Petty. But Humorous. That's Me.

I'm going to tell you a petty but kind of humorous story about my petty but kind of humorous life and then I'm going to link to a video story that isn't humorous but it is happy. Except that it will make you weep real, big, fat tears even if you don't turn on the sound. You can either read my petty but kind of humorous story or use that time to go get a kleenex. Suit yourself.

Every day I have to cross a pretty major thoroughfare before I get on the subway. It's a busy street that's a main access road off of a really busy street. About a year ago they put in a light where I cross. Up to then people just swarmed into traffic clogging up intersections before and behind and taking their own lives into their hands. Now there's a light. For safety.

Because of a turn signal at the really busy street one lane of the busy street gets a red signal before the other one. It took me a while to work that out but when they installed the light I watched the patterns and figured out what was going on and why so I wait all the way up on the curb until the walk signal comes. Sometimes I complain about my life but I still think I'd like to keep it. What can I say, I'm a pack rat.

No one else waits on the curb like that. They cross, trying to beat the turning traffic. They cross not understanding or caring that the turning traffic has the right of way. Best of all they inch out in front of the stopped lane and ooze toward and eventually across the double yellow line crowding the turning traffic and slowing it down endangering their lives and slowing down the whole fucking process. It makes me insane. Every morning I mutter under my breath, "You don't have the light. You don't have the light. You don't have THE LIGHT." Sometimes it sneaks out from under my breath. Nobody cares.

This morning one lady strolled out. She was watching the traffic carefully. Something about her said she knew the pattern and she just didn't care. She was intent on working the system, getting across the street 20 seconds earlier and beating those stupid cars with the right of way. A foot or so before the yellow line, eyes narrowed at the turning cars, she stumbled on a manhole cover and this went through my head, "Oh christ, lady, you do not have the light. Don't fall. If you fall I will have to stay here with you and call 911 and tell the police what happened and wrap your bloody broken wrist (because some car is going to run over your wrist if you fall down right there) in my clothing and I will be cold. And worse I will be late to work. I can't be late to work today because I have to leave early today to go see Alita's choral concert which is very deep in Brooklyn and starts a mere hour after my scheduled quitting time. If I get to work a couple hours late because I had to hold the pieces of your arm together while the ambulance comes then I won't feel comfortable leaving work early and I will be late to the concert and I will miss Alita singing and my trip will be for nothing and she will be disappointed and I will be even angrier that you don't care that you don't have the light. THINK OF THE CHILDREN!"

Then the light changed, she didn't fall and we both got on the subway and it was delayed in the tunnel for nearly 15 minutes and I'm still leaving early because I'm not going to be late to that concert, dammit!

Here's the video. It proves that some good things came out of the earthquake in Haiti and that the mere title of the song I'll Be Home For Christmas makes me weepy.