Tamales at NoHo station

It had been a while since I've last went to work via the NoHo station, today though, since I'm going to play tennis after work, I decided to drive to the park and ride. Whenever I get the chance I get me some of Jilmar tamales. It's an MTA certified vendor just outside the station. I believe he sets up shop sometime around 5 ir 5:30. He has your most basic and popular ones: pork, chicken, beef and cheese with jalapenos. This time I got me two of the chicken with salsa Verde. One to eat there whilst I waited for the Santa Clarita and the other to eat later on at work. If you ever travel on Metro to NoHo early in the morning give these tamales a try. Of course they won't taste like abuelita's tamales but are still good. When I order mine today, he asked me whether I wanted spicy or mild... If anyone knows me already you know my response... Needless to say, I was offended lol.

I could be stuck in traffic.

But instead I will be relaxing and probably end up taking a nap. Valencia to Compton is a long commute you know.

Public transportation versus driving.

I live in Compton at the moment. My workplace is all the way in Valencia. That is a 100 plus mile roundtrip everyday. When you take into consideration Los Ángeles notorious traffic that is a lot of time driving on an already long commute. If it were up to me I would not drive at all, however there are times when I'm either running late or I have errands to run or important places to go to after work.

Up unto last year the company I work for was located in Van Nuys and things were quite easier there. When I worked in Van Nuys I would take public transport more often than I do now, it was much easier then. Sometimes I would do a bike/public transport combo and after work I would ride my bike from Van Nuys to the NoHo Red Line Station, to Burbank or even to downtown L. A. Man, do I miss those times.

People often ask me, why if I have a car and can drive, would I rather take public transport. In a city like ours that is very car eccentric it's a very difficult task to do. I will list a few reasons why I do:

When you take public transport, yes you are at the mercy of the bus or train but with careful planning and giving yourself ample time that should not be an obstacle. You have the freedom of relaxing and don't have to worry about the stress some if the drivers out there can produce. You are free to sleep if you choose to. You are free to read the paper. You are free to think or meditate. You can just relax and enjoy the scenery, have some alone time with you and your thoughts. Upon arrival of your destination you can be relaxed and stress free.

Sure when you drive you have the freedom of mobility and not feel as rushed... But at what price. People complain that taking public transport takes away time in our daily fast paced lives. Maybe that is our problem to begin with. We live in such a fast paced society that we have forgotten the simple pleasures in life. Maybe that's why we're so stressed all the time and why overall as a society we are struggling with our health. We rather feel like we have control of things when in reality we are losing control. We are losing control of our health and missing the big picture. We walk less, we exercise less. The average person drives to the store or other nearby errands that could easily be accessed either by walking or biking and then we wonder why we don't have any energy, why we are always tired or even in a bad mood. Walking and taking public transportation would alleviate much of our current problems and state of mind. However reliance on cars is very hard habit to break.

Which seat do you prefer?

As anything else in life, when it comes to public transit, we have choices; amongst them being were do we prefer to seat. Not only do we tend to have preferences as to where we seat, but also there's a reason, many a time even subconsciously.

When you take a bus... Which seat do you prefer and why?

I as often as I can, prefer the back of the bus to the right. I find this particular one to be the most comfortable for me. I feel like I have a quick visual access to everything that goes on the bus.

Other people would never seat in the back even if you paid them. Some out of fear if anything should happen no one would notice or care what's going on, while others prefer the front out of entitlement in their minds. As if they were to seat in the back, it would belittle or depreciate them some how.

There are others that like all the action and are very talkative and try to be in the middle so they can mingle as much as they can and meet new people.

Yet there are others that could care less where they seat. They just use the bus and space everyone else and don't want to be bother. All they care about is getting to their destination safely and whatever happens in the journey getting there is neither of consequence nor worth engrossing in.

Do you have a preference where you seat and why?

Next departing train

Today, as I was heading home from work. I happened to see an addition to the usual Red Line screen. Aside from the next train to Union Station in the NoHo Station, there was a "This train departs next sign," just like the one that shows when a train is approaching.

205 Approaching

This footage was taken on my cell phone camera as my 205 was approaching for my last leg of my daily ride home in Artesia Station

MTA Blue Line by night

The other night, as I was walking home from the Compton Blue Line Station, I took a few seconds video footage of a northbound train. I don't know, but to me, there's a beautiful thing I can't describe about a train picture/video by night.