The Injustice of Driving: Part II

Disclaimer: Before I tell this story, I would like to point out that 'The Injustice of Driving (part I)' was written LAST year, before I attended the Landmark Forum, and REALLY started to make an effort to control my road rage; so those that know how bad my road rage can get should be proud of me!

Just over two weeks ago (I distinctly remember it being Friday, August 31, because it was the Friday before Labor Day), I was leaving work, relieved that it was Friday AND a holiday weekend - no work on Monday, yay! I had just pulled out of the parking garage and on to State Street, intending to turn right on 500 South and take that particular freeway on ramp. Unfortunately, I'd pulled out behind a bus, which was lining up behind other buses - I didn't want to wait for them, so I made a snap decision to swerve around them quickly and get back into my lane. Of course I checked my mirrors, and all I saw was a Jeep Cherokee in the distance, and I thought it was far enough behind me that I could swerve around the buses and get back into my lane without cutting off the Jeep. No such luck - the driver saw me start to swerve, sped up, and honked her horn at me. So when she sped around me, I held my hands up in an effort to communicate that "Hey, I had to swerve around the buses!" She zoomed around me and cut in front of a few other cars ahead of me. I went through the next light, and saw her pulled off to the right in front of the courthouse, picking up some shady-looking character, and she must have seen me coming in her rear-view mirrors, because when I passed her, her middle finger was plastered to her window, flipping me off. I beeped my horn (BAD idea) just to say "chill out!" as I passed her, and got to the next light - 500 South - where I was waiting to turn right. She comes up right behind me, so close I bet our cars were touching (although I couldn't feel it), and puts her hand on her horn - and LEAVES it there, for the duration of the light! People were staring - I just ignored her. I bet it was a full 60 seconds before I got the chance to turn - and her horn was STILL blaring. So I hurried to the next light - but she zoomed ahead of me, in the lane to the right of me, waiting for me to pull up next to her - she still had her middle finger plastered to the window, and she was looking at me, yelling. So I didn't pull up right next to her - just slightly behind her. When the light turned green, she started to move very slowly, trying to get me to catch up to her, but I moved just as slowly - so she finally zoomed to the next light, and waited for me to get there. SAME thing - finger plastered to the window, screaming. This was NOT a good day to be hitting all the red lights on the way to the freeway. When THAT light finally turned green, I turned left and took another route to the freeway, just to escape her.

Now, at this point, I was shaking - a little from fear, mostly from anger. (Now is the part where you should be proud.) The entire time we're stuck at stop lights, I ignored her - not a smile, not even a glance in her direction (except to notice that her middle finger was still saluting me). I bet that made her even more mad - she wanted me to put up a fight of some sort. But the fact that I ignored her should make you proud - I could have rolled down my window and started screaming at HER and flipping HER off - but I didn't. I was shaking so badly when I finally made it to the freeway, I had to concentrate on breathing. When I had finally calmed down enough to think clearly, my Landmark training kicked in, and I stopped making that lady wrong for what she was doing. I had no idea what her life was like - for all I know, her husband had just left her and the kid she was picking up at the courthouse was HER kid, having just made bail after being in jail for drugs or something - she must have been having a really BAD day. By the time most of the anger had worn off, I was left with fear - I was checking my mirrors every two seconds, positive that she was going to come out of nowhere and plow right into me on the freeway. Even when I finally made it home and parked in the driveway, I was looking for her. When I took my dogs out for a walk, I was STILL looking for her - I expected to see her cruising the streets, looking for me. I was positive I was going to come back and see my car beat to a pulp.

I guess I should work on my paranoia problem now!

Let's catch up a little bit...

Because it's been so long since I've written, I'm going to attempt to catch up on a few events that have taken place over the past year.

January: I attended the Landmark Forum with my brother Mike - what a great experience! It was an intense three-day program that taught me to let go of who I was being in the past, complete relationships that may have been holding me back from being who I have the potential to be, and really get out there and play full-on in the game of life. Yes, I'm still working on that one, hehe.

February: I turned 31 - and that's all I'll say about THAT.

March: The blind-date month. With my new-found, fledgling self-confidence, I must have gone on three or four blind dates - all of whom I really liked, and none of whom I ever heard from again, unfortunately. No worries, no worries. There IS someone out there for me, hehe!

