Public Transportation

I cannot wait until MAX’s green line is finished! I watched as workers set beautiful brick down and it looks terrific. I love public transportation. I hate to drive. I am not the best driver in the world (I don’t pay attention as I am always running through speech drafts in my mind, or the bass line of whatever music I am listening to distract me no end), so it is best for everyone that I don’t drive. I take the streetcar and then transfer to the MAX blue or red to go to work, and then I take the MAX and transfer to a bus to get home. It is efficient for me (living downtown helps, too) and I don’t have to pay much for gas. I did fill up my car's gas tank the other day (there are times when I do have to drive out of town to far-flung places like Wilsonville), and I was glad I have to engage a gas pump only once a month. I love going over the Steel Bridge. I look out at the Willamette, and no matter how polluted it may be, I am grateful that I can have this vantage point of water every day. I grew up in the desert. While there may be peace in the desert silence (interrupted by the howl of a distant coyote or the unnerving clatter of a six-foot long rattler), there is no real peace when the heat reaches 110º in the shade. Only gasping death.

Now that public transportation is becoming more popular as the populace attempts to economize, it gets a bit crowded. Some people have difficulties with dealing with personal space. After enduring public transportation in Hong Kong, Uzbekistan, Thailand, and Turkey, I don’t know why Portlanders like to complain so much. Especially the under-21 spoiled set who seem to think that they are entitled to two seats and the highest-decibel cell phone conversation. I still don’t get the appeal of the cell phone. I understand its convenience, but really if you can’t hear the person on the other end, stop yelling louder and hang up. I wonder if it really is the convenience of being able to make a phone call nearly whenever you want or if it is the unconscious need to fill space with unnecessary vocals. Sometimes silence is all right. Try it sometime.