Driving While Stupid

When it comes to texting while driving, I hate to admit that I'm as guilty as the next guy. I could say that I do it "safely," but let's be honest here. There is no safe way to text and drive. Oprah is taking steps to get people to make their cars "no phone zones." She insists that a call or a text isn't worth losing a life. Obviously she's right. She's Oprah. Last week I had a close call in being victim of another chick's stupidity. I had a green light to go straight across the intersection and she was across the intersection going left on a green - it was my right of way. As I drove into and through the intersection, I noticed the car opposite me did not look like it was going to stop. She was turning in my direction and when I looked to the driver... she wasn't even looking up!!! This stupid _____ was texting while entering an intersection when she didn't even have the right of way! So I gave her a little "BEEP BEEP" (though I was thinking "BLEEP BLEEP!") and we both slammed on the brakes. She looked like a deer in the headlights. Both of our windows were down and I almost said something to her but I bit my tongue. I could see on her face that she knew what an idiot move she had made. I'm sad to say I doubt that was the last time she texted while driving. I also regret to say that didn't shake me of the habit either. As a member of the iPhone clan, I know that for me texting is even more of a danger. Henceforth and herewith, I pledge to stop texting while driving. Let's see if I can do it.

*Disclaimer: Content written on my living room couch in St. Louis is less likely to be as wildly entertaining as content written during one of my crazy adventures. Stay tuned...

Chinese Philosophy

Paige Sherwood April 29 at 6:19pm

I should have started a blog a long time ago. For example, when I went to work in a pub in a small town on the southern coast of England for three months in the summer of 2007. That would have made for a good read. Or when I spent my spring '09 semester in London, that would have been something to blog about. Maybe I should have been blogging while I spent a weekend on a houseboat in Amsterdam or when I went couch surfing in Barcelona or hiking through Italy last May. Could it be that the most exciting experiences of my life have already passed me by?

Au, contraire. I expect this summer to be the best yet as I'll be living and working in my favorite city in the world, London. After much persistence, I secured an internship at an advertising agency called Alphabet Advertising and I'll be doing copywriting work among other intern-y sorts of things. In other words, I'm doing exactly what I wanted to do this summer.

But my life isn't just a bed of roses, which brings me to today's postulate: Yin Yang - More than just a patch on my jeans in 4th grade. The concept of Yin Yang in Chinese philosophy explains that in the natural world, opposing forces have reciprocal relationships; there is a natural ebb and flow of life that is beyond our control. For all the wonderful experiences in my life there are elements that are far less than ideal (i.e. living at home, changing colleges, constantly missing the people I love most) to balance them out. I think most people live balanced lives like this, but it seems to me that I live in extremes. Isn't that what they say to do? Live life to the extreme? Guess I can put a check in that box!