Thursday, December 13, 2007

Do you speak english

Hey there all those circling cyber space that have happened upon this page (and of course my regular readers..all 5 of you : )
Its been another great day in the ever increasingly colder State of South California. A day that began at 6:30 for breakfast and a baking session (I made cookies to take to James). Once dressed, with cookies in one hand and my sketch book in the other I grabbed Meredith and together we made our way to the station (stopping for directions along the way).

Unfortunately we arrived late, so I missed my train but to my happiness the metro came shortly after and I was on my way to LA. It was over an hour before I arrived and it was straight to the gold line to continue to Pasadena. It was on the next leg of the journey that things began to get weird. I was first engaged in conversation with a random Latino looking for someone to talk to, after complementing me on my glasses, my looks, my socks and personality (I was sure he wanted money) he gave me his number and accompanying me down the street once I was of the train showed me were he worked and hoped to see me again later that day.

A little weirded out but holding his number in my hand never the less I kept down the street towards the studio, it was whilst crossing the road that further weirdness occurred, as I got the middle I turned when a car horn broke the silence, not seeing anything suspicious I continued, but when I got to the other side I was pulled over by a cop car!

Opening the door and stradling the side walk hitching up his belt and gun he starred at me angrily,
"what do you think your doing?"
"sorry?"
"You saw me tell you not to do it!"
"I'm sorry, do what?"
"Cross the road! three cars had to stop for you, you were almost run over! I'm not here to clean up your mess you know!"
- the light was red so the cars had to slow down anyway, and only one car slowed prematurely for me with no cars behind it!
Me:"I'm sorry"
"Can I see your drivers license"
"Sure"
"Were are you from? do you not know how to cross a road?"
"Australia"
"Right do you just cross the road willy nily there, huh, do you understand me..do you speak english?!"
"Yes, I'm sorry"
"Well do you not have road rules there, do you just cross the road whenever"
"sometimes"
"Well when your in OUR country RESPECT our road rules ok! I don't want to have to write you a ticket"
"Ok sorry, wont happen again" -

Another hitch of his belt, then he jumped back in the car and was of, probably to harrass an old granny crossing the road too slowly. A little shaken, but still determined I made my way to the building and upstairs to the studio. James wasn't there yet so I chatted to the producer and sipped a mug of water while I waited. When James arrived we spent the morning catching up, showing him my drawings and getting some feedback on my improvement and what I need to do next. They also shared around the cookies which were big hit (phew - thought I'd burnt them!)

After midday I got the feeling they were getting busy and needed to buckle down to work, so saying goodbye and promising to keep him posted I headed back out for a Jamba juice at the most lively store I've seen yet (they were all dancing and yelling out drink orders) and the two and a half hour train trips home.

The train wasn't too bad, watching an office hold a scavenger hunt party (for some it was their first time on a train), meeting a man that wanted me to mind his stuff while he paroosed the train (weird guy that kept abusing the Amtrak system) and being over charged for purchasing a train ticket on the train ("did an Amtrak employee tell you you could do that? cos they wont tell you its extra" - figures!)

Waiting at the station for half an hour Meredith picked me up and took me back to the uni centre were I grabbed yogurt and tea, then it was back to the dorm to meet Sam for a riddle and a trip back the UC for dinner (we met up with Mariko, Nami and Anna)

After spending a few hours there chatting, eating and laughing (discussing waxing, bra shopping and constipation..poor Sam) we headed back home for a spell in Jens and Namis room watching You tube videos then it was blog and eventually bed time
Until tomorrow : )

1 comment:

Ant said...

"Cross the road! three cars had to stop for you, you were almost run over! I'm not here to clean up your mess you know!" <- Ouch! :<