talking to yourself in traffic

do you ever talk to yourself? i recommend it. it can be quite fun.
some of the greatest laughs i’ve ever had were from jokes i said while talking to myself.

i was talking to myself earlier today when i was driving home from a bakery.
the car in front of me was going amazingly slowly,
but we were at that vague distance from where i would left turn that it’s like,

“well.. i don’t have to endure this for much longer.
i guess i’ll just stay behind them even though they’re going slow.”

we got to the left turn, and they were the only car in front.
anticipating that this light is particularly unfavorable for our direction,
i stopped watching to check when exactly the light turned.

it was like, maybe 5 or 6 seconds that we were just sitting there where they,
in front of me, were still not moving despite the light being green.

actually, i didn’t even notice, but the car behind me honked. so i was like, “oh, shit."
the honk notified mr. slow in front of me and we proceeded.
i talked to myself in that moment, saying “light’s not gettin' any greener, buddy!"

i try not to get angry on the road. it doesn’t really do anybody any good.
i actually heard from the excellent words of Dr. K that road rage can have drastic effects
on perceptions of powerlessness in children.

it went something like, when you, as a parent get angry and yell in the car,
you understand that the anger is not directed at anybody in the car.

but as the child, you are perceiving your caretaker as in distress,
and analyzing the situation, without knowing the context of being angry at another driver,
you would feel helpless to the distress that is being put on display in front of you.

as the child, you would wanna help your parent, they’re freaking out!
but you can’t do anything cause the thing they’re pissed at isn’t even here with you!

how does this end up affecting the child in similar situations of the parent yelling?
they probably feel, conditioned as they have been, pretty helpless. which sucks.

it sounded like a pretty convincing argument against getting angry in the car.

although i don’t advocate for road rage, i stand by the universal hand sign for wtf are you doing.

plus, like, look at yourself. you’re getting angry that you’re late. grow up.
being late can be kinda cool anyways. in certain situations.

thank you for reading today’s post.
are you a reverse parker or a forward parker? me personally, i like reverse parking.