I like riding the bus, but one of the things I had to get used to was the exposure to reality and interaction with real people. Normally the bus ride is pretty uneventful, but occasionally something interesting happens. Here are a few of the more interesting things that have occurred on the bus:

• Lesley and I were riding to the University District one weekend and there was a guy on the bus listening to a Walkman. He kept turning up the volume and bobbing his head and it seemed like he was really into the music. Every minute or so he'd say out loud "marijuana", as if he were singing along to the music. Kind of strange.


• The bus I take to work is normally pretty quiet, with people minding their own business on the way to work. This morning I wasn't reading my book yet when a man with messy white hair and a large, scruffy beard set down nearby. He then turned to me, and pointed at me, and asked, "Do you like steak?" Um, well, I didn't want one right then, I didn't know if he was going to give me one or something, so I said no. He looked a little confused, then started telling me that his friend was going to take him to the best steak place in town and saying that his friend orders a steak well-done with a salad with ranch dressing but he doesn't like the vegetables and something about Outback and that his friend doesn't even like the vegetables. He said a couple more things to me that I couldn't hear, but I nodded anyway, and then he got off at the next stop.


• On my way home one day I sat down next to someone and was reading my book. I noticed he was rapping quietly to himself and I tried to ignore me, though it seemed that he was rapping about me. So, anyway, we started talking and he explained that he's going to school at the U and decided a few months before that he wanted to be a rapper and that he had been spending his free time rapping so that he'd get better. He showed me one of the raps he had written and asked what I thought. Well, um, I'll just hope that he's still in school.


• Last summer, the bus was very crowded because of the high gas prices and there were some people standing up toward the front of the bus. I was seated in the middle of the bus on the way home when I heard some noise up towards the front. A couple people were arguing up front. Apparently some guy was accusing another of stealing his wallet and started throwing punches. It seemed like he was drunk or something and ther people on the bus were able to drag him off the bus.