do not look at me said the bum

Have you ever been stuck in rush hour? If you work for a living and live in New Jersey or New York you probably have. Its an annoyance you must live with (unless you are rich or a police officer) but there are certain things you should not have to put up with. At the top of the list is dealing with folks who talk on their cell phone yet think they should be in the left most lane at the same time. Sorry jackass, talking on your cell phone does not excuse you from moving with the flow of traffic. What is also at the top of the list, at least for me, is keeping your eyes foward.

I am not talking about just watching the road but some people feel the need to look in their rearview or side mirror and check you out. What the fuck is up with that? I can understand checking the rearview mirror for a moment and accidentally making eye contact with the person behind you but if you are doing it longer than...oh lets say three seconds, something is wrong with you. No offense to any homosexuals out there but its even more annoying when someone of the same sex does it. Its bad enough I have to see you watching me like some kind of lurker but what compounds it, is that there is no benefit can come from it. I mean at least if its a person of the opposite sex there is a chance for some mild flirtation but otherwise, what joy can I get out of someone staring back at me?

Listen. Stop looking at me. I get it, you are in front of me and stuck in traffic but that does not give you an excuse to make eye contact with me. Keep your eyes straight and if you need to look at your rearview mirror or your side mirror, remember what their purpose is. Here is a hint: its not to look at me.

easy come and easy go said the bum

As you can see, I recently started posting again. I also updated the links on my blog to blogs that I visit regularly. One of those links was to "Tart Juice." I have now removed the link to that blog.

To be honest, I had only begun to visit this blogger's site regularly. Her blog was a link from "The Disgruntled Chemist"'s Blog, and I thought it was interesting at the time but in a very short time I have gotten tired of it. I am no expert but I think there are certain rules you have to follow when you blog or basically write anything. One of those rules is if you are going to respond to what someone else said, you have to make people aware of what you are actually responding too. I see many of her posts are responses to something that happened and while its great that she has opinion, some of the things she responds to are not common knowledge so the reader can become a bit lost to what she is referring to. For an adult to do this, is aggrivating to me. I like how people have opinions and want to share it but if you don't provide a proper context for what you are responding to, you come across as rambling.

You are a rambler tart. Not cool.

Edit: I almost became what I just preached about. Here is an example of what I can't stand. To most people this would appear to be a quality opinion and it inded might be but her opinion is based on a piece that she and maybe a couple of other people have read (I am not inlcuded). If I or other readers have no idea what she is reacting to (no matter what you can conjecture based on her piece), how can you properly assess if you agree with what she is saying or not? You can agree with some of the points but if you do not know exactly what those points are referring to, how can you truly say you agree? There just isn't enough information there folks.

book it said the bum

What? The bum is posting something? Yeah, I am just as shocked as you are but I saw this great list on tart's blog and thought it would be neat to create my own list. I would have just posted it in her blog comments but I get the feeling that the comments left are only by her friends which I am not.


A book that made you cry: Scorpions by Walter Dean Myers. I read this when I was in sixth grade. It made a tear come to my eye then, but I wonder if it would now.

A book that scared you: I am a dude. I don't get scared of books.

A book that made you laugh: 150 Ways to Know If You're Ghetto by Shawn Wayans, Suli McCullough, Chris Spencer, and Laurie Abkemeier. For a kid from the burbs, this was an eyeopener to many stereotypes. I laughed throughout.

A book that disgusted you: Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser. I used to like going to fast food restaurants but no more. If the way they process the food does not disgust you then the way they treat their workers will.

A book you loved in elementary school: The Lorax by Dr. Seuss. Its dissapointing a lot of children today have no idea who this guy is.

A book you loved in middle school: Who is Carrie and My Brother Sam is Dead by James and Christopher Collier. I think this is when I really got interested in American History. Its too bad I wouldn't feel comfortable making a career of it. Sorry, very few people can say teaching history can provide a long satisfying career.

A book you loved in high school: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I could see myself as every character.

A book you hated in high school: Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift. This was one of many books I read when I was younger only to find out there was deeper meaning behind the book. What the fuck? Can't people just write a story without it being some kind of metaphor for life?

A book you loved in college: Stupid White Men by Michael Moore. The book was so friggin logical. There are a lot of books I enjoyed in college but that book got me into reading political novels. Why do I call them novels? Because half of the time they are full of shit. Still...very entertaining.

A book that challenged your identity: Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. Come on...who doesn't have a little Holden Cauffield in them?

A series that you love: Goosebumps by R.L. Stine

Your favorite horror book: Why would I read a book to scare myself? I have life for that.

Your favorite science fiction book: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.

Your favorite fantasy book: Never really got into fantasy books.

Your favorite mystery book: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg

Your favorite biography: Zlata's Diary: A Child's Life in Sarajevo by Zlata Filipovic. I think I read this in middle school. I couldn't put it down.

Your favorite "coming-of-age" book: The Strange Career of Jim Crow by C. Vann Wooward. Haven't looked at this country or white people the same since.

Your favorite book not on this list: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betsy Smith or you can go with Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians.