the finger

I really hate “the finger”! I think that the user looks vulgar and uneducated and it makes me feel horrible. Today coming to work I moved into the left lane after having check my mirrors and my blind spot. I quickly noticed a car behind me pull from the carpool lane directly behind me. After a bit, I started to fret that perhaps, I had somehow cut that person off and made them swerve out of the lane into the carpool lane as I came over. The car only had one person in it and was touching her head (I thought). After more thinking I figured that probably, yes, I had cut them off, they weren’t just coming out of the carpool lane they were illegally in, and they were probably raising the finger at me rather than fixing their hair! I felt really bad since it was a complete accident. I had done all my checking and really just didn’t see her there!

Well, a few miles down the road as she passed me in the middle lane, she gave me the finger, then promptly pulled directly in front of me and slowed to show her displeasure. My feelings went first from sorry, to embarrassed to immediately defensive and no longer contrite! “What a stupid, ugly, trashy woman” is what I was thinking, where a few moments before I was thinking “ah, I totally cut her off, I feel so bad”. Why can’t we all just assume the best of each other. I would hope that she didn’t think I cut her off on purpose. And if I didn’t cut her off on purpose, why couldn’t she be forgiving, realizing that sometime people do dumb things and that she might do it to someone else someday – rather than being instantly ticked off and angry? I’m sure she was cussing me all the way to her destination and it’s ruined her day, and I’m obviously perseverating on it still after 30 minutes.

I vow to assume the best of my fellow drivers and if I am upset, I will never show them my displeasure with such a crude, base gesture as the finger! You can hold me to that! And, now I am done venting and I’m going to let this go because I have other, better things to think about today.

For Funsies

We have an annual Rock Band tournament at work (this is a Playstation/XBox/Wii game) and my team has been part of it for the past two years. I play bass or sing if I happen to know the song.

The top three teams go to compete at the summer party. We didn't even get close to winning (we were 6 of 9 - isn't that a character in Star Trek? Oh, maybe she was 7 of 9 - but I digress). We thought that we could maybe win a prize for rock costume so we dressed up last Wednesday.

The winners of "best costume" and "fan favorite" will be announced today. Stay posted and ROCK ON!

Gardens

I won't try to convince you that I am a good gardener - I'm sure that these plants wouldn't look so great if it wasn't for the rain we had last month! At any rate, I am proud that my tomatoes seem to be growing - I saw several yellow flowers this morning. I also have parsley, sage, basil, oregano, and thyme (nope, no rosemary so I don't quite have the song . . . ) I tried pots this year since I didn't have the energy to clear any land of weeds, nor did I have the gumption to dig in the crappy, hard dirt. So, with a bit of potting soil and some pots, I don't have to weed much and my plants look great!