a curious uni kid takes on 'merica: A dweeby day

I say I had a dweeby day today, because there were defining factors that constituted it to be so. I hit the subway and headed to downtown LA, where rich blokes in $5000 suits drive sports cars around California, Mexicans are employed for cheap labour and the poverty is so evident ...yet we all pretend not to see. There are also cops on every corner...cars align the streets. There was an African American riding a bike downtown, shouting out "ALL YOU WHITE MOTHER F******* ARE RACIST..."
*momentarily rides past me*
"How you doing pretty lady, you not racist...But ALL YOU WHITE MOTHER F****** ARE RACIST..." And repeat. Also, note to self, was about to crack open a mid morning snack of granola bars on the subway, but low and behold that's illegal and results in a $250 fine and 48 hours of community service. That's 2 hours a week for six months for having a snack. Me - the Queen of snack packs isn't terribly fond of that. Here's the thing that made up for it though; every time I sit down on the subway or a bus, the people next to me always seem to say hello and then we proceed to chat. Like, EVERYONE is the U.S does that. And then they always seem to leave warning me to "stay safe". None of this silent-don't-acknowledge-anyone-else-on-the-train-don't-make-eye-contact-oh-god-not-eye-contact crap in Melbourne. It's cool.

LA from the top

Plodded on to City Hall and met this kid called Abe who invited me down to Long Beach (another exotic suburb of outta LA) on the weekend, apparently a couple of his buddies are from the Land Down Under and have made it big on the West Coast...or something. The views from the top were pretty decent I reckon,
and these Asian travellers wanted a photo claiming I was the most beautiful tall girl in the world. I think the beauty thing was a trick so they could show all their buddies back home a novelty picture with a tall person.

I think the ultimate dweeby thing I did (besides running around town holding the map out in front of me and holding my camera taking countless photos) today would be the Court. I spied out the Los Angeles County Courthouse and found out what local cases were trying. Because I'm a dweeb, I spent two hours of my time in there, hearing first about mandatory court check ups for ex-crims and drug users blah blah (some were still under house arrest and were the most polite and considerate to talk to). Then I heard a case about a military ISSUE that was rumoured to be corrupt so the accused filed a law suit. That was the most interesting and had personal significance, shoutout to my US Army mates. A routine search of a Spanish family's home was rumoured to have not been carried out properly or there was tampered evidence or something. Not sure why it was a military issue but there were kids in uniform all over the place. There was a lot of video footage and maps and diagrams and the poor witnesses were being ripped to shreds on the stand. The lawyers were hot shot LA blokes, in expensive suits and just as cocky and arrogant as seen on TV. The courthouse looked like something out of Boston Legal, with the American flags hung proudly and cops at the door, the jury looking bored... The defence and prosecution continually argued with each other, yelling at 'Your Honour' and pointing the finger at the other party for sneaky, wrongful lawyer-behaviour. I absolutely loved bearing witness to it all. Because I'm studying criminal justice and criminology very shortly in Boston, I thought it a great way to get out of the stifling heat and for me, and that's an afternoon of quality entertainment. Not to say that it's entertainment as in a free show for all, or it's humorous, but well, I ENJOY that kinda stuff. It was fab, and I can't wait to hear cases in the courts down south in Texas, which I'm well aware have a slightly different take on the laws and absurd sentencing practices. Eg; a kid at the bus stop was telling me that the average time for a death sentence trail in 'Merica is 3 years. In Oklahoma it's 3 months.
...and Denny Crane in the Boston Courthouse. I'm hanging out for Denny Crane folks.

City Hall

Dweeb of the Day

Wait no...maybe this is worse

The rest of the afternoon was mine to check out some cool places, and I leave you with this; I sat down at a classy restaurant in LA (I'm sorry if it's bothering that I refer to everything in LA as 'exotic' or 'classy' but it really freaking is, and by default I reckon I'm a classy sheila now too)for a spot of dinner before heading to Macy's for a look.

Sidenote; Macy's was a bit of a disappointment...I really wanted a Macy's bag, but nothing seems worth buying. Yes. Bold remark, I know.

The waitress' name was Serena and after I was seated she came over to inform me that she'd be bringing some water over for "us" in a moment. With a positive attitude I informed her, "no no, it's just me, I'm alone"...and she looked instantly taken aback and then replied with "oh...but that's ok!"...a little too enthusiastically. *enter her beaming smile*
I just looked at her and I was like "I know." And then she left, embarrassed. It was one of those moments when the other person is trying to feel sorry for you and be sympathetic when you don't need it. Like when your mate loses their job and you feel sad and sorry for them but they're actually really happy about it. What, like I'm afraid to be alone?! Like I'm pathetic? What's worse is, later during my meal I was glancing absent-mindedly at the TV when an add for "christian-mingle.com" came on and I look over to find my waitress staring at me from across the room, watching the add, looking sorry for me. *facepalm*. She then proceeded to call me "sweetie" for the rest of the evening. Later, she refilled my water glass and I was journaling. For anyone who has travelled with me, my travel journal means absolutely everything to me, you see. I would be more sorry that I lost my journal than my passport abroad. NO JOKE. I freaking love that thing. So here I am, doing what I love, on MY vacation, having a great time, when bloody Serena plods on over and frightens me from behind. "Oh, are you ok sweetie? What's that you're doing there hun? Oh that's so adorable!" She then thought, since I was so sad and obviously pathetic, that it was her invitation to sit down, YES, SIT DOWN AT MY TABLE. And chat. Oh how we chatted. You could imagine what the conversation went like, she actually went so far as to ask if I actually had any friends. Yes, that's what she said; "so do you have any friends...or..?" I regret I didn't tell her that I would take my journal's company over hers or any other date anytime. Le sigh. And what's more, I gave her a generous tip, even though she irritated me, I appreciated she was trying to be nice. And after all this who-ha I've been told about how important tips are, and how waitresses need them to make a decent wage, she GAVE ME MY TIP BACK, and with a condescending tap on the back told me to keep it. Maybe I'll save it to buy a friend in Boston, since I'm allegedly so in need of one.