White Cane Day

The bus I take everyday goes right past the Texas School for the Blind.

I'm always amazed by the blind people that get on the bus - how confidently they get around, how they communicate with everyone, how social they are, and how they all have better hair than me despite the fact that they're blind.

The other morning when I got on the bus, there were already several blind people on the bus - all wearing red shirts. I had a feeling this was going to be a special day.

At each stop, there was a line of blind people waiting to get on. To help each other find seats, those already seated pound on the empty seats enthusiastically saying, "Here! You can sit here!" *BAM!BAM!BAM!* Now, this technique works on normal days, but when you have 15 people blindly calling out and hammering on seats, it becomes total chaos and even the most finely attuned ears cannot make sense of the noise. Those getting on just stood in the isle, bopping people's shins with their canes as far as their reach would take them. This goes on for quite some time until the bus driver says, "COME ON. You're wasting daylight! I've got a schedule to keep, so SIT DOWN!"

So they sit. On top of the people pounding on seats. Which results in the sat-uponers fussing at the sittees, who fuss back saying, "Sorry, I can't see!" and this goes on and on until everyone gets shuffled into empty slots.

Then everyone is happy. Except no one can get off the bus because the canes are zig-zagging the isle like a fancy laser security system, so everyone had to get off the bus like this:



I wish my hair looked like a blind person fixed it,
Rachel

Weed.

At the bus stop today, three guys came to wait. The leader of the pack was a chatty fellow, full of conversation and news gathered from Larry King and 60 Minutes:

“When I heard Willie Nelson admit to Larry King that he had just smoked weed in the dressing room, I knew it would be okay if I told people I smoked weed. But you know, when California legalizes weed, I’m moving out west, buying and acre and a half, and I’m growing weed. Then I’m gonna sell it. I’m gonna grow and sell weed. I’m gonna be a weed farmer!”

After getting on the bus, he offered helpful insights into online dating to his pals:

“I don’t care much for all that online networking stuff. You gotta be really careful – there’s criminals on there! Plus, those girls online are crazy. The way I figure, if a chick’s alright, she won’t have to get online to find a boyfriend.”

Who says a pot-addled brain can’t put out a few gems of wisdom?

Magic Bus

This blog will be dedicated entirely to the endless entertainment I find in riding the bus to work and school everyday.

I'll present photo series and regale you with tales grown of public transportation because these are the things that need to be shared with people who drive home alone, in the relative quiet and boring of their own cars, everyday.

In the end maybe you'll decide to give public transportation a try; if not for environmental reasons, for the adventure of it.