Are we there yet?

Heeee! I think I recognized that area from "Pretty in Pink". ???? Am I right?

holy crap - i wish transit here in toronto was that fast!!

woowoo -- am I first?! I just want to say that at least it's SAFER taking pix from the bus than taking them while driving 75 mph on the highway and trying to enable the badly-designedcamera UI on your cell phone. I nearly dropped the damned thing out of the car window twice last week. Ahem. :-)

woowoo -- am I first?! I just want to say that at least it's SAFER taking pix from the bus than taking them while driving 75 mph on the highway and trying to enable the badly-designedcamera UI on your cell phone. I nearly dropped the damned thing out of the car window twice last week. Ahem. :-)

woowoo -- am I first?! I just want to say that at least it's SAFER taking pix from the bus than taking them while driving 75 mph on the highway and trying to enable the badly-designedcamera UI on your cell phone. I nearly dropped the damned thing out of the car window twice last week. Ahem. :-)

OK, that's it, you gotta come to Boston, and BADKA* will take you to Chinatown. It's all close together and in funky old buildings along narrow funky streets, kinda like, well, the rest of Boston, only in Chinese. And it's where all the good fabric stores are, or used to be. It's also right next to what's left of the red-light district, so you can get dim sum and then wander into the adult entertainment complex (a close cousin of the Oedipus complex) down the block, if you really want to.

*Boston Area Dorko Knitters Anonymous. We take some comfort from having BAD in our name.

Okay, Laurie, I have a really important question. Is there such a thing as fried Coke? You know, the trademarked, non-narcotic kind? My friend was at a Texas fair and took some photo that heralds fried Coke. This sounds HIGHLY UNLIKELY. How do all y'all do it?

Yes, we are the fried food capital of TX. We fry *everything*.

http://www.bigtex.com/newsroom/stories/2006/0918food.html

No, Lisa, you weren't first but you were third, fourth and fifth, hehe. I had to go back and look at Roy again from yesterday. ~sigh~ I hate leaving my Teddy at home because I *have* to go into the office!

So you won't have to cut and paste . . .

Fried Coke - Contest Finalist – Smooth spheres of Coca-Cola-flavored batter are deep fried, drizzled with pure Coke fountain syrup, topped with whipped cream, cinnamon sugar and a cherry. Served in souvenir contoured glasses. (Vandalay Industries – Nimitz Dr. and Midway)

Well, not yesterday, I meant the other day. Anyway, yes, the fried Coke thing at the Texas State Fair. We are going soon so I'll have to check it out!

Signing on from Big D... fried Coke is The Big Thing at the State Fair of Texas this year. There's always some outragously unhealthy new blockbuster concession item every year; recently it was fried Twinkies. (Mmmm, Twinkies...)

Anyway, see http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/tv/stories/wfaa061003_wz_friedcoke.110192f.html

Awww - i was hoping for Laurie commentary. Why not throw in the towel and become the crazy lady on the bus who talks to herself/her camera? ;-)

Laurie,

What, no Southern-tinged voice-over? Let's have some witty narration, please! P.S. Thanks for the visit. I haven't been to LA Chinatown in like, 20 years.

I'm just jealous that you have a Chinatown. All that potential for good eating! Yum! :-)

(It's almost always about food with me).

I happened to be on the bus on a crowded day (I guess the buses were running on holiday schedule or something? Lord only knows) so I had someone sitting RIGHT BESIDE me. I didn't want to scare the poor lady.

And me talking to my camera, "Hey ya'll. Were in Chinatown, Jake..." may have done 'er in ;)

Your bus ride offers lots more interesting things to look at than mine.
However on my way to and from work I pass the zoo and when I'm not too lazy or tired to walk home in the evening I can hear big animals yell goodnight to eachother - and to me.
And once in a while I yell goodnight right back at them, occassionally frightening/surprising the odd fellow pedestrian/poor man on bike I had not seen.
Of course, now I cannot go to the zoo without wondering if the animals could be used for wool in some way of other - I bet most of them could.
Some of the ones you can touch (when no one looks) feel rather soft. And cuddly even if big.

I am *almost* ashamed to admit how much I enjoyed that! Played it several times and giggled like a loon. Wonder what the rest of the cubicle farm thought of that!

Elder son says the description of fried coke "makes my teeth hurt!"

That was mighty fast for a downtown bus. I felt the bumps too.

