Feeling Like Staying Home

I've been having a streak of bad driving experiences. It may not seem like a big deal to most people, but my anxiety has been through the roof lately with moving and such. I have to leave to pick the Youngest up from school in seven minutes and I'm dreading it.

Friday, I'm backing out of my driveway and almost plow into someone driving down the street. In my defense, this big behemoth of an oversized Freudian pickup truck was parked next to my driveway. I did look before backing up, but couldn't see anyone. Would it have been so much trouble for this neighbor of mine to have not slowed down and let tiny old me out of my driveway instead of speeding up so that I almost hit them?

Then Friday afternoon, I'm parked at the curb waiting for the Youngest to get out of school. A pickup parks behind me. Typical afternoon. I'm reading my book waiting for the kids to get out and I'm totally oblivious to the world around me. I happen to look up as she is walking towards the car just as the pickup behind me is pulling away, having already picked up his kid. And he yells at me through our open windows, "Don't even bother to pull up a little bit!!" What? First of all, I was there before he was and didn't make him park on my bumper. Secondly, I had no clue that he was having such a hard time pulling out into traffic. I wasn't, and it isn't my responsibility to, pay attention when I'm parked. Jackass.

Monday, yesterday, I'm driving to pick the Youngest up from school (I really only drive the kids to and from school these days. I have absolutely no life.) and I notice a bee in the back of my car. I freak. I hate bees. So, I drive as fast as I dare to get to her school so I can let the bee out of my car before it flies up to the front to ride shotgun. I felt pretty silly about that but I really hate bees.

Then, this morning, I'm dropping the Oldest off at school and traffic is backed up for blocks because the city of San Diego thinks it's a smart idea to start construction during rush hour and traffic was down to one lane. THEN, on the way home from dropping of the Youngest, another pickup, turns right on red. Instead of turning into the near lane like they should have, they turned into the far lane right in front of me. I was probably going 45 mph and I had to slam on my breaks. I slid a ways laying rubber and almost didn't have enough space. I came so close to eating their bumper. And I would have, my compact versus their pickup. My hands were shaking for a good ten minutes.

Now, I have to go. Wish me luck.

Plant vs Weed: Week 6...And Other Stuff

There's not much to report on Plantweed this week. Still growing and being eaten by snails. Plantweed did get a nice soaking last night though. We had a good amount of rain come through the area, which was nice. Here's a picture that I took yesterday, April 25th.

In other news...

I just finished one of the most painful classes I've ever taken. It was called Shakespeare Power and Justice or something to that effect. I'm not a fan, nor have I ever been, of Shakespeare. I can read it, understand it, and appreciate it as classic literary works but I would never read Shakespeare for "fun". To make matters worse, I had to argue why I think Shakespeare is still relevant enough to have a place in today's high school curriculum. I'm not so sure how much I actually believe that. The language is obscure, the themes are outdated (I managed to argue very convincingly that they aren't ;)) and I think the time spent on teaching and interpreting his plays could be better spent elsewhere. Like teaching teenagers that "ur", "okaay", "kk", and "fuk" are not correct spellings and when to use their, there, they're, its, it's, and other commonly misused and misspelled words. Ironically enough, the play that I think has the most modern relevance is Coriolanus and it's one of Shakespeare's most obscure plays that has only been produced as a play and/or movie a handful of times. Ralph Fiennes directed and starred in the movie last year as a matter of fact. Did you know that? I didn't until I started doing some research. It was so "popular" that it has made less than $700,000 since it's release in the U.S.

Anyway, I'm glad that class is over and that I have fulfilled that requirement and never have to take another Shakespeare class again. Thank you very much!

And FYI...

I'm thinking of imparting the importance of using your turn signal by accosting drivers, ripping out the turn signal handle in their car and shoving it in a very specific place that they won't forget that it's there.

I'm also thinking about driving around my neighborhood until I find the yapping dog that is left outside to freaking yap at 6 o freaking clock in the gosh freaking morning and kicking its owner until it stops yapping.

I have anger issues this week. I need to live on some remote mountain somewhere that's accessible only by helicopter so that I can't get away from inconsiderate people.

Day of People

Despite the crazy drivers I encountered today, my faith in humanity is pretty high.

First of all, it rained. All day.Lots of rain. But you know what? This is North Carolina. People here shouldn’t be strangers to rain and they should know how to drive in it. The oldest child’s school is 2.5 miles from our house. Round trip, it took me 25 minutes to drive to and from her school and in those five miles, I saw police, fire trucks, and ambulances responding to two traffic accidents. 25 MINUTES to drive FIVE miles. Friday, there is a slight chance of snow. We’re in some sort of cold snap. Anyway, if it snows, the oldest is just going to have to miss school because I’m not getting on the same roads in snowy conditions with people that can’t drive in the rain. Nope. Not happening.

Now, why is my faith in humanity on an upswing??? I received a Christmas card from my grandparents today. It’s a might late, right? Well, there was a note in with it explaining that they had sent it to our old address on accident. The new residents’ son accidentally opened the envelope thinking it was theirs. The father took the card and the check, put it in a new envelope, and sent it back to my grandparents in Texas with a note of apology. Can you believe that?? He totally could have just thrown the whole thing in the trash but was so very kind enough to go out of his way to mail it back to my grandparents. I was truly touched. I’m going to send them a thank you card for being kind, upstanding citizens. They made my day a little brighter despite the rain and gloominess.