Category: reflection

I Dream of Muni: Fantasy Fare Inspector

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OMG, shoes
Photo by Flickr user WarzauWynn

Muni worked its way into the subconscious mind of Andrea of Hula Sunset. Also starring in this episode are Hubby, fare inspector, and Mom. Why does Mom always show up at the most inopportune places in dreams?

Hubby and I were going to catch the F-Market from our house to go to work. We got to the platform and I realized that my Fast Pass wasn’t in the little pocket of my purse where I usually keep it. It was in the jacket pocket, and of course I had left that jacket at home. Being that we’re way too poor to pay a fine should a POP officer request to see our POP, we decided to not take the train to work, but rather take the train home.

While we’re on the train two things happen. 1) my mom is on the train 2 seats ahead of us, notices us and gets all mad that we didn’t ride the train with her in the first place, and 2) we realize how stupid we are riding the train because we don’t have POP and it doesn’t matter that we’re going home to get my Fast Pass instead of going to work.

Sure enough, the fare inspectors get on the train. When they get to Hubby and me I explain to the nice POP lady what happened, and thank her for not being my least favorite fare inspector who I’m sure is out to get me, and I ask her where my favorite fare inspector is, y’know, the really large friendly lesbian with a crew cut — tough but friendly and fair. She smiles and walks away.

No ticket for me. Thanks dream-inspector.

Hubby and I get off the train and I don’t remember anything else except for a weird stairway, some kids playing lemonade checkers, and my mom giving me crap again for not riding the bus with her.

Yup, we dig Muni dreams. I’m still waiting to dream the one where Lou from Hot Tub Time Machine and I ride the 38 to save the world, whacking zombies with golf clubs along the way. Come on, REM sleep, you can do it!

Category: diaries, reflection Tags:

Muni Book Club Chapter 1, N-Judah

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Riders James, Katie, and their friends started a really cool site called Between the Lines to document who’s reading what on public transit in our literary city. Here’s what they spotted this weekend on the N-Judah. Maybe you’ll see James and Katie soon on your line so you can share your discerning book choices.

After judging a book by its very intriguing cover from a few seats over on the N-Judah, Between the Lines had the pleasure of briefly chatting with Grace Foster about her chosen Muni tome, The Second Happiest Day. When she warned us that it was a rather obscure book, we were hooked.

How’d you find this book?

Grace said that she had first heard of the book through a review in either the San Francisco Chronicle or the New Yorker, and that she borrowed the book from the Oakland Public Library. She also told us that the author, John Phillips, was actually writing under a nom de plume. His real name was John Phillips Marquand, Jr., (a previous reader of this particular book thought it was important to pencil in). He was the son of the famous John Phillips Marquand (whom your author had never heard of).

Should we read this on our commute, too?

Grace said that she generally liked the novel, which was written at some point in the 1950s and involved the lives of upper-class characters. She said it was “typical of a forgotten genre,” and was a rather obscure work.

Turns out Grace was right. According to this Washington Post report, it is out of print and “long ago disappeared into the remotest shelves of the secondhand bookstores.” Good find, Grace, and thanks for chatting!

Does it seem like everyone is reading the same thing on your bus? Have a better idea of what they should be reading? Share it with your fellow riders.

Category: diaries, reflection Tags:

Sonic Enhancement on Muni

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Video by RobotGirlAttacks

Yesterday, we tweeted SFist’s Afternoon Palette Cleanser, “Opera” on the Muni. There’s so much to say about that, but I think SFist’s Jay summed it up just fine:

“[T]his is a town that loves wackiness and loves to interact on public transportation.”

Damn, that would make a nice Muni Diaries tagline, dontcha think?

Anyhow, to continue that theme, we bring you this (improv) ditty from the back of the bus. My favorite part is the girl near the camera, who seems none too thrilled, but then starts bobbing her head around 0:36. Rhythms can be infectious that way, eh?

Category: diaries, reflection

Mister Muni Manners

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see
Photo by Flickr user annnna.

For better or worse, this can go straight into our warm-and-fuzzy category of Muni stories.

I was on a 49-Van Ness/Mission trying to get home one evening after work. It was a really nice day: one of several schizophrenic, nice weather vs. crappy weather ones we’ve been having. As usual, the bus was full by the time it got to my stop. I grabbed a spot, held on, and spaced out. Then, I hear the tiniest “excuse me.” It sounded like it came from a fairy sitting in someone’s pocket. I looked around and didn’t see anything, so I commenced spacing.

I heard it again, then looked down at a little boy sitting in a seat near me. He looked from me to his dad, who indicated that he should give up his seat for the nice lady (hey, that’s me!). But he had to say it himself: “would you like to sit down?” asked the tiniest, politest person I think I’ve ever met.

I thanked him, but declined the seat. On my way out, I told his pop that he had a really nice boy.

1) Yeah, yeah, I don’t care if pop only does that to get at the ladies. It’s still nice.

2) I’m not gonna lie, I think it’s bogus when men push me out of the way to get to a fresh seat first. Equal rights and chivalry aren’t mutually exclusive, after all. So it made me extra happy to see semblances of it on the bus.

3) Did I mention I was on the 49? And that something nice happened on it?

Category: diaries, Funny: Muni LOLs, reflection Tags: ,
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