Tuesday, May 23, 2006

life in the fast lane

My dad and I have this uncanny method of conversing every now and then which centers around things that we've just gotten to do or see for the first time. I didn't notice how much we do it until recently, but it's quite often. A typical conversation can go like this:

"Hey Alan, I got to do something today that I've never done before."
"Let me guess. You let a fireman use your wooden stepladder to climb up a burning building."
"No, actually I got to feed hardboiled Easter eggs to a flock of wild geese. They didn't seem to mind the coloring."

Well last night I realized that many of my extravagant/first time experiences center around things I've done while driving. I don't know why I do this. I think I'm safe driver, and I've never had a ticket. But for some reason I've managed to do some interesting things while speeding down the road. Such as:

--Composing a song, with pen, paper, and guitar chords, while on the interstate

--Eating Chinese out of a styrofoam dinner plate

--Making a puppet show where all the characters were members of a wacky town council (complete with different voices)

--Playing catch with a baseball and glove

--Sing an hour's worth of worship songs (some of which had me crying)

--Passing a McGruff Dare Cop with no lights on his car, and still getting pulled over

--Having a rhyming battle with a neighboring van via walkie-talkie

I guess sometimes people spend so much time on the road that they just snap. You reach a point where you have to do something creative and different or you'll go crazy. I don't know how people with long commutes handle it.

4 comments:

tiffanie said...

i definitely commute for hours everyday and have to keep myself from having a nervous breakdown every morning and every afternoon, so i play games like how slowly can i roll behind the line of cars without actually stopping, or can i change lanes without making contact with any of those lane reflectors. really i could use some books on tape! but mostly, i just sing along with my cds, dance a little, and talk to myself. or i count hondas.

blake said...

With all the travel I've done the past two summers, I've listened to my fair share of books on tape. It's one reason I have two entire German courses on cd -- I think 16 hours of material. Oh yeah, and I have a book on tape about a Vietnamese man who writes detective novels and falls in love with a waitress. The story involves alien dogs and a killer rag doll. Clearly a winner.

tiffanie said...

i need to read/hear the alien dog/ragdoll book. i'm hooked.

Anonymous said...

Whatever you do, don't let your Mom know that you drive that way. She will have a heart attack, for sure! They make roads for drivers like you and they are all in Montana where there is no traffic for you to hit and the speed limit is anything under 100!