The Mourning After

So yesterday, my bike got stolen. Yes, my beautiful bike in which I am/was both materialistically and emotionally in love with. It got stolen right before my eyes.

I was riding home from my last day at work in downtown LA this year and got to the bus stop. The bus came, and I placed my bike on the bike rack and got on. I was standing at the front of the bus, and then at the next stop a lot of people got on, so I got pushed towards the back. A seat opened up next to this guy and he pointed at it, so I sat down and busted out my comic book to read and relax for an hour.

Everytime the bus makes a stop, I look at the bike rack.

The bus stopped, no problem. And again a few more times... no problem.

The bus stopped again, and someone approached the bike rack at the front. Now, I got cautious, and I continued watching, but the bus was *so* crowded; you could barely see through the front window because of all of the people (and I wasn't even sitting that far back, and my seat was elevated). I saw a blinky red/amber light as this guy picked up a bike, and placed it in my mind that he was putting his bike in. Why constantly think that everyone in the world is horrible?

The bus stopped again. And suddenly, it occurred to me that before I had placed my bike in the rack, I had forgotten to turn off my back light. That same blinky red/amber light. And I knew it was gone. I didn't have to go up there, but I ran and pushed people out of the way, knowing that I wouldn't see it.

And it was gone. Bam. Nothing. Done. Empty.

I yelled "Fuck" so loud, it was ridiculous. There was nothing I could do. I'm going to file a police report and see if I can get some money from Metropolitan Transit Authority for not providing me a way to actually ensure the safety of my bike. That's all I can do. And even with the police report, my subject description is as follows:

male/mexican/age 32-35/5'4-5'6/155 lbs/black/brown/dark/medium build

Now, if you live in LA or anywhere in Southern California, that description matches anywhere between 20 and 60 percent of the population.

I had never even thought about locking my bike on the rack. Actually, that's a lie. I *had* thought about it last week, and was going to get myself a light chain lock when I go back to SD on Sunday. A little too late, huh?

Some of you ride bikes, some of you don't, but we all have stuff that's of value to us. And maybe this is a pessimisitic view of the world, but maybe for the last few years I've had too much faith in mankind's ability to not directly hurt another person so senslessly. I could understand stealing something from a store, because there is not face. But from a person that you saw on the bus ... you need a certain kind of mind to be like that. Be passively defensive. Just watch your stuff. Don't let your guard down.... just so that people around you know that you are aware. It's pointless to confront someone in downtown LA, because I'm sure he was at least carrying knife. I'm not going to get myself killed over a bike. I'd like to think that my life is worth more than $800, although others may argue differently.

But you know what the worst part was? After it was stolen, I looked back at my seat, and saw that they guy who had offered me the seat was gone. I'm about 80% sure that it was him who I saw taking the bike.

So yeah. Moral? Lock your shit and don't trust the masses.


All I can do is joke that because I'm a victim of a crime, I'm going to turn into a superhero. Bobby says that he could see invisibility and flight as my future powers. That's all that I'm looking forward to right now.