was waiting, hiding in the shade of the bus shelter, a Muni driver pulled up, and caught my eye, raising his eyebrows and saying, "I see you hiding there!" with a big toothy grin. I smiled and said I was just staying out of the sun, and he asked if I was waiting for the Golden Gate bus, which I was, and he assured me it would be along shortly and winked, telling me to take it easy. How friendly! This very uptight coffee achiever type woman got on the bus with me, wearing her very efficient business coordinates, toting this huge bag and a big commuter mug full of coffee. She sat near me and spent the rest of the ride fidgeting and primping. She proceeded to perform this amazingly complex beauty regimen/ritual thing which involved no less than 10 products, really expensive, high-end stuff. She did this all with this sort of quiet desperation. It's weird. She's totally attractive without all the makeup and preparation, and after the whole ordeal, she looked kind of cheesy. Too much blush. Women who wear blush are weird. The photos for today are kind of disappointing, and I apologize.

Friday, 05-19-00
Still no sign of the book keeper girl. Something must have happened to alter her commute. Aw! I lost my first commute buddy! snif. Yeah well. I tried to get a money order from the store across the street with the big freakin' sign that says MONEY ORDERS but I totally failed. They don't do money orders anymore. There was a really icky old chinese woman (see photo below) on muni - she kept coughing and spitting phlegm in to a napkin, and then looking at it. The best part was when she blew a snot rocket in to the same napkin, as a sort of bodily fluid finale. Naaasty! The driver for the Sausalito leg of my journey asked how I was doing, he's a nice one. A quasi-conscious bum was laying near the bus stop at Geary and 6th with his pants down, cradling his jewels in his filthy fingerless-gloved hand. Naaasty again! So I took photos. You can see his weenie! I am so evil.

Thursday, 05-18-00
<morning> While I was at the cafe getting my usual, there was an accident in the intersection just outside, more of a fender-bender, really, between a brand-new VW bug and an old thrashed mazda. Nobody was hurt, and a bunch of people were laughing, I have no idea why. On muni, there was a mother and her kids, a little girl and her older brother. The older brother was holding a pair of drumsticks and he had pinkeye, and he was hassling his little sister by kissing her repeatedly:smack sto-op! smack sto-o-op!! smack quit it!! and so on. It was funny, the little girl was squirming and shrieking and laughing. I haven't seen the book keeper girl on the late bus since last week. I wonder if she quit her job, or found another. She was talking about how much she hated it there. Lots of tourists on the bridge.

Wednesday, 05-17-00
<morning> The cafe was chock-fulla "dot-commers" (parenthetically, my housemate pippilina thinks that term, when spit out like venom, is similar to 'Breeders!') sucking down mochas. I know i'm just as bad as any of them, but in my black little heart i'm as impoverished and bitter as any "not-commer". Shee howdy. So, my timing today was pretty good, possibly because I woke up 10 minutes early. I always feel so sneaky when that happens. The plastic surgery woman, who is actually nice enough but about 2 degrees more bubbly than I can handle, asked me the time and made a big deal of mentioning that the bus driver was her friend and that he was always on time, "On the dot, mister punctuality, my friend is, I tell you, on the dot, all the time," as some sort of conversation starter, I guess, but I wasn't really in to it. This stunningly beautiful chinese girl sat across from me, and I glanced over at her and noticed that all of her teeth were rotten, brown, jagged stumps. Eek. I wonder why. There was something on fire, giving off a big plume of smoke, out in the bay. I have no idea what it was or why it was smoking, but there was a big boat making these spirally curving banks beneath the bridge. I like to stare at the water, there's a lot of texture, weird currents and all this motion to distract me.