Oh, cubicle farms be damned, I still laugh out loud at all of your posts (especially Triple-f*cking-A post... I was ON THE FLOOR) even though they moved my department up to the "executive" floor and we're supposed to be all decorous and professional all the time. (i.e., Marisa should not be reading blogs and snarfing her triple grande latte!) Phooey.

It's as though I was there myself...

Today I decided to be brave (stupid) and snap some photos of the Balloon Fiesta going on around work. Well I got busted by security and they scolded me and then they made me take my camera to my car. So I grabbed my cup of coffee and took my camera to my car where I sat for 10-15 minutes and took more pictures. Thanks for the break Security! Unfortunately I will have to wait until I get home to post them and to look at your bus ride. "Crazy Radar going off".

Hey, looks like busses down there don't make many stops. The ones up here in Portland stop every 10 feet (or at least every bus I'm stuck driving behind)! What's up with that??!!

Couldn't view the video (work!!) again, but you still crack me up, even without the visual aids!

And the fried Coke? Um...I think I'll pass on that one. But, is Vandalay Industries real? I thought that was George's made up company from Seinfeld!

Laurie,

I thought of you when I read this article (http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-parking10oct10,0,246039.story?coll=la-home-headlines) today in the L.A. Times.

are there that many Jewish Chinese people that there would be no traffic for Yom Kippur??

We have fried OREOS here.

I am a firm believer in the "crazy is relative" theory. Of course, being from the South, I also ascribe to the "crazy is a relative" theory.

Your city transit buses are so quiet! Winnipeg transit buses all have a skreel, shhhht sound and some jerking then settling back everytime they brake and then you add on the the dinging of people wanting to get off and the odd conversation here and there.
If no one is talking and the bus doesn't sound like it's about to die any second now, we got all freaked out and got off the bus.

Does no one talk on the bus in L.A.? I get some my best entertainment all day eavesdropping on snipets of conversation on the bus. Mini glimpses into the (often) screwed up lives of others. It's better than watching soaps. I can't believe how quiet your bus is...

If you're crazy for taking video on the bus ride, what does that make the rest of us who *watch* your video of the bus ride? :) I loved it!

Aside: I was in L.A. for the first time ever this weekend, on my way to and from Bakersfield. I had to help a friend commit matrimony, or else I would have broken free and run giggling toward the yarn shops. Sigh. The things we do for friends.

Fun. It was like watching a little scene from an indie film. Maybe you've got a new line of work in your future.

And, just a little thought about Lucia's comment that the adult entertainment complex is a close cousin to the Oedipus Complex... they'd be kissing cousins, right?

Sorry, couldn't help myself.

I agree with Lucia...you have to see Chinatown in Boston. I've never really "been" to Chinatown there, but I drive kind of past it every time I go into Boston. I have heard the food there is great, and it does look very cool. Small narrow streets, lots of little shops. Very Boston, very cool.

Please, Krista, I'm just getting over a cold, and now you've made me laugh, that is cough.

I believe it was Columbus day. shouldn't you be knitting? ;) and crazy is definitely a relative. or all of them in one building on a lovely fall afternoon. now THAT is crazy...

Absolutely do NOT try the fried coke at the State Fair of Texas.

I, your humble guinea pig, tried several of the fried offerings at the fair and, well, the only one worth the coupons was the Fried Macaroni & Cheese. Yummy!

The Fried Coke is like little hardened dough turds...then they pour cola syrup over them and you have wet hardened dough turds - with whipped cream.

Again - NOT worth the coupons!

Heehee. I am impressed you refrained from providing commentary!

So soothing that bus ride was...I was already sleepy from staying up all night at the emergency clinic with my beloved dog (she's going to be fine, we think), and that made me all sleepy and content. Life is good as long as there're soothing bus rides.

I constantly think about what a dorko you are, especially these days when I'm frequently whipping out my cell phone to take crappy shots that never even make it to my blog.

But when I'm somewhere interesting, I think, "WWAPD?!" (What Would Aunt Purl Do?!) And take the picture anyway!

That bus *IS* traveling remarkably fast, especially for that part of town!

Whatever...........

Oooh - are you on one of those new accordian busses?

Are you sure Sandra Bullock wasn't driving that bus with my Keanu standing behind her???

Holy smokes, that bus seemed to make rolling stops. Do you have to jump and roll to get off?

LOL... it's an express bus, so after the last stop (near the courthouse in downtown) we go straight onto the freeway and "express" to the Valley.

Most of the time no one talks, unless someone is on their cellphone. We used to have a few talkers, but they are the exception not the norm. This is not a city bus (metro) by the way, it's a commuter bus. Different crowd, I s'pose.

