13 posts tagged “driving”
Dear Dumbass,
So I've been at the hometown for the past couple of days due to Pat's and my concert tour this week. On Monday night was Metallica. We drove in to San Antonio Monday afternoon to get to the hotel. We got a much nicer hotel than the last one we were at, so we felt considerably safer in it, haha.
This was a sold-out show, so it was a little bit different than the Green Day show. We were able to find cheap parking across the street and waited outside for a little while. These guys were walking around saying that the t-shirts inside were $40, and that they were selling concert shirts for half the price. I made a very fast (and considerably bad) decision to buy one. It was a total ripoff, obviously. I asked for a small, and the guy (complete with a shifty East Coast accent and everything) turned his back to me to pull out the shirt. It was NOT small and it was one of those shirts you just take over to some custom printing place. I could fit probably two of me in it, so I gave it to Pat. I bought a REAL tour shirt inside (which was $32, by the way, not $40). Typing this out makes me realize I spent an inordinate amount of money on tour shirts. But I love getting tour shirts, and Pat has been wearing his non-stop, so it makes me happy.
Anyway, the concert was excellent. The opening bands were Gojira and Lamb of God. Now, I love good hard rock and metal, but I draw the line at death metal. I just can't handle it. And these two bands were death metal, so I was pretty bored throughout the set. But once Metallica came out, it got awesome. We had the "nosebleed" seats that still ended up being great. The band had a laser show that was incredible. They played for 2 hours total. They didn't play anything from the albums the fans usually hate, like Load, Reload, or St. Anger. They played a lot of good stuff from their recent album, Death Magnetic, as well as stuff from the Black album, Kill 'Em All, and Master of Puppets. Their set included "One," "Sad But True," "Enter Sandman," "Nothing Else Matters," "The Unforgiven," "Master of Puppets" (which was AWESOME), "Seek and Destroy," and "Battery."
What was semi-distracting was this chick and her boyfriend, who sat right in front of us. Now, I'm usually not judgmental about this kind of stuff but...this girl was dressed like a total skank and was one of the biggest attention whores I've ever come across. She was both revolting and fascinating at the same time. She came dressed in a teensy tube dress that came maybe two inches below her crotch, high high heels, and carried a huge Chanel bag. She would make out with her boyfriend randomly (enough to be like "get a room"), leave randomly for long periods, probably to snort a line of coke (not joking), and would return and sit down. She spent several songs tying these stupid glow rings around her arm. But then what was most infuriating was how she would put up the devil horns like a total poser. I mean, I admit that I'm just a casual Metallica fan, but bitch! If you were that into the show, you wouldn't be trying to do your boyfriend or leaving for long periods of time. Annoying. She was very pretty, I'll give her that, but besides her ridiculous concert outfit, she had a vapid Marilyn Monroe voice going on. Annoying. Girls like her go against everything I stand for.
After the show was over, Pat and I headed back to the hotel (luckily we already had cold sodas waiting for us so we wouldn't repeat last month's fiasco.) I was a little nervous because it was rainy and I get really nervous driving with that much traffic. At one point I had to switch lanes and this asshole kept on honking and honking at me when I couldn't make it over right away...I could never make it in a big city like New York because I'd be taking all the honking personally.
We came back yesterday and I slept for 10 hours that night. Tomorrow is Them Crooked Vultures! YEAAH!
Now, I'm far from the greatest driver in the world, but there are just some people who make me look like an expert.
There is a road circling my apartment, one lane going each direction. I was driving up to the apartment entrance when I noticed a car sitting the wrong way in the lane going the opposite direction. "What the fuck is he doing?" I thought, but then realized that he'd probably tried going through the gate that clearly reads "EXIT ONLY." I guess reading comprehension is hard. He wasn't making any moves, so I figured it'd be safe to drive past him.
The driver waited until I had just about driven past him to be like, "Oh hey, let me get into the correct lane." Then he started shifting over in my lane. I initially tried to speed up to get out of the way, but he didn't want to be behind me and started speeding up too. So I had to pull to the right and slam on my brakes to let him in my lane.
The best part? As he cut me off, he gave me a look like this was all MY FAULT. Stupid asshole. I hope he gets stuck in traffic on I-35 for four hours. Is that harsh? Okay, two.
