Mario Kart

I was driving home after work one afternoon, and it’s California so I was going a safe 70mph on the freeway. I was in the middle lane of traffic and everyone was moving pretty good. In my rear-view mirror I see this guy whiz up behind me and start tailing me. I would like to point out that there was ample room in either of the lanes beside me to go around; I was going the speed of traffic and wasn’t looking to drive the Indie 500, so why should I move right?

Anyways, I could see this guy was irritated and getting his unibrow all in a twist, and so I decided to help him make his decision by slowing down so that I was in fact going the speed limit (not to be a B of course :) 65. Then as he screams by me all in a huff, and looks at me dirty as he proceeds to cut me off, I think “what if life was like Mario Kart?” Wouldn’t it be awesome for these jerky people that like to tail you then cut you off, if you could shoot a red mushroom cap at them make ‘em spin out of the way. Or throw a lightning bold so they shrink down to mini sized and you can laugh as you drive by. Oh, even better, you could “squid” them and shoot ink all over their windshields and pretty cars further pissing them off. I had a great laugh thinking about it in my car, and then realized, as I saw the guy almost hit another car switching lanes, that perhaps it was best left as a thought.

Just Keep Moving

I was driving to work this morning, and for once I was actually ahead of schedule so I took my time driving (instead of the petal to the metal, weaving through traffic that occasionally occurs :D) But as I reached the interchange for a west bound freeway entrance traffic hit a dead stop. I could have gotten out of my car and walked faster than traffic, and believe me I was tempted after 15 min in the same tenth of a mile stretch. But, I sat in my car, crawling along, dreaming about the mocha I wished I had stopped to get, and wondering what the hell could have traffic moving this slow. I thought, “maybe it’s a car fire, or a motorcycle accident, yikes!”

As the traffic started moving, bit by agonizing bit, I got closer and closer to the source of the problem: some teenager with his friends in the car rammed into the back of this little old man’s car. I saw this EMT patting the back of the old man trying to reassure him and my heart fluttered the “ohhh” pattern of empathy. And then magically I was going 65 again. “THAT is what all the huff was about?” I mean I looked at the accident because it was slower that crap and I had nothing better to do, but REALLY? There was a little Corolla with a crinkled hood, and bashed in bumper on a PT Cruiser, not the end of the world. I think my daydreams were more dramatic.

It really got me thinking though, do we ever really think about the impact of our driving on others? Are we so self absorbed sometimes to think that when we’re driving and talking on our cell phones asking for directions and we slow down to 65 in the fast lane, that that does affect all of the people driving behind us? Do we not realize that it is our own faults every time we slow to ogle an accident site that we are perpetuating the traffic jam? JUST KEEP MOVING is what I say. I’ve slowed down before too, but imagine if we just kept moving; let the fire trucks, and tow trucks do their job, pass by cautiously so you don’t create another accident, but don’t slow so much you can recreate the play by play. Just keep moving.

To Rat Out or To Get Crapped On?

As long as I can remember I have had group projects in school. I was reflecting on this today trying to understand why exactly they are useful in high school and beyond. And I drew a blank. I mean, yes you need to know how to work with people, that is a given in the real world. But, lets face it, in academia there is no such thing as an actual GROUP project in which each person does their specific part.

For example, I sat up last night until two in the morning trying to finish a PowerPoint presentation for a “group” project in which my group did just about nothing. I know I’m not the only one in the world this has happened to, we have all been there. You get stuck in this sort of moral dilemma; “do I squawk and tell my professor/teacher that I actually did all the work? Or do I say nothing and be the passive player because I don’t wish bad things for these people?” Why don’t they teach you this stuff in grade school? To Rat Out or Get Crapped On? That, Mr. Shakespeare, is the question.