Collaboration: Jackie H. and Yenoh Honey

We got on the #6 bus at Haight and Laguna on Saturday, 2/8/06, at 2:07 p.m. The following are things we observed while on the bus:

Haight and Steiner: Our bus stops, and our bus driver runs out of the bus and across the street to another #6 bus, going in the opposite direction. The other bus driver hands her an umbrella. She runs back to our bus and we keep going. Meanwhile, a girl on the bus runs to the open bus door and yells, "Hey!" to some guys, sits back down, and smiles. One guy smiles at her, raises his hands, and mouths some words at her.

For awhile, we're distracted by our other mission of taking pictures of people's feet. We congratulate ourselves on our multitasking prowess.

2:15, Masonic and Haight: Pretty much everyone gets off the bus. I comment to Yenoh that I've never taken this bus any further than this; I usually get off here too.

2:22, Parnassus and 4th Ave.: The only people left on the bus at this point (at UCSF) are us and a woman wearing ladybug galoshes, who got on in Cole Valley with a bunch of shopping bags.

2:24, Judah and 9th Ave: The bus driver (who we think seems really friendly and are beginning to enjoy her as a person) honks at a turning N-Judah MUNI and waves. Apparently her geniality extends to other types of public transportation drivers. Three more people get on the bus. Two of them sit directly behind Yenoh and I, despite there being a ton of room elsewhere. This doesn't make us uncomfortable though.

2:27, 9th Ave. and Ortega: The two people behind us get off. Yenoh and I agree that this area feels more like Oakland than San Francisco. We realize we are all alone, and we move to the very back of the bus, following the directions of the red arrows that state "Please Move Back."

2:29, Quintara and 14th Ave: The bus stops at a cul-de sac. We sit there for a minute, and the bus driver yells, "This is the last stop," and we take this as a hint we should get off the bus, even if we don't want to. We giggle and get off. Yenoh takes a picture of the view while I shelter in this little waiting area. The driver disappears into a green door at the side of the shelter. We speculate that this is a bathroom, which is confirmed when we hear the toilet flush. This whole time, the bus engine is still on, and its windshield wipers are going. The driver says, "You can get back on, I just didn't want you guys sitting in there by yourselves." We get back on. She asks, "Are you doing a journey?" I say, "Sort of," even though I don't really know what she meant by that. I tell her we're riding the bus for the day, and she asks if it's for school. We tell her no. Yenoh explains it's for a game. The bus driver seems a bit confused by this, but still cheerful. I ask to take her picture, and she gets really shy and cute about it, so I take her picture with her covering most of her face with her jacket. We go to the back of the bus. She gets off again.

Yenoh and I walk to the back of the bus and sit down, discussing what she might have meant by "journey." We decide we have no idea. Our bus driver talks to another #6 driver, who pulled up behind our bus. They're standing under that overhang.

2:40. The bus pulls away from the cul-de sac. Yenoh and I are bored. We observe multiple people around UCSF taking the bus for only one stop. Yenoh draws/takes notes and I take pictures. We've switched these roles a few times already.

2:53, Upper Haight. More people on the bus. A guy gets on who is somehow managing to listen to really loud headphones and talk on his cell phone at the same time. Yenoh draws his picture. A crazy woman gets on in the front and yells that she's been robbed of $20 million. She says she's getting ready to tell us what San Francisco is all about. A couple sitting next to her move across the
bus. Yenoh and I discuss how rude this is, that if we were sitting next to a crazy person, we would just tough it out and wait for our stop. When the couple gets off at the next stop, we note that this sentiment is especially valid if we were only waiting for one more stop. The crazy woman keeps scratching her head. Yenoh tries to draw her picture but remains dissatisfied with her multiple attempts. She tells me this woman's lips are particularly difficult to draw.

3:02, Haight and Laguna. We're back where we've started. Yenoh and I are still a little bored. We opt to abort the mission to go all the way down Market and back to Haight and Laguna and go shopping instead. We get up before our stop at Powell Street, and the bus driver is cool enough to let us off immediately, since we're sitting in traffic. We wave goodbye.

We realize that it's a relief to be walking again, in the open air. We feel overwhelmed by the crowds around Union Square and note that we both feel a little carsick. Shopping commences. We later take the MUNI back to Van Ness mostly to avoid taking another bus, and walk up Page Street to my house.