there was a time when my hubby and i decided that we didn't need a car, especially since the ones we got kept breaking and we couldn't afford a good one. so we invested in some bicycles and bus schedules. the result was that we both got in better shape and got to know some of our neighbors by seeing them on the bus all the time. it also taught us to be better organized - i learned the hard way that i should keep dry clothes at work, since once i had soaked pants and a blow-dryer, and the store was going to open in an hour...
i'm not sure what effect that anecdote will have on anyone, especially since i haven't introduced myself yet, so i bet some people are wondering how the heck this weirdo got on the blog...
so, hi. i'm linda. i'm an animal freak. i don't know anyone who blogs here except jane (where did you get that photo?). so this should be fun.
i have a car now that i live in southern cal (from my old apartment to work on the bus took 2.5 hours, and i just can't do that every day). we try to carpool as much as possible, and moved so that we're within biking distance from work. i think we save money that way. then again, the gas and maintenance and everything cost about a billion dollars. personally, i think that cars are great inventions, but that people overuse them.
i doubt that any act of our government would make much change in the habits of over-drivers. remember, prohibition didn't work all that well...
it would be cool if more people cared about the environment, but we're a pretty self-centered species for the most part. no self-exclusion there. i have used the car to get from work to starbucks (across the street) and i would have done that, whatever the rules, because dammit i wanted coffee.
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Welcome, Linda!
I probably should have mentioned to you that we try to post in order... whoops. Sorry! I was totally going to write you an introduction and everything...
Readers: If you haven't guessed, that's my friend Linda there... She and her husband Shaggy live in San Diego, CA where they work at a YMCA - and Shaggy worked with me back when I was a Fed. He got out before I did, lucky sod. Linda is AWESOME, just so you kids know.
(Also, Linda - that pic was from when we had Russian food in Normal Heights shortly before I left. It's actually the pic of you holding the peppercorn, I just cropped it.)
Well, no offence but I sincerely hope that you don't do that ever ever ever ever again. Unless the street was covered with a foot eating virus or bear traps that work on everything but the tires of cars. Which I doubt. But hey, it could happen.
Seriously though, it is exactly that kind of attitude that creates problems for the world (namely untimely death). I commend you for having once ridden a bike to work, and I agree that buses take waaaaaaaaaaay too much time to get from A to B, and I recognize the necessity of cars in America, but DAMN it seems like a bit of an excess to drive across the street. Thats something only people who are allergic to air should be allowed to do. And maybe people who are too fat to hold up their own weight without crushing their internal organs in the act of walking. But something tells me those guys aren't really "out and about."
eh, we're all guilty of stuff like that sometimes. But, yeah, that may be the problem. luckily where I live it's too much of a pain in the ass to get in your car, drive it wher eyou need to be, and then find a parking space when it's close enough to walk. Actually, I think laziness is actually what forces me to walk!
I had a bike for a while too, but it is TERRIFYING to ride through the city!! I'll stick to walking, please.
Linda, in hindsight I may have been a bit rude jumping on you like that for driving the car across the street. I once actually took a helicopter from my front yard to my back yard (where I was burning barrels of gasoline for the sheer joy of the act). In the chopper I ate a baby seal live while I was filling out 531 ballots for "dubbya".
So I guess we're all guilty of things kinda like that. I think I was just so excited to be a member of a group of writers again that I got comment happy and a bit agressive (we stupider...st large mammals tend to do that). Anyway, I meant no offense and I'm behind you one hundred percent in all your endeavors.
Also, speaking of "hindsight," there is actually a traditional Japanese obake, or ghost/creature known as the shirime, who is just like a regular old man except he's got an eyeball in his anus and he hangs out in public baths waiting for people to show up so he can bend over and show'em the old brown eye. I swear I am not making this up. If I could come up with stuff like this on my own I would have a whole arsenal of porn films written (and probably directed) by yours truly. Seriously. shiri is Japanese for ass, and me (pronounced may) means eye. Wonder how HIS hindsight is. Probably lacks depth perception, having just the one eye there... but that's still a guy I'd want on my team of superfriends, along of course with his other buddies (also true) the toilet licker, whose name I've forgotten, and the kappa who loves cucumbers and sucking out peoples livers trough their assholes. And you guys thought YOUR family was strange...
Sorry by the way to bring up the arcane Japanese trivia like "Oh look at how much I know about Japanese asses," but its pretty much the only thing I can contribute without being a total asshole.
totally cool. i heard about shirme when i lived in japan, but i thought the dude was making it up. i guess i owe someone an apology...
really, i only drove the car to starbucks once - usually i make fun of the people who drive around and around looking for the closest parking space so they can come inside and walk on a treadmill (i work in a gym).
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