One of the side benefits of moving to San Francisco is that no matter what you do/say/smell like, there will ALWAYS be someone else nearby who is way more freaky than you.
For example, I like to sing. In public. Just, wherever I happen to be. While this made me "eccentric" back East, here I barely get a second look!

I used to drive commuter transit (which is why your tale of the poor girl weeping after her bus caught fire on her first day made me cry. I could SO relate) and found that there were more talkers on some routes than others. Some of them were so chatty etc, that they'd have parties to celebrate each other's birthdays on the long ride home. The only trips that were ever as completely quiet as your commute though would be the very late night trips or very early morning (sometimes only an hour apart). . . unless you had a drunk.

I have never, ever fried Coke ... but I have fried rain.

This is true.

A long, long, time ago I thought it would be a good idea to fund my "Summer of the Grateful Dead" by selling home-made falafel out of the back of my van in the parking lot at Dead shows. So my friends and I had a propane fryer, and a sturdy folding table, and a lot of Mazola and dried parsley and garlic and falafel-making stuff.

One day I had sold a bunch of falafel when it started to rain. You know, the big drops. So I turned off the fryer, and I was frantically searching for the lid while these big, big drops were falling into the hot, hot oil, and popping and sizzling and making little bursts of rain-steam.

I realized that a guy standing nearby was watching the fryer VERY INTENTLY. Finally, he said, "Hey, like what are you making?"

So, Smartass Sally here said, "Fried rain."

He continued to watch while I continued to search for the lid.

He said:

"Cool, man .... Is it good?"

Puleeze, someone with a camera filming in L.A.? Whether you're on a bus or not, I doubt it rates even a second glance. No kidding, I was on the Metro Red Line one day, and a film crew comes running through the cars. There were a number of people that didn't even look up from their reading material.

A most interesting post. Can we now see one of the cats moving? Or of your hands knitting or purling? Here are the flying purling fingers of Crazy Aunt Purl....

Oh my. That bus was hauling ass. Are you sure it was rush hour?

Lucia, there's almost nothing left of the Combat Zone in Boston; it's almost all Chinatown, and what isn't, is being gentrified. There's a new luxury high-rise condo complex right smack in Chinatown on Washington St. where at 2am you can probably still see the working girls...the working boys are over in Bay Village.

whoa! I am LOVING the video! more please. :)

Your such a nut..what size would you like the straight jacket? I have already arranged a shared room so we can keep an eye on each other

I feel a bit travel sick now...

the Laurieland Panorama... very nice!

I love Dez's post about the fried rain! That was hilarious! So cute, hehe.

It was so quiet on the bus. All you can hear is the bus. . . no radios, no overheard conversations, no commentary. Wow. You were zippin along there, weren't ya!

I am so glad that I don't live near you because I would so get arrested for stalking!
You're too funny and so random!

I miss Chinatown and public transportation. I grew up in NYC, and was spoiled by their public transportation, I also lived in Orange County for a little while, and S. California buses scare me :)

Thank you for the random ride through Chinatown. It made my day!

Very relaxing! I haven't slept enough lately...the sound of the bus and the scenery zipping by makes me feel a bit drowsy. It also makes me want to get out of Wisconsin, where the weather is supposed to get nasty overnight, and head on over to L.A. to see my 88 year old aunt (she's in Encino actually).

I was alarmed by the fact that your bus appeared to be cruising up the wrong side of the road, and then I remembered that is how you do it over there. Now I want Chinese food. If I rode your bus I'd want Chinese food every day. But I missed your lovely southern voice commentating. Never mind if the bus thinks you're crazy, crazy is the new cute.

Dear Laurie:

Have you been reading my journal? I am older than you,I am 49, but I think we have had the same life. I have also thought that my life was a cautionary tale-haha.
Until seven months ago, I lived alone with my cats- and had the same kind of dates as you. I also knit and walk around with bags of yarn I have just bought, as well as cat food.
I just got married however, and he is a great guy. Don't give up hope. Forget Mr. X. You deserve better than that.
Yup- the minute you put those dates in your address book-something goes horribly, horribly wrong. What's up with that? I used to tell stories about my dates to get my friends laughing hysterically.
anyway, Laurie-I really like your Blog. I think you're great. I have three cats- and two of them stick together like glue-one is a tortie(Felixa) and one is half Siamese(Cupid). They look almost like your Roy and Sobakowa.

Take care Laurie-and have a glass of wine for me. (that is another cautionary tale in my life-but never mind!)

Di