I was in Dallas yesterday and today for field work. The work there was pretty uneventful (other than being ridiculously hot, but welcome to Texas), but coming back sure made up for it!
My coworker and I were on the interstate near downtown, camping in the left lane and waiting out the traffic. Suddenly, we heard a loud noise. It took several seconds for me to register that the noise was the sound of a vehicle hitting ours. "WHOA!" my coworker said. Speechless, I watched the truck that hit us barrel down the left shoulder.
My coworker stepped outside to look at the damage. Very luckily, the sound was more dramatic than the actual damage - the left side mirror had been destroyed, but that's it. With an accident that minor, there weren't any injuries. I noticed that the truck had not pulled over to the shoulder. "He's trying to run," I said. I couldn't believe it. For something as minor as hitting a side mirror, you're going to risk getting into so much trouble by running? It made me mad. After my accident in January 2008, I felt so guilty for totaling that guy's car and hurting his leg, even months and months after it happened. I can't imagine being so thoughtless to leave the scene of an accident.
We searched through the lanes of traffic, but the car had disappeared. Then we saw him frantically trying to switch lanes to get to an overpass exit. I was able to spot the car and got his license number. I guess my coworker didn't believe I had the right one, even as I was saying it out loud to myself, because he slowed down to make sure. I caught a glimpse of the man as he was on the overpass. I have to admit I felt pretty triumphant as I looked at his face. Haha, sucker. I got your license plate.
We ended up having to call 911 to wait for an officer to come to the scene. We found out afterward that there had been another vehicle hit by the same guy. Here's what we think happened: the truck hit the first guy, damaging his bumper, and in a hurry to escape, he took the left shoulder as his route. That's when he hit us. The police officer said it would be hard to convict the guy since I was the only witness who had caught just a glimpse of his face (I admitted that I wouldn't be able to pick him out of a lineup). But the police would be able to do an investigation on him. The officer was very nice. The accident took an hour out of our trip. It's weird, but I kind of had a feeling something like that would happen today.
Anyway, about an hour out of Dallas, my coworker took me up on my offer and let me drive. I'm not a fan of dual-cab trucks, especially in the dark, in areas where I had to drive close to the wall without a shoulder, and in the rain. Oh, and all without the side-view mirror to check my blind spot. My coworker helped me with the blind spots, though, so that was good. And luckily, it didn't start raining until the end. We took a different road back to the office that had very limited visibility, and with the rain, it was hard for me to see at some points. I was just so grateful to get home.
Back to the office tomorrow! Then I'm supposed to go swing dancing, and I can't flake out again. So I need to rest up now.
Honking, tailgating, excessive lane changing... There are so many things that can drive you crazy when you're behind the wheel. So tell us: what's your driving pet peeve?
I'm really glad this question came up, actually, because it's one that has left me feeling really frustrated lately! I have two pet peeves: tailgating, and honking when it isn't warranted.
I think tailgating is one of the stupidest things you can do as a driver. If I have to slam on the brakes, you're going to hit me. Oh, and double points if you are tailgaiting me while on your cell phone. That's like the Perfect Storm of bad driving behavior. And tailgating me does not intimidate me. I drive a truck. Even if you are another truck, you are not going to make me go faster. If anything, I will start going a couple miles per hour slower JUST to piss you off, and if you still won't budge, I'll clean my windshield so you get some water thrown at you. (My brother's tactic for getting rid of tailgaiters? Braking. I have expressed to him that this is not a very good idea.) I've had semis tailgate me too :\ What is with that? Now I admit, that DOES make me a little nervous. It reminds me of that commercial they showed on The Soup where truck drivers can start driving after 3-4 weeks of training, and Joel McHale said, "So next time you see a semi barreling down the highway at 75 mph, just think, they've had 3-4 weeks of training!"
The next driving practice I hate is honking. Now, granted, not all honking. I've been honked before for good reason when I made a dumb mistake. I can understand that. I personally don't honk anyone, only because I grew up in South Texas, and learned that you don't honk at anyone unless you want to get shot. But the city I live in now is a little preppy, so all the metrosexual guys have no problems expressing their RAGE. And I really, really dislike when they decide to get all passive-aggressive and honk at you in, say, a parking garage.
