Old Soul..

People aren't as kind as they used to be.... Now... I wasn't around when "used to be" was... but I've seen it on TV... Like Mayberry, in "The Andy Griffith Show"... Saying "howdy" to complete strangers.. being able to leave your doors unlocked.. a sense of community.. rather than prideful and defensive territorializm (not using the word "correctly" but you know what I mean)... People stare.. people judge.. size up.... I go to buy bread, and before I'm back home.. I've had a sort of mental "tug-of-war" with at least 19 different people.. On the road.. in the parking lot.. in the aisle.. in the line... And it's not easy for me.. I don't take it well... because I DID grow up in Mayberry... I didn't grow up like my "contemporaries".. and it's always kept me.. separated.. and I'm SO GLAD..... They look at me like an alien... and I just say.. "Howdy."..

Three Strikes..

Sooo.... I was talking about annoying drivers yesterday.... And it's kind of funny.. the things that I saw the VERY next day.... I was driving home from Clovis today, just in time to catch the second half of the Laker game (YEAH, WHATEVER).. and I encountered a few interesting things... As I was driving along Academy, I saw a maroon SUV coming in the opposite direction. For whatever reason, I turned to look at it as it neared me.. I had to do a double-take to make sure my eyes hadn't decieved me the first time... There was A BABY at the steering wheel.. Now this wasn't a Britney Spears kind of scenario.. going through town; home, just around the corner (wrong as it was)... NO... This was an SUV going about 65, down a major road, with a child (that could NOT have been any older than two) behind the wheel... It made me sick... I hoped so bad that they'd get pulled over.. That's the kind of thing that needs to be "nipped in the bud"... And then........ as I'm driving down 180... I see a truck pull over to the side of the road, and about three men get out... I think I knew in my mind what was coming next.. but there's nothing like actually seeing it... Right on the side of the road.. terribly visible.. where there are ALWAYS cops, driving up and down.... The men.. are peeing.... contaminating some poor farmer's land.. as bold as they could be, and as if this is what they were born to do..... no shame...... and finally.... as I'm now on Reed.... There is a car in front of me.. going what must've been a faithful 49 mph.... all of a sudden... they swerve clear into the oncoming lane, just as a huge truck is approaching, in that same (opposite) direction... just as I think they must be committing suicide... I realize what had happened... They were trying to kill themselves.... the people in the truck... and possibly, me (and the car following VERY CLOSE behind me).... In order to spare the life of a squirrel........................ WHAT??????!!!!!!!!!!!!

Where're The Hovercrafts?! It's 2010!!..

Do you ever have some moron on the road pass you, seemingly going about 80 mph, only to have you pull up RIGHT BEHIND THEM at the stoplight anyway?... I see this all the time... I do it.. I've had it done to me... but I've realized something... no matter how much it happens... we still do it.... I still do it... Isn't that along the lines of the definition of insanity?..... That's me on the road though.... the definition of insanity.... You want to find out how incompetent humans are, put them on the road... I've seen some of the dumbest things... and somehow... I always end up around these people.... The van in front of me, going 4 mph, with 19 guys in it.. The guy who thinks he owns the road, with his huge (lifted) truck, behind me.... The cars zooming this way and that way, with drivers that look like they're twelve years old....... One big asphalt runway, where we model the imperfections of man........ And there's almost nothing I hate more than a four-way-stop... You can't trust a human-being with that much responsibility... I often drive BLOCKS extra, just to get the light, instead of dealing with the four-way-stop... You ever get the person that CLEARLY stops about 5 whole seconds before you, and then they just sit there?.. so you wait, and then they give you "the wave"?.. What is this?.. They're playing traffic police all of a sudden?.. Deciding who gets to go, and in what order?.. NO... You stopped, you go!... It drives me crazy... I turned off the car once and just sat there... was this childish?.. maybe.. But I did what I had to do... And we went in order......... The molar of the story?.... Take the bus....