Oh man, the road can bite you. No.... thank God I did not fall on my motorcycle or get in an accident. But I did get a ticket. Uhhh, so frustrating. I have prided myself in only getting a ticket once and that was on a lonely, abandoned road in Hawaii, many years ago. But he had me. 9 miles over the posted speed limit. Wait did I say posted. Let's say the established legal limit. Believe me I was at fault but who knew there were "Urban districts" where the speed limit on a side street is not 35 but 30. It didn't help that when you exit 610 north onto N. Main there is no sign posting the speed limit for about a mile. 30 miles/hr .... really? It wouldn't have mattered since he got me at 39 miles/hr. the fine is only $10 less. I used to think they gave you up to 7 miles an hour over the limit. But really, I just wasn't paying attention to my speed. BUT, I AM NOW. BELIEVE ME.
I have been wondering what it would take to slow me down. You know... get some patience so I wouldn't get so frustrated with all my "friends" on the road. Pain... in the wallet... and 5 hours for defensive driving, that got my attention and has slowed me down. At least for a while. I'm driving slower these days and watching my speedometer. Now, I haven't actually taken the course yet but will probably do the comedy version on line. But just thinking about 5 hours taking defensive driving pains me.
I wish I could complain of injustice. Like a speed trap or something. But being honest, if I was really paying attention I would have seen the officer and instinctively hit my brakes no matter what my speed and would have avoided all this. I feel stupid. God, I don't want another ticket.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Friday, August 5, 2011
From Buddha to Basketball
I had a wild... um, maybe I mean frustrating day on the road. I was heading home from the office about 5:30pm and arrived at the Studewood, N. Main, Cavalcade, 20th st intersection. Well almost. Did I mention that it was 114 degrees in my car and I was in a hurry to get home. This is where it all began.
Here is something that frustrates me to no end - when a driver is sitting at a light that turns green and just continues to sit, almost guaranteeing that I will not get through the light. Oh, that makes me angry. I just want to go home. How about this happening twice at the same light and it takes three changes of the light before I get through. Now you understand my frustration.
This made me think of Buddha or Buddhism to be exact. A tenet of Buddhism (granted I am not a Buddhist) is that desire causes suffering, usually because our desires cannot be satisfied, and efforts to fulfill our desires or our inability to satisfy them, leads to suffering for ourselves or others. The goal then is to eliminate desire. In my case I was suffering with frustration, even anger, because I could not satisfy my desire to get home...NOW. So it occurred to me that I should give up my desire to get home quickly and just accept that I will get there eventually. This could relieve a lot of frustration. Since there will be no effort of mine being frustrated. Next week, I will try to relax, listen to the news, and not desire to get home quickly. We'll see how it goes.
After exiting the freeway, I encountered someone in a greater hurry than me. After trying to push me faster in the left lane, he switched to the right lane and pressed down on another car. Did I mention that I hate it when someone pushes me or others. Okay, I admit that my response was a form of retaliation. I remembered a basketball term - boxing out. In this case I boxed him in. Never looking to my right... don't want to instigate road rage, I managed my speed just enough so that "my friend," could not get back over in front of me nor could he slip back behind me. I had him boxed in. That will teach him to be in a hurry. Now, who is going to teach me to stop being in a hurry. Now if only I could learn to stop hurrying.
Here is something that frustrates me to no end - when a driver is sitting at a light that turns green and just continues to sit, almost guaranteeing that I will not get through the light. Oh, that makes me angry. I just want to go home. How about this happening twice at the same light and it takes three changes of the light before I get through. Now you understand my frustration.
This made me think of Buddha or Buddhism to be exact. A tenet of Buddhism (granted I am not a Buddhist) is that desire causes suffering, usually because our desires cannot be satisfied, and efforts to fulfill our desires or our inability to satisfy them, leads to suffering for ourselves or others. The goal then is to eliminate desire. In my case I was suffering with frustration, even anger, because I could not satisfy my desire to get home...NOW. So it occurred to me that I should give up my desire to get home quickly and just accept that I will get there eventually. This could relieve a lot of frustration. Since there will be no effort of mine being frustrated. Next week, I will try to relax, listen to the news, and not desire to get home quickly. We'll see how it goes.
After exiting the freeway, I encountered someone in a greater hurry than me. After trying to push me faster in the left lane, he switched to the right lane and pressed down on another car. Did I mention that I hate it when someone pushes me or others. Okay, I admit that my response was a form of retaliation. I remembered a basketball term - boxing out. In this case I boxed him in. Never looking to my right... don't want to instigate road rage, I managed my speed just enough so that "my friend," could not get back over in front of me nor could he slip back behind me. I had him boxed in. That will teach him to be in a hurry. Now, who is going to teach me to stop being in a hurry. Now if only I could learn to stop hurrying.
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