Kommuting is weird.   Kommuting is cool.
I used to do this Kommute thing every day when I got to work. I had this great commute which involved up to 3 different buses, the Golden Gate bridge, and all kinds of weird/interesting passengers and bystanders on my way between San Francisco and San Rafael. It was a nice peaceful way to begin and end my days, riding along, (not-so)surreptitiously snapping photos of whatever inspired me -- Then I got laid off and no longer had that marvy kommute to inspire me. After giving it some thought and discussing it with my comrades, I decided that, even if i'm no longer commuting, in the traditional sense of the word, the Kommute Journal must continue.

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--- email for kamio ---

Monday, 06-04-01
<morning, evening, whatever - it's all the same now> Yes, I am still unemployed! Still Laid Off and stuff. Today is the first day I haven't spent fretting and stressing about it. That's a nice change. I signed up for all that good EDD stuff and dealt with all the important "day 1" kind of initiatives on Friday. Since then, I have been giving the Far More Pressing and Important issue of the fate of the Kommute a great deal of thought. Where does it go from here? I have determined that I definitely and absolutely must continue with it. I'm not sure what form it will take, but until I find a new job, I won't officially be kommuting anywhere, so maybe I have to create my own kommute! Today, for instance, I got up kind of early, read craigslist for a while, played video games and lounged around in my pajamas on the couch for a couple of hours, ate a crepe and read through my Unemployment Insurance GUIDE TO BENEFITS AND EMPLOYMENT SERVICES. A full day! Another important side note: As of Saturday, my hair is FIRE-HOT-DANGER Red, no longer Freaky Fuchsia Purply. And now, some photos from my last official kommute to San Rafael.

Tuesday, 06-05-01
<morning> First, in the news: The Creepy Cat Lady is in Court, Workers Productivity Shows the Biggest Decline in 8 years, and here's squidfactory. I just read some news, looked at job listings and drank some tea. Soon, i'm going to head out to run some errands. I have to get a move on, and I don't really have anything interesting to write. Since I've been able to wake up pretty much whenever I want to over the past few days, I've been remembering my dreams much more clearly than when I was waking up to an alarm, and I have to say that my dreams have been far weirder lately. I've been spending a lot of time riding buses, exploring weird corners of the city. There are a lot of little areas I'm fairly unfamiliar with, so I like to head out and just kind of experience them as if i'm a tourist. The good kind of tourist. Here are a bunch of unrelated photos I took over the weekend.

Wednesday, 06-06-01
<morning> Well, I've been sending out my résumé and stuff, and yesterday I went tromping around the Mission and had the worst omelette ever. Terrible. The hash browns were creative though. Now I have to go tromp around somewhere else. Kids are getting out of school right about now, I keep seeing them on the bus with their yearbooks and prom photos. Mingers!!! -- SHATNEROLOGY. I have nothing more to say, really, but I took all these photos yesterday. looky!

Wednesday, 06-13-01       FOETUS tonight
<morning> It seems like the newspapers in this town are really in to pressing the recession panic button lately. All these articles about the "dot com decline" and the "dot bomb" are getting on my nerves. This article, however, freaked me out a little bit. In SF, Unemployment jumped from 3.9 percent in April to 4.2 percent in May. I wonder how I fit in? h4x0rz seek powerr. You know, one thing I've noticed since becoming employment-challenged is that all the dumb entertaining websites like the Onion, Jerkcity, the Brunching Shuttlecocks and SUCK and such all sort of lose the punch they had when I was stuck in a cubicle. I'm applying for jobs though, sending my resume all over the place and being a hip young go-getter. The only thing is that the Kommute is suffering. I'm really sorry. I just haven't settled in to a new routine which I can exploit. Cross your fingers though, I have a good feeling about one of the job opportunities i'm looking in to. Meanwhile, Enjoy these fine and lovely fotos from recent Muni treks.

