I've been taking BART to get around more in the last couple of years than I have in my entire life put together. I like the convenience it offers but sometimes it can be frustrating. I started typing an open letter that I wished that all BART riders could read. I think it would make everybody's train riding experience better, or at the very least, less painful.
Well, it turns out that I have a lot to say and it's waaaay too long for just one post, so I'll post a bullet point or two each time. This way I can keep adding to it as I think of more things that piss me off each day I commute to and from work.
Open Letter to all BART Riders
This letter is addressed to all you riders of the Bay Area Rapid Transit.We’re all stuck on the trains together, for better or for worse.For some, this is the most convenient way to get to your destination… for others, this might be the ONLY way you can get to where you are going.Here are some common sense etiquette guidelines that, if followed,will make the ride feel much less stressful for everybody.
When on the escalators at the stations, please stand on the right hand-side if you are not planning on walking up or down the escalator.This leaves the left hand side as the passing lane for those who are in a hurry.Yes, this means you, couples who want to stand next to each other holding hands.You can stand in front of each other, single file, for the30 seconds you’re on the escalator.Some of us need to catch the train, or get out of the station as quickly as possible because we’ve got things to do.
This is not a bad problem during the weekday mornings, as it seems like everybody’s a seasoned BART rider and knows the protocol.It’s worst on Saturday and Sunday, (amateur hour).It just drives me bonkers! During the week, if there is one person standing on the left, it's not too difficult to get them to move over as they quickly realize that there are people trying to pass. On the weekend though, you'll have the crowds clogging up the escalators and you can't bully your way through them like you can if it was just one or two people. Kind of like when you're on I-5 and you're stuck behind a bunch of slow cars in both the right and left lanes... not much you can do to pass. I wish BART officials could post signs on the escalators similar to the "Slower Traffic Keep Right" signs that they have on the freeway... hell, they can even use the exact same wording!
I met Clarke (aka Brian Clarke, Clarkie, BJ... ok, he doesn't actually like the name BJ, I just like to bring it up to piss him off) in the dorms at Sonoma State in 1996. We were in the same suite and our bedrooms were next to each other. Our immediate first impressions of each other that we formed as we walked to the Commons to purchase our parking permits together were quite off. I thought he was a frat-boy, douchey, wanna-be player because when I asked him where he transferred from he replied, "I went to DVC in the East Bay... yeah... there were tons of hot chicks there!" Clarke thought I was a typical hip-hop Filipino guy because I asked him if he liked rap music. I was actually asking him because I did NOT like rap music and hoped that he wouldn't be blaring it at the dorm. Anyway I was going through my Facebook pictures and noticed that there are LOT of pictures of the two of us over the years hamming it up for the camera. I don't really know what makes us act like imbeciles when the camera is pointing at us, but we just can't help it. Here are a few pictures that showcase our bromance over the years! Enjoy!
Update: No homo!
This was taken at the Sonoma State Dorm cafeteria. I forget why Tony the Tiger was there, but we knew we just had to get our picture taken with him!
One of the first group costumes that we started doing for Halloween or Bay to Breakers. He was Elder Brian Clarke, and I was Elder Daniel Galvez, Mormon Missionaries.
This was our first Bay 2 Breakers... we were lower-income, rural Caucasians (aka White Trash) although I think I looked more like a Mexican gardener.
New Year's Eve in San Francisco... yes, we do look super gay!
Halloween... this year we didn't match costumes, but this is probably one of my favorite pictures!
Bay 2 Breakers 2008... we were beauty pageant contestants with funny "Miss" names. I was "Miss O'Horny" get it? get it?
Kelly's wedding... we're doing our Captain Morgan imitation... funny, I don't think we had any captain in us... we're just goofy sober!
Clarke's dinner at Cafe LuLu in San Francisco
One of our many joint Birfday celebrations... we're born one week apart. We decided to pay homage to John Belushi in Animal house and have toga party! He was Clarkimus Maximus and I forget what my name was... I think it was Danimus Ultimus
Bay 2 Breakers 09... We were boy scouts from Troop 069.
Playing around with the photobooth special effects on my Macbook.
New Year's Eve in Tahoe... we did snow angels in our swim trunks... in the hurry to jump back into the hot tub, Clarke slipped on the deck, fell and crashed into the side of the hot tub... I think the sound of the impact was heard for miles around.
Clarke likes to copy me and buy the same car I do. The Element, though, is the perfect car for camping! Which way to the beach Clarke? This is the first known photo of the two of us... We're eating crappy cafeteria sandwiches during a dorm field trip to Goat Rock Beach on the Sonoma Coast. This is us, about 13 years later, also on the Sonoma Coast. We tried to recreate the above picture but alas, we didn't have any crappy sandwiches and I sat on the wrong side. Look how far we've come. :)
As my parents can probably attest, the most common question I asked growing up was “why?”Why is the sky blue? Why do some months have different number of days? Why do we fart?The list goes on and on…I was quite the inquisitive kid, and my mom preemptively answered a lot of my questions by getting me a lot of “did you know” type books…Giant encyclopediaesque books with random facts about everything a kid could ever wonder.Mind you, there was no Internet back then and I probably would have (or maybe even did) drive my parents batty with all my questions.Plus, that’s how I learned about the birds and the bees.I was able to stop my dad at the beginning of his attempt to tell me about where babies came from by telling him that I already knew.I think we were both relieved he didn’t have to say “vagina” and “penis.”The books helped answer all my curious questions as well prepared me for being a half-way decent trivial pursuit player as an adult.
