Benefit of the Doubt

There's something about driving in the rain that makes people's IQs drop by 50 points, I remember thinking this past Thursday afternoon. I was frustrated because I was in a hurry to get somewhere, and what should have been the quickest route had become the most time-consuming one. A brief cloudburst of much-needed summertime rain, and everyone on the road I was driving on slowed to about 20 miles per hour in a 50 MPH zone.

To quote famous stand-up comedian George Carlin (aka Rufus in the Bill & Ted's movies):

"Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?"

I'm sure we're all tempted to feel this way at times. We have our eyes wide open when looking at others' perceived faults and have our eyes half-closed regarding our own.

No more than two minutes later, I turned a corner—and, in the process, I inadvertently cut off someone else, who likely had to press his brakes hard in order to not collide with me. Vertently or inadvertently, I had messed up.

This person, in fact, then changed lanes and pulled up parallel to me at the next stoplight. I turned over to look at him and saw that he was now making eye contact with me, and I mouthed the words, "I'm sorry." He then proceeded to roll down his window to say something back to me.

Dreading or fearing what lewd gesture or comment this person had in store, I was both surprised and relieve to hear him say, with a smile, "It's okay, dude!" He even gave me a thumbs-up sign and drove off as the light turned green.

Whoever you are, random, kind stranger, thank you for reminding me that we all make mistakes, and that forgiveness is always a good option. You didn't let me cutting you off ruin your day.

The next time someone cuts in front of me, fails to signal a turn, or commits any one of a number of "oopsies" in traffic, I would hope to give that person, as this stranger gave me, the benefit of the doubt—that said person is somewhat like me, a reasonably good and safe driver who happens to have just made an innocent mistake rather than some escaped mental patient on the loose, running over curbs and cats and small trees and driving the wrong way down one-way streets and committing other serious and/or scary traffic violations.

For that, we have celebrities.

Steamy Windows

Sometimes, words simply fail me.

If you have read the Angry White Loner's blog on any previous occasion, you know that he can be somewhat of a Wordy McWordsmith. That, however, was not the case this past Monday night, when the security guard patrolling the local Olive Garden parking lot pulled up next to my vehicle---I can only assume she suspected some major hanky panky was going on inside, as the windows had fogged up a good deal---and told us that the lot had closed for the night, asking (commanding?) my female friend and me to leave the premises.

It all began, believe it or not, with family home evening. The mid-singles gathered around 6:15 p.m. to see a movie at the Kaysville Theater, our local dollar movie theater. Part of the group saw Ephraim's Rescue, while another part caught Turbo; a handful of friends and I ended up watching Monsters University, a very funny and worthy prequel to the 2001 Disney/Pixar film Monsters, Inc.

As much as we enjoyed the movie, that is just the beginning of the story. Following a stopover at Dylan's Drive-in for ice cream, the aforementioned female friend asked for a ride back to her car, which was located in the Olive Garden parking lot not too far away in Layton. She and her friends had been there for dinner together before the movie, and as the girls were good enough to save me a seat (I caught up with the group at the theater just prior to the movie's start, as I was running behind) for the film, I was more than happy to do so.

We pulled up next to her car and chatted for a while. As we did so, the warm summer evening quickly became, in a New York (Utah?) minute, a cool rainstorm. As a result of the changing temperature and humidity, the windows in my car quickly steamed up and became rather foggy.

The rest, I assume, you can put together from the details I have provided. With a sheepish grin on my face, I found myself opening my car door to explain to the security guard, "We're just talking in here!"

Additionally, I pointed to my neck to show her that it was completely hickey free.

Okay, so I made up that last part. Maybe. But that's my story. And I'm sticking to it.