Friday, 06-22-01
<evening> Potted Meat, Anyone? Today I took a little journey out to the inner Richmond, seeking several items: Midget Hangers for my Midget Closet, Japanese Canned Coffee beverages, Tasty/Freaky Chinese Snacks and possibly some kind of pot or pan item. I started out pretty late, and when I stepped outside it was really warm and sunny and nice, and the bus came along right away. I whipped out my camera, and I realized that I'm out of practice, so I took some warm-up photos to try to get back in to the swing of things. When I transferred to the 2 Clement bus, I noticed this huge looming fog bank moving in quickly from the West, which was exactly where I was heading. It was crazy and windy, and I ducked in to the bus shelter to wait, and a cool old Russian woman ducked in with me, and she smiled at me and said "San Francisco, it's so Wild!" and I laughed and agreed with her, and gave her the once over. She was maybe pushing 70, walked with a cane, and had a very bright smile. She was wearing pins, and one of them said "Stop The Execution of Mumia Abu Jamal" which I thought was a pretty cool thing for an old Russian woman to be wearing. We talked for a couple more minutes about the Summer weather in San Francisco being so unstable and inconstant, and how, if you head up to Twin Peaks and look out across the city, you can see how different it is in the different neighborhoods. She was pretty cool, and I wanted to ask her about her pins, and find out more about her, but the opportunity didn't come up. We both got off the bus at the same spot, but I headed in to Green Apple Books while she headed in to a nearby Bakery. I didn't spend too much time in the book store because I'm trying Not spend all of my money, but I saw many things I want. I headed out to look for other items on my list, and after checking in 4 different shops, I failed to find midget hangers. Not hangers to hang midgets from, but like, midgey. Small Hangers. I found Hello Kitty bowls, suitable for Ramen, and I found some UFO x-mas lights and the glitter nailpolish I love because it changes color in the sun. I got a huge sampling of the various Canned Coffee drinks, and am currently riding the rush after having 2 of them. Yum, yum. Here are some Clement Street links: 45 minutes in New Chinatown - The Richmond District - Cruisin' Clement Street

Monday, 06-25-01
<evening> It's all rainy, grey and cold out. And it's June! Yeah! I like this weather. I got up early today even though I kind of didn't have to, and the weird thing is that I feel more energetic and I have this odd sensation of not having totally wasted my day. Bizarre! About all I did today was send résumés out, look at adorable poo while fiddling with graphics, and head out to peruse the slopbucket bargains at Mac Frugal's. The selection was kind of pathetic, but I did get some swanky 99¢ glitter argyle socks and that made the whole trip worthwhile. It was a pleasant ride winding through Noe Valley in the rain, the route offers up some unexpected views along the way, and plenty of freaks, too. Fun! I spent a while trying to psychically punish a mulleted guy because his appearance made the song "I can't fight this feeling" get stuck in my head. It didn't work, though he did snarl a lot. Not a very exciting kommute, but there are plenty-o-pictures.

Tuesday, 06-26-01
<morning> kogepan and domokun and a Poo guessing game, and poo candy. What do all of these links have to do with anything? Brown, Japanese. I've just had more time to look in to weird stuff online, to catch up on all the various onling journals and weblogs, to browse through strange foreign websites. I'm still in the phase of treating my unemployment like a vacation. I sleep in late because my dreams have been so vivid and amusing, then I putter. I putter around looking at classified ads, I play with the cats, I play video games. I'm going to go to a Pink Slip Party this week, mostly because I just want to say that I've gone to one, it's a cultural zeitgeist kind of thing. I don't have any photos today.

Friday, 06-29-01
<morning> The painstaking rennovation of the Doggie Diner dog continues. While I am flailing around, struggling to update the kommute journal, squidfactory is doing a bang-up job with consistent postings. My schedule is all screwed up and topsy-turvy, I was having a lot of trouble trying to sleep last night, so I got up and watched the sunrise and watched the really hardcore early morning commuters ride by, wondering what sort of emotional effect a 6 a.m. commute would have on a person, day after day. I suppose, as a matter of survival, one would resign oneself to it, and try to make the best of it. Or maybe they just turn themselves off, tune out, aren't really present in their bodies. Hopefully, if this is the case, they're in a much more interesting, beautiful place. The sunset last night was amazing, I rode down to Ocean Beach around that time on my housemate's motorcycle to buy European delicacies, and we were both stunned by the sweeping, brilliant sunset. I know it happens every day, but I still feel really fortunate if I manage to be in a good spot to see the sunset.

