Happy Easter, for those of you who celebrate it. (And best wishes for a good day to those of you who don't.)
Been a while since I posted - I had an interview Friday, and had to fly out for it Thursday. Wasn't entirely sure I would make it back as planned (flight got delayed about an hour or so, maybe because of the tornado warning in the area, though I'm not 100% certain of that. Missed the follow-on flight home, but the airline got me in on the next flight so I made it... Much later than I was supposed to, but oh well.)
Given that I had to be up at 5:30am local time, which was more like 4:30 my time, it made for a very long and exhausting day. (I hesitate to admit that I also had trouble sleeping the night before. I don't think I was nervous, per se, and the interview seemed to go well... but I kept wanting to jump the gun to what happens after I find whatever job I'm going to find. Like, if this particular interview goes well, the next step is probably a background check... which I ought to pass, but don't like counting on it until it happens. And you never know how long that would take, and can I really handle waiting indefinitely to finish this step? Assuming all of that works out, and I land the job, then what? Do I rent a place in my new location and move most everything there, then try selling the house? What about my pets? Most of it was pretty much pointless until I passed the interview stage and got an offer, of course. Meh. The position seems to fit my interests very well, so I kind of hope it works out... which means moving, and selling the house, so I also hope the house sells quickly - and at a reasonably good price - if/when it comes to that.)
Much though I do love traveling, there's always a part of me that is happy to get home and says "I don't want to go anywhere, I don't even want to think about it...
Not for another month, at least."
Which is why I'm debating whether or not I'll visit my folks next weekend. I flat out told them I wasn't coming up for Easter, since I knew I didn't want to try cramming in a four hour road trip right after flying back from my interview. But Dad holds that Easter is really an eight day event, and my brother didn't want to make the (20 minute) drive today if I wasn't going to be there, so my father really wants us to celebrate it next weekend.
If I was forced to decide in the immediate aftermath of traveling, it would be a surefire way to get told 'no', but I figure I'll wait a day or two and see if I feel differently.
I also wanted to note something that amused me, particularly in light of my recent posts. I used the hotel shuttle service to get to a couple of places, and on one of those trips a motorcycle driver moved onto the shoulder of the road to bypass a couple of cars that were going slower then s/he desired.
And on another trip, our shuttle was trying to merge into a somewhat busy highway... so we were stuck waiting until traffic moved. I saw a car drive on the shoulder of the road to get past us, which initially annoyed me... then I noticed them take the exit a few feet further, and realized they were doing exactly what I'd described in my previous post. They knew their turn was just ahead, and took the shoulder to get around all the people trying to merge onto the highway.
They were shortly followed by another car also driving on the shoulder, though I'm not sure if the second car had seen what the first car did and was imitating it, or came up with this on their own. The only problem is that this car wasn't actually taking the next exit, and instead tried getting ahead of the line of merging cars. In other words, an a-hole selfishly trying to get ahead.
Seeing three irl examples of driving decisions, just as I'd described in my posts, tickled my fancy. It also reminded me of an addendum I wanted to add -
The majority of the people can refuse to follow the rule breakers. That second car might (or might not) have been following the first one, but everyone else in the line chose not to. They may even have rolled their eyes and muttered 'a-hole', like I probably would have done, but they didn't decide to go drive on the shoulder of the road themselves.
As I keep saying, leaders can't lead people where the people don't want to follow. If you don't like the trend someone else is setting, then just keep on keeping on. Don't imitate them. If enough people choose likewise, that trend will quickly die.
In some ways, a-hole behavior like this presents a social dilemma of sorts. That is, if everyone chose to drive on the shoulder of the road (like that motorcycle and those two cars) then we all would lose. There'd be no place to go if/when emergency vehicles are trying to get past, and more people would suffer - and mayhap die. It would take too long for ambulances and police to reach the scene of an accident, which means it may also take too long to clear the road after an accident, which means the people in need of immediate help may not get it in time... and everyone else will probably be stuck in the ensuing traffic jam for even longer. We all lose.
If nobody drives on the shoulder to bypass traffic, then the shoulder is clear for emergencies. Either people pulling off to get out of the way of ambulances and police cars, or as a route the emergency vehicles can use to bypass everyone else and get to the scene of the accident.
What I witnessed, however, was a few a-holes giving themselves the privilege of bypassing traffic... probably with the hope and expectation that nobody else will do likewise, thereby giving them all the benefits without any of the consequences.
Which is why I'm calling them a-holes. They don't actually want anybody else to act like they're doing, and would probably be unhappy if everyone did. Their advantages rely entirely on doing something that nobody else is willing to follow their lead on, and yet (from my experience with the mentality) they probably look down on all the rule-abiding 'sheep' that are essential to making their behavior a success.
