Bus Stories - Flying Rim

Lots of bus stories lately. Perhaps I should create a separate blog just for my bus stories?

Have you seen videos (especially on the local TV news) where a tire/rim literally flies off a car and hits another car? Well, that type of accident occurred the other morning.

The bus I was riding was going west on the freeway when the entire rim & tire flew off a car that was a few hundred feet ahead of us. The rim & tire:

• went over the center divider,
• hit a car that was going east on the freeway,
• then came back over the center divider,
• hit another car on the driver's door,
• bounced off that car,
  
• hit a truck,
• finally stopped.

It was scary. Very lucky that the flying rim didn't go through a windshield or window. The rim came off of a brand new car. It was clearly an aftermarket rim. I'm assuming that either the rim was defective or that it wasn't tightened properly when installed. How else would the rim and tire just fly off the car like that?

Very lucky that no one was seriously injured. In fact, there didn't appear to be any injuries at all...just damage to the cars involved.

You think you're tough, huh?

Strange story, but the question above is what someone asked me as I was riding the bus. Let me tell you about it:

The bus was packed - standing room only - and I wound up giving my seat up to a senior. So I'm standing during the trip home and have my earbuds on listening to my MP3 player. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a guy staring at me. I don't bother looking back and just look elsewhere.

The guy was sitting down about 2 persons away, but I pay him no attention. He occasionally stares at me a few times during the 45-minute trip, but again I just listen to my music. Well, the bus lightens up as people get off. He stands up and proceeds to give me the stare down. He's at eye level with me, so I'm not about to look away but just look straight at him.

He then asks me, "Do you box?" I take my earbuds off and ask, 'excuse me?' He replies, "You think you're tough, huh?" I don't reply; I just smile and put my earbuds back on. He then says, "Yeah, you think you're tough" and proceeds to shadowbox in front of me.

At this point, I'm thinking WTF and put my MP3 player in my pocket to free up my right hand. (Bear in mind I'm standing and using my left hand to hold onto the railing.) I take off my earbuds and ask him back, "Do you box?" He replies, "Nah, man. I'd get knocked out."

After that exchange, he walks away, but begins to pace back and forth always coming back to the position where our 'conversation' took place. I wasn't sure if he was going to do anything, but I shifted my feet into a squared stance in case he tried to rush/attack me. I was mentally preparing myself to be ready for a fight when he got off at the next bus stop.

I don't know about you, but that was fucking weird...even for Los Angeles. He didn't appear to be on drugs, but I guess he was surprised that I stared back at him. Maybe he was expecting me to look away and be timid; but if you get in front of my face and try to stare me down, I'm going to stare right back at you.

Just WEIRD!