April: I think the blind dates DID carry over to April, but what I remember most about April is - ta da! The appearance of Rebecca Rose Bachmann, daughter of Jorg and Emily Bachmann! (For those new to my blog, Emily is my cousin, and one of my very very very bestest friends EVER! The Bachmann Family:

LOVE them! Isn't Rebecca so pretty??? Look at those dimples... Good work, Em and Jorg! :)

May: Attended another Landmark course - the Advanced Course, to be more specific. Learned even more about myself and how to interact effectively in groups; again, still working on it!

June: 4 Words - Wasatch Back Relay Race. Logan to Park City. Mar and me. 177 miles, 26 hours, no sleep. 'Nuff said.

July: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows comes out, and Mar and I spend a weekend in St. George reading instead of playing. In fact, we went to Wal-Mart at midnight in... Bloomington, was it? I think... to get our copies of the book. Lame? Maybe. In my defense, though, I was sick - I had a nasty cold, so I wouldn't have gone out to play that much anyway. But let's be honest - I just love Harry Potter. Even if I wasn't sick, I'd have read it all weekend!

August: A blur. I can't even tell you what happened in August because I don't really remember. But Eclipse came out - the third book in the 'Twilight' vampire series - and I fell in love with Edward Cullen all over again.

So that's my year so far in a (rather large) nutshell. And we're halfway through September, and it's STILL 90 degrees outside. I thought Autumn was coming... where on earth IS it???

Welcome, Autumn...

First, my apologies for having been away for so long! I will make no excuses - other than laziness. And I should have been writing every week, because this has been a very... interesting, I'll say... year! "The Year of Meloo" as the guys in the mailroom put it. It's definitely been a year of growth - spiritual and mental (and physical, but I'll get to that in another post) and social. So one of my "Emily Friends" as I like to call them (I have two close Emily friends at work) asked me today if I have a blog; if so, why is she not reading it? Funny thing is, this is an Emily I e-mail all day, chat with on gmail, and now keep track of through HER blog - and we sit maybe 30 or so steps away from each other.

I love technology.

I also love Fall, as I've written on this blog before - it's getting time for the weather to cool down, the leaves to change, football season to really get going, the air to smell like chimney smoke (I call that the "Halloween Smell"), the bugs to die, and the turtlenecks to come out of the depths of the closet. It's also FOOD TIME!! Halloween candy, Thanksgiving pies, and Christmas goodies - accompanied by pounds, ounces, inches, and more pounds on my rear, stomach, and thighs.

You know what? I think I'm gonna stop right there before I get depressed. One thing at a time... let's just enjoy the color-changing leaves, to start!

The Injustice of Driving

Warning: This is just a random rant. I realize that there is no real injustice in driving, it's all in my head; most of my complaints are my own fault - impatience and lack of planning is all it really is. But just humor me.

See this picture?