Right before Tuesday's little "incident," this guy was behind me, honking at me and putting on his accelerator. He was just being an obnoxious jerk. I was going 5 mph and taking all the corners very slowly. He was driving a much smaller car than I do. Plus, it's a fucking PARKING GARAGE. It's not your own personal racetrack. There are other cars in there, and people, too.
And just yesterday, I was in a parking lot that was kind of narrow. I had to drive between this car and the other parked cars. I didn't have a lot of clearance so I was taking my time. The car then accelerated sharply to show how "frustrated" he was. Again, it was a smaller car. He didn't have long to wait. Why was he being such a douche? I guess these people haven't been in parking lot accidents like I have...they change your whole perspective! Get into one, and you'll be driving 5 mph in one too!
Finally, I really dislike it when people honk when you are yielding. That's so rude! Not everyone feels comfortable about throwing themselves out in front of other cars like you do. I used to let it get it me, which is STUPID. Like my dad always says, you will probably never see that impatient person again ever in your life, so don't let him make you cause a wreck. I never, never, ever will honk at people who are yielding. It's just so rude!
And, I have to throw this out there: cell phones. Why do people text while driving, especially on the interstate? Why?
I've put over 200 miles on my car just from driving back and forth downtown all this week for meetings. It has been a little exhausting. I'm glad the week is over, and I'm glad that next week, I won't have to be downtown for as many. I wish I could put a moratorium on downtown meetings.
Another thing I would like to put a moratorium on is driving mistakes. Despite my less-than-stellar driving record, I am actually a very cautious driver (most of the time). I drive the speed limit, do not tailgate or run red lights, and drive 65 mph on the freeways. But every once in awhile, I do something so idiotic that I'm like, "Really, Jen? Did the first accident not teach you ANYTHING?" Tonight was one of those nights. I have accepted the fact that I'll never be a...great driver, and that it is a skill that I have to hone. I just have to remember to take my time ALL of the time and to be extra patient. Patience is a virtue and it is one I lack.
But despite my temporary idiocy, I had fun tonight. Tonight was the start of the Championship weekend. Last night there was a live band playing, so it was PACKED. Tonight wasn't as packed, but there were a lot of out-of-towners. I like dancing with them because you learn new things. I'm practicing on my styling and improvisation, so that was fun. Another thing I would like to call a moratorium on - guys who only spin me around. The entire dance. That gets fucking tiresome. Do something besides stupid spins. One guy I danced with didn't throw ANY Lindy in there at all, just stupid spins. Uggggghhhhh.
Competitions started tonight. I didn't participate because the one I entered doesn't start until tomorrow. It was the Strictlys tonight, where a couple signs up and is judged together. They had some really good dancers tonight! It was fun to watch. I left around 11:30, though. I am going to be up early tomorrow (well, early for a weekend, at least), and I want to make sure I get enough sleep. I feel really tired right now, so I'm glad I'm home instead of driving. The dance was supposed to last until 4...yeah, no. Maybe I would stay if I didn't have to compete tomorrow, and someone else was driving me. Ha!
Ok, I'm going to take a shower and head to sleep, I'm exhausted!
So, I changed my profile pic for several reasons. The first is I have this irrational fear that someone from work will google something and stumble upon my blog. Not like I have anything really controversial on this blog, but I'd like to keep it away from people I work with. Plus, it gives me a little more anonymity. The second is that I keep seeing trailers for The Tales of Despereaux on TV, and it only looks like the cutest movie ever. Despereaux reminds me of Topo Gigio, this REALLY cute Italian mouse on TV. When I was in Italy (back in 1993...tear), I remember seeing Topo Gigio on TV. (My mom calls my brother "Gigio" as a nickname, which is adorable. I think I used up my quota for the words "cute" and "adorable" in this paragraph, so I'll stop). Anyway, Topo Gigio:
I am such a girl.
I need to stop being lazy and mixing up the posts on here like I used to, with more Song of the Week, book reviews, Gems from My Hometown Newspaper, and fashion posts. I feel like lately, every post has been, "Work, blah blah, dancing, blah blah, running, blah blah." I haven't even written any passive-aggressive open letters in awhile (I almost did on Saturday though, because I saw a middle-aged woman trying to reclaim her youth by wearing those jeans you buy from Abercrombie with the holes already in them. Honey, NO). But like a true procrastinator, I will start later this week.
