bottleneck

there usually is one major highway that snakes into a major city.  in SE pennsylvania, it's 76, or more fondly known as the schuylkill expressway.  this pain-in-the-butt of a road is always packed, no matter what time of day it is.  it could be 1 in the morning or 1 in the afternoon, like today, and you'll be crawling.  weekends are no exception; sometimes it is worse, because if there's a ballgame in town then you're pretty much screwed.

there's this moment for me whenever i see red lights ahead.  some people bail, quickly, by exiting right before the congestion (or reversing on the highway in order to do so); some curse, loudly, banging their steering wheels; some pull onto the side of the road and wait (or switch lanes/veer off the road/drive on the shoulders and don't wait); some approach the jam slowly and quietly, resigned to their misfortune.  i think i fall in the last category.  i'll go through all of the previous scenarios in my head but can only settle upon some silent expletives and alot of huffing.  there's nothing like traffic to kill your mood, knowing you're stuck and can't do a darn thing about it.

it always seems that i'm in a rush to be somewhere when i'm inconvenienced too.  it doesn't take long before i'm frustrated that i don't see workers in construction zones (what are they doing, anyway?), can't see accidents where i am, am unable to predict the better route to take (despite listening to the news), and can't seem to wrap my head around why we'll be delayed one moment and the next it will clear up (for no particular reason at all)!  always these dumb, trivial, almost comical thoughts that float through my head.

maybe i should start telling myself that if i'm late, then i'm late.  yes, it stinks, but it doesn't hurt me.  in the end, for all the driving i do on a daily basis, i should really be thankful i have a car and a road that gets me from point A to point B, and safely at that.