route 4.5

2010/04/06: I've decided my favorite seats on the bus are the ones right behind the rear wheel well. Good hock-massage.

SARS masks, they come into and out of vogue intermittently. Every time, I'm reminded of the teeny Asian women who wear Kobe sleeves and Robocop visors whilst driving obnoxiously large SUVs around the Rowland Heights area.

2010/04/10: Don't talk to strangers is bad advice. Tonight I had a conversation with a gentleman who admitted to not taking the bus much. He asked about my iPod and we got to talking hi-fi; he told me about running Bose mids/hi's and massive JBL woofers thru Marantz tubes and a Nakamichi power amp. I drooled a bit, picturing with my ears a system you couldn't listen to painlessly past the third volume notch.

We got to talking music and he really opened up; I knew I'd found a compatriot when he told me he hated autotuned vocals and that the blues/soul genres are bound for a comeback. Currently his 'ladyfriend' is a Capitol Records exec, and he told me a bit about his experiences in the music biz. He ran Windy City Productions out of Chicago and networked with what I consider to be the who’s-who of the time. Dropped names like B.B./Albert King, Stevie Ray Vaughan, the Cars, Janis Joplin, and Billy Joel. Said he saw that mean fiddler from the GEICO commercials play an after hours show for 15 people in a dive bar. He was an intriguing character and a good conversationalist; it could have all been an elaborate ruse, but I didn’t get that delusional addict vibe from him at all. He had a “genetic terminal illness” and wore green Hurley shoes with yellow stripes.

2010/04/09: Didn't occur to me before, but buses have rush hours, too: between 7-10a and later from 2-5p. This - 930p - is the latest I've been on the public access. Drivers are starting to look more familiar, I recognize the bald white guy with the leg tat, the Persian looking lady with her hair in the severe bun, and the super-nice black gentleman with the salt and pepper beard.