Optimist Girl's rules to driving - continued

you can pass trucks. these drivers are paid - trained professionals. You can pass them. they won't just randomly swerve into your lane and crush your car into little iddy pieces.

music and the soundtrack of life

the car radio. have you ever noticed how sometimes on the radio all of a sudden a song comes on that plays to the very moment. well today that happened once again. i was commuting to work - everyone was driving crazy and all of a sudden - "it's the end of the world as we know it - and i feel fine" came on the radio. leave it to REM to get it right, in the moment.
it reminded me of one of my college roommies - she said that whenever she was having a moment of indecision she would put on a tape fast forward and rewind it and whatever song was playing when she hit play was a sign. not sure if that's true... but it works for the moment.
hadn't thought of that in years. college was a long time ago.

Optimist Girl's rules to driving

1. if you are in front of me - you must be going faster than i - in case you are confused, the pedal on the right
2. there is no reason for bad manners or bad driving during bad traffic - use the courtesy wave
3. breaking. never break on the freeway - unless necessary. the freeway is about going fast not checking if your brakes are working. this is specifically true during the morning or evening commute.
4. during the evening commute - you are not the only person who has had a long and potentially busy/painful day - be polite - don't cut people off and pay attention to the idiots around you.
5. during the morning commute - you are not the only person who would rather still be in bed - pay attention to the idiots around you. let people in - it delays you getting to work. unless you are running late - which in that case: you should have woken up earlier.
6. smile. it doesn't cost anything and just think - you aren't walking!

memories...

in the corner of my.. uh.. something. so once again, i had several blog topics top of mind and once again - i forgot them. brilliant.

the death of the courtesy wave

Rest in peace courtesy wave. I loved you. But I was a user. I used you mercilessly. Perhaps too often. But I never abused you or forgot you. I miss you now that you are gone. Your many forms. Admittedly your cousin 1-finger salute is around more than ever - i see him or her every where i go... but courtesy wave - you are gone. i let people in - in front of me... no wave. others let drivers in - no wave. perhaps however the one finger salute.
Courtesy wave I will continue to salute you when I can... even if the others have forgotten you.

People and their love affairs with their cart

ok - i love target. i do. i must confess, i love target. well, i should add a caveat to that... i love it on sundays at 9am when no one is there. i love it best then. but today while i was shopping i saw something and realized that i would make a very bad parent. well, that's a huge jump i know from loving target to being a bad parent... well you see i am willing to leave my cart. i am willing to park my cart in a safe, close location so that i don't drag it through the clothing section - or down an aisle that is busy. let me offer some context. i was shopping for some workout clothing (different story) and didn't want to pull/push/fight my cart through the very tight section. so i 'parked' my cart next to the sports bras and went off in search of workout pants (another rant altogether). While looking at a variety of things, i noticed numerous women drag their practically empty carts through the smallest of spaces between racks... it was awful (yet terribly amuzing) to watch these women push their carts through the section and knock clothes down along the way. they left behind a wake of destruction only a tornado or hurricane can bring down upon local residents. These women couldn't bear to leave their carts behind. even at the fitting room area, women would drag their cart and leave it right at the door - of course it meant she got a room as the rest of us couldn't get near the area - but i'm sure that's merely a pleasant (for her) side effect.
it was when i pondered this a little longer (and saw it more and more frequently) that i realized i could be a bad parent. would i leave my child somewhere so that i wouldn't drag them down the tiny aisle?? would i be that parent who left their child in the car? i'm pretty sure i'd NEVER do that... but what did it say about my parenting style? or does it mean nothing at all and i am just ranting because people like to have the convenience of their cart at hand and it inconveniences the rest of us?
perhaps.
well, being the optimist girl i am - i'm going to assume that these lovely ladies had no idea of the destruction they brought to the rest of us - although is ignorance much better?
i still *heart* target - even if i don't *heart* people.

the times they are a changin'

i just have a moment to blog - i saw something that intices me to write... a teacher being fired for showing a segment of an r-rated movie to a class of 5th graders... the movie was 'Amistad' the clip was of a slave ship. in the 8th grade (maybe 9th - but i don't think so) my math teacher showed us 'Pretty Woman'. Now you may think to yourself - how does relate to math. It doesn't and she didn't try to make it. She wanted to show us the film and we obliged. We weren't to tell our parents and we enjoyed it.
Now, a teacher being fired for showing students a portion of an R-rated film for educational purposes... i can't begin to explain how this is wrong on so many levels. How many parents allow their children younger than 10 to see R-rated films? I recall buying tickets for something quite R-rated with parents and kids in tow behind me getting the same thing. It bothers me that this teacher used a resource and was fired. They didn't follow the 'chain of command' to show the clip - but in today's world teachers need to up their game to keep up with the shortening attention span of children. They are used to the constant bombardment of television, movies, music - i'm sure that most of these kids had been shown or allowed to see worse via their parents. again, i know, not the point - but it really irritates me that a teacher trying to teach was disciplined for it. should we no longer talk about death tolls in war? that's reality and we talk about it at a very young age.
well, it is only 7am and i'm already ranting...