Grab bag of thoughts....

Ok, well first off I haven't made a post in a while. Partly because I'm lazy about this...but trying to get better. Let's see, since my last post I found out that I'm getting divorced, have moved into a new apartment and am trying to "find myself" as cliche as that sounds. Throughout this process I've come across a few things that I thought I would share. Society seems over the years come to the conclusion that in a divorce situation that the husband is always at fault. No, this is not from direct experience (that I know of) but from the heightened attention to situations involving divorce in popular media and the news. Secondly that people are so "weirded out" by the situation that they inadvertently become polarized in the situation by talking to the side (husband or wife) that they are closest to. There seems to be a distinct lack of interest (or initiative perhaps) to talk to both sides and make a decision based on both viewpoints. As a result most people just offer condolences to one or the other and then avoid the subject (presumably because it's better for the divorcing couple....but more than likely because it's still a bit of a taboo topic and as such has the resulting social stigma attached to it) and additionally due to this avoidance of the topic, they suddenly can't find much to talk to the person about. It would seem that after the decades since divorce became an acceptable option (much to chagrin of the religious community) that people could be more adult about it. But I digress.

Lets see....other things to think about....I know I have a tendency to talk about people's driving and what they do that irritates me, but it's still a salient topic of conversation....and if you don't agree....well you don't have to read my irritable ramblings. Or maybe you do. But it amazes me that the belief that driving is a right has so completely saturated our society. That people don't think anything of passing the written and driving portions of the licensing test and then forget everything they learned (or memorized) to pass it. That they operate what ostensibly amounts to the most deadly single item in the American household with such complete disregard for the safety or welfare of anyone else on the road, so long as they get where they want to go. Now I'm not only talking about people talking on the phone, texting, playing with their radio, reading, applying makeup, eating, petting their dog (which is on their lap), yelling at or disciplining their kids in the back seat or any of the other more egregious distracting behavior I've witnessed on the road....but just the lack of attention to fundamentals of driving. Things like staying in your lane, or looking in your mirrors or (god forbid) turning your head to check your blind spot before changing lanes, failing to use an indicator before changing lane, learning at least a vague level of accuracy at judging relative speed of vehicles approaching before turning or merging into another lane. I just feel like I want to remind people that driving is not a right, it is a privilege to be earned and continually maintained. I am not saying that I drive perfectly by the letter of the law, but I am continually aware of other cars, watching what they doing, and trying to anticipate their next move. I do drive aggressively however this is not to be confused with belligerently....they are significantly different. Further the speed limits are not something I adhere to particularly, but I do use my indicators with ever turn or lane change...including in parking lots.

Now on to another thought...it irritates me that our uniformed police officers of whatever particular department seem to have more interest in speeding violations than taking interest in things that actually cause accidents. This honestly comes down from the top, however they seem to focus more on speeding violations as they generate revenue for the municipality. This practice has been used for so long that people are terrified of a police car and will actually refuse to pass them on a road, regardless of the fact of a police car going under the speed limit. Further people become more distracted by whether they'll be pulled over for something, that they fail to pay attention to anything else around them, making the police car a hazard to traffic. I won't even get into the issue of speed traps..... Now, as a caveat or disclaimer....I'm not saying that all police are officious jackasses....in fact I know or have known a large number of law enforcement officers that were outstanding and do not reflect this behavior. I don't want someone making me out to be someone that hates cops....far from it.

Anyway I guess that's enough of my bitching for one day. I'm going to try to be more prolific in my postings....who knows...maybe I'll start saying more interesting things that aren't all rants about things that piss me off....but probably not.