Beck, Bus and Over Budget

Got the new Beck album today, sweeeeeeeeeeet. I highly recommend it, I can't say it's like anything else he's done because he's ever-evolving. But it is classic Beck style. Not only is it an album, but it comes with a DVD that has a video for each song in the album and it's in 5.1 surround sound, tiiiiiight. I just thought I'd also tell of a brief encounter that happened on the bus the other day on my way home from class. I decided to ride the 49 bus home. I thought I was used to all the strange happenings that come up while riding the bus...but not so. At the Balboa Park BART station stop I guess the driver decided to skip the stop and continue driving. Some guy who I suppose was waiting for sometime began to slam his palm on the side of the bus yelling "STOP MOTHER F***ER!" But you know how bus drivers are, they never stop. So the bus rides on down to Mission St., we reach Mission and 24th st. and THE SAME GUY hops onto the bus and starts to chew out the driver. This dude was really funny lookin', he had a huge Weird Al Yankovich afro goin and he was carrying a gigantic cello case. He told the driver he was going to sue MUNI for $5000 for endangering his life and refusing him public transportation. The driver just told him that with his hair the way it is and the huge bag he has he looked "scary", so he didn't want to stop the bus. But this guys wouldn't have it, he continued curse at him and argue his case. Meanwhile a really cool girl who was sitting across from me started yellin' "Yeah! You tell him! Hell yeah!" It took me a minute to realize how he caught up with the bus. But then he started yelling "I got straight onto BART and got off at 24th street just so I could catch you and get the Bus number and information for our court case!" Man, this guy was psycho, but at least he had some persistence. Too bad he can't really channel that energy towards more worthy causes rather than taking it out on the public transportation system. Anyway, Weird Al got off about 3 stops later, then once he got off 3 black gangsta guys snuck on through the back door. The driver noticed them, stood up and started shouting at them telling them to pay their fare. They didn't answer him so he sat back down and announced "OK, this bus is out of service!" At which point the lights in the bus went out. We sat there for about a minute in the darkness, I was about to put my head back for a nap but our 3 gangstas got up and left the bus. So the driver turned the bus back on and continued to take me home. The rest of the ride was quite uneventful, and for once there wasn't a horrid smell coming from the back of the vehicle. If you live on Nob Hill you may have noticed a film crew roamin' around. I noticed that it's probably just the second unit doing stunt shots, but man all the equipment they have, it's ridiculous. Most of it is just off the truck and bundled up not even ready for use. I don't see why they have to have all that for such a small production, but I guess producers just want to see their studio's money at work. I saw a brief shot being shot, nothing special, but it was interesting to see so many people in a crew doing nothing while a few key people were working frantically to get the shot done. This only inspires me more to work with a smaller crew on most everything I do.

Jesus Freaks creep me out...

As many of you may know, I'm in the process (still) of hiring for the company I work for. Today I had the creepiest, freakiest guy come in for an interview. Now I know what you're thinking, it was probably some tatted, pierced goth guy with nappy dreds, but no, that I could handle without a bath of an eyelash. The scariest things always come in the most modest packages. This young Asian man came to the interview with a shy smile on his face and a cross dangling from his necklace. Harmless you say? Hold on a sec. So I sit him down in our private meeting room and begin the interview. I've already explained to him about the company and I ask him "Do you have any questions?" He replies "Do you mind if I ask you a personal question?" I did a double take, from the wall behind me and back at him just to reassure myself that I wasn't being set up or something, I don't know, just a slight insecurity I guess. I said "Sure". He then said "Do you go to church?" At this point all insecurity of what might attack me from behind is gone as my focus hones in on what is obviously my biggest threat, Mr. Jesus Freak sitting in front of me. Now don't get me wrong, being Christian myself my faith is as strong as the next man. However, that doesn't mean that I'm obsessed with my Lord to the point of insanity and blind denial of human emotion. I then tell him that yes I do go to church every weekend and that I am Christian. At which point he says in a half whisper "spiritually sincere" voice, "AMEN". At this point I'm officially creeped out. There is a time and a place to talk about religion, no matter what your beliefs. And the worst time to try and convert someone to a religion is perhaps during a job interview. I quickly rushed through his resume hoping to regain some composure, but by the time I finished the interview all I wanted was to get him out the door as quickly as possible. Yeah, he's one of the few who will be receiving an email of rejection.

