Sunday, March 02, 2008

Life in the slow lane

Quite often I find myself genuinely wanting to live a much slower life. So slow, that you can hear my muscles unwind.

The classes I teach are full-year classes crammed into half that time. My one-hour each way commute has the "F" word flying out of my mouth quite often, and I really hate that, but that's after I've spewed a few unrepentant mo-fo's toward drivers I see dancing near the lunatic fringe.

I'll spare you all the other stuff. I say all of this for a reason.



This story brought a little smirk to my face. Some well-meaning Italian folks came to NYC to preach the gospel of chillaxation. I don't think it worked.

You see, in today's society, it has become a competition to see who can be the most overworked, over-scheduled, and over-stressed. I used to want to win that competition. The past three or four years, however, I've been actively praying for the exact opposite. That's why I went away a couple of weeks ago. Once I get past Manassas, I notice something when the traffic thins a bit: I breathe, I smile easily, and I can think.

That's not to say there isn't stress everywhere. There is. But, hopefully, my summer travels (that no one has guessed yet) will help get me closer to some permanent changes that I've been praying for, too. But for now, I know there is one thing to look forward to this summer: smiling.

Ciao, have a great day!

8 comments:

Christine said...

I have a similar commute and have been buying books on CD lately. Doesn't matter what they are as long as they distract me from wanting to floor it and smash into these f-tards in front of me, throwing the car into reverse and doing the same thing to the idiot tailgating.

I highly recommend them.

Anonymous said...

I think I saw three cars and a tractor this morning before I got to the highway. That was like 14 miles.

Sezme said...

Christine
I'm afraid I'd be lulled to sleep. I tend to doze off during lengthy periods of listening to people talk. I took such good notes in college just to stay awake. I've always said some of my best naps were in church until I became an adult and learned to be an active listener (using my Bible and taking notes).

JT
I travel less than a 1/2 mile to the highwaynd see about 20-30 cars in the early a.m. However, I live on a highway that intersects with the other highway I use.

Sezme said...

Oh, and I'm way jealous of you, too. Grrrr!

Anonymous said...

It's nice unless you need something at midnight. Then it sucks because the closest store - Wal-Mart or Krogers - is about 20 miles away in either direction.

Also, I miss getting pizza delivered.

Sezme said...

Yeah, that kind of stinks. However, it is a huge blessing, too. Just think of all the icky, bad fast food you don't eat. You're healthier and skinnier for it. :)

Around here, there is just too much temptation. Heck, they even have cheesesteak salads. (They're good, too.)

Anonymous said...

What, exactly, is a cheesesteak salad?

Sezme said...

You take one of THESE.

Minus THIS.

Add a bit of THIS.

Drizzle some of THIS on top, and you have a yummy (really fattening) salad...but low-carb. Heh.