bike vs bus, bike vs car

i normally have a pretty smooth ride to work down sunset blvd. the only rough patch i usually encounter is between maltman and descanso where there are several mechanics and tons of cars parked along the bike lane. in that few blocks i usually have to dodge open car doors, retarded parking jobs, getting cut off so that the car can get its precious spot or someone not looking as they turn into the street from a parking lot. but this morning was different. i ride in the bike lane all the way until it ends at elysian park blvdin echo park from silver lake. at that point the lane ends, but there is enough room to ride in the furthest right lane all the way down to where i need to go, which is grand ave.
this morning when i was crossing the 110 in the right lane with a row of cars parked along my right side, the 704 decided it wanted to be where i was. it began to quickly move in to the right lane despite the fact that there was no room for it and it would have to merge back into the left lane before stopping at figueroa. i have never had a bus brush by me so close as though i was not even there. it scraed the crap out of me. the first chance it got to block my way completely it did, making me have to go into the left lanes in order to continue east. i managed to pull ahead of while it stopped but when it caught up he again pulled the bus incredibly close. i really wish i had my lock, because at that point i felt threatened and would have used it.
thankfully i turned up grand as the murderous 704 rumbled down cesear chavez. but my adventure was not over. i was as far to the right as i could possibly be as i crossed the 101 on grand. out of nowhere a gold honda's side mirror grazed my elbow. i look over and the idiot driver is texting and running me over. he realized what was happening most likely from hearing me screaming obscenities at him and proceeded to gun it and turn down temple before i could catch up to him and throw my bike at him.
this is the first time in almost a year that i have had this kind of commute. what more can we do as cyclists, citizens, taxpayers, activists, humans to make the streets safe for all types of transportation? how can i be more visible on the streets DURING THE DAY??
there is a happy ending to this story though. when i got to the intersection of grand and temple after trying to catch the gold honda, a man in his car in the right turn lane rolled down his window. he asked me if i ride my bike everywhere and everyday. i told him that i try and it is my primary method of transportation. he had this big smile on his face and was really excited to hear that. he asked if it had to do with gas prices, but i told him that i had been doing this longer than gas has been $3/gallon. that made him more excited. he congratulated me and told me that it was really cool to be doing what i was doing. that made me feel better after twice almost dying for my part time job.
****update****
i was able to get the number from the back of the bus so that i could tell Metro what a fine job their drivers are doing at running riders over. i sent in a complaint through the mta's customer comment form as well as an email to tom horne and lynne goldsmith at metro. tom got back to me within 5 minutes of sending the email, which was a nicer more professional version of the above post. both his and the mta customer comments response told me that the incident will be looked into, the driver delt with accordingly, and both apologized for what had happend to me. stephen box was also made aware of what happend because he and enci are hoping to bring attention to the lack of attention that the bus drivers pay to cyclists. it's really important that we as riders in this city make note of when we are bullied by these beasts otherwise how can we make change? as long as we are silent about how cyclists are treated on the roads nothing will get done to change that. thanks to everyone who told me that they're glad i'm ok and who helped me get this information to the right people (that means you rhombus).