Alternative lifestyles

Three guesses as to where this old biddy probably lives

I had to do a bit of grocery shopping this morning and happened to pass by a gas station. I nearly had myself a damn heart attack. Now, I don't want to get into a gas price debate or rant...but holy motherfucking shit...it's seriously ridiculous. In a way though, it kinda makes me feel slightly better about not having a vehicle of my own.

I mean, there are those occasions where I enjoy taking a little drive somewhere (say, for instance, if I'm testing out a mix CD that I've made for someone). However, I mostly find driving to be pretty big hassle, thanks to the other idiots in cars around me.

Public transportation is supposed to relieve just this type of stress (supposed to, being the key words in that sentence). Don't get me wrong, I'm all for public transportation, just not when it's done in a half-assed way. Which is unfortunately how it's done in Oklahoma City.

The lady pictured at the top of this post is pictured on the front of the OKC Metro Transit page. She's happy, because
"The way [she sees] it...[she] can travel independently to the doctor, grocery store and [her] friend's house - with services that meet [her] special needs!"

The way I see it, her doctor is probably at one of the metro area hospitals, she probably shops at ghetto-ass Buy For Less, and both she and her friend probably live in Section 8 housing.

And really, she isn't to blame for the shitty public transportation in this city. But outside of the downtown area (where no one really lives anyway), the bus really only runs between the mall, the ghetto, the hospital, Wal-Mart and every goddamn Buy For Less in the city. So, basically...a bunch of places that I don't want to go to any-damn-way, and one place that if I needed to go there, I wouldn't to go there by bus.

Even the actual bus stops in Oklahoma City are a joke.

One pole. Two signs. Genius.

Today all the local news stations were talking about how people should try to find alternative modes of transportation. I guess they weren't kidding, because you literally have to try to find a damn bus stop. And good luck trying to "find" the schedule for the bus (unless you have internet), because they are rarely ever posted at the stop.

I'd say that 75% of the bus stops are a pole in the ground with a tiny-ass sign that reads "Bus Stop", 20% of the stops are a pole next to a bench, and maybe 5% of the bus stops have some kind of protection from the elements, and like 2.5% of those covered bus stops have signs that say "Closed" underneath the sign that says "Bus Stop".

"Ooooooooooklahoma, where the wind goes sweeping down the plain!" Yeah, and it's hot as hell, too.

Even the nearest bus stop to my house is almost a good 2 miles away, which is the icing on this cake of inconvenience. It's not like the city doesn't warrant a decent transporation system. There are definitely enough people that live here...so, seriously, what is the big effin deal, already?

That $21 million spent on a dumbass dome for our capitol building could have been used for something that everyone could have benefitted from. In fact, the capitol was actually more unique when it didn't have the dome.

Oh man, 2030 is gonna be fucking fabulous!!!

But I guess you really can't expect anything else from this state.

Go, Sooners!