Vent Your Frustrations: Subway Punching Bag 08.11.11
Unfortunately, the nice kids interviewed in the news clip didn’t have much to say about their frustration other than, “I saw this other guy punching it with his fists. I thought it was interesting so I tried kicking it.” Is the subway system in Shanghai so efficient that the riders don’t have more colorful complaints? I can only imagine a swinging punchbag at the Van Ness station. Good times.
Read the rest of story at HuffPo.
Video: Stripper Routine/Interpretive Dance on BART 07.22.11
Kyle sent in this video:
Witnessed this on the Richmond line.
Whoa. Why doesn’t this ever happen when I’m riding BART?
BART Music Diary: Powell Station 07.14.11
We’ve also featured some amazing photos of BART Musicians earlier this year, including my favorite cello quartet, also at the Powell station.
Did a musician perk up your day at a Muni/BART station? Send us some photos, stories, or even better, a video, please!
Joyce Lee’s Mom Takes on Muni 07.12.11
I first saw Joyce at the Tourettes Without Regrets’ 10th anniversary show, where she knocked my socks off with her poem, “Crazy:”
“I’m only as crazy as my love is. And my love checks your Facebook every fucking day.”
Joyce has an upcoming poetry CD/DVD, her first professionally produced CD/DVD. She’s also got a Kickstarter page to help get the CD/DVD produced, so check it out if you liked what you heard!
Want more Muni Diaries Live? Check out our Muni Diaries Live event recap page and relive shows you might have missed!
Hot right now: Muni Simulator Game! 07.04.11
The game lets you simulate driving a bus (or streetcar or cable car) on spotless San Francisco streets. Sitting in the driver’s seat, you can operate your own bus, make your own schedule, “finish exciting missions and find hidden money.” You can also repair buses, make a pit stop for coffee, refuel the bus, and take the bus to a carwash.
The game is available for PC only right now. Our friends at Market Street Railway say that the game even features mysterious catacombs and a storage facility with a Milan tram.
Who knew that people found driving the bus in San Francisco so exciting? Think the game makers will be up for incorporating some of the stories on Muni Diaries into the game? I have a couple of choice stories that come to mind…
Kirk Read on Muni: Humanity and Criminality 06.15.11
I missed my preferred mode of Muni transportation, which I think it’s the only dignified way to ride Muni: the underground. Riding above ground you’re just open to all manners of humanity and criminality and indecency, really. I missed that, so I was left with a double bus on Mission — the 14. Exactly. So I step into my carriage…I went to the back of the bus because that’s where the most interesting people are. So that’s where I sit, in solidarity with the interesting people.
On this night there was nobody in the back of the bus, so I sit down. Then I hear this rustling and I look down, and there is this little pile of fabric squirming on the floor. What is going on?! It took a minute and I realize it’s this little woman who was rubbing against everything, all up on the windows. It’s like when you’re on ecstasy and you really let yourself go. She’s not touching me because she has some manners. But she’s like touching the air, and I’m fascinated, and I’m just like, YES! I’m just gonna sit here and behold.
Watch the video to find out what happened in the rest of Kirk’s story.
Got a story of humanity, criminality, or indecency on the bus? You know where to send it.
Jesse, Rosie Perez, and Ron Weasley on a 38-Geary to the Farallons 05.05.11
At last month’s Muni Diaries Live, Jesse shared the story of withering away of innocence when it comes to riding Muni:
I grew up and went to high school in Southern California. I did what everybody else did — I drove a car … I graduated high school and I fled, like crazy. I went to San Francisco State. I didn’t even look at the school — I just knew it was in San Francisco and gay people live there!
And I encountered Muni. I encountered buses, and trains, and trains that did buslike things, and stairs, and all that craziness. I was flabbergasted, to say the least. Riding Muni was like riding a unicorn. It was like, “What??!? I get a transfer? This is so great! $1?” I’m dating myself.
I was that guy on Muni who was so in love with the experience that I was talking to people. I was like, “Oh my god, you shopped today? So did I!”
Watch the video above to hear the rest of Jesse’s gripping tale.
Previously: MissionMission’s Ariel Tells All: First Kiss, on Muni
MissionMission’s Ariel Tells All: First Kiss, on Muni 04.29.11
Ariel, you have no idea.
In this video, Ariel opens Muni Diaries Live’s third anniversary show with his very personal and very awesome story that happened his freshman year in high school.
“I never had a girlfriend before; I never kissed a girl before, but somehow I found out that this really pretty girl, this really cool girl who was a flutist, liked me. Like, like me liked me. I was just overwhelmed but somehow we ended up going out…I mean, going together. It wasn’t “going out” yet. I didn’t really know what to do. I mean, I’d never had a girlfriend before. But I knew some of the first steps that I had to do. So I got rid of all my friends, and spent all my lunches with her; I didn’t talk to anybody else, we held hands, and said I love you a lot. And I was like, this is a lot easier than I thought!”
Oh, but teenage love is never that easy. Watch the video for the rest of Ariel’s story.
Shell Game Guys At It Again On Muni 04.07.11
Rider Jon S. wrote us yesterday:
I just wanted to note that these guys are at it again. They were on the 38 Bus outbound. They got on while it was on Market Street and jumped off at Union Square when I started mouthing off to one of the heavies and went for my phone to call the police.
Good on you, Jon. Last time we posted about this, a rider told us that this game is one of the oldest tricks in the scammers’ handbook, so don’t fall for it!
Seen something that affects your daily ride? Let us know.
Video Diary: N-Judah Wormhole 03.25.11
Oh, Julie has a hyperlocal show at Mama Art Cafe that will be up until April 9. Check out the details of her show.
Ride Muni like a boss. Our Fast Pass Clipper card holders and Muni Diaries T-shirts are on sale 
