Gas prices in the nation are high, but nowhere are they higher than in Chicago. We have the nations highest average price of gas. By my campus, at the intersection of Fullerton and Ashland is THE most expensive gas in the nation at the BP Amoco station. It was all over the news, news crews were there and so were newspaper journalists. People are still going there, I am like WHY? Why are you doing that?
I got 5 tickets. 5. Over the course of last week and this week I received 5 parking tickets. So I drive to school because I can be there is about 15 minutes but taking the train or bus(es) takes me an hour at least. There is meters to park at and the first 2 years, I barely even fed them ever and never with more than a quarter. It didnt matter, I never saw the Dept. of Revenue and never got tickets. This year the Dept of Revenue is stalking me with a vengenance! DePaul is like a gold mine for them; as i walk down Fullerton most of the cars are decorated with a bright orange parking ticket and now everyday every day i see the Dept of Revenue people on all the streets surrounding campus. Well I have a four hour class on Thursday and you can only feed the meter for 2 hours at at time so I am screwed. So 2 thursdays in a row I got an expired meter ticket and on both of those days I was also blessed with an expired plates ticket. SO thats 4. Then I got one for parking on Armitage during rush hour. Thats 5. Thats lots of money. I do not make lots of money. So I am grounding myself from my car.
I hate people when I drive. No one in the entire city of Chicago is nice apparently. Its like as soon as people get into traffic, all ettiquette or friendliness is sucked from their very souls and a hardened, mean, bitter carcass of spite and malice is left to navigate their vehicle. Some man threw a slurpee at another man's car on the Kennedy this week. This morning as I drove through Winnetka on my way to work at 7 am, a limo driver got out of his car and pounded on the hood of the car behind him because that car was apparently not understanding that the limo wanted to back into the driveway it was blocking. The woman in front of me in the Burger King drive through flicked me off for encouraging her to pull up with a short and friendly beep. SHe wasnt sure I saw it the first two times apparently, so she honked and when i looked up she waved it around again. When I was stuck in traffic on the way to the symphony, I saw 2 motorcycles speeding past using the shoulder and again I yelled about if they want to be treated like cars then they should act like cars.
I want to be "green." I think that if I cut down my driving and expulsion of car fumes, I will be a part of the solution towards reducing carbon dioxide. Also, reducing my dependency on oil and petroleum products is a good thing and something I may have to do in the future without a choice anyway.
All next week I will attempt to not drive my vehicle. The exception will be on the weekend when I work. I cannot take the train or bus to nanny jobs because many times I have to pick up the kids and take them places but that should only be 3 times next week. OTherwise, its public transportation for me. I will post my exciting adventures with Chicago's sorry excuse for a public transportation system here all next week. Join me, won't you?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
you are the queen of parking tickets!
Generalising: People are douchebags; people are scared of confrontation. Result: people buy lots of cars and sit behind the wheel and it gives them a sense of invincibility.
If you are waiting in line in a store and suddenly the person in front is being called for the checkout, but they don't see because they are on the phone, and you tap them on the shoulder, what would you do if they turned around and flipped you off? People just aren't that rude in person, but they are in cars! Many times I have almost been hit by people who plainly can't drive, but when I honk to let them know I am in the lane they are swerving into, I get flipped off! Why?!? What are they thinking?
Post a Comment