I took it while I was driving down the road a few years ago, by sticking my camera out of my sunroof and clicking a picture, not wanting to wait for a stop sign or stoplight - I was afraid I'd miss the brilliance of the setting sun. Oh, that was brilliant, all right - I almost rear-ended someone because I was dividing my attention between the sky and the road in front of me. Not the sharpest knife in the drawer, I admit. The point is that I was being a stupid driver.
Story: I usually take Trax to work. I've discovered that it's safer than road rage, which others will testify that I have in abundance. (I'm NOT a nice person behind the wheel of a car.) Well, last week, I had to drive a couple of days so I could run errands and whatnot. On my way home from the office one night, traveling on the freeway, I was nearly run off the road by some idiot on a cell phone. I thought, 'Okay, maybe it's an emergency call, no need to get upset.' Well, 2 minutes later, it happened AGAIN, different driver, different cell phone. Veering into other lanes, not paying attention. Rather than bore you with the inane details, I'll just say that it happened THREE TIMES on the freeway that day. THREE TIMES I was almost run off the road (or into other lanes) by people on their phones, not paying attention! No lie, I actually counted! Well, by the time I got to my offramp, I was relieved to be almost home, away from stupid drivers who feel the need to look cool or important by talking on their phones in their cars. Where are all the cops when stuff like this happens? I asked myself. Where's the justice for innocent people like myself who have to put up with getting run off the road by idiots? Just then, I was almost run off the road a FOURTH time, by some idiot on a cell phone. I drove up next to the guy, intending to give him a dirty look, and -
It was a cop.
OH! So THAT'S where all the cops are! Busy talking on their cell phones and driving! So THAT'S why they're not pulling the law-breakers over! They're too busy breaking the law themselves! Oh, the injustice of it all...
Can I complain about red stoplights now? I know they're a necessity, and they regulate traffic - but is it necessary for me to hit EVERY SINGLE ONE? I was on my way home again another night, when driving South on Hightland Drive, I counted 12 stoplights between the freeway exit and my house. Guess how many I hit red? 11! Almost EVERY light. So by the time I get home, I'm shaking with frustration and injusice. (Yes, I was just being impatient and moody.) Yesterday morning, I hit all 6 red stoplights between my house and the Trax station. I had to run for the train - I was SOOOO mad. (Yes, poor planning on my part - I left a couple of minutes late.) Today, I hit 5 of them - and I would have only hit 4, but some lady in front of me was taking a leisurely drive and decided to slow down at my last green light and wait for it to turn yellow, at which point she decided to stop. "OH HELL!" I yelled at myself. "YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING! I'M GOING TO MISS MY TRAIN!" (Yes, poor planning again - I left later than I did yesterday.) I was furious, rage flashing in my eyes (and yes, this is only the 8 minute drive from home to Trax, not even a real commute worthy of road rage) and ready to scream as she slowly pulled into the Trax station ahead of me (did she not realize she was going to miss the train too??), and I cursed as I saw someone pull into a really close spot that I could have had, if Miss Daisy hadn't been so freaking slow. I was planning how I was going to kill the slowpoke when... a ray of light!... someone else was pulling out of a very close parking spot, which I immediately whipped into, making it possible for me to make the train on time, while slowpoke would most likely miss the train, BAHAHAHA!! Though, someone WAS looking out for me and got me a spot close to the front... and that poor lady might get fired for being late, and maybe she was driving slow because she had food for the homeless in the front seat, or her tire was almost flat... ohhhh...

I felt like crap my whole ride to work.

Someone needs to take away my drivers license and my car. I'm a menace!

Ramblings...

This picture was taken last year in Midway, after the Schutzenfest 5k that Mar and I did up there.

I find myself with a little bit of time on my hands... and that's rare when I'm at work, which is where I am right now.
I'll just say quickly that I'm down about 12 pounds since my last post about food - I WANTED to be down 14-15 pounds by now, but the weight is coming off slower than I anticipated. At least it's coming off, and - as Muti pointed out - the slower it comes off, the higher my chances are of keeping the weight off permanently. So at this point, I WILL NOT give up, but I WILL say - 12 pounds down, 18 pounds to go until I reach my goal.
On to more ramblings...
I came to a strange conclusion not too long ago. I was ready for Summer to end, and Fall to begin!! I'm NEVER ready for Summer to end. I was trying to pretend that I didn't want Summer to end - I complained about the changing weather, the early snow in the mountains, and the fact that now I have to wear actual shoes and socks to work, rather than sandles, because I'm so cold all the time! But I'm going to welcome Fall with open arms. The bright, vibrant colors on the mountains, decorations, the smoky smell of Halloween (yes, Halloween DOES have a smell), the sweaters and turtlenecks, my heating blanket, hot chocolate (or, hot Postum in my case - it's only 10 calories), candy, socks, seasonal pajamas (I got the Halloween ones out last week! I'm looking forward to my Christmas ones!), pumpkins, the time change to Mountain Standard Time, pumpkin pies, apple pies, Thanksgiving, Christmas music, parties, fun events (like Haunted Deseret for Halloween, and Disneyland at Christmas!), firelight, Christmas movies, and on days that I can stay in - SNOW.
Of course, this all comes with its bad points - the cold, the travelling, the scraping of ice off my windshield in the mornings, the crowds, the fact that I'll have to plan VERY well to get to the Trax station in time enough to walk from the parking lot to the train (which can be quite the jaunt, sometimes) in the cold and snow, to name a few.
However, as I sit here thinking, the good points of Fall and Winter far outweigh the bad points; although, I will say that January and February are pretty dreary months. I'm just going to enjoy September through December, in all their glory.
(And try not to let all the good things about these months ruin my hard work at weight loss!)

I want to hear other peoples' favorite things about Fall and Winter! What do YOU enjoy about this time of year?