I just realized that I'm a tailgaiting hypocrite. I hate it when people tailgate me and I try not to do it to others, but I get immense glee out of seeing someone else being tailgated. Well, not just anyone - it has to be someone that I feel deserves it, like the lady going 55 in the left lane this morning. I'm crediting her with this epiphany because she stayed in the left lane, apparently oblivious to the people passing her as quickly as they could, until a huge SUV started riding her ass. I had gotten stuck behind her for a bit until I could pass her, so seeing the SUV tailgating her made me inordinately happy. After a mile or so of this she moved into the middle lane, let the SUV pass, then moved right back into the left lane, never going faster than 55. People like that deserve tailgaiting.
November 2005 Archives
In the interest of keeping my car in one piece for as long as possible, here's some advice: If you see my brake lights flash on, it usually means that someone in front of me is stopping, so it's a good idea for you to step on your brakes too. Why? Because I'm not one of those people that leaves a gap the size of a football field between my car and the one in front of me. Just because I'll have enough room to stop safely (albeit sometimes a bit nervously) doesn't mean you'll be able to do the same if you wait until you're five feet away from my bumper to start slowing down. I am truly amazed that I made it home last night without someone rear-ending me, because it seemed like everyone was hitting their brakes at the last possible second.
PS: To the lady who thought it would be a good idea to change lanes at an intersection in bumper-to-bumper traffic - It wasn't. I didn't let you over because I didn't see you, and rolling down the window to let me know that you were trying to get over was pointless since I'd already stopped at the red light by then. If you want to change lanes, it works best if you do so before you get to the intersection where you'd like to turn. Also, if you wonder why you can't get over after a last-minute move like the one you pulled earlier, it probably has more to do with your stupidity and lack of planning than it does with that "People get so 'onry' at Christmastime" theory you spouted while you were berating me for not letting you over.
And cars that swerve into my lane. Traffic came to a standstill while I was on my way in to work this morning, and as I was slowing down (and muttering angrily about traffic problems because of stupid people), I heard tires squealing. A Wrangler in the other lane was out of control, complete with smoking tires. It swerved in and out of the lane it was in, my lane, and the shoulder until its driver regained control, which, thankfully, didn't take too long. The whole thing lasted long enough for me to worry about my car (well, van in this case - my car's still out of commission, thank you, busted radiator) getting hit though, which left me with quite a bit of excess adrenaline when it was over.
I don't know if there's any connection between the two, but I'm drag-ass tired and my face is twitching. It's not twitching all over, thankfully, but my jaw muscle kicked off the tic parade almost as soon as I got to work this morning. My right eye grabbed the baton sometime before 10 and was dethroned by my left eyelid not too long after that. They've been taking turns ever since. It's very irritating.
Once again I remember why one of my goals is to eventually own a vehicle less than four years old. I was on my way home yesterday when my radiator decided to give up, although luckily for me, it did so less than 5 miles away from home. I know it's good to have a car that's paid off, and mine normally isn't a problem child, but the past few months have felt like nothing but back-to-back car problems. Time to call my mechanic, again. You'd think I'd have him on speed dial by now.
I'm an emotional person. No matter how much I try to remain detached, my emotions are never very far from the surface, and movies like Troy are proof of that. Brad Pitt did a surprisingly good job as Achilles, and I really liked the actor that played Hector. Paris, on the other hand, was awful. I couldn't stand him from the beginning of the movie, and nothing could've redeemed him in my eyes after he shot Achilles.
I was talking to Mike last night after we'd gone to bed - just random chatter about our afternoon - and when I asked him what his favorite part of it was, his answer was "Food and water." This is why you should never try talking to him when the lights are out.
Various things learned over the weekend:
- Going to see Santa at the mall can be terrifying.
- Warm chocolate cake batter is extremely tasty. Warm french vanilla batter is vile.
- If you microwave cake batter long enough, it turns into cake, and by "long enough" I mean "45 seconds." I actually discovered this a couple weekends ago when I was craving warm chocolate batter, but I forgot to write about it until now.
- A houseful of 15/16 year old boys is quieter than a smaller houseful of 13/14 year old boys.
- It is not possible to have too much pizza.
- Having your six year old tell you that the reason they think you're sad is because you "do all the work around here" is absolutely priceless.
Last week I cleverly left the shampoo bottle open a little bit and got in the shower the next morning to discover that it had all leaked out onto the floor. (The bottle was getting low, so I'd started keeping it upside down to make it easier to get the shampoo out.) I spent the next few days using Mike's shampoo and then finally got around to buying some more of mine on Monday. We were in a hurry because we were taking the kids trick-or-treating later, so I went in the store, glanced at the shampoo selection, grabbed what I needed, and checked out. I looked at the bottle long enough to check that it was the right kind and to note that they'd changed up the bottle a little, so I was quite surprised the next morning when I went to wash my hair and realized that I'd grabbed conditioner instead of shampoo. Luckily, the store let me return the conditioner, but I had another "Oh, crap, I can't believe I did this again" moment the day after. Redkin apparently changed up the shampoo a bit, so instead of being clear like it used to, it's now a cloudy white - just like the conditioner. I had to double-check the bottle before I used to just to make sure I hadn't made the same mistake again.
You start off sleeping on your side like you always do, but then you roll over. I love it when you do that because now I can look at your face while you sleep, not just your back. You look so relaxed and peaceful with your hand tucked under your face. In the dark it looks like a small smile is playing around your mouth. I like seeing you look like this - free from stress and pressures, at peace for once in your far too busy day. My emotions well up and overflow my heart, choke my throat, and fill my eyes. I love you with all my heart.
