Three Things That Really DRIVE Me Nuts --Or-- You Know What Really Grinds My Gears?

(suggested background music pairing:  You Saw My Blinker, Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince, 1991)

Yes…I’m blogging about driving habits that annoy me to no end!  And yes, that pun was intended.  I remember reading or hearing somewhere that on average, 80% of people think they are better drivers than most – me included!  My fellow blogger and one of my best friends growing up blogged this topic I think 3 or 4 months ago.  I haven’t gone back to re-read it, but I’m guessing I’ll probably inadvertently say many of the same things.  In fact, after I post this, I will go back and read, and comment how close I came!

I’m limiting myself to the three biggest things that annoy me:

#3) Distracted Driving (holding a phone, texting, and even worse, buzzed/drunk driving):  And yes, I’m guilty of driving while I talk on the phone or text.  I do try to limit phone calls to the very short ones, otherwise I do own and use a headset while driving.  I’m sure I look like a dork, but too bad, I feel pretty strongly about this.  I try to limit my texts to when I’m at a red light or on a long open empty stretch of highway.  Years ago in PA (on Rt 202 in Great Valley to be exact) I was forced into the median by someone who suddenly switched lanes while on a cell phone.  We’ve all seen the lane drifter, then sudden turns, and yet…  And the technology is there, and pretty cheap too, to just get a Bluetooth or some other device where this isn’t necessary.

The Journey Within The Journey

(suggested background music pairing:  Spinning Wheel, Blood Sweat & Tears, 1969)


So, I went out for a drive this morning.  Those who know me should not be surprised, as this is common for me to do.  My car, and being on the road, is my refuge.  I know many people do not enjoy driving, and some people see it merely as a means to get from Point A to Point B.  I thoroughly enjoy it, and I always have.  For me, being on the open road, seeing the world, being free, is my element.  I crank up my wide (very wide) range of tunes and off I go.  

Today I had a specific destination in mind; I wanted to go to one of the State Parks about an hour south of Rochester to take some winter photographs.  Unfortunately, the park ended up being closed, so today’s drive ended up being one of my regular roaming drives – the kind of drive where I just wander, take random turns, until I feel it’s time to head back.

I enjoy those kinds of drives because I never know what I’m going to come across.  I may find a neat little town.  They all have their post office, their school, their general store/hardware store/grocery store, their little bar.  It’s nice to see people out and about, even if just shoveling snow or waving to a neighbor.  Sometimes the scenery is just relaxing, or inspiring.  Sometimes there really isn’t anything to see.  But for me, my inner self takes in whatever is around me.  My brain is free to wander, work through some things, turn itself off, whatever it wants do.  

And on this drive, as I was traveling along, it made me think that life is not just about the journey, but the journeys within the journey.  The little trips in life we choose to take, or many times are forced to take due to the choices we made before and the directions the pavement runs.  Our journey is a series of intersections and little towns and every junction we have a choice to make, a direction to choose.  Sometimes the route is clear, other times it’s so foggy or rainy we can’t see 10 feet in front of us.  Sometimes we get detoured, and other times, it’s clear sailing ahead.  But each road has its own direction, its own destination, its own character…its own journey.  

So, as with every journey within the journey, after another half-hour, it was time to head home, to familiarity, to the roof over my head - so I can rest up for the next journey ahead. 

And with that, I’ll end this journey within the journey within the journey.

Why me? Why Now?

(suggested background music pairing:  See The New, Ronny Jordan, 1992)

Why me?  Anyone who really knows me probably won’t be surprised that I’m starting a blog.  I am totally into communicating and sharing thoughts and having debates.  For one, it keeps my mind active.  I firmly believe that one of the biggest keys to a long life is to keep your mind active.  Both of my grandmothers (one died at the age of 88, the other still alive at the age of 89) lived/are living I believe in part because they kept their minds active.  My paternal grandmother played solitaire, on a table with real cards, all the time.  She, in her eighties, took a bus 20 miles to go to beauty school to renew her beauticians license, and then took a different bus 4 miles to work at a small neighborhood hair salon.  My maternal grandmother also in her eighties volunteered at a local daycare and still kept up on current politics.  You’ll find along this journey called my blog that there are some cliches I completely buy into.  In this case:  an idle mind is the devil’s playground.  

The other reason for communicating and sharing thoughts is that on all levels, I firmly believe we are uplifted when we talk and we share; when we teach and we’re taught; when we validate and become validated; when we connect and become connected.  If more people looked outward instead of selfishly focusing inward, a lot of the worries have in our society would not be as widespread.  We all have a responsibility to each other.  Our friendships, our community, our society, and I’ll extend this all the way out to the human race, rely on that responsibility in order to achieve happiness at all those levels.

Why now?  Well, I have two good friends who are blogging, one for several months now, and one very recently.  So in a way, yes, I’m jumping on the bandwagon.  I’m perfectly OK with being a bandwagon jumper; I see no downside to that!  Some of mankind’s best ideas haven’t been completely new, but tweaks on an existing idea.  Inspiration often comes as a reaction to something seen or heard, and sometimes, someone else is the source of that inspiration.  When my friend started his blog last year, I was fascinated and I thoroughly enjoy reading his thoughts and topics.  The seed was planted then.  Just this week my very good friend started her blog, and that was the water and sunlight needed to start the growth of the seed.  We had talked about blogging not too long ago.  So…I’m hopping on the bandwagon.  I’m boarding the bus.  The journey has started…

Those who know me know how much I love to drive and to travel.  This is the start of what I hope will be a fun, crazy, inspirational, hilarious journey where, as cheesy as it may sounds, we’ll laugh, we’ll shed a tear, and in the end, we’ll all walk a little taller and stride a little more confidently.  I’m gonna be all over the board here, no topic avoided, nothing off limits.  We’ll fly by the seats of our pants, up mountains and through valleys, and I hope to have a few passengers along for the ride!

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Macedo’s Final Thought:  Rochester had a foot of heavy wet snow yesterday.  In driving around today, I saw a few people who were stuck in their driveways, back and forth, back and forth, in an effort to avoid shoveling.  They would get out of their car, kick some snow away from the their tires, and try again, without success.  I’m sure they eventually got out, but it seems to me that a with a little bit of shoveling, they would have gotten out faster.  In the end, sometimes a little hard work actually saves time and makes the long run easier.

Macedo.  Out.