"Honk if you know why you're honking."

I came across this article today, which I thought was quite interesting: http://www.slate.com/id/2204988 It's about how the world is riddled with car horn misuse. For instance, in some big cities around the world, people hardly ever stop honking and the noise can be dangerous as well as disturbing. The article talks about how some cities have effectively banned honking at certain times of day or even altogether. The rationale is that honking the car horn takes the responsibility away from the person doing the honking. If they spot an accident about to happen and honk, instead of slowing down/changing lanes/etc., they feel that they have done their part to avoid the accident. But if car horn use was restricted, or horns were non-existent, everyone would have to learn how to drive more carefully.

Anyway, this reminded me of two things. One, my driver's ed teacher in high school told us once that the car horn did not have to be used solely as an emergency or road rage tool. If I remember correctly, he told us that, "Sometimes it's nice to just give a little toot to say hello to other drivers." I've never actually tested this theory, because I'm afraid of getting the bird.

The other thing the article reminded me of is a game my grandpa and I used to play while driving places. Just a warning before you read any further: the rest of this post is kind of ridiculous, but it makes me smile. We could be on our way to anywhere, but if we had to go through a part of town where there weren't many houses, we played this game: if we saw anyone outside their house doing anything, we'd honk and wave. The goal was to see how many people would wave back. We didn't know them, they didn't know us, but a lot of people waved back at us. Sometimes they didn't even look at who was honking, they'd just throw their arm up and go back to whatever they were doing. By the way, my grandma and anyone else riding with us thought this game was totally obnoxious. My grandpa and I always maintained that we were just being friendly drivers.

So maybe car horns are useless...

Answer to the Blog Challenge

What am I thankful for?

I have so many things to be thankful for this year that I'm not sure I'll be able to name them all. Here goes:

I'm thankful for my health and wholeness, for my husband, and for our daughter-to-be. I'm thankful that I've been blessed with a fairly easy pregnancy and I'm also thankful that pretty soon we'll be able to meet our bundle of joy.

I'm thankful for my family and friends, and for the love and support they all provide in their own way. I'm thankful for laughter and fun, and for being able to share the hard stuff, too.

I'm thankful for school and learning, even when it's difficult. I'm thankful for my teachers, classmates, and Andy for making my first semester back in school so great.

I'm thankful that I have a job, a home, a vehicle, and food on the table. I'm thankful for the God who has brought me to where I am.

I know that there is much more that I am thankful for, but this feels like a pretty good start. And much better than my last, no-good-horrible-very-bad-day post. Happy Thanksgiving!!

One of those days...

Isn't there some kind of pessimistic theory that says if something can go wrong it will? Well, it's been one of those days.

Last night I left my umbrella at work. Of course it rained this morning on my way in.

Yesterday we got word that my husband's car, which is in the shop for repairs, will cost significantly less than we originally thought. Today we found out that it needs a new motor, and is for all intents and purposes now just a metal box on wheels. (I seriously got a text message from my husband saying "Don't panic.") Naturally, we have to pay for the work that has already been done, which really lowers our chance of being able to get something different in the near future. Ironic twist here: about two weeks ago, we finally sold my husband's old car, which ran fine.

Today is payday, and I'm fairly certain that just about all of my check is already spoken for.


So far this week, I've learned that most of what ails me is pretty trivial in the grand scheme of things, but that in the moment, sometimes it just makes me feel better to throw a big hairy fit. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. Go tomorrow, you can do it!