it didnt take very long to get here but its another place entirely. the flight was pleasant. i took the public bus system from the airport to the hotel. at the bus stop there was a falling-down drunk transient. the first #3 pulled away just as i was walking up to it. i try to talk to another bus driver about bus fare. he had an ipod on, sitting in the driver's seat on an empty bus, gazing downwards, eyes shut. i said hello. hello! can you tell me what the bus fare is. No answer. 30 minutes later another #3 comes. the bus fare is only $0.75. I thought I must be going to a less shady part of town because the bus riders were mostly women in their 50s&60s. During the trip one woman got up and 'checked me out' while walking to the back of the bus. After enjoying the warm breeze and watching the stores go by, i get in the vicinity of my destination, Ocean Blvd. We come to Ocean Park Blvd so I ask the driver (who i noticed was generally rude to other customers) if Ocean and Ocean Park were different streets. I got answer like "yeah, one has the word Park in it. Okay well were is Ocean? The ocean is over there (points to the pacific)!" he put the bus in park so he could stand up and face me in a slightly threatening manner. I knew i was close so I got off and walked the rest of the way.

walking along the sidewalk i passed expensive looking hotels and condos on the right and the beach on the left. In the distance I could see the lights of the santa monica pier amusement park, where were just beautiful. my apartment has wifi for $10 day but luckily a linksys community nation node is also in-range.

Im off to find some mexican food.