Red Light, Green Light

Traffic tickets suck.  In the OC, these suck to the sum of $536!  Incredible.  Then, the offender is also required to pay an additional sum to be allowed to take traffic school. And no one wants higher insurance rates around here, so traffic school is a must.

In this family, someone ran a red light…no you cannot floor it and get through that yellow in time… and it was caught on a camera (amazing photography:  clear car picture with license plate before intersection showing red light, clear picture of driver inside of car and clear picture of said car and driver driving through the intersection with the red light still lit).

Remember that whole support thing I talked about?  I guess that carries over to traffic school, too.  Of the three drivers in the house, I have the most flexible schedule and the most time.  So, I volunteered to do the online course for said red light racer.

Truly, the traffic school course was not difficult and went by quickly.  I am quite a good guesser after all.  I read very little and watched almost none of the videos, but was able to guess that the guy in the last video had brown hair.  Why is this a question?  How does this make one more safe or ready to follow the rules of the road?  Generally the color of the cars in the diagram were red, blue or green, so that worked well for guessing.  Traffic school is certainly not about creating a safer driver, though.  If a driver is acting aggressive toward you, should you chase him down?  That is really a choice for an answer.

After I took the final, I started to wonder if it is just me.  Maybe most drivers around us are idiots who would chase you down if you cut them off by accident, who don’t know it is illegal to make a u-turn on a one way street and worse.  This is a scary thought when you have one teen driving and one almost there.  Or maybe it’s just a silly person in my family who thinks like Jeff Bridges in Starman

Reminded me of Jeff Bridges in Starman:

Supporting the Oscars

The Oscars are on tonight.  We tuned in with our rabbit ears.  I am not kidding.  We don’t have cable.  But, we are able to finagle channel seven with some repositioning of furniture.  We don’t usually watch awards shows.  First of all, we don’t watch them because they are often on channels we cannot tune in.  CBS, for instance, is a real bitch.  I end up standing in front of the TV, holding the rabbit ears (I am electric, therefore I conduct TV waves readily).  No one can see the TV when I am standing in front of it holding the rabbit ears at just such angle.  So, although I am usually thrilled to have finally garnered a clear picture after a half hour of maneuvering, the show is now not so exciting for the family. The family, who like I said, can’t see it anyway since I am standing in front of the TV.

Well, tonight I was able to tune it in clearly.  (It only took moving the coffee table up a few feet closer to the TV and setting the rabbit ears on it).  Aha!  Clear picture, clear audio.  We are set.

Princessenpointe and I started to watch a bit…cause you know, pretty dresses and hair and famous people.  But, gee, this was a boring show.  One really has to watch the movies discussed in order to appreciate the awards.  I had not seen a single movie up for awards. I know I live behind the Orange Curtain, but I think I also live in a bubble, well-protected from movies?  Princessenpointe has seen Skyfall so appreciated Adele’s award.  Other than that, we were at a loss.  Cool dresses, hair, famous people, but boring overall. After nearly two decades as a family without television, without a focus on media, we are in our own little realm.

It’s cool here, though.  The important speeches still resonated.  How cute is Ben Affleck?  His voice cracked as he thanked his wife.  Or the other producer from Argo that proclaimed his wife, “Just makes things better.” For me, this is the best part of any awards show. I rarely know who the actors/musicians/recipients are, but I understand their speeches.  These famous folks take the time to acknowledge their support systems. Some are eloquent, some are mushy, some are stoic, but they all seem to recognize the pillars that allow them to do what they want to do, to follow their dream, to keep persuing their passion.  It is clear none of these folks would be on stage without those pillars, the foundations, the daily support systems.

I appreciate this part of the awards.  I think I am mostly a support system. In fact, it may be my most important job.  I know what my peeps need, I try to be one step ahead of them in that department.  I refill their supplies before they are low, I remind them of basics they may forget, I jump to action even if it is last minute and 10:30 at night, and I try to tell them they are the most awesome and can achieve whatever they dream.  I don’t aspire to have Oscar winners amongst us, but I hope someday my peeps will remember what it’s like to have a support, a rock and maybe they will want to be that for someone else.  Is this pay it forward mentality?  I’m not sure, but I did clean both my teen’s rooms this weekend and changed their sheets…just because they have bigger things to do.  Food for thought, anyway.