And She Was….

Not only am I acclimating to my new heated environment, I’m getting used to Vegas life. I’ve basically lived outside of a small town for most of my life only visiting the “city” outside of it, Kokomo. It would mostly be considered a town compared to where I live now, but it is where most of my knowledge of city life comes from. I visited the capital of Indiana several times over the years, so I knew the basics about city living from that. I just never lived there. The closet thing I’ve come to living in a somewhat large city was in Muncie where I went to college for four years. Those who lived there know while it is somewhat large and populated, it is mostly due to the university population that migrates into the city during the fall and spring semesters. Also visiting the fair city of Las Vegas on several occasions has given me a good idea of what to expect. There is more than the Las Vegas Strip.

Amazingly, my time in Kokomo and Muncie has prepared me inexplicably when it comes to dealing with crazies and rednecks. There are a multitude of people living here in the dessert, but alas, there are plenty of crazies. First example: Driving. My brother and sister-in-law have told me about the driving situation here in Vegas, and I’ve even witnessed it as a passenger during visits. Kokomo’s traffic was left to be desired, mostly due to the fact that my car somehow had an amazing ability to become invisible until the last moment, encouraging most of motorized population to attempt to hit my vehicle. As you can see, I became a little bitter towards the licensed and not so licensed drivers of Kokomo. Muncie was actually worse. For a town that always seemed to have the traffic lights go out at least once a week somewhere along Mcgalliard or Tilottson, two of the busiest streets in Muncie, no one remembers that no light means 4-way. I feared for my life on a daily basis. I actually had a situation where a woman pulled up behind me as she was racing to get her frosty, the only thing that seemed logical at the time for her to be racing for. I was not moving fast enough nor did she seem to really care. This was definitely not one of the situations I was prepared for. If you have ever wondered about my strange driving behavior while in Kokomo, Muncie was probably the reason.

Las Vegas is pretty much the same except there are about 4x as many people and everyone is extremely impatient, emphasis on extremely. They always assume that little tiny area that you are keeping in front of you, so that you don’t suddenly end up in the ass of the car ahead of you, was left just for them. Most of the time, the drivers here just assume you see them and will stop, because who needs to get into an accident. My sister-in-law just told me the other day that I should never be the first one to go at a green light. There is another factor that adds to the mess that is Las Vegas traffic. There is a big dynamic in the traveling population. The visiting California drivers are always in a hurry and are extremely aggressive. This is most likely due to being used to driving in L.A. Another large part of our traffic is from the retirement community. In my experience, older people tend to drive slower than the majority of drivers. You put these two parts together on I-95, and you now have a description of the traffic flow: slow down, speed up. This makes it very dangerous. I recommend avoiding driving through Las Vegas if you’re not actually planning on stopping. There is no sense in putting yourself through that if not.

I was also informed to keep my eye out for cops, the ones that aren’t marked. They take undercover very seriously here. I knew that they had a variety of unmarked vehicles to travel in from expensive sports cars to minivans, but I hadn’t actually seen one yet, until today. I was venturing out on an errand and decided to stop for a shake when I saw that two unmarked cop vehicles had blocked in a car that had been parked. What I assumed to be a kid leaning over the Grand Prix cop car with his cargo shorts, popped collar polo, and backwards baseball cap tipped to the side, I soon realized was actually the cop. They apparently take their jobs seriously here and do intend to blend even, when that means dressing up like a tool. I know that I probably shouldn’t have, but I started cracking up. I was just glad I did this as I was turning away from the officer.

I’m still looking for jobs and waiting on a call back from one of the interviews I had. I am starting to be concerned about money. Not that I’m going to be broke tomorrow, just figuring in my comfy cushion. My sister-in-law suggested that I offer babysitting services, and I’m starting to seriously consider it. I’d just feel better if I got a job.

Until next time….