Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Yeah, You Haven't Been Missing Out On Much

I know that it has been a while. The thing is, I don't have anything nice to say so I thought it would be best to just not say anything at all. And then I thought maybe I could attempt to write without giving my commentary on the issue. Turns out that I am not capable of that, either. So that leaves me with nothin' right now.

How about a list. That is a good start...

1. Apparently I missed the change in the law that says you no longer need to use your turn signal. I keep using my Google search to find out when that happened and can't seem to find anything. But it is pretty clear that just about everyone in Central Texas got that memo because suddenly people cannot be bothered to remove their left hand from the wheel and move the little lever on their steering wheel that turns on the lights that indicate to the drivers around you that you plan to turn.
2. I'm starting to fantasize about chasing down cars that don't use their turn signal and asking the drivers why they aren't capable of using their signals. I have found myself sitting at an intersection talking myself out of following the car to wherever they are going and asking the driver if they got their license from a Cracker Jack box. I've tried telling myself that they must just be in a hurry but the rational side of me wants to kick my empathetic side's ass because it knows damn well that it doesn't take more than a split second to use a turn signal. And then I just feel bad that I want to kick my own ass so I just turn on the radio and try and put it out of my mind.
3. Except that I usually listen to NPR. And that just gets me more mad because the news these days is a little nuts. I feel like we are living in an episode of the Twilight Zone where all of our minds are being controlled by FOX news. I just don't understand why people are allowed to spew lies 24/7 and no one is stopping it. People actually believe that the health care bill has a "death panel" that is out to kill grandma. I just can't stop shaking my head over it. So then I have to turn off the radio and just concentrate on getting home.

[edited to remove the bullets about work]

6. Not that it is NPR itself, of course, but rather the stories they are reporting on. Like the bat problem that we are having. Do you know about this? Well apparently we are losing millions of bats to some kind of virus. Doesn't sound bad except that bats eat half of their body weight in bugs every night, which keeps those bugs from eating crops. And scientists don't know what is causing the virus to spread so they don't know how to stop it. Which means that eventually we will have bugs eating all of our soy beans and corn. Where do they come up with stories like this? Isn't there ANYTHING good going on in the world, NPR?
7. So then I decided that the pop station would be safer to listen to. My drive isn't that long so I was sure there would be something good to listen to. Every channel was playing commercials but I hung in there. (Reid's Dry Cleaners song is now permanently playing in my head. Stupid cleaners with their catchy jingle.) When the DJ finally came back on all they talked about was Heidi and Spencer from The Hills and I thought my head was going to explode all over my car.

And that would definitely prevent me from using my turn signal.