So I'm standing there at Macarthur & Athol, waiting for the NL transbay bus. 10:10 AM, nice spring day, and it's a quiet residential neighborhood, though -- like most of Oakland -- it's just a few miles from some crummier parts of town.

A guy walks up to the bus stop, and I can see right away that he's in a bad mood. (He's also black, early twenties, maybe 5'6", wearing a black hoodie and black pants.) After a few minutes he asks if I've got change for a five -- I don't, I only had enough $1 bills for my own bus fare.

A few minutes later, he walks over and pulls a big boxy-looking black gun partway out of the back of his pants, and says something like "give me everything you've got."

I had to laugh and ask if he was serious -- I wasn't feeling any real threat from this guy, but maybe he was scared enough to shoot anyway, so I offered him the $3.50 in my hand. We conversed a bit more, and I stayed with the attitude that I didn't think he could possibly be for real. Finally he insisted on taking my phone (but not before I removed the SIM -- "I'll give you the phone, but I'm keeping the data") and walked away without the cash as a bus was pulling up. I couldn't resist yelling after him: "It's gonna come back on you. You know it is." Maybe it was my imagination, but I think his gait changed -- I think he looked kinda sheepish.

This idiot didn't ask for my wallet (which has money in it, but I wasn't going to offer it), or my backpack (which contains my laptop and my iPod and other goodies, but I wasn't going to offer that either.)

I got on the bus (wrong route, but that's okay), told my story to the driver and the primarily elderly riders, and got off a couple blocks later to call 911 on a pay phone.

The police responded quickly -- there was an officer there to take my statement within a few minutes. I got to my meeting only 45 minutes late.

I've been paying T-Mobile for loss & damage coverage, so they'll ship me a new phone (which is silly 'cause I've already decided to drop 'em when my contract runs out in June), and I even have an unlocked phone at home for emergencies & international travel. So, my loss is minimal, and the criminal will be lucky to get $50. It's just annoying.

I was visiting friends in a crummy neighborhood in West Oakland this evening, and some time between 6 and 7:30 somebody broke one of the back windows of my car. They got in, rifled through my stuff (I hadn't entirely finished unpacking after my long trip), clearly saw some CDs -- but only stole my iPod, which was in the glove compartment. Nothing else appears to be missing. Maybe a couple burned CDs, but I can't remember where I left 'em.

They also tried to start the car with a screwdriver -- most likely the same screwdriver which had been left in my '87 Mustang when somebody broke into it in San Francisco in 1999 or so.

My friends already sold that house, and won't be living there much longer. Oakland is a very big place -- it's not all like that.

driving north under the dark clouds of early rain
I saw the sun bloody behind the Home Depot
grimly knowing, unabashedly unsure
forecasting foreshadowing foresight
driving north into the striated sky
as the sun peeks around clouds, around buildings
falling calmly, gently glowing
honk.