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Feb 10, 2010 - 11:47 AM |
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Los Angeles |
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I went to LA last weekend to see my buddy, who moved up there to attend UCLA. We agreed that four months had been much too long!
So I decided to take a train, since my van would eat up more in gas just getting up there than I would spend for round-trip tickets through Amtrak. Problem is, I sort of forgot about the people you find at train stations. Kettner station in downtown San Diego was nothing-- almost quaint in fact. Union Station in LA, on the other hand, produced quite a few gems.
Now, I expect the creepy ones to ask me for a light/cigarette/light & cigarette combo. In addition to these, I had a guy ask me for money (shock!) so that he could get a bus ticket out of town. Now, was he getting a bus ticket? Probably not. But he gave me the oddest story.
"See that corner over there? That's the jail. They let me out at 2 AM this morning. But I ain't a criminal or anything."
Wait, what? Are you new at this bilking thing or something? Why would you lead the conversation off of money and down that road? I had a single dollar bill on me, so I gave him it and flashed my barren wallet and had him leave me be. Maybe that's why he brought up prison. Or maybe he was telling the truth! ...Probably not, since I saw him there on my return ride home, telling people a different story.
Then I had a homeless lady sort of wander by. She ended up standing next to my bench, digging through some trash. Free country, I don't care. Then she starts mumbling. Eh, really, I think it'd be weirder if she was a hobo who didn't mumble. But then she spins around and screams
"I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU HAVE AT HOME!"
Thankfully, she was looking next to me and not right at me. I just sat that there, looked at my watch, then sent a text to my friend:
"Oh my god please help me"
She did eventually get to the station, and we went on our way.
I had a pretty good time. When you haven't seen someone dear for a long time, you're just as content doing nothing as you are... doing something. We went to the mall and the grocery store, but didn't really do anything meaningful besides exchanging Christmas gifts. We still had fun though.
Lastly, before I had to go back to Union Station, we stopped by a Thai restaurant that has a Thai Elvis impersonator as a big draw. He only performs on certain nights though, and that night wasn't one. We decided to take a photo, but I was on the other side of the gigantic table that stretched across the room. So we did the only sensible thing:
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