Driving X Crazy

My mother used to complain to me when I drove; she used to say that all my... talking to other drivers (ie, commenting on their lack of driving skill, use of turn signals, basically yelling at them a bit) would make all my passengers nervous while I drove. At least it made her nervous and a bit annoyed.

What if your passenger is constantly looking over your shoulder, checking your left 'blind spot' every time you are about to change lanes? (And the right one too, of course)

What if your passenger uber-navigates, even if you asked them once to do that? Trying to warn you about every exit, or what you may need to do, even if you've lived in the area for a while and do know your way around to a bunch of places?

What if they point out things approaching, or keep checking your speed, or questioning what you are doing/why you going that way/etc, or etc... generally being on the super-lookout?

Well, the end result for me is to make me feel extreemely self-concious and nervous--which makes me make little mistakes. Which compound on each other. Which, of course, proves to your passenger that you are a freak and an incompetant driver, which makes them ever more vigillent. And the cycle worsens.

All I can say is GAH! Yes, since you may ask, I am back up to my usual driving ease once again, after a few weeks, but damn. Anyway, 'nuff said.


Skin Diggers

You know the expression "gets under my skin"? Denotes something, usually something that may otherwise be considered relatively minor or unimportant, but that just drives someone crazy. Annoys, ticks them off, bugs 'em, gets on their nerves... you get the gist. Well, this is a list of somethings that do just that. }:)

An interesting one perhaps, but posers really do get my ire up very quickly. By posers I mean someone who is more style than substance. People who need to show off, show how great they are, PROVE how cool they are... even though their skill, ability, capacity and aptitude is actually at a much lower level. People who cop an attitude. Actually, lets be fair. Even if they have some ability, or great ability, but feel the need that everyone needs to know just how good they are... gets my ire. Its narcicissm, in both cases. But the arrogance to hide the incompetance is the worst. Be it the person on the tech support line who grrs and yells and complains even though they broke their settings. Or the person at the climbing gym who is a body builder and puts on their harness with a grunt and with force even though they can't climb much over a 5.5. Or the excellent boulderer... who poses almost as much as he climbs. The person who practices what they know and can do well rather than work on what they should be learning, or improving, or don't know. High kicking repeatedly rather than working on your basic forms and the first set. Rice-boys... ohhh yes, the infamous 'souped up' Honda prelude with the lowered suspension, spoiler and huge muffler tip (and the 1l 4-cyl engine), or slammed pickup trucks, or even the person with a just fine powerful automobile who decides that they need to 'deck it out more'. (And there are a tonne of these people around here) Or the person who buys le uber-expensive SUV so they can feel they command the road. Or the huge, mean, killer, attack dog while living in a small studio appartment in NYC--yes, the most obvious penile extender.

-Breath- For spirits sake, if you're good, you're good. If you have it, you have it. IT. WILL. SHOW. You don't need to show it. It will be evident. It just will. If you don't have it... then, get it! Don't pretend. Don't buy your way up to the top--another thing I despise. Those who decide "I'm suddenly interested in this hobby" and immediatly decide they have to dominate it amongst all their friends, they have to be the expert, the guru, the most capable. And the quickest way is to go out and buy lots of equipment, the best equipment, huge investement in equipment, then spend a few weeks learning a bunch of stuff, especially how to 'Talk the Talk', and then acting like they've been doing it for years. Right. Whatever.

So, why does it get me all riled up? I'm not 100% sure :P I mean, posers probably bother a lot of people (and attract others, of course) but in my case, I become very aware of it very quickly and it just bothers me. Likely coupled with my desires for honesty, helping others, self-growth, self-humility, etc. But whatever the cause... they annoy the stuffing out of me. Though the car-posers are often funny, at least their cars are... :P

People who are constantly late. You know what this says? This says "Your time is less valuable than my time. You should wait around for me because I am better and more important than you. I do not care enough about you to put effort into being on time." Its a power play. They have power over you by making you wait, or so they think. Alright, I'm sure there are those who are simply too forgetful or too disorganized. But after a time, you'd think they'd try to improve. Or at least call/contact to let you know they're running behind. Not make a plan for X time than show up 30 mins later.

Of course, then there are those where you have to be someplace by X. You're all set to leave, maybe even a few minutes early and they go "Oh wait! I need to check my email!" followed by 15+ minutes of them writing email, talking to friends online, etc, so that now you're behind schedule and its up to you to rush and pray that there is no traffic. Gee, thanks.

This is a weird one. You can insult me. You can attack me. You can question me. But if you harm or show disrespect for my stuff, that's likely to get me very angry very fast. Its weird, but true. The expression 'make yourself at home' doesn't quite apply here. Be careful around my stuff, don't use it w/o asking (within reason, of course--a pen I'm not going to worry about unless you pawn it), care for it well, don't reorganize nor play with it. Its simple.

What is it with people who, no matter WHAT story, event, account, etc that you may be telling, feel it necessary to top it with one of their own stories? I mean, there are times when trading stories is good, you're sharing experiences. That's not the problem. But when you say "and then X happened to me" they go "oh, well, XYZAB^4 is what I did", it gets rediculous. About everything too... it doesn't matter it seems, they'll go ahead and find a way to come up with an event in their life that is so much better. Even if they have to make it up.

Also known as 'showing how much you know!' Or pretending to, anyway. "The special-forces version of the C-130 Hercules with observation bubble and hellfire missiles" my ass. (Yes, that was actually told to me once) If I don't know something, I'll say so. If I need to, I'll reasarch it and look it up. When coupled with the above point, it gets worse and often silly. Sigh.

Maybe some people just don't know how to ask questions. Maybe its just something we all do without realizing it. Maybe I'm taking it wrong. But, and this comes up often in training, you present or do Y and someone pipes up 'Why do you do it _that_ way?' with a tonal inflection of either incredulousness, 'Duh!', or sympathy in their voice. Not that this happens only in training, of course. Hey, I never claimed I knew the best way, just this is the way I do it because it works well enough, because that was what I was taught, or what have you. You have a way you feel is better, by all means, present it to me! "Try it this way!" you say. But damn, how people start off by essentially prefacing it with "your way is dumb, you simpleton!" before voicing their 'better' way. And for spirits sake, if this method is different from yours, THINK about it for a bit and see why we/I do it this way, why it makes sense to me, how it may be equivalent though different to yours (and yes, even perhaps better) before jumping up and waving your arms all about.

This one definitively stems from my helpdesk days. Asking others for their help is a great way to learn! The passing of experience is a time-honoured tradition. Asking a question, though, that is clearly documented and you can't be bothered to read the documentation, is heinous. Asking a question that was covered in class because you didn't take notes is not good. Asking 500000 questions rather than using F1 or looking at examples isn't very impressive. Sometimes you need an answer right now! That's fine. Sometimes your asking for techniques help. That's fine. Asking a few questions is also fine. But lazyness is not.