Ok, so obviously by reading the title, there’s two parts to this post. I’m assuming that most people will want to hear about how I nearly took the life of another today, so that is where I will start.
Let me begin by saying that I have never believed in the concept of ’survival of the fittest’ more in my entire life than I do right now.
Tonight I was over at BYU campus teaching fresh young kiddies to dance. Every few weeks I get asked to teach swing lessons for the BYU Swing club. Although the commute is rough from Orem to Provo (10 minutes) and the pay sucks (I don’t get paid) I normally agree to teach, because I just can’t tell anyone ‘no’. Today was a great class full of mostly first timers who picked up the basics fairly quickly. As we wrapped up the lesson, pangs of hunger started to overwhelm me. It was 8:30, and I hadn’t eaten since noon that same day.
I hustled out to my car and pulled out of the Wilkinson Student Center parking lot. As I rounded the corner, I approached a main thoroughfare for pedestrians. There are always loads of students who cross the street here, and to help them do so safely, a crosswalk with a stoplight has been installed. My light was green which is the universal color for ‘go’, so obviously I didn’t plan on stopping. About 50 ft. before I reached the crosswalk, one of the Lord’s finest students thought it wise to begin crossing the street. This is despite the fact that my car was quickly approaching, and the other 50 people on the curb were patiently waiting for the red ‘don’t walk’ hand to turn into the green ‘go ahead and walk now’ man. She ventured off the curb, made it half way across my lane, then decided she needed moral support… kind of like when she needs a friend to go to the bathroom with her. She giggled and begged for her friend to come with her. Her friend’s eyes just grew very wide as she pointed toward my car. It was no biggie, I was watching. I slowed down and the girl made it out of my lane safely as I cautiously drove by.
I guess my problem is that I can only pay attention to one stupid pedestrian at a time. As I passed the crosswalk, eying the lemmings who were fighting the urge to leap out in front of my car to follow the first idiot, I neglected to notice the jay-walker about another 20 feet or so in front of my car. This girl did not bother crossing at the crosswalk, nor did she bother looking both ways. When she suddenly noticed my car screeching to a halt, she didn’t jump out of the way. She just stood there in the middle of my lane, eyes big, and lifted her hand as if she were a Jedi using the force to stop me. Of course this worked… barely (thank God), and the girl made it safely to the other side. In the mean time, my heart was about to explode out of my chest.
Now, I realize that pedestrians have the right of way, but honestly, do all pedestrians have the right of way? The first girl was at least crossing on the crosswalk, but the second one… oh, she was a sure candidate for death. Mother nature doesn’t take pity on a squirrel who doesn’t look ways before crossing into a buffalo stampede, why should we take pity on a human who doesn’t have the sense to wiggle their head 45 degrees to the right or left before entering a thoroughfare for one ton metallic vehicles traveling at high speeds. WE SHOULDN’T! So girl… if you ever read this… you’re welcome for having pity on you! You’re also lucky that I have reflexes like a jungle cat.
Now, as for being ‘Nobody’s Fool’… well, that’s not necessarily true. Today at work, I think I got Rick Roll’d like 4 times. Twice through website re-directs, once through an e-mail and then, of course, Youtube got me. For those of you who don’t know what being Rick Roll’d is, you can click here.
So, besides nearly taking the life of another and hearing the voice of Rick Astley in my head… all day, I guess today was fairly uneventful.
Lost… I Think »« Chalk It Up To Experience