Wednesday, 07-04-01
<morning> Happy explody! I'm currently out of town and I didn't have the foresight to bring along the necessary cables to hook my camera up to foreign computers, so for this week, I'm not going to be updating the kommute. I have a ton of images from last weekend and Monday, so check back for them there. I'm exploring a whole new, weird transit system, and it's blowing my fragile little mind.

Wedensday, 07-11-01
<morning> Ok! I'm back from my little mini-vacation. It was nice to get totally and thoroughly away from it all for a bit. I even went and visited a place I once lived, briefly, in San Jose. A little journey down memory lane. The buses in the valley are trilingual! XIN KÉO DÂY ÐÊ XE DÙNG LAI. Anyhow, I promised some photos, so here they are.

Friday, 07-20-01
<morning> I've had some extremely amusing, highly irregular experiences on mass transit lately, even though I'm not regularly commuting to a particular place, on a particular bus, I've been lucky (or unlucky) enough to be witness to some of San Francisco's biggest bus-riding freaks. This week even offered an opportunity to quasi-kommute to Oakland, so I got to check out the Bart scene for a change. Here's an article about cell phone use on bart. Hmm. Bart is weird. It's very efficient. Riding beneath the bay is mildly disconcerting, however. It was also an interesting peek in to the commute world of people heading to the financial district and the east bay. It's a very different scene from the one I used to document. One cool thing happened, as I was heading out to Oakland I stopped in at the cafe, and the owner's face lit up as I entered and he said "Hey! You haven't been in here forever! Where have you been hiding!? We miss you!" Aww. Here are some random photos of graffiti and bart.

Monday, 07-23-01
<morning> Wow. I know I keep harping on all the economic alarmists in the media, but this guy kind of takes the cake. The stock market isn't helping matters any. Stores are closing all over the place around the city. Friends are getting laid off left and right, people are leaving. Poo. I'm starting to actually feel pessimistic about the recession/depression issue. Considering what the future might look like if the current trend continues. I don't know why, but there have been a lot of tense little arguments around me whenever I take Muni anywhere. It seems like people are pissed off about something, the tension is palpable. Unfortunately, I only have 3 images to offer up for today's kommute installment, but they are of the highest quality.

Tuesday, 07-24-01
<morning> My mom's in the hospital and I feel like I should head home for the duration, so it looks like I'll be taking another hiatus from the kommute scene, heading out of town where I won't be able to do any meaningful updates. My mom will probably be okay and everything, she's a stubborn old goat. I just feel like I should be there for her. In other news, the Dow is tanking, but the guy who runs Squidfactory has a job again, so it can't all be bad. I wish that Hifiart would update more frequently. Like, Pot/Kettle, I know. I know. Today, as a special little kommute treat, i'm posting some images I found last night while clearing off a couple of old memory cards. Some of them are from mid-April, some from early-May. Bon Apetit!

Saturday, 09-08-01
<early early morning> I've totally let the kommute slip over the past month, but I intend to keep it up. A lot has happened in the past month. My mom passed away August 9th. I haven't had a lot of energy to devote to anything, but I have been running around taking photographs of everything. It's just sort of what I do. I don't have any fun commute stories, so here are some photos from the past few weeks. Oh yeah, here's a kommuteworthy link.

