la traffic
january 13, 2005
i spent two hours in traffic today. 2 freakin hours of listening to the same song over and over again. i know....i could play the next song but there's something comforting about repeat. i wonder how everyone else does the commute and not go ballistic running down the freeway with a shotgun. i should have listened to my gut feeling and gone shopping or knitting at the coffee bean & tea leaf place to wait out the traffic. but no, i was begging for an aneurysm to come on.
people who don't live in LA always hear about the bad traffic. it's hard to take a decent photo of the traffic at night because well...i don't want to crash my car for the sake of show & tell. but the photo below gives you an idea of the 6 lane highway being congested. we weren't at a total standstill but inching along at 15 mph. grueling. downtown la is in the background to the left under those freeway signs. the 10 freeway is notorious for its awful commute but you gotta make a living to afford living in los angeles. i ask myself 'why' every single day.
i was taking some short cuts in the "thru lanes" and came to a standstill at one of the overpasses. when i turned my head to look out the window, i could see between the concrete slabs that there was a homeless man living under the freeway [see first photo in entry]. there he was, in total seclusion from the elements and in his own private concrete fortress. all around and above him, people in their cars had a place to go - a destination called home and there he was sitting there alone under the bright bulb of a single light with all his wordly possessions at his side.
and for a fleeting moment while sitting in the stillness of the car, i would gladly trade in my life for his.
