"The Crazies"

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One of the things people tend to hear about LA is that a lot of the people there are quite mad and that if so stay too there too long there is a genuine danger that one could go insane. Well i heard all that and wondered if it was true and now that i am there it seems as though it is very true.

We've stayed largely in the area in and around Hollywood but have encountered some people who could be termed somewhat crazy (incidently i am not trying to use this term offensively).

On the greyhound bus (or "the dog" as its often called) Elaine and i met a 49 year old african american man who was in the marines (and he genuinely was in the marines as he proudly showed us identification). This man sat near us and dor the entire 2 and a half hour journey he did not shut up. He talked about how as a marine he fights for us and all of the peoplee on the bus, he said that George W Bush is "his boss" (a fact he repeated about 30 times in the journey) and that when "the boss" tells him to fight he is sure gonna do it, because America is a great country and thats his job. He kept repeatig this again and again. He also pointed out a marine military base which he said was about 30 square miles and is top secret and if anyone went over the walls the marines have the right to just shoot and ask no questions. Incidently the base can't have been that top secret bewcause later we saw it on a map. This guy was loud and kept talking, the whole of the rest of the bus seemed annoyed and looked round constantly to sympathise with Elaine and myself. He also said that Arnold Schwarzeneggar was his boss and that he also does whatever he says and he'll fight for us all (i know i've already said that but this guy kept saying it so i thought i would say it again.

He also said he was from the compton part of LA and he told us if we went there i would be shot dead on sight and Elaine would be raped (and then probably shot too, but he thought someone like her might just get away with it). At one point he told us he wuld show us to our hostel, something that thankfully didn't happen as Elaine persuaded him to get off at a station before LA, where he could transfer to Compton.

I really don't think i have been able to get over how crazy this guy seemed in this log, but if you are imagining a very mad guy double that craziness and then do it agaian, and i swear you are still not there.

We have also met several other "eccentric" people, another was a woman who sat next to Elaine on a city bus and told her that the world would soon end and that a satanic being is going to destroy us all. Sounds like standard fare for an LA woman.

More nicely we also met a bartender who had come to La several years back to try to make it in Hollywood, he hadn't made the break through as yet, as he told us. BUt he did go on about some of his heroes, notably Superman who he said was a representation of Christ in that Jor-El (like God) had given humanity his only son to save us all from damnation. He also said that wonderwoman was a representation of America and all things american, because she acquired greatness from being human and has her powers in full on paradise island and nowhere else, a representation that its in America where one's true power lies. This guy was really likable though and a few days later we methim again when he was not only working as a bartender but was also spending his shift rehearsing scenes from Hamlet, because he had an audition the next day. It was for a small part (that of "the gravedigger") but he was really excited and told us thst "there are no small parts in Shakespeare".

It seems to be that LA contains a great number of "eccentric" people, we were there less than a week and didn't venture that far into it but we still met these people, what must it be like throughout the rest of LA. But i will give LA it's due, its a very interesting city.

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