Been a while since I posted - I had an interview Friday, and had to fly out for it Thursday. Wasn't entirely sure I would make it back as planned (flight got delayed about an hour or so, maybe because of the tornado warning in the area, though I'm not 100% certain of that. Missed the follow-on flight home, but the airline got me in on the next flight so I made it... Much later than I was supposed to, but oh well.)
Given that I had to be up at 5:30am local time, which was more like 4:30 my time, it made for a very long and exhausting day. (I hesitate to admit that I also had trouble sleeping the night before. I don't think I was nervous, per se, and the interview seemed to go well... but I kept wanting to jump the gun to what happens after I find whatever job I'm going to find. Like, if this particular interview goes well, the next step is probably a background check... which I ought to pass, but don't like counting on it until it happens. And you never know how long that would take, and can I really handle waiting indefinitely to finish this step? Assuming all of that works out, and I land the job, then what? Do I rent a place in my new location and move most everything there, then try selling the house? What about my pets? Most of it was pretty much pointless until I passed the interview stage and got an offer, of course. Meh. The position seems to fit my interests very well, so I kind of hope it works out... which means moving, and selling the house, so I also hope the house sells quickly - and at a reasonably good price - if/when it comes to that.)
Much though I do love traveling, there's always a part of me that is happy to get home and says "I don't want to go anywhere, I don't even want to think about it...
Not for another month, at least."
Which is why I'm debating whether or not I'll visit my folks next weekend. I flat out told them I wasn't coming up for Easter, since I knew I didn't want to try cramming in a four hour road trip right after flying back from my interview. But Dad holds that Easter is really an eight day event, and my brother didn't want to make the (20 minute) drive today if I wasn't going to be there, so my father really wants us to celebrate it next weekend.
If I was forced to decide in the immediate aftermath of traveling, it would be a surefire way to get told 'no', but I figure I'll wait a day or two and see if I feel differently.
I also wanted to note something that amused me, particularly in light of my recent posts. I used the hotel shuttle service to get to a couple of places, and on one of those trips a motorcycle driver moved onto the shoulder of the road to bypass a couple of cars that were going slower then s/he desired.
And on another trip, our shuttle was trying to merge into a somewhat busy highway... so we were stuck waiting until traffic moved. I saw a car drive on the shoulder of the road to get past us, which initially annoyed me... then I noticed them take the exit a few feet further, and realized they were doing exactly what I'd described in my previous post. They knew their turn was just ahead, and took the shoulder to get around all the people trying to merge onto the highway.
They were shortly followed by another car also driving on the shoulder, though I'm not sure if the second car had seen what the first car did and was imitating it, or came up with this on their own. The only problem is that this car wasn't actually taking the next exit, and instead tried getting ahead of the line of merging cars. In other words, an a-hole selfishly trying to get ahead.
Seeing three irl examples of driving decisions, just as I'd described in my posts, tickled my fancy. It also reminded me of an addendum I wanted to add -
The majority of the people can refuse to follow the rule breakers. That second car might (or might not) have been following the first one, but everyone else in the line chose not to. They may even have rolled their eyes and muttered 'a-hole', like I probably would have done, but they didn't decide to go drive on the shoulder of the road themselves.
As I keep saying, leaders can't lead people where the people don't want to follow. If you don't like the trend someone else is setting, then just keep on keeping on. Don't imitate them. If enough people choose likewise, that trend will quickly die.
In some ways, a-hole behavior like this presents a social dilemma of sorts. That is, if everyone chose to drive on the shoulder of the road (like that motorcycle and those two cars) then we all would lose. There'd be no place to go if/when emergency vehicles are trying to get past, and more people would suffer - and mayhap die. It would take too long for ambulances and police to reach the scene of an accident, which means it may also take too long to clear the road after an accident, which means the people in need of immediate help may not get it in time... and everyone else will probably be stuck in the ensuing traffic jam for even longer. We all lose.
If nobody drives on the shoulder to bypass traffic, then the shoulder is clear for emergencies. Either people pulling off to get out of the way of ambulances and police cars, or as a route the emergency vehicles can use to bypass everyone else and get to the scene of the accident.
What I witnessed, however, was a few a-holes giving themselves the privilege of bypassing traffic... probably with the hope and expectation that nobody else will do likewise, thereby giving them all the benefits without any of the consequences.
Which is why I'm calling them a-holes. They don't actually want anybody else to act like they're doing, and would probably be unhappy if everyone did. Their advantages rely entirely on doing something that nobody else is willing to follow their lead on, and yet (from my experience with the mentality) they probably look down on all the rule-abiding 'sheep' that are essential to making their behavior a success.
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