Friday, June 23, 2006

I'm not in Oklahoma anymore ...

I must have done some heavy lifting tonight at the gym, because when I was leaving the parking lot and turning onto the main road, this dude was crossing it on a unicycle. With a backpack on. I must have been hallucinating or something.

Then, I went to Wal-Mart, and this guy ran a stop sign in the parking lot and cut me off. I honked at him, so he stopped his car in front of me. His window was down, so I'm sure he was yelling some kind phrases or making polite gestures or, at the least, giving me a friendly smile and thinking kind things about me and my future. There were two empty parking spots right next to one other. He took one. I started to take the one next to it, but I decided it would be against better judgement, since it would make it very easy for him to a) hurt my car, b) start an altercation (since he'd already shown he has a lovely temper), or c) shoot me. I drove around to the next row and parked in a more well-lit area. We made it into the store at the same time, so as I walked past him (he was kind of short, so he walks slower than I do), I said to him, "It's not polite to stop in front of someone like that. Or cut them off." I was still walking past him. He hesitated a moment and said something about a stop sign or something. I told him that I had the right-of-way and continued, since arguing with him wouldn't change the fact that he was an inconsiderate driver.

I was kind of scared, though, to go back to my car. I was afraid the guy had done something to it or that he'd be waiting to injure me or follow me to my apartment and do something there. I walked around my car just to be sure he didn't key something into it.

I kind of forget sometimes, but Dallas has the highest crime rate in the country. It's funny to think that it's safer to live in New York City. Or Chicago or Detroit. That's crazy! I mean, it's Dallas.

As I was shopping, though, I decided to leave the way that would have me drive by where he'd pulled out in front of me just to be sure there was no stop sign that I've somehow managed to miss every time I've been there for the past 361 days that I've lived here. Sure enough, he was the one with the stop sign. I definitely had the right-of-way.

Then, I was on the same main road I'd seen the unicycle on, and I was sitting at a stoplight. I wanted to go straight. The oncoming lane had a green light. Just as mine turned green, a car was running his red light to make a left-hand turn in front of us. I didn't honk at him. I decided I'd done enough honking. Then, however -- after I, along with the cars in the other two lanes, had started going because we had green lights -- this other car blatantly ran the red light so badly that all of us had to stop to let him go to avoid an accident. I honked at that bastard.

It's safe to say it's amazing I made it home in one piece tonight. I hope tomorrow is less eventful.

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