Streetcar caught today:


The Wonderful One

I was only going a few blocks up Market Street. Coulda walked, but that woulda been madness.

Since I moved to the mission district, I really only go downtown for business, so I havent been taking the streetcars like I used to. So, this afternoon I let all the buses I could've taken pass me on by, leisurely waiting for the 1912 car to pull up.

Surprisingly, so did most of the folk waiting for the ride up Market, most of whom weren't tourists.(Tourists dont flash FastPasses).

Yeah, you'd have to be a grinch to pass up a ride in one of the oldest streetcars around.

Plus they still have those old cow catchers on the front (to catch the wayward pedestrian .. 'trolley dodgers'). Thats not a bad idea, even today.

Its sort of a scramble to get into the old monsters, and theyre definitely not handicapped accessible. But the sight of the polished and painted wood inside, the wicker covered seats, and the leather hangstraps.. even the light seems different inside.

So, with a rumble and a chug-chug-chug-chug of the old hydraulic/air pump, we slowly meandered the few blocks.

Worth it every time.

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He doesnt say it often, but he invariably sez it well;

Los Angeles still sucks. My fiancee isn't handling is so well either. The aggressive drivers are driving her batshit. It's like I'm telling her to take Hamburger Hill everytime she has to drive somewhere. The people aren't so bad, it's just the aggregate effect of being in the heart of a place that makes no sense but does it really fast.

Yeah, my only time in LA, I felt -- bewildered.

Messed up my tiny lil mind. And I was simply a passenger on the ride.

Its funny, if you ask a New Yorker "How is New York?", (as Im occasionally asked here), they'll usually ask back 'What part?' .. because its hard to sum up in a few words.

When I asked the Angelinos I met while waiting for the bus (from cop to crook), they would simply say "It's too big."

That was sorta my take on the place after a day and a half.
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Today's horrorscope really nails it:

VIRGO.

You desire immediate victory, even though common sense tells you that you still have plenty of dues to pay. Every step in life comes with its set of requirements to get to the next step. Don't give up before you've met those requirements. If it's not working, it's nothing personal about you. It means only that you haven't yet done all the work required to make it go.

Yup. Yup.

I want move forward on a whole buncha stuff.

All it takes is money, I sigh. Swallow my delusions and just go bus a table or two.

The truth tho, is that its never that easy.

As someone told me, a long time ago, when I was a callow youth just outta high school:

You cant rush it. You have to pay your dues.

As time proved, he was right. But right now, Im straining against the restrictions...
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On the shopping list:

- microwave and cart
- rice cooker
- mini-desk for the laptops

I could also use a small table.

The irony is Ive been seeing 'em on craigslist. If I had even a lil cash, I could pick them up piece by piece.

My friends, of course, have been giving me some sympathy:

Nancy: saw it on your site. If you were closer to NY I could give you all my old furniture, micro, etc.

tigerlil: Joe, I got all that stuff if you were here. I have a microwave, rice cooker, and electric skillet in storage. Man it is cumbersome to ship when you can get a rice cooker for $5!
JPennant: aiyah, I know :/

Unfortunately, they're on the East Coast. Ah well.

Plus, there is a certain thrill to getting what you need for less than 20 bux.

Ahh, boo. Patience is a virtue.

whether I like it or not.