Interesting..

So, it's been a lovely week in Southern California. It is actually COLD at night. We haven't turned on the air conditioning in days... I think I am in love! Today, the high was about 68 BLISSFUL degrees.

After work, Scott and I met up with our friends Josh and Andrea. We decided to go to the driving range. They called and were running a little late, so Scott and I stopped at Subway first and grabbed a sandwich. As we got in the car to drive away, a man approached our car. We live in a bubble in California, 70 LONG miles away from Los Angeles- the city were Satan lives, I think. So, if a man approaches your car, it's nothing to get scared about. Scott unrolled his window. The guy was a clean cut African American, wearing a suit and tie, and driving a white Range Rover. He says "Sorry guys- I am in a really embarrassing situation. I drove down from Hesperia to look at some property and lost my wallet. I have no money to get back home. I promise I'm not some panhandler- if you give me your name and number I will pay you back."

First of all....

A) Hesperia is the armpit of California. It is north-east of Los Angeles on the way to Vegas and apparently you don't want to be there at night. He's from HESPERIA??
B) Do you REALLY think we are going to give you our personal contact information? negative.
C) If we do have cash, which probably won't be much, do you really think you will fill your gas guzzling range rover enough up to get all the way back to Hesperia?

So, Scott pulls out his wallet and hands the guy five dollars, and we continue on our way to the driving range. The more I think about it, the more I realize something just wasn't right with the whole situation. But... who are we to judge! We talked about this topic not long ago in Relief Society- in situations like this, its not our place to question what the money will be used for. If we have it, we should give it. The rest will be left up to Heavenly Father. It was just a bit odd... I was extremely proud of Scott. He works several times a week in down town Los Angeles. I don't know if anyone is familiar with "Skid Row" but HOLY cow. I have never seen anything like it. It is smack down town L.A, and is lined with tents upon tents of homeless people. Scott occassionally works right in Skid Row, where he will have to do an inspection- where he has people literally WALKING up to his car trying to open the door with him in it. Scary. I'm impressed that he actually stopped to listen to range rover guy.

We made it to the driving range. Andrea and I tend to just sit and talk for the majority of time, and hit a ball every now and then. By the time the boys were finished with all of their balls, we still had almost an entire bucket left. So, I think we will not be allowed to have our own buckets anymore.

Josh, Andrea, Scott, and myself are going to go to the Los Angeles Kings hockey game next month. I've never been to a hockey game... Scott is a big fan. We have always wanted to go down to the "Pond" in Anaheim to watch a Duck's game, but they always play on Friday night and we can't fight traffic in Orange County to get there in time. Josh found a Kings game on a Saturday night, so we are going to go. We are going to take metro into down town L.A, then hop on a city bus (should be interesting) to the Staples Center. I'm excited!! Public transportation makes me a bit nervous.

My first experience on the "L-train" in Chicago wasn't good. We were about 30 minutes out from the stop for our hotel when I had a horrible stomach ache and HAD to get to a bathroom. Well, my parents were in a different car than me, so I couldn't get off. I sat there almost in tears, practically SWEATING, trying not to go in my pants. (a little too much information, I know). After that, I swore I would never get on anything like that again.

Then.. Josie and I went to London. That was a piece of cake. The tube was a blast, and there were all sorts of people to watch. It was quite entertaining.... UNTIL- we just happened to be stuck on the tube at 5:00 when everyone was getting off of work. I have never seen anything like it. I felt like I was in a cattle car, and was gagging from all the body odor. Sick sick sick.

On that same trip, we took an actual train out to Hampton Court Palace where Henry the 8th lived.. it was quite pleasant, and I decided that I really did like mass transportation after all.

Then, just this past February I flew out to London again to visit Josie. We had pleasant experiences on the tube- saw a lot of drunk people..that's to be expected. We took a fairy over to Calais France and drove up through Belgium and Holland. We stayed at this little quaint town outside of Amsterdam called "Hotel Volendam". We took the bus the next day into Amsterdam... which brings me to my next and final encounter with mass transit. In Holland, you purchase these little cards, and depending on how many stamps are on your card, it represents how much money you have put on the card. Well, we went into Amsterdam for the day, had a ball- and when it was time to get back on a bus to go to our hotel, there was a problem. I hand the bus driver my card, and he starts almost yelling at me in Dutch, or flemish- or whatever language it is they speak over there. Josie and I figured out that I didn't have enough money left on my card to get on the bus. I panicked and kept asking the bus driver "What do I do??" He did NOT have the patience for me- everyone on the bus looked completely ticked because I was holding them up. (Stupid American) I reach for my wallet and start fumbling with Euro's trying to give him however much money he needed. He told me how much to give him, but I still wasn't very well acquainted with the Euro's, so I finally just held out my hands with my coins and just told him to take whatever... JUST LET ME ON THE BUS! Not a fun time...

So. We'll see how my time goes on the Metro into L.A. It can't be any worse than anything I've already experienced...