A Band Thing

So a few weeks ago, I was invited to play bass in a rehearsal to sort of "try out" for this band that plays some Christian tunes, metal style. The rehearsal was a lot of fun, it was nice to play something interesting on bass for once, and the words not only immediately afterwards but even later were very positive in regards to their opinion of me. They know I play more than just bass, and I understood there was thought given as to whether they would rather have my services on piano, and they were also trying another bass player the following week to really explore players.

Apparently, the other guy was ok, but they didn't mesh well. Last night, they played with one of the guitar players (who incidentally owns two basses, one of which I played that couple weeks ago) playing bass, and naturally, his playing was superior to mine and he did some little slaps and fills and flairs and such. They knew that was the sort of player they are looking for, and they've decided to keep looking.

I shouldn't feel any kind of resentment for this, but it kind of irks me just a little. Why would it? It isn't a bother that I wasn't chosen. That isn't the part that gets me. You see, I went into that rehearsal having only gotten recordings of the music to hear it the day before. I prepared some lead sheets for myself during work the day of the rehearsal. I basically threw them together without trying them out. I went in there and held my own on music I barely knew with people I'd never played with on lead sheets that I was only mostly sure would work. So, you're telling me that since my style didn't quite match the guy who has been playing these songs on guitar for months, that I'm just not right? What kind of comparison is that? 

That's like being fired on your first day of the job because you're just not as efficient as the twenty year veteran.

Oh well. I needed to vent because of how I was compared, and that I was basically never given a chance to improve or show any kind of ability. They got to meet my personality and they liked it (so I hear), which is about as much as one can expect on a single three hour rehearsal. It surprises me that they expected what they did.

At the end of this post, I'm not so much resentful as annoyed.  Yeah, I'm sure if they wanted me for anything, I'd still be game. I don't hold grudges, but it doesn't mean I don't get annoyed sometimes.

Driving and Topics

You know, it seems like I never post on this and yet, unlike a lot of people who say they never have anything to say on a blog, I come up with topics all the time to write about on here. The trouble I run into is not having the time (or I guess, according to me, since I don't want to be a hypocrite) not making the time to write about these topics. Many of them are quite clever or just random observations, but hey, that's what a blog is all about, right?

For instance, the other day I was driving to work with the family in tow (since we only have one car), and a couple of things happened that show not only how dangerous the art of driving is, but how some people break laws because they can. Seriously, some of these people should have their licensed revoked for a day for doing some of these really abysmally stupid things just to shape them up.

The first thing that happened was at a red light. We have lights in Broken Arrow where the left turn signal is only an arrow, so when the lights change to green both way, the left turn lane is red. It's only mildly frustrating when it's completely clear both directions, and no one is going, but oh well. You sit there and wait. 

But not this character behind me. He was in the left hand turn lane, but decided he was too good to wait for the light, so he whipped around me into the straight lane, and made his left hand turn against the red. Sure, no one was hurt since it was actually clear, but it was blatantly illegal. Perhaps he was above the law.

The next thing was while making a different left hand turn. Coming off of the expressway, there are two left hand turn lanes and they are striped on the pavement to show whose lane goes where aorund the turn. You ever notice that some people don't pay attention to these lines? They are there for a reason, right? Unlike the last one where the guy hurt no one, but just broke the law, this one was dangerous for those who just follow the rules and don't distrust every other driver on the road. I am like the latter category who watches everyone and expects them to drive like an idiot. I'm not usually disappointed by my unfortunate predictions and therefore stay out of accidents pretty skillfully. Last accident I was in was when I was late for work and was concentrating on getting there instead of watching the idiot who pulled into the side of me, totaling that poor car.

Anyway, while making this left hand turn, I was in the inside lane. The person in the outside lane decided they did not need to stay within their marked lane, and therefore turned a bit sharper ending up fully in my lane for a short span. Sad part there is that they finished back in the outside lane after crowding me out. I suspected this would happen so I hung back which allowed me to slow down further and allow this "special individual" to take my space until they got back into theirs.

Now this isn't the first time this particular phenomena has occurred in my lifetime of driving. People crowd the lanes on turns all the time, like the rule of "stay in your lane" doesn't apply to them. People often swing left turns really wide going from the inside of a 3 laned road to the far outside when they turn. I'm only guilty of this, personally, when there's a two lane turn and I actually need the outside lane (since the person behind me will tend to swing it wide too, and then overtake me quickly, for some reason, blocking me from that lane which tends to be short on my way in). Most of the time, though, people on the inside will hold to their lanes since they don't want to be taken out by the nutjob on the outside lane. This proves that they can drive, but put them on the outside, and the rules go out the window.

Ah, the rules, or laws of driving. You know where these laws tend to go completely out the window? Same place that most accidents occur: close to home. Actually, inside neighborhoods. Oh yes, how many times have you seen cars break the low speed limits and run stop signs in neighborhoods? If your neighborhood has some annoying "speed humps" (these are longer than the bumps to make them smoother, but they're no fun to go over on a bike), then it's happened enough that people complained about people driving fast through their neighborhood. Chances are, however, that these same people who complained about others going fast also complain about these speed humps since they can't go fast anymore. Hm.

Now, I don't want to seem like a hypocrite here. I am not complaining about something and then turn around and do it myself. The Queen can vouch for this. I am a stickler when it comes to traffic laws. When the speedometer worked in the car (yeah, I just said that), I set the cruise control for the speed limit and let it ride no matter how many people honked at me (and yeah, that happened). I do turn into the same lane I'm in when turning either left or right, unless there is a tangible need to select a different lane. This means I chose the lane, not that I can't make a turn without ending up some random place on the road. 

But that's me, and I watch the road carefully. If I see a car pop up on the side of a neighborhood, I watch them, since I've seen people blast out of a neighborhood, completely ignoring that stop sign next to the busy road. That's not exactly what happened when I had my last wreck, but close. The guy was coming out of the QuikTrip and just kept going without looking both ways. I saw him out of the corner of my eye at the last second and swerved, but it wasn't enough. He literally blind-sided me. He slammed into the rear end of the Lincoln we were driving at the time, and it was certified as totaled at the body shop. We loved that car, but I kinda like the one we have now better. The Queen, however, is very much a Lincoln girl and she misses it.

Finally, I don't drive next to semis. Why not? Because some of those drivers (despite the fact that they do it professionally) don't pay attention. Let me give you two examples that I have personally witnessed (thankfully through my rear view mirror). Number one was between Oklahoma and Colorado. I saw a tractor-trailer make a left hand lane change...on top of a smaller pickup already driving there. This pickup ended up on the median, honking. The second was while driving on the local expressway in Tulsa. There was a wall between the east and west bound lanes and there was a lane's width of space between the inside lane and this wall. I saw a semi change lanes into this non-lane. Well, the problem there was that this non-lane ended very, very abruptly against a concrete wall. He noticed this quickly and changed lanes back...right into a pick up truck (and I never intend to buy a pickup truck...this might be a sign). This truck wasn't as lucky as our last example and took a hit in the front fender. It sent him careening across all five lanes of the road, but fortunately for everyone, there was no other traffic to interrupt his unexpected journey into the shallow ditch on the far side. Yeah, the semi driver noticed this eventually and pulled over.

So...driving is dangerous, and I'm watching those crazy drivers out there. I know there are some good drivers. I know there are those who have never caused an accident or gotten into trouble. However, when driving, my personal rule is to assume no one can drive. It's served well so far, and unfortunately, I've been right too many times about drivers' ill-fated intentions. The traffic laws are there to help keep us safe, so I follow them.

Drive safe everyone, and please, oh please, be careful.