-^-for posterity-^-

i drive down the roads here and things feel hyper-organized. the stop lights work on sensors. people stop at stop signs. everyone follows speed limits and there are cops everywhere. it doesn't make sense how anyone could have road rage here. there's nothing to be angry with except being bored.

i drive here and want to blow my horn. every time i see another car i want to blow the horn. i do not want to stop at lights but would rather blow my horn and plow through. i am afraid that others are not going to stop at intersections and always end up looking both ways even if i have a green light. honk.

i drive here and listen to the radio. i listen to the sports talk radio program because people argue and it's fun to listen to them argue.

of the time i listened to the show today, the people who called in and the hosts talked about the same five things over and over again. the phillies do not have enough depth at pitching. lary brown should have fouled shaq at the end of the nba finals game last night. the eagles are going to be good. who cares about the sixers. and so on.

they also had segments designed to flesh out the important issues in life.

they spent one hour trying to design the perfect woman. what is the one characteristic of a woman that is the most important? responses ranged from money to hygiene to physical attraction. they argued for an hour about something that no one could possibly agree on. really getting to the core of what life is about.

then there were the advertisements. every ten minutes there was someone yelling at me trying to get me to buy something. i was too fat. i wasn't cool enough and therefore didn't eat the right food or drink the right drinks. i was too stupid and therefore didn't invest here or apply for a job there. such ridiculous things as telling me i would be unique by drinking someone's beverage that was being advertises nationally. why do we all fall for this?

in vietnam i am also barraged by people trying to sell me things but it is of a completely different nature. people there will hawk their wares and they will do so aggressively. they, however, never play on my sense of self in order to have me buy something. 'you will be much more unique and cool if you eat this plump rice dumpling!' 'you will have all the women if you buy this lottery ticket!'

i'm really not sure which is more annoying or why we end up tolerating either.