The City Bus Chronicles for Friday, March 1st, 2013

To keep track of my recent experiences on the Transfort bus system, in Ft. Collins, Colorado, I've been writing myself draft messages in my phone. This is an edited collection of those messages from the past few weeks.

Route 19 is my morning bus to FRCC. Lately there have been some peculiar characters riding it. Normally, things aren’t as weird as they have been and more quiet. Even when there is only one passenger besides me, certain characters make ridding the bus miserable. A prime example of this would be a guy in back of the bus swearing loudly while talking on his cellphone. "I'm sorry" was a phrase heard uttered to the bus driver as I got off.

My morning wait for the bus involves waiting just across the street from a major construction zone. I was wearing a red coat waiting for the bus one cold morning. The bus driver thought I was a construction flagger and stopped because of my coat. The real flagger was out of sight behind me wearing fluorescent green clothing.

Some drivers are nice enough to announce the all major streets even though I'm the only one on the bus. Others hardly care. Quiet students going to high school ride the 19 frequently. Most people riding the 19 are CSU or FRCC students though, which makes for quiet trips across town.

However, there are characters who seem to ride the bus for fun, and warmth. One morning, people were getting on at usually vacant stops. A creepy guy got on the bus two stops before my stop at FRCC. At the next stop a young lady got on. The creepy guy started asking her her name, where she worked, went to school, etc. Very creepy indeed. I got off fast at FRCC and left that situation behind.

The creep factor is unavoidable when riding route 1 as I do in the afternoons. Seeing an old lady with missing teeth, with the ones remaining looking like fangs. She was trying to say hello to everyone on the bus, even those in the far back like me. One has to feel sorry for the situations many are in.

Sometimes someone who you think isn't great turns out to be a nice social companion. One such case was a bearded man wearing an orange full body suit. I asked if it was for a job, to which he responded it was what he wears for road construction flagging. As non standard as it is, it would work well. Wearing five layers and the suit was his remedy for cold weather. Then he jokingly said that he came to court in it and was thought to be the prisoner. I'm not sure how true that is, but it makes sense to me. 

Little Shop of Physics Open House, February 23rd, 2013

You should come if you can, the Open House is an awesome event I'll be volunteering at with the Little Shop of Physics (LSOP). Its on Saturday, February 23rd in just a few weeks. See the image below for more info. Other writings of my past LSOP work are in previous blog posts.

I started a Google+ page for LSOP where I've been posting some of my photos. Here is a link to it: https://plus.google.com/115475319739095432920/posts?hl=en

The City Bus Chronicles For February, 9th, 2012

I still take bus route 19 in the morning. However, I have to take the 1 home or wait another hour for the 19. Its a calm bus ride, since its mostly young students going to FRCC or Rocky Mountain High School. Its not the same with new drivers. Sometimes the 19 is late, or early. Luckily I have not missed it thus far.

Mostly, the people riding the 19 are either going to FRCC, or are high school students riding free with their school ID's. Its very unusual to find myself the only passenger, but it does happen on occasion.

Riding the 1 in the afternoons is either ok, which is rare, or I find myself having to ignore the randomness of the public taking the bus. From FRCC to the Mall Transfer Point, things are generally quiet. As soon as people get on though, things get crazy. Recently, a lot of very much stoned people have been riding, smoking nonstop at bus stops.

The homeless, and otherwise low income populations make frequent use of route 1. Sometimes though, a nice family with lots of kids and huge strollers ride the bus for fun. Its nice to see cute, well behaved kids. Then there are the times when I have to feel sorry for someone. For instance, an older guy was reading "How to Survive Bipolar Disorder" This book was quite visible to me in the back of the bus. Another lady got on and noticed the book and they stared talking about their personal experiences with it. 

I got off early downtown and walked part-way home happy to escape this scenario, which was quite tame compared to others. Walking home from various bus stops in the downtown area has become a pleasure for me, as I can vary my route a lot and decompress from riding the bus.

A new semester brings new people waiting at bus stops. Whats unexpected to me is that there happen to be more unexpected nice people wanting to chat, even on the 1. Recently, a guy got on at the mall transfer point, and I offered him the seat next to me. He sat down and for the rest of the ride we chatted. The "death" of print media was his first topic, then the magazine he was reading. Popular Science seems to be a common magazine that we enjoy. Then, going by a major construction zone on College, he made comments on how much activity there was in that area. He got off at the Safeway, which had commented earlier that he likes the underground parking garage there. I got off at another stop downtown, a ways before the downtown transit center, and proceeded home from there.

Another Intro to Myself

I will have more blog content coming soon in 2013. Google+ has been my most active piece of social media recently with a lot of photography coming. This in an intro I wrote for the Tips From the Top Floor Community there.

Hi. My name is Oliver. I'm 20 and currently live with my parents in Ft. Collins, Colorado. Photography has been something I've done since I was 7. Being handed disposable film cameras multiple times on family trips in Europe was great. My parents opted to get the film processed and printed while on the trips, rather than carry the cameras home. Having that "almost" instant look at what I had done really took hold. The first digital camera in our house was a family camera, but I used it all the time.

In High School I took a few photography classes and learned the ways of 35mm film. Using a Konica Autoreflex TC SLR camera from 1965 really was enjoyable, so I shot film for 2 years. It really changed the way I approached photography. At that same time I joined Poudre High School's FIRST FRC team, Alpine Robotics, team 159. Although I didn't manufacture any major components for robots, I helped redesigned their website, which now has a new version by other team members. I also helped with social media and PR for the team. Along with this I started documenting the team with photography and video. It was a great experience, but I left the team my Junior year after frustration with some team members.

My most recent photography work, all as a hobby, and a volunteer has been with local non-profits such as the Plymouth Congregational UCC Church in Ft. Collins. Colorado State University's Little Shop of Physics is an organization that I've been involved with for 11 years. Yes, I started volunteering when I was in 5th grade in elementary school and have been there ever since. In 2012, my parents got me a Canon T4i DSLR and 18-135 lens, a long awaited wish. As a photographer, this really opened the possibilities for my photography, and have been taking advantage of them. RAW files and my purchase of the student edition of Lightroom 4 take things even further.

So that you know, I'm a fairly shy guy, but online communities such as Google+ are helping me become more social. I had been using Picasa Web prior to Google+, so there is a good archive of my photography, here on Google+. My website and blog, oliverhoman.com, has links to my other online presences. I love Squarespace by the way.

Clothing the Cold, Warming the World 2012

An invitation to an event I've participated in, and now photograph each year. Last year's event raised $11,385.36 for the Homelessness Prevention Initiative and involved 14 amazing congregations from the Ft. Collins, Colorado area. More from last year can be found in this post from last year.

My photos from the 2011 sleepout are on Google+.