I have a morning commute that usually takes anywhere between 35 and 45 minutes. This morning was a bit different. It took over an hour to get to work. Needless to say, I was late. But that’s LA right?
When I finally got off the freeway today, there waiting at the offramp was a reporter and camera guy from KTLA (channel 5). So the reporter guy walks up to me (the light was red), and the camera guy starts rolling. So here’s our conversation, kinda:
Reporter Guy (RG): “So how’d you like that traffic today?”
Me (Me): “Well, it sucked!”
RG: “Where’d you start this morning?”
(I told him)
RG: “When did you leave?”
Me: “About 8:15″
RG: “So what were you thinking when you were stuck back there?”
Me: (Nervous laughter) “I guess I was just hoping I’d still get to work on time.”
RG: (Pause) “So it is usually like this?”
(I can tell he’s reaching now, because I guess I just haven’t been the exciting drive-time anchor person that he’d hoped for.)
Me: “Not usually this bad, no.”
At that point, the light turned green and I excused myself from our awkward little interview. How on earth was that news? Traffic sucks in Los Angeles every day! I guess I should be thankful that today was a slow news day. I guess it could be worse – they could be sending all the reporters out to cover some blown-up building or something equally horrible.
So anyway, I probably ended up on TV at some point today. Hopefully they edited me down to a little soundbite, but I won’t know because I don’t have cable at my place. I’m using a set-top antenna that only gets channel 7, and that’s a stretch. But it’s just as well. I don’t think I’m TV material anyway.
Bye for now.