Buses Incorporated

"In 21st-century English, buses is the preferred plural of the noun bus. Busses appears occasionally, and dictionaries list it as a secondary spelling, but it’s been out of favor for over a century. This is true in all main varieties of English." -Grammarist.com

Now, onto more pressing matters-- the bus. Why should you take it? You don't have to. But I like it.

I like the feeling that I'm "on a ride", not having to worry about driving, parking, tickets, red lights, green lights, the car behind you that's riding way too close for comfort, the car beside you with a cell-phone obsessed young adult who is sure to cause an accident this year while in the middle of texting something like "lol that 2 funny dude".

I love Los Angeles. I think I'd be happier in New York, but who knows? I've lived in L.A. for a solid 25 years, and I've lived in New York for zero days, so if I know one thing, it's that New York is an alien planet... at least to me.

But I'm always finding interesting people on the bus. Like the silent old man who nervously made his way down the aisle, looking for a seat until deciding it would be best to sit somewhere without a stranger right next to him. He sat in the middle, on one of the seats that face the center. He had something tattooed on his forearm, I couldn't tell what. It was withering with age. His head jerked around as he frantically rubbed his own arms, stopping to think every so often, only to go back into his trance.

I reached my stop and started walking home. At the intersection, an older Hispanic lady was picking the inside of her ear. I was blank faced. I stared, judgingly, I admit. But which one of us should be embarrassed? Is it worse to do something weird, or to stare at someone doing something weird? Who am I? The king of etiquette? I waited for the little walking man to light up while I anticipated the lady catching my stare. Sure enough, she turned her head at what felt like the speed of light and caught me looking at her. Neither of us moved. We were both itching to see what happens next. Or so I thought. She went right back to picking her ear at two in the afternoon, on a Thursday.