Saturday, 01-05-02
<late late night> The kommute is scheduled to undergo a miraculous resurrection, and I had this big idea to launch back in to the regular kommute postings with the coming of the New Year but I was too busy/hung over to do it just then. Sorry for the delay. Just the same, I am jumping triumphantly back in to the wondrous kommute journal. In the past few weeks i've taken my first trips by Cable car, and wish that more of the city was accessible in such a manner. It rocks, and every time I ride the cables, I feel like a giddy tourist. I like the way the brakes smell like burning marshmallows, how 9½ miles an hour feels fast when you're out in the open, listening in on the tourists chatting with the gripman, reading that Humphrey Bogart rode in the same cable car in 1946-47. It's a little more historic and interesting than the usual Muni ride. In recent news, a 70-foot tree fell on to a bus and it was the bus route I used to take to San Rafael, so it's a lucky thing I don't work there anymore, huh! Out of fourteen people struck by Caltrain in 2001, nine were officially classified as suicides. These and more fascinating kommute-related news tidbits can be found in the SFGate Commuter Chronicles archive. I promise far more substance in future kommute entries, but it's nice to be back.

Tuesday, 01-08-02
<evening> Well, okay, first of all, I was remiss in my kommute duties yesterday, and while I took a few glamorous trips aboard Muni's beautiful coaches, I was too tired to write about them so I decided I would put it off until today. However, your patience is rewarded with 18 glorious, full color images from last night and today! I had to force myself to sleep early last night in order to wake up bright and shiny this morning to meet a friend at SFMoma, and it was cool to be up and mobile around the time that the last straggling commuters are heading in. I think I made a bit of a nuisance of myself because I've fallen out of practice somewhat, photographically. It was a little cloudy while I was out, but apparently there have been some big fog issues mucking up travel. Not mine, though. So, the busride down was nice enough, there was the usual Market St. hustle and bustle and hullaballoo to occupy my eyes and ears, and as I have an obscene fondness for observation, it was a good trip. Once I got to SFMoma, I was surprised to see that there was a huge line stretching clear around the building and about half a block down an alleyway! Boy howdy when did everyone get such an itch to see Art?! I was less surprised and pleased when I discovered that the gigantic crowds were only there to see the big Ansel Adams at 100 exhibit before it's torn down and burnt to a crisp. Ah well. At least they're supporting the Arts. I spent a long time looking at this slideshow, which reminded me somewhat of the kommute photos.There were tons of catholic high school girls wandering around biting their nails, wearing short skirts and gossiping in front of the art. Catholic school girls, midgets and brides all have this symbolic surreal quality, if they're around, you know it's an Art Film. There was kind of a great moment during last night's kommute, actually. Some pretty nutty characters were being loud and drunk, and one of them, a big roly-poly woman wearing a bright red hat started hollering out, "Hey how much you pay me to beat him up!? How much!? 5 dollars!? 20 dollars? A bag of weed?" and she kept addressing the entire bus, and everyone started snickering and laughing, and she said "Hey they laughing at us! Haha! Is okay, we go home now and go to sleep like good kids, okay!"

Friday, 05-17-02
<evening> In spite all of the tremendous odds against it, I am forging ahead with the Kommute journal. Only yesterday, my trusty companion, my stalwart Olympus D-460 digital camera stopped working. It started spitting out hideous fuzzy images with the colors keyed incorrectly, and the lens apparatus was making a GGGNN-GRRGGNG-GHNGNGNNGN sort of noise. This happened with my old Olympus camera, as you may remember, a year or so ago. This time, however, I did not mash the camera to bits. I simply put it away and cursed my luck. I'd made a solemn oath, however, to deliver on my plans to post a triumphant Kommute entry on this very day. And here I am. Only slightly later than anticipated. How did I do it, you ask? Well, I have a sneakier camera than the Olympus, it's a spiffy little tiny eyemodule camera for my dorky handspring visor. It's completely low-profile. The image quality is also pretty low, but there is a really pleasing distortion effect around the edges of the frame. It reminds me of my Holga. I am going to seek out a new digital camera but, in the meantime, I can make do with my strange little eyemodule images. Californians are commuting more, according to the 2000 Census. Sadly, they're all doing so alone, in their evil polluting cars. Happily, this year on Bike to Work Day, traffic engineers said one-third of all inbound Market St. vehicles Thursday were bicycles. Today's kommute was really more of an errand (had to go buy a PS2, they're on sale yo) than a real life commute, but just the same, here are the photos.

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