Old School Country is so boss!!!

In the past I've express my hatred for everything that's all flashy country with silk shirt, tight jeans and cowboy hats. But honestly, I have to admit that I'm a huge fan of all the old school country. Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, all those guys! I've recently rediscovered Gene Autry. He's so old timey, it reminds me of simpler times. I'm always reminded of the beginning of The Big Lebowski where his version of "Tumblin' Tumbleweeds" is playing to a shot of a tumbleweed slowly making its way down a road. Call me a dork, I don't care, but I like it, ha ha!

Strange things are afoot on the San Francisco streets...

Every Tuesday and Thursday night I have class, and there always seems to be at least one interesting and memorable thing each trip. But yesterday's was so full of strange happenings that I feel they deserve a blog. I left work around 5:45pm and started walking towards Market St. In front of the Shoe Pavilion was a European couple in their 30's. They both wore glasses and were sporting the khaki and green cargo shorts and t-shirts which are so popular among European tourists. They were staring through the store window admiring a pair of women's high heels (as opposed to men's high heels) when suddenly the woman turned and walked into the store. Her manfriend then noticed and also turned to go into the store, when he turned around he had a huge gash in his cheek about the size of a silver dollar. It was as if he'd placed a pistol up against the inside of his cheek and shot a hole in it. But the strangest thing was that he had this tiny Band-Aid, fit for a pinky toe, spanning the crater that was left in his cheek. Was it a joke? Or did he actually think that little bandage would protect his massive wound from further damage? I continued on and took the bus to the Main Library near the Civic Center. While I was there a young Asian guy was yelling and screaming at the workers there because they wouldn't let him check anything out with all the fines on his account. Security had to escort him out. I then continued to shop around in the library and made my selection of CD's and DVD's. I love the library, free movie rentals and free music to rip :) 6:30, I'm hungry and I have to be to class in an hour. I hop into the Burger King across the street and get the Chicken Sandwich meal, it's the only thing that doesn't gross me out there. It's such a weird BK, strange seating arrangements, and since it's right on Market St. there's always an ecclectic mix of visitors. I sat down on one of the stools closest to where the bathroom was located. A guy, about my age, started walking for the bathroom and said to his girlfriend "Where's that jackass security guard." The guard has to unlock the bathroom for anybody who wants to use it, and in order to use it you must have a receipt to show you're a customer. The guard arrived at the bathroom door. He was a middle-aged black man with a cop mustache, some nice chops for sideburns, an earring in each ear and wore some hip hip glasses along with his Rent-a-cop uniform. He unlocked it and shouted to the guy "You comin' or not?!" At which point the guy went and did his business. The Security Guard stood in front of the bathroom door as if he were a Secret Service Agent protecting a high profile diplomat inside. He was staring out the window, when suddenly some guy went running past. Then for some reason the guard quickly jumped from his stance and darted out the door to chase whoever ran by. It was never explained to me as to what happened. But by the time he came back somebody else had already gotten into the bathroom without his permission. He was furious, he started rapping on the door angrily and yelling "Get out of there right now or else I'm gonna open the door with my key!" And the faint voice of the person inside annunciated "I'm peeing!" The Security Guard then opened the door, there was a scuffle and the guard asked the man if he was a customer and if he had a receipt. The man quickly zipped up and ran out the door, avoiding any further altercations. Having had my fill of the BK meal I purchased, I continued on to class without any "novedades". Class was boring as usual and ended promptly at 10pm. The K line always comes and goes 5 after 10pm, so I never make it in time to catch it. Leaving me with the 49 bus as my choice for transportation. The 49 is almost always a bad experience. There's this one bum with the nastiest dreds and a blood alcohol level too high to calculate that always boards the bus through the back door and stinks up the entire vehicle. This time it was unbareable. It smelled like sour milk poured over stale Crispix and mixed with Vodka. Everybody on the bus had their mouth and nose in their sleeve to filter the stench. One girl got on and immediately tried to avoid the smell by breathing through her mouth only, but she soon adopted the sleeve filter strategy to avoid the pestilence that surround us all. I got off at my stop on Clay St., and so did Mr. Pigpen. I heard an applause come from inside the bus as he descended the steps to the street. There was much rejoicing within the public transportation vessel for they could now breathe normally again. That was the end of my day, I went home, watched a little Letterman then went to bed to dream sweet dreams of a urineless San Francisco.

Back from AZ!

HEY EVERYONE! I just got back from a 4 day visit to the Phoenix area for a wedding. It was cool, I went to an A's Spring Training game, saw some extended family and spent a good amount of time cursing at the city planners idea of working on the freeways during the daytime hours instead of the twilight hours. (Not to mention they closed every single freeway, on ramp, off ramp and junction that I needed to use to get to the various family functions) The trip back made up for it though. Stopped by Joshua Tree National Forest, cool place, and then checked out the Salton Sea. Man that place is spooky, in a cool way. Surrounded by ghost towns and the beaches on it are covered with kajillions of crushed seashells and barnacle shells. There's no dirt to be seen, it's ALL shells. I high recommend visiting it. but yeah, I'M BACK! And still alive!

A Moment of Bliss

Walking to the bus stop after my Algebra class usually sucks ass. It ends at 10pm, and usually while I'm making my way there my two modes of transportation, the K train and the 49 bus, both pass by right before my eyes before I can reach the stop.

But the other night was different. It was raining pretty hard and I had forgotten my umbrella. Through various experiments without any real data, I've found that if you run in the rain you actually get more wet than when you walk in it. So I zipped up my jacket, pulled my collar up Bob Dylan style and trudged my way down the street.

It was cold, I was bitter and I was certain that both my public transports were going to be passing by any minute.

But then I had a moment of hopelessness, where I knew that no matter what I did now I was going to get wet and that there wasn't any point in staying angry about it. After all, water dries up eventually. I then took notice of each individual raindrop hitting the top of my head, grazing my ears and splashing onto my eyebrows and nose.

I looked up and saw a swarm of drops falling through the light of the yellow tinted streetlamp. I continued walking with my head up and began to feel the rain falling on my face. I smiled, let out a long sigh of peace and enjoyed my moment of bliss.

This experience helped me realize that moments such as this are seldom and or too far apart. I feel it's my duty to myself to seek out the things that bring me comfort and peace. Wish me luck in doing so.

Don't hate me for eating meat...

I was at Cala Foods tonight, getting some goody food. Thought I'd get some steak because it's good and it also tastes better when I cook it myself.

When I got to the line at the register there was a young emo hipster couple buying Tofu, chips and beer. The one girl took at look at my tasty, juicy, succulent slab of beef slightly appauled as she casually flipped through her thick edition of "InStyle" trying to pass of the fact that she was sickened by my choice of nutrition. She then whispered to her husband at a volume still audible by everybody in her vicinity "Hmm, soda and a big slab of beef, that can't be good for you."

I then took a look at her pale face, frail physique and bony fingers as she pointed to pictures of Lindsay Lohan in the magazine and noticed how unhealthy she seemed. And I thought to myself, "It's better to eat a reasonable amount of lean beef and help your brain development than go "veggie" and fight anemia everyday of your life." Not to mention she had a box of beverages containing toxins, and that in the grand scheme of things she's actually causing more and more cows to be killed.

Think about it, what's something that goes well with steak? BEER And by supporting the Beer company with your purchase you're allowing them to stay in existence, thus encouraging more steak and beef feasts. And then, the people who work for and run the breweries? Most likely steak eaters.

So remember, next time you buy your tofu and beer, you're still supporting the same market you wish to destroy.

Honestly, I respect vegans or vegetarians for their conscious and purposeful decision to not eat animal products. All I ask is that they try and contain their anger while I eat my hunk-a-flesh in peace. I don't judge them for eating nasty flavorless tofu, they shouldn't judge me for eating sweet beef.