Tuesday, 05-16-00
<morning> Left a little bit late this morning, played video games for about a half hour... Sheesh. What a work ethic, huh? Got my Latte as usual, and was treated to a special view inside the carcass truck at the newly dubbed MEATSTOP, and took the opportunity to photograph the glorious meat hunks within. Took a photo of one of the many junkies I encounter on my route. Muni was without incident, and I half expected to run in to the book keeper girl at HAMSTOP but there was no sign of her. While I was waiting, a really scabby couple showed up, and at first I wasn't sure what their problem was, but then one of them started to talk loudly about "scoring," "rock," and nodding out. They were both scratching at themselves, and kind of arguing. Needless to say, I took photos. There was a weird smiling guy who sat next to me on Muni, and then stood near me at HAMSTOP, smiling beatifically and trimming his nails. Whatever makes you happy, I guess. As I was stepping up to get on to the Sausalito bus, I sort of misjudged the height of the step, and tripped, nearly faceplanting like a big dork. The driver was all concerned about me. Aww. Anytime I see someone weird or even slightly interesting, I take their photo. Like it's mine in the first place. Take take take.I wonder if all this sneaky photography is giving me bad Karma. The cloudy skies make the water look really interesting, marbled opaque green and grey and blue.

Monday, 05-15-00
<morning> Today is my 3 month anniversary at my job. I'm now a full-fledged official employee. Weird! My Über manager just came by and complimented my toys. I overfilled my Latte today and spilled it all over the place, making everything all sticky. The weather is all screwy today, clouds and rain and sunshine all mixed together. How indecisive! Nothing terribly anecdotal happened along my commute today, but I did take some photos. A few are leftovers from this weekend, like the blue girl and the humorously misspelled signs. I did manage to get a picture of the elderly sidewalk sitters, but since it's cloudy and cold, there weren't very many of them out there. One of the hipstergeeks made eye contact with me as I made my way to my seat, and I don't recall that ever happening before. Huh.

Friday, 05-12-00
<morning> A couple was arguing passionately at the bus stop this morning, and I had a really hard time trying not to listen in or at least act like I wasn't listening in. This poor girl was totally breaking down and crying and her boyfriend was really frustrated, yelling. They were both really fed up. I came in to work a little bit later than usual because they're moving stuff around in my office, and I didn't want to be in the way or anything. I ran in to the book keeper girl again, and she told me about the Webby awards. You know the Webbies ain't shit, holmes, because they didn't even mention milkycat. Heh. Anyhow, we spent most of the trip talking about jobs, and I've been much more pleased with mine lately, and I gave her my card and told her to check out the job postings and stuff. She's really bubbly. I came in to work and everything's chaotic, but I got a new privacy partition! woo! Some pictures from last night, when everyone on the bus was sleeping, and the air totally smelled of easter candy.

Thursday, 05-11-00
<morning> I had some serious anxiety-related insomnia last night. I only managed to eventually grab about 4 hours of actual sleep during the 8 hours I spent trying. Even with all that, I feel pretty positive this morning. Go figure! People seem to be generally very cheerful and outgoing. I smiled at people a bit more than usual. Maybe everyone's hepped up on psychopharmaceuticals. HEP! I think I have to face the fact that I may very well be a morning person. It goes against everything I felt I knew about myself, but I actually hop out of bed lucid and alert, and I don't lay around slapping the snooze button, trying to eke out a few more precious moments of slumber... Damnit. I hate morning people! They're all well-adjusted and shiny, not like me, man, I'm a stone-cold freak! A miscreant! Right? Ah well. I've been getting rave reviews of my hair color from pretty much everyone the past few days. Thumbs up! I took some pictures of a girl's butt.

Wednesday, 05-10-00
<morning> No Latte today. Bought some crap I needed at the market, and one of the junkies who frequents my neighborhood stopped to comment on my freshly dyed hair. She wanted to know how long it lasted, how often I did it, what brand of dye I used... I was polite but I kind of had to catch my bus. The other junkie was on the nod outside, leaning wa-a-a-a-ay back and then catching himself just before he actually fell over. I tried my best to photograph this entertaining and yet poignantly tragic phenomenon from the bus stop, with disappointing results. This couple frequently hangs out at the cafe next door, and I am definitely making assumptions as to their junkiehood, but they're so obviously on smack... Anyhow. The muni bus was atrociously crowded, and I got to get to touch a lot of strangers. A weird girl wearing a postal uniform complimented my hair, and I don't handle compliments well, but we talked for a bit. Turns out that the bus was only crowded because there was a goddamn elementary school field trip on the bus! aiee! So when the 20-30 kids got off, there was plenty of space. It started to rain while I was at HAMSTOP, and I snapped a photo of the samoan guy through the graffiti on the bus shelter. Sat across from the bald hipstergeek as we both read our SF Weeklies.

