freaks in glass and metal pods

As the obligatory trade-off for having a new job that I actually kind of like, I now spend 2-1/2 hours each day in my car, commuting. This means I spend a lot of time sitting at red lights looking at other commuters, and I have to say, some of what I've seen has both disturbed and entertained me.

First there are the idiots with their ear buds in. I haven't seen any obvious seat-dancing on these guys, so I can't guarantee that they're not on an iphone, making super-important phone calls, but the ear buds still strike me as a really terrible idea. When I see these guys, I can barely resist honking my horn, just to see if they'll notice.

Then there was the fellow this morning with a crossword puzzle held up against his steering wheel. This guy was living for the red lights, when he would write his answers. I didn't see how he was managing to hold the crossword puzzle and the pen while he was driving, but I suspect that some knee-steering was involved.

Finally, there was the man in the white button-down, with a tie on, curling his eyelashes in the rear-view mirror. I noticed this guy in my own rear-view mirror, lifting the curler to his eye, releasing it, and then wiping his eye frantically. I knew exactly what had happened, since the first time that I myself used a curler I started to pull the curler away before releasing the lashes, which hurt like a bitch. I felt for this guy, and spent the rest of my commute wondering who he was, where he was going, and why he happened to have a curler in the car if he didn't even know how to use it.

Now when I sit at red lights, I have no shame about the other drivers seeing me singing along with the radio, since we're all freaks in these little private-feeling-public-places.