3.15.01 - 04:38:30

it's weird. i guess it's a good time to get engaged. i guess. i mean, it's not really different from any other time as far as i can tell, but it seems like there's been a rash of announcements around here recently.

i was going fast enough and i was close enough and the light had just turned and i wasn't going to stop. my driver's ed teacher said one day, shh, don't tell anyone i said this, but yellow doesn't mean slow down, it means speed up. my driver's ed teacher laughed like this was original humor. guffawed, really. my driver's ed teacher guffawed. noteel always went through yellow lights. whenever she had to brake for a red she would put her right arm out like she was going to protect you from going through the windshield. it was a very maternal reflex. myself, i did not possess that reflex. it was sweet. i went through the light and kissed my fingers and tapped the ceiling and angie looked and said, why do you do that? sometimes angie did it, too, but only because she was so used to seeing me do it when i drove. i told her it was for good luck. you do it, too, i said. not so much, really...and not for any reason, she said. i looked straight ahead. she said, no, but really, why do you do it? and i said, well, noteel used to do it. she said that was two hours of good lovin' you were saving up every time. sometimes, though, it was wishes. and sometimes it was rainbows or happy days or just straight up luck. why did it matter? no, she said, why do you do it? i mean, you're a logical, rational person, why do you do it? ah, i said, i see. because i did. why and why are completely different sometimes. i looked at the steering wheel. i don't know, i said. no reason, i guess...no reason. she said, oh...yeah, ok, just wondering.

when at a red light, you watch the lights on the cross street so you know when your light's going to change. sometimes there's a left turn only that messes up your timing. but usually it works pretty well. when i was little and riding with my dad in the buick he would point at the light and say, green! green! green! over and over again except it was still red and it was still red and then finally it was green but of course it's going to be green eventually and i might have been ten but i was not impressed. after i started driving and watching the cross streets i wondered why he didn't go that route. he wouldn't have always had to be wrong so many times if he paid attention to the cross streets. or maybe it wasn't ever about being right. the cars that are really antsy start revving their engines when the other light turns yellow. cause you know it has to be soon. what you need to be careful about, however, are those cars that see the yellow and think speed up instead of slow down. because sometimes you're green and they're red but they can't stop and then, well, you know. most of the lights have a second or two of lag time. the red turns red and t h e n the green turns green. but it's not really fail-safe. because some people think red means speed up, too.

previous - next