3769 Freakin' out, man! Part one.

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Forget all the reasons it won’t work and focus on the one reason that it will.

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I am freaking out here.  Three days ago I was playing with my hair, pleased that even at my advanced age my hair is still pretty thick (well, thick as it ever was given that it's always been super fine).  Yesterday and today I've been pulling it out in frustration and anger.

SWARM - the first aggravator.

You've probably seen the YouTube video of the motorcycle thing this past Sunday?  If not, it's at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13DzHnlaiNs.  Watch at the beginning.  The biker runs in the SUV's lane, right next to him, and is turned toward the driver's window.  Then he pulls in front of the SUV and hits the brakes, looking back the whole time, to make sure he gets hit.  Yep, as planned, the SUV bumps the bike, and stops.  The SUV is then swarmed by bikers.  If you listen carefully, you can hear helmets hitting the SUV.  (It was later reported that the SUV's tires were slashed at that time.)

The SUV driver tries to get away.  You can see him swerving to get around bikers. That big bump was when he drove over a motorbike - and the rider.  That rider has two broken legs and a broken back, is now in the hospital in an induced coma, may never walk again.

Note where the SUV gets stopped in traffic further on, and a biker tries to open the door, but the car gets away.  Later the SUV gets stopped again.  A biker starts hitting the window with a helmet - note it's the same sound we heard back in the beginning.  The video ends before the mob breaks the window, opens the door, pulls the (Asian) driver out, and kicks the shit out of him.

The driver's wife and 2-year-old son were in the car with him.

There were more than 200 911 calls reporting these guys, including one from the panicked SUV driver himself, and from other drivers and people along the route.

These assholes had no concern for anyone else on the road.  Most of those bikes did not have plates, were not street-legal, and of those riders who were detained or arrested, most of them were not licensed.  They paid no attention to niceties like lanes or speed limits or safe distances.  Some other assholes expect us to have sympathy for the guy who got run over, and want the SUV driver charged with hit and run.  Well, the injured guy's driver's license was taken away from him in the late '90s, he's not allowed to get it back for several more years (gotta wonder about how bad that is) and (I believe) he's never had a motorcycle license, but STILL he's had something like 15-17 traffic citations since losing his license.  (How is that guy not in jail?!)   So he wasn't even allowed to be there.

So, no, no sympathy.  You got exactly what you were asking for, fella.  Maybe now you'll stay off the streets.

If you haven't already seen it, please DO watch the video.  Imagine what that SUV driver was feeling.  Would you have done anything different?  Tell me in the comments.

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A guy called into the local radio station today, and he was saying that he knows what was going on.  He said the mob was taking over the highway for tricks - that's why there was a camera.  He said to notice that as they passed on-ramps, there were more bikers sitting on the ramps, who then joined the ride.  What they were doing sitting on the ramps was preventing vehicular traffic from entering the road.  They very much resent vehicles who don't exit or at least pull over and let them have the road.  The SUV driver had the audacity to not get off their road.

And riders wonder why drivers hate them.

And you have to wonder about the arrogance and intelligence of people who would post that video on YouTube, like they're proud of it or something.  Complete assholes.  Any of you who know me have never heard me say that word, ever.  But sometimes, it just fits.

[I am aware that at least three readers of this blog ride.  I do hope none of this applies to you.]
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3546 End of last week catch up

Monday, June 11, 2012

Harvey Korman, on his using Viagra: It would be like putting a new flagpole on a condemned building.

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I have finished Madame Bovary.   I'd never heard or read a synopsis, or seen any of the movies, so I had no real inkling of the story.  Somewhere along the line I'd seen a deathbed scene from a very old movie, possibly a silent movie, and occasional references to Mme. Bovary's romantic nature and her many assignations.  So I had, without thinking about it, assumed she was something like a Parisian courtesan, and that she died a lingering death of "consumption", and that her lovers sadly abandoned her in the end.  Or something like that.

The real story is very different.

As soon as I finished the book, I watched a 2.25 hour French version on YouTube with subtitles.  The movie left out a LOT!  (Also, the movie made it seem more like she was lured, beguiled, into debt by the predatory merchant with no concept of what she was doing.  In the book, it's more like the merchant was just filling her hunger.  And the movie didn't really get into how her neediness put so much pressure on Leon.  So, don't go by the movies.)

Check one off the very bottom of the bucket list.

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According to the GPS, the country house is about 360 feet above sea level.  Harumph.  It seems higher.

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When I return from a trip to the country house, I have to time it just right.  I have to leave by 2 pm at the latest, or wait until after 5 pm, to avoid rush hour on the Garden State Parkway.  The rush hour traffic isn't bad - it's that there's always at least one accident that has traffic backed up for an hour.  Friday I left at 5 pm, but it turned out that was a mistake.  The Rhinebeck Fairgrounds was hosting a huge antique motorcycle show Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  The traffic jam heading toward the (two-lane) bridge over the Hudson River was horrendous.

As I crept along, there were three motorcycles in front of me.  Stop, go, stop, go.  I gave them plenty of room, especially because I appreciated their staying in the lane.  We were passed by dozens of motorcycles roaring down the shoulder on our right, which royally pissed me off.  I mean, if I'd had a gun ... or a barrel of roofing nails ....  They were ignoring courtesy, rules, and speed limits.  But worst of all, it was THE MOTORCYCLE CLUB'S SHOW that generated all this traffic!  It was THEIR FAULT!  And they're just blowing by while we innocents suffer?

When I finally got across the bridge and onto route 209, motorcycles continued to blast by.  55 mph speed limit, and they had to be doing at least 85.  At least.

And they wonder why motorists won't give them a break?  QUIT PISSING US OFF!  Quit acting like laws, rules, and common courtesy don't apply to you.

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I usually return from the country on Thursday, but I was late this week.  So Friday I expected more traffic than usual.  I never use the GPS on that trip because I know the route.  Friday I had it on for no particular reason, and as I entered NJ, I was shocked to hear something I'd never heard before: "Severe traffic ahead.  Recalculating."

Huh?  The traffic application is optional.  I didn't know I had it.

The GPS took me off the Garden State Parkway onto route 3 east, to the NJ Turnpike.  I'm glad I obeyed.  The view of Manhattan from route 3 is amazing!  From the top of the first hill off the Parkway, the cluster of tall gleaming buildings rises high above the trees ahead.  It looks for all the world like a scene from a fairy tale movie.  The sun was in the west hitting the scene full on, and the sky was clear.

Oz!

One of these trips I'll try to take a picture.

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At some point every morning, Nugget goes to the window, points urgently, and says "Amma! Amma!"  Daughter escorts her across the street, and we have this routine.  Nugget pounds on my door, "Amma!  Amma!".  I yell, "Who's that beating on my door?" (Billy Goat Gruff voice) and open it.  Nugget hustles past to look for cat toys (which she prefers to kid toys).

On Thursday, Nugget said it was time to visit Amma, and Daughter said no, Gramma isn't home, and distracted her.  On Friday, Nugget was more insistent and wouldn't be distracted, so Daughter brought her over. Nugget pounded on the door ... and there was no answer.  Daughter tried to explain that the van wasn't in the driveway, Gramma was with the van, gone bye-bye.  Van gone bye-bye, Gramma gone bye-bye. 

Big disappointment.

(Hercules looked up "Amma" to see if it had a meaning and was surprised to find that it is appropriate.  I could have told him - "Amah" is a nursemaid throughout much of southern Asia and India.  So I don't mind if Nugget never masters the "Gr" part.)
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