To this day, I am still the same way… always asking “why?”Some people may find this trait to be irritating, thinking that I’m just trying to be difficult or stubborn.In actuality, I’m quite an open-minded person.Opinionated, but open-minded.You just have to convince me that you’re right.If you can’t, or do a bad job of defending your point, then I will hang onto what I think.
If I could ever meet a person who designs remote controls for DVD, CD or even VHS players for that matter, I would ask them why they programmed an “open/close” or “eject” button.I think it’s an idiotic button.If you don’t give it much thought, it may seem like a sensible button.It is, after all, one of the most often used functions the player performs.But if you really think about it, what are you trying to accomplish when you push that button?You’re either about to insert a dvd/cd or trying to eject it.Why have a button on a remote control to do that when you’re immediately going to have to walk on over to the unit anyway to finish your mission?Couldn’t you just push the button when you got to the player?I also wonder if anybody else ever wonders this question.Am I the only one who thinks it’s daft to, after watching a dvd, hit the eject button, then walk over and remove the dvd?Heck, the button is usually right next to the tray!Ugh! In my opinion, it’s absolutely ridiculous for that button to exist, but I’d bet to say that 95% if not 100% of remote controls have that function.Ok, that’s enough ranting for now… I don’t know if anybody will answer that question for me, but if you can gander at an answer, I’d really like to hear from you!
"She will listen to me When I want to speak About the world we live in And life in general Though my views may be wrong They may even be perverted She'll hear me out And won't easily be converted To my way of thinking In fact, shell often disagree But at the end of it all She will understand me" -"Somebody" by Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode has been my favorite band since... well, since the days when I used to spell the word favorite the British way (favourite). Ha, I just noticed that my computer's dictionary is flagging it as a misspelling. So yeah, they've been my #1 on my list since I was a 13 year old kid in Singapore. "Somebody" has always been one of my favorite songs by dM. I think it's the best love song ever written, and it doesn't even use the word "love" anywhere in the lyrics. It's kind of why I titled this blog with inspiration from the line "The world we live in, and life in general." I wrestled with what to call this blog for a while, even thinking of doing a BART themed title, like "please stand clear of the doors," because I'd ostensibly be writing a lot of these entries while I ride the trains to work each day. In the end, I figure I'd go with a rewrite of a line from one of my all time favourite songs in the world, since after all, this is a blog about Dan's life in general.
This is officially my first entry into this blog.I’ve considered writing one for many years now but a combination of laziness, procrastination and a little insecurity about my writing abilities has really kept me from actually going through with it.After seeing a few of my close friends, notably Michelle and Megan, maintain a current (somewhat) and entertaining (always) blog, I’ve decided to give it a try myself.I find myself riding on BART for about 1 hour and 36 minutes each workday, not counting the time spent at stations waiting for the train.That adds up to a lot of free time each week.I’ve typically spent it sleeping (or trying to sleep), reading, listening to my iPod, texting, daydreaming or a combination of the above.I figured I’d take advantage of the free time and try to put my thoughts down on paper.Well maybe not actual paper, but paper in the form of MS Word on my laptop.
Sadly, I am now one of those douches you see on the train with their laptops open, presumably “working.”Most of the time if I can see their screens they’re just actually playing Tetris, solitaire, or some other video game.I guess there really isn’t anything wrong with it, but I always kind of found it a little pretentious to bust out your laptop on the train as if to announce, “hey look at me everybody! I’m so important and busy that I have to work during my commute!” or “hey look at me! I’ve got an expensive laptop, I’m so special!”But isn’t that true with so many technological advances?The first few people who adopt it are looked on as pretentious bastards flaunting their wealth, but then when that technology becomes more affordable and every Joe Schmoe has one, it becomes accepted?Remember when only businessmen, mobsters and drug dealers had cell phones?The rest of us thought they were big douches!Now it’s 2009 and I’ve had a cell phone for almost a decade and I have a hard time knowing how I lived most of my life without one. Heck, I haven't had a land line in about 8 years!
Anyway, back to the topic of this blog…Please forgive the bad grammar, especially run-on sentences.It’s been a long while since I’ve actually had to write anything more formal than a status update on Facebook so I’m a little rusty.I’d rather not worry about that and concentrate on getting more entries in.I’m not sure entirely what direction the content will go, but I can see myself writing down funny observations or thoughts that come to my mind.I can also definitely see myself ranting about something that truly annoys the heck out of me.I’ll probably post some pictures from trips and events.Maybe I’ll include a restaurant or movie review.Maybe I’ll post a link or a video that I particularly liked on the web.Or maybe I’ll just start typing stream-of-consciousness style and just ramble.I’m not sure who’ll end up reading this blog, but whoever you are, thank you for checking it out, and hopefully I made you smile, laugh, think or cry… well maybe not cry…I don’t want to make anybody cry, unless they’re happy or laughing tears.
So there, I think I got the hardest part done… the first entry.Hopefully I’ll follow through with this more than I did with various exercise regimens in my past.Until next time…
