driving sucks

As you may have noticed by my recent reduction in blog posts and flickr uploads, this whole work thing has been taking up a lot of my time! On the other hand, it was definitely cool to get my first paycheck (in 10 years, I might add! and I sure told every person I saw the same thing!) yesterday.

I drive 25 miles to Pasadena every day. I started out actually liking the drive and I still do, in some ways. I love the memory of the duck farm off of the 605, the industrial-ness of the rock quarry near the Santa Fe Dam Recreation area, the angles and patterns of all the electrical lines and seeing the Renaissance Faire tents, silently praying as I pass the City of Hope, the lush greenery of the Arboretum on the 210, that one bright fuchsia tree in Monrovia, the dip downward in the freeway on the commute home, and approaching St. Andrews as I arrive at my exit. Traffic isn't even that bad most of the time since I'm lucky enough to be able to leave just as the morning rush dies down.

My only problem? OTHER people! The tail gaters, the non-signalers, cell phone dialers, the crazy teens who believe they're infallible, the dangerous mergers and the just plain ASSHOLES. (yes that's right, children-who-read-my-blog, I just cussed!) I actually stuck my tongue out at someone the other day because I didn't have time to take my hands off the wheel and give him the finger. People are just awful.

Today's commute was particularly troubling, though. It began with flying metal parts coming off the back of a car carrier and bouncing down the freeway. Since the tragic death of a friend almost two years ago, I have a fear of things falling off the backs of trucks and this was just what I was afraid of. Yeah, I was able to just change lanes but I hate that split-second of terror as my brain weighs out my options. I can't drive behind a pickup truck carrying anything in the back. Another thing to add to my list of phobias, I suppose. Then there was the poor doggie on the side of the freeway that had obviously fallen out of a truck. It had a collar and everything and it was not an accessible part of the freeway. By this time I had a pounding headache and a growling stomach, but nothing sounded good so I pulled off the freeway at a populated exit and figured I'd find something there. The offramp turns to the right and as I started the turn a skunk ran out in front of me! I had to make that split-second decision about whether to brake or not but thankfully there were no other cars around me so I was able to stop completely and let the little fucker cross to the other side. If I hit the thing, we would have had to burn the damn car and that would just be a shame.

I'm pretty sure I'm coming down with a touch of meningitis, so I may not make that commute tomorrow which is too bad, because I have work to do!