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.