Friday, June 29, 2007

The Worst 5 Hours of My Life!

Last night was one of the longest and most boring evenings of my life. I had to rush from work, stop at a Circle K to take out $140 plus a $2 charge to pay $0.99 to purchase a $135 money order to pay for a Defensive Driving course, drive through the parking lot to the building where the course was held, weed through parking spaces that were "Reserved" for the various businesses that shared the lot, and finally find and park in my own parking space.

It was 5:32 and I was two minutes late for the Defensive Driving course that would remove my Red Light Violation from my record. As I reached the front door I stared with disbelief at a small printed sign taped to the inside of the glass which said, "The Entrance and Parking for the Arizona Traffic School is Behind the Building." That was the theme for the whole evening, "You are in the wrong place, and we don't care that we could have made your life easier in some way."

So, I huffed and puffed and walked back to my car and pulled around to the back of the building, parked and walked into a rather plain room with long tables and fold-up chairs. Since there wasn't much of a sign at the back door I wondered for a second if I had opened the right door, but when I saw the faint words scribbled with a worn out red marker on the dry erase board that said, "Write your Drivers License number in the top right corner of your Ticket," I had a good feeling that this was the place where I would spend the next 5 hours of my life.

The first fourty-five minutes we waited as every individual in the room went to the front of the room and signed in with their ticket and drivers license in hand. At 6:10, the instructor, who during the first 40 minutes was multi-tasking (Signing people in, talking on her cell phone, accepting and paying for chinese food, and probably three or four more tasks at the same time) informed us that the court required that we be in class for the next 4 hours. It was amazing that she was able to do so many things simultaneously, but at the same time I was rather upset that if she would have concentrated on the main task (signing us in) that our required 4 hours would have started 30 minutes ago and we would be able to maybe take breaks and get out earlier.

Our instructor decided for us that we would take no breaks so we could leave at 10:10 pm. She told us that if any one went to the bathroom or went outside to smoke that she would have to stop the clock and continue when we got back. I really hoped that I didn't need to use the restroom, or I would get the evil eye from everyone in the class!

For the next five hours I listened to the instructor, who actually had a pleasant voice, was enthusiastic, talk about safety, seat belts, right turns, left turns, air bags, DUIs, right of way, yielding, green lights, red lights, yellow lights, stop signs, cross walks, intersections, and more than I wanted to learn. However, the most annoying thing was listening to the students and their comments. "In California the law is this....in LA this happens....blah blah Cali blah blah LA blah blah" Who really cares about California when we are in an Arizona Defensive Driving School? I do not see how it applies.

The guy in front of me thought he was a comedian and would make level 2 funny comments on a scale of 1 to 10 and then turn around look at me and others and laugh uncontrollably. I would smile and try to laugh to keep peace, but inside I was confused. Maybe his comments were funny in another context...maybe I just wasn't in a laughing mood...I don't know. Then there were two 21 yr olds in the front who told stories about how they got so drunk their friend crapped himself.

Right when I thought I couldn't take any more, Becky energetically told us that we were halfway through the class!!! I looked at my phone and sure enough, it was a little after 8pm. After that I blanked out so I don't remember much. All I know is:

I WANT THOSE 5 HRS OF MY LIFE BACK!!!! :)

Monday, June 18, 2007

Crosses and Virgin Marys

I just received this email from a friend of mine who is Christian:

This is a beautiful photo of a giant American flag in Arizona The photo is authentic, UN-Touched and was taken on regular Kodak 35mm film. The person who took the picture couldn't believe the image created by the suns rays.
Nice of them to share it with the world!
Read what is says under the picture....

For those who prefer to think that God is not watching over us...go ahead and delete this.
For the rest of us...pass this on.

There's a rock formation near Silver City, NM that people call "The Kneeling Nun". People think that this rock that sticks up looks like a nun kneeling at an altar and praying for the sins of the world.












I guess whatever increases one's faith works for me....if seeing light through a flag strengthens someone's faith in God then that's great!


To be honest, to me, just seeing the beauty of nature increases my faith...nature doesn't have to look like a cross or a virgin mary.