From the "another day in LA" category. I was driving down Santa Monica Blvd yesterday evening for Andrew's Web Review Meeting. The road was not it's usually jam packedness. The temperature has cooled off and I was listening to an old mix CD filled with my favorite mashups from two years ago. I was in a strange mood and missing the time when everywhere I turned I seemed to be in love with LA. Whereas recently I have been tired with the heat, the noise, smell, pressure.
I was in Beverly Hills, where SMB goes from 3 lanes into 2 lanes to 3 lanes or something like that. It was here that me and another guy started merging into the same (middle) lane. I'm not sure if he actually had a lane, or was pulling one of those, right turn lane moves, where you gun it to pass the right/center lane car to get in front of it. I was in the left lane, had my blinker on to get into the center lane. We both started merging into the center lane about the same time. I was accelerating because I saw he looked like he was merging into it too. He gunned his Black Truck and started yelling at me at the top of his lungs. I don't remember when I heard the last time someone yelled so loud. I could clearly hear him over my blasting base mashup. I was shocked at his reaction. He was as responsible for the situation as I was. He zipped in front of me and I took my standard reaction to let him get as far away from me as possible. He was clearly crazy.
But you don't get away from someone so easily in this part of town. In fact, he later slowed down, whereas I passed him and he unloaded another barrage of negativity berating my "bad" driving. Whereas I responded back at him (yes, we were having a conversation while driving...) that he needed to chill the fuck out, and I had my blinker on, and that he might have a better life if he changed his attitude. Fate stopped us at different levels at the stoplight so our conversation could cease. I was thinking that the world is turning in a bad way and the negativity is sometimes too overwhelming for me to deal with it.
However later, the guy drove up next to me and apologized to me. He explained he was having a bad day and just wanted to get home. I can certainly understand his need and it's nice to see the small enlightenment he had (and his apology). But still... sometimes this world is just too much. The small steps of enlightenment are just that. I should be grateful for any small pieces, but instead, it just reminds me how fucked up we are.
WTF. Now I really wish I'd persuaded you to come to Swingers with us afterwards.
Posted by: Andrew Warner | July 10, 2007 at 12:13 PM