Texas weather is so weird. I went running on Sunday and yesterday. The weather was maybe in the high 60's during my runs. There seems to be an unwritten rule in South and Central Texas that any time the weather gets below 70 degrees, you must wear your heaviest winter gear. It was hilarious to see people on the lake dressed in coats and hats when the air barely had any chil in it. I can't complain about the warm weather in December, though; every year I find that I like cold weather less and less (I'll be retiring to a condo in Florida any day now). However, a cold front blew in tonight. It was really windy on the interstate and it rained tonight. If it's really cold, I'm not running tomorrow. People are like "I HOPE IT SNOWS," to which I say, NO! No snow. At least not when I have to drive in it.
Downtown office today. Why do I insist on drinking caffeine? I felt ridiculously jittery today after having a Starbucks frappuchino. I don't know what was up, but when the jitters went away, I was left feeling exhausted. I left earlier today to finish my work at home, and to miss the traffic on the interstate (and it worked!) May I say how much I hate the parking garage there? Whoever designed it put barriers to separate the directions of traffic. And with my big truck, I have to take those corners very, very carefully to avoid scratching up my truck. My heart just pounds when I drive up that thing. My project manager called me today to congratulate me on getting to the top of the parking garage. HAHA. Oh, me. To think half of my brother's friends are fighting in Iraq right now, and I'm all "PARKING GARAGES ARE SCURRY." Lord.
Today I was pretty proud of myself; it's silly, but I will tell you anyway. I was looking at an aerial plan and profile drawing. I don't have a whole lot of experience with these (I actually don't do any real design, my job is more concerned with management), but I emailed the engineer I work to ask if I was reading it correctly by assuming that the tie-in for the interceptor reach was at this certain station. When he emailed to say that yes, I was right, I wrote back, "Yay!" He replied with this:
That made me lol.
Okay, I realize that this is a huge post, so I will stop after one more thing. I was at HEB today and I saw this:
So of course I gasped out loud and said, "YES!" It was a whispered "YES!" but it was an excited one all the same. If my brother had been there, he would have told me to act like an adult. And it was only $7, y'all. Of course I HAD to get it for my collection. I will read it tonight.
Sometimes I just have to keep my chin up.
Okay, I am going to go relax for tonight. Good night.
This show on the History Channel that I'm watching is playing "Saturday Night is Alright for Fighting," which is awesome, because I love that song. I would never have chosen it to reference the Watergate scandal, but whatever, it works.
Anyway, my weekend was very leisurely and relaxing. Friday night I went blues dancing. Sometimes it is hit or miss but this particular night was a lot of fun. Lol this one person I danced with led me by my wrists instead of the hands. A special note to guys out there: leading a girl by her wrists is not original or creative, it's douche-y.
Yesterday, I went Christmas shopping. I got my mom's gift and this really fun gag gift for my brother. It is a Santa Clause that "poops" brown-colored candy. The gift just screamed "Patrick" when I saw it. I guess the fact that I found it hilarious shows my advanced sense of humor, but I don't care. It is funny. Oh! And I found $9 shoes for the winter formal. I am going to wear this really pretty, navy blue dress of my mother's. It has a vintage vibe and I love it. Anyway, I found the perfect pair of shoes for it. Now to figure out the hairdo for it...too bad my hair styling skillz are limited.
Oh I just got the point of the show I'm watching. They play full-length songs while describing historical events in a "pop-up" video sense. This is pretty cool.
I didn't do a whole lot today, but it was a good day. I went running and re-signed my apartment lease. I went food shopping and made chili. It actually came out good! I watched TV and relaxed. I'm making Harry a little blanket for Christmas for him to snuggle in. He stole my brother's baby blanket for a long time, but my mother wasn't keen on the fact that Harry was chewing on it. So she took it from him and gave him a towel for him to carry around. Harry doesn't like the towel very much, so she asked me to make Harry a blanket. I bought some soft yarn with Christmas colors and am crocheting one for him. I think he will like it. The yarn is nice and soft.
Okay, so people are progressively getting crazier as the holidays get closer. One of my friends got into a crazy accident on the freeway here a couple of days ago (he was not at fault, but the person who hit him may have been under the influence). Very luckily, my friend (and his vehicle) are okay, as well as the other people involved in the accident. My brother narrowly avoided an accident the other day when a car pulled out in front of him at the worst possible time. Patrick said that he had to slam on the brakes so hard that his truck ran over the sidewalk. I nearly got hit yesterday as well (thought it would have been minor compared to my friend's accident and Patrick's near-miss). I daresay that this would not have been my fault. I was turning left out of a shopping center. The light was not protected so I waited a bit to yield. The cars opposite me were not moving, so I pulled out and started to make my left. That's when the car opposite of me decides to turn right and cut me off. So I slammed on the brakes. As I'm marveling at this person, the car BEHIND HER decides to do the same thing! So I have to slam on the brakes again because this is a large vehicle encroaching my lane and is THIS CLOSE to hitting Pearl Jr's good side. Ugh. Happy holidays, everyone.
I wish tomorrow were Sunday again, but at least there's only 2 more weeks until vacation. I'm going to go read and watch some TV before bedtime. Adios.
Today was a pretty busy day, and after my last entry, I'm too exhausted to write anything out properly. So I present to you my bulleted update:
- Friday night kinda sucked.
- Saturday was fun. Friend came into town, hung out with friends, ate at TGI Friday's. Got full off of a couple of chicken wings because TGI Friday's sucks. Went to watch Quantum of Solace.
- Went to Target for the first time in two months. Went clothes shopping for the first time in two months. Bought really cute dress:
- Went running 6.5 - 7 miles yesterday and did 4 x 300s and 2 x 700s today. Tried to keep 8:30 - 9:00 minute mile pace for long run - mostly successful. Am frustrated with my times (3:15 for 700 was my fastest) still but I guess I can't be too hard on myself, since I did a long run yesterday.
- Funny story on Sunday involving Pearl Jr. but you all will think I'm a bad driver if I tell it. It has to do with my atrocious parking skillz, or lack thereof.
- Okay, what the hell - so back in April, I was in a parking garage, the most NARROW PARKING GARAGE IN EXISTENCE, I SWEAR Y'ALL, and ended up backing up against a pillar. So now my truck has these sexy scratches (and, cough, a dent) against the front left side. So yesterday while I was in a parking lot, a man approached me. I was all ready to get defensive, like, "Why is this strange man coming to talk to me?" But it turns out he was trying to hand me a business card because he owns a body shop and would like to fix my truck. Sigh. Men always flip out over my truck. It's not that bad.
- Now you know why I try to avoid parking garages at all costs.
- Tomorrow, I hope that the parking lot downtown is not blocked off like it was on Friday, or else I'll be forced to park in garage. DUN DUN DUNNNNNN.
- Made some Southwestern Chicken fajita thingy tonight-pretty good.
- Folded an inordinate amount of maps for tomorrow's THC meeting.
- I'm pretty wiped. Goodnight, you guys.
1. Eldest children really do have it harder. Please pity me :) Birth-order studies always interest me, because I find they are fairly accurate when it comes to Patrick and me.
2. I'm going to enter a writing contest. Yeah! I entered about a year and a half ago but I felt the story I submitted was a dud. (I didn't win, obviously). I think I will enter two stories this year. I wrote one of them during my creative writing class last semester. My teacher gave it a good review; I don't think it's great, but it's not as bad as the one I submitted last time. I'm writing another story to enter. I think it has a good premise, I just have to do a lot of cleaning up. I've written maybe 25-50% of it. Writing short fiction is hard! You have to condense so much into a certain word count, make the plot interesting and engaging, and really make those characters jump off the page. I just have to make my character believable, since we don't have similar backgrounds and life experiences. I hope I succeed; there's nothing worse than reading stilted writing.
3. So today someone complimented by driving. I know, right? I was about ready to start laughing too. She's a coworker and it turns out she lives in the same apartment complex that I do, so she was following me in the parking lot. "Wow, I'm really impressed by how you actually use your signals," she said. "I don't see a lot of people here who do that, good job!" I'm surprised she was complimentary, because as I was driving, I was so sure that she would be cussing me out. In parking lots, I drive like an 80-year-old grandmother on Quaaludes (parking lots + parking garages = Jenny's worst enemies). But hey, I'll take any compliments I get :)