Tuesday, 05-09-00
<morning> I was out sick yesterday, and I still feel kind of out of it today, but I came in to work out of a sense of responsibility to the kommute. The weekend was grey and rainy, and this morning was blustery and cloudful. The guy at the cafe had my double nonfat latte ready in a jiffy, since I always order roughly the same thing, he knew to make it when he saw me walk in. I like that. Sometimes I miss my bus while waiting for my Latte. Muni was obscenely crowded but I found a seat next to a little old lady who asked me to tell her when Sutter was coming up, adding something about getting stuck in some tunnel for a half hour, almost missing her appointment. She was nice. The Sausalito bus was also really crowded, and there were a lot of unfamiliar faces. The bus driver was kind of rude, he pulled to a stop without pulling up to the curb, basically stopping at the stoplight and throwing open the doors like it was a big drag or something. I saw a guy with a perfect rainbow mohawk hitching near the entrance of the Marin Headlands tunnel, but I missed the opportunity to snap a picture. Also missed a chance to snap one of Santa walking down the street. I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Friday, 05-05-00
<morning> Late again. Had to buy batteries for my camera, and stuff. A strange-yet- happy homeless guy called me Precious and said he loves me. I was running late, so I ended up on the same bus as the book keeper girl. We were also on the same bus last night, too, since I left a little early. We spent last night's commute talking about all kinds of stuff. She's cool, but it's a little strange, talking so freely with a virtual stranger. She seemed a little less keen on talking today, but we talked a little about work and how tired we were. I am so commuter chic. The french word for commuter is banlieusard. Learn something new every day! I still haven't figured out what those weird plants are, the ones with huge cones of purple flowers. They're everywhere around Sausalito. The bus driver thanked me for being nice and taking my empty coffee cup with me.

Thursday, 05-04-00
<morning> Okay, first of all, no photos today. Dead batteries! I left pretty late today, my bad. While waiting at the second bus stop (which I will now refer to as HAMSTOP) a smiling woman approached me, waving. I met her on Monday evening, she takes the same commute route as me, and we spent a while discussing my glasses. We started talking today about jobs and the economy, she works as a book keeper at a restaurant in Sausalito, and we were discussing the weird nature of the current economy. She's really smart and funny, we had a very animated conversation. She also let me in on some juicy details about Santa and Santa's House: He apparently bought the house in the 50's or 60's, and has been making payments on it for years, and her contention is that he went nuts, the bank was foreclosing, but the city council took over his payments just to keep him in his home! Wow! I guess the deal is that they'd prefer to keep the longtime residents in the city rather than all the yuppies and richfucks. What a trip! When I got in to work, I had a big pile of these ILOVEYOU messages waiting for me in my mailbox. Creepy! Read all about it here

Wednesday, 05-03-00
<morning> I took some bold photos today, I'm fast becoming a real jerk about stealing people's souls and all that. Every day I pass this building on Divisadero with two pairs of running shoes sitting on a ledge beneath a window, They're always there. So I took a photo. There was a really intense looking ROTC kid on my bus as well, he got on at my stop and sat next to me in the back. I was doing a lot of shooting without looking today, with mostly positive results... The plastic surgery lady and the grinning driver yammered a lot, and the driver got off in downtown Sausalito to pee. Creepy pee! There was a weird girl with some takeout food in a broken bag who kept asking everyone if they had a bag she could use. Unbeknownst to me, one of my yuppy co-workers was on the bus, too. He snuck up behind me and grabbed my head or something, i don't know, it was surprising, is all.

here, pictures of my new bag

Tuesday, 05-02-00
<morning> I just couldn't come up with anything interesting to write about yesterday's commute. It was completely boring. For the past couple of days, the drivers on Golden Gate transit have been hassling me about my coffee. I have to sweet-talk them and impress them with my good citizenship and promise not to leave the empty cup behind. I left late today, and got a double nonfat Mocha instead of a Latte. It was tasty but a little too rich for morningtime consumption. It's a really foggy drippy day, the kind of day mildew dreams of. Gloomy, but I kind of like it. Soothes my sunburn. I have a new book bag, a supercool military surplus bag. My wide assortment of pens fit in to the little bullet loops! Swords to plowshares, man! I will include some photos from